SEO for Shopify themes
There are many different ways to improve your search rank. Some approaches may be technical, possibly costly. However, the best approach is relatively simple and free.
Rising in search ranks is a gradual process, but there are short-term changes that can have a long-term impact.
The most impactful changes can be done by you, all within the Shopify dashboard and theme editor. The tips below focus on improving the content of your site and how your site appears in search results.
You can also check out Shopify's SEO: A Guide to Generating Store Traffic ↗.
Create unique site content
The core to improving search ranks comes down to writing content that's relevant and useful to the kind of person you want shopping at your store.
So first, start writing more content in your unique voice: write blog posts about your store and what you love, provide detailed product descriptions, and add marketing copy and pages that tell your story.
The number of sites that link to your store will also improve your search ranking. By writing what others want to share, you'll increase your reach with these 'natural' links.
Edit content shown in search results
Beyond the main content, there's a special type of content called SEO metadata. It's this content that appears in search results.
Shopify makes it easy to edit. Go to your pages or posts, and click Edit website SEO. You can modify the the title, 'meta' description, and URL handle.
Your aim should be to keep these short and simple. You need to give potential visitors a quick impression of what they can expect and persuade them to click through to your store.
Use keyword research
To show up in search results, you want your site's content to match up with the words and phrases your potential customers will mostly likely use when searching.
Keywords are popular search terms that people use in search engines. Using keywords in your headings and content can help expand your reach.
There are free tools to find keywords related to your store and products. For example, check out Keyword.io ↗, Moz Explorer ↗, and Uber Suggest ↗.
To make the most of these tools, you'll need to reflect on who your customers are and consider what terms they might use when searching.
Some quick tips
Avoid duplicate content. If your content is very similar to other sites, it can lower your search rank. This might be a good reason to be weary of using AI-generated content.
You don't need to talk like a robot. It's important to write for your customers and not for search engines. It's best to talk like you. Trying to 'game' search engines can often have a negative impact.
Learn from other stores. Try searching keywords related to your store. Check out the top-ranking sites and see what they might be doing differently.
Improve your site structure
While your theme and Shopify already structures your content to optimize search ranking, there are a few things you can do to keep your content organized and searchable.
Focus on making a clear navigation for your store, with link text that clearly describes the page that's linked. Also make sure to fix any broken links, as search engines use them to map out your site.
You can use Mega navigation menus to create clear pathways for large catalogs.
More SEO tools
There are some more advanced steps you can take for SEO. See Shopify's guide for more in-depth tips and instructions.
Duplicate content warnings
SEO reports will often flag links with “duplicate content”. But there’s no need to worry — Shopify themes use canonical URLs to automatically prevent issues that might be caused by duplicate content, and you don’t need to take any further action.
“Duplicate content” simply means that there are multiple URLs that point to the same webpage. For instance, a page could be accessed through www.mystore.com/page or www.mystore.com/page?ref=facebook.
Sites are not penalized for duplicate content, unless the content is scraped from other sites in order to deceptively manipulate search results.
Canonical URLs
When there are multiple URLs for a single page, search engines need to decide which URL they should use in search results. This URL is called the canonical URL.
Shopify automatically adds canonical URL tags to all pages, which tells search engines the “official” URL that should be included in search results.
Canonical URLs prevents search engines from indexing alternate URLs as separate pages, which can reduce the quality of search results.
Canonical URLs and all aspects related to store domains are managed by Shopify. For more help, we recommend reaching out to the Shopify Support Team.
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