Search engine optimization (SEO) is the most affordable eCommerce marketing strategy you can use to generate more leads and drive more sales for your Shopify store. So if you’re looking to improve your site’s performance, make the most of a limited marketing budget and drive more organic traffic – look no further than SEO.
SEO for Shopify works, and it’s one of the most cost-efficient solutions to boost your rankings and conversions. If you want to know the SEO areas to optimize for your online store leveraging eCommerce web design, find the best eCommerce platform for SEO and make Shopify SEO work for you, then you’re in the right place.
Take a look at the top Shopify SEO tips to establish steady, long-term success on the platform:
The Four Major Optimization Areas
Your Shopify SEO checklist should cover the four major areas of optimization:
• On-page SEO
• Off-page Optimization
• Technical SEO
• Website maintenance
Let’s unpack each of these in our checklist below:
Area 1: On-Page Optimization
On-page optimization refers to the strategies you can apply to your web pages to improve your website’s SEO performance. It takes more than just executing web design correctly.
#1. Improve Keyword Research
First up on our list of Shopify SEO tips is to elevate your keyword research strategy using all the tools at your disposal. Using the tools you need, get valuable insights about customer search terms. Pay attention to these key metrics:
• Search Volume: It shows how many people use a keyword and how popular it is among internet users.
• Keyword Difficulty: This tells you how difficult it is to rank keywords you’ve selected. Choose keywords that can be realistically ranked.
• Cost-per-click (CPC): When CPC is higher, you have a higher potential to convert page visitors.
#2. Optimize Meta Descriptions and Page Titles
Next on our Shopify SEO checklist is improving page titles and meta descriptions. Search engines sometimes use meta descriptions as site snippets. Make sure that your meta descriptions adequately describe your page’s content. Add keywords to page titles and write them as eye-catching headlines.
#3. Keep Product Descriptions Tight
Having thin content on product pages is a common mistake – improve SEO on Shopify by upgrading your copy on these pages. Increase usability by writing descriptions that help buyers find the products they need, including accurate and informative content. Finally, mention features but highlight the benefits. Include all of these tips in your Shopify SEO checklist.
#4. Create Blog Content
Our next SEO for Shopify tip is to place your long-tail keywords in your blog content. Capture leads at the top of your marketing funnel by answering consumer questions about products similar to yours. Doing so demonstrates your thought leadership. Any expert providing eCommerce SEO services will tell you to use this strategy to build brand awareness.
Area 2: Off-Page Optimization
The next area you need to cover in this Shopify SEO guide is off-page optimization. When it comes to SEO for Shopify, the quality and quantity of links from other pages going to your site matter. It means there is a niche community where many folks are interested in your content and products. So if you’re asking how to improve SEO on Shopify, this is one of the best ways to do it.
#5. Focus on the Quality of Your Backlinks
The next tip in our Shopify SEO guide is to get more backlinks. Generating more quality backlinks should be part of any eCommerce SEO strategy. Use Shopify SEO tools to evaluate every backlink: Keep the ones from high-authority sites and eliminate the rest. One exemplary tool is Google Disavow. It’s one of the tools you can use to tell web crawlers which links to avoid when the search engine evaluates your site’s different ranking factors.
Your in-house Shopify SEO expert can provide you with similar tools. However, remember that earning links to your site is no easy feat. This is why getting the best Shopify SEO services is critical. Some of the things you can do are the following:
• Get your products featured in product roundups or shopping and gift guides.
• Write high-quality content for your site’s blogs, product guides and other site content – you can hire the services of a Shopify SEO company to produce this type of content.
• Write some guest blog posts to increase brand awareness, boost credibility and establish domain authority.
#6. Invest in Influencer Marketing
One of the critical Shopify SEO tips on our list is influencer marketing. It’s a strategy that involves onboarding external content creators with huge followings to engage with and advocate for your brand. Influencers have access to a loyal audience and converting even just a percentage of their followers is already a big boost to your brand. Get in touch with a Shopify SEO expert to discuss your influencer marketing options.
#7. Get More Product Reviews
Encourage your customers to write product reviews. You can add widgets to your site to remind customers to leave a short review for every product they purchase. According to a report from Oberlo studies, 47 percent of all consumers leave product reviews. Some of these customers leave links to the product pages they visit. However, getting brand mentions already helps boost awareness. There are Shopify SEO tools that can help you earn positive reviews from your clients.
#8. Create Social Media Shareable Content
Any Shopify SEO expert will tell you that maintaining an active social media presence is critical to any strategy. It’s one of the things that should be included in an eCommerce SEO audit. UCLA psychologists say that people tend to share content that’s useful and interesting not only for them but also for those they care about.
To make your content more shareable, include helpful information that piques your target market’s interest. Use Shopify SEO tools to get insights into the interests of your ideal customer and find topics that appeal to your customer’s emotions and spark interest.
#9. Prioritize Public Relations
Experts providing eCommerce SEO services will tell you to invest in public relations (PR). Digital PR portals are great places to get high-authority links. Sign up for sites like Help A Reporter Out (HARO) to get news and information from publishers and journalists looking to feature certain products. Getting top-notch Shopify SEO services will produce more HARO wins.
Area 3: Technical SEO
The entire process begins with an eCommerce SEO audit, which is also part of regular website maintenance. You’ll learn which is the best eCommerce platform for SEO during the process. Think of it as eCommerce SEO services where technical experts check under the hood of your website.
Remember that every delay in your site’s load time or other problems increases your bounce rate (or the percentage of people leaving a website after visiting one page). When more people leave your site after a quick look, you’re losing a lot of leads.
#10. Improve Site Structure
The next tip in our Shopify SEO guide is to tidy up your site’s structure and use a site map. Then, update your sitemap using Google Webmaster Tools. Keep your site structure simple to ensure your customers get to your product pages with only a few clicks from your home page.
#11. Add Image Alt Texts
Google reports that 23 percent of all searches online are for images. So it’s a great traffic source if you’ve optimized your images using alt texts.
#12. Optimize Site Navigation
Your site’s navigation menu should be easy to navigate for both human users and site crawlers. Organize menu options into a logical layout, easy-to-understand options and consistent content across all pages. Experts providing Shopify SEO services help you fine-tune your site navigation.
#13. Use a Products Schema
Schema markup is code on your website that tells search engines and web crawlers not just what your store’s content is but also what it means. Using product schemas on your product pages helps consumers get more valuable and meaningful results from their searches, improving click-through rates and increasing conversions.
Area 4: Site Maintenance
Another way to find the best eCommerce platform for SEO is regular site maintenance. If you’re not getting the results you’re looking for, it’s time to make a switch to a new one. Periodic maintenance also gives you insights about your current SEO strategy – find out what works and keep using those strategies.
#14. Regular Site Audits
Website audits let you spot site troubles, authority snags, find broken links, page experience issues and problems with your content. To replicate best practices, you can find out which product pages are performing better than others. You also get the chance to repair broken links (Google doesn’t like those).
#15. Maximize Analytics
During maintenance, you can draw data using your analytics tools. Find out what content, keywords, internal linking and other page elements help boost your SEO efforts. In addition, Shopify SEO experts can find out how customers behave and their best sources of information about your products.
Executing a Well-Rounded Strategy
If you have all the 15 boxes ticked in our checklist above, you’re on your way to executing a well-rounded SEO strategy. However, specific details like performing a thorough site audit, using analytics tools and others will require expert help from a seasoned Shopify SEO company.
Thrive is a digital marketing agency with the best Shopify SEO experts and web designers in the industry. We’ve helped companies of all sizes since 2005 and will formulate a custom eCommerce SEO strategy that best suits your business. Our team draws from industry best practices and only uses proven tactics that generate results.
Call today for a free consultation.
