Ecommerce is booming these days, and there are several platforms available for building your online store. However, there is no one-size-fits-all type of platform available. As a result, you need to choose your eCommerce store platform wisely.
In this blog, we will specifically focus on one eCommerce store platform called Shopify. It is being used by thousands of eCommerce store owners across the world. We will go through a number of tips to optimize a Shopify store for Search Engine Optimization(SEO).
So, let’s begin the discussion.
7 SEO Tips For Your Shopify Store
SEO is necessary for websites and e-commerce stores. With increasing competition in this domain, you need to master SEO for growth and success. Let’s look at some important tips for the same.
#1 Create Site Hierarchy
You need to establish your Shopify store’s site hierarchy initially for good SEO. This makes it easy for visitors, as well as search engines, to crawl your pages. This is also mentioned by Shopify itself.
The store structure should not be complicated; otherwise, it will become difficult for search engines to find your website.
As per research, if customers can easily find products on the website, and spend more time on it, search rankings improve automatically.
#2 Work on User Experience(UX)
You should work on your Shopify store’s UX, like any other website on the internet. If your site loads slowly, visitors will leave and may never return.
For good loading speeds, use well-optimized images and themes which are mobile-friendly. Images should be created as per recommendations by Shopify itself. Make use of online tools to compress the images.
Animations should be avoided along with sliders, as they reduce the site’s speed. Your Shopify store should have a responsive theme making it suitable for all types of devices.
Specifically, it should be mobile responsive as the majority of your customers will access your store using mobile devices.
Tip#3 Make Use of Content Marketing
Content will drive people to your website, but it needs to be engaging. You will get many more leads if you put in time and effort into high-quality and original content.
Most of the store owners struggle with the content part as they do not know what to write upon. So, start with what the customers are asking for.
Content tells your customers about your brand and increases your conversions. Blogs have been known to give good results for many online stores, so you should also try them to improve your search rankings and SEO.
For eCommerce stores, customer reviews are also a great form of content that can drive more traffic, leads, and conversions. Many probable customers make their purchase decisions after reading reviews and ratings.
You should also include a Frequently Asked Questions(FAQs) page for your customers, which helps them with their queries.
Tip#4 Build Backlinks
Backlinks have long been known to improve the SEO of any website and eCommerce stores are no different. Try to get backlinks from high quality websites naturally and your rankings would improve.
You should not buy links but try to get them genuinely, as this will increase your credibility and make your store trustworthy both for customers and search engines.
If you sell products of established companies, you can send them an email requesting to backlink to your store from their websites.
You can also approach influencers who can link back to your store from their blogs, websites, or social media posts. There can be places where you have been mentioned without being linked, so get in touch with them and ask for a backlink.
You can also try to find broken links on competitors’ websites that offer products similar to yours. Reach out to the website owner and ask them to link back to your store instead.
It is a known fact that broken links affect both website performance and SEO.
Tip#5 Optimize Technical Aspects
All your webpages have H1 tags, title tags, URL slugs, and meta descriptions, all of which affect SEO.
URL slugs indicate to search engines and users what that particular page is about. It is known to affect search rankings lightly. You should keep URL slugs readable and descriptive at the same time.
Title tag is the HTML that specifies webpage’s title and may appear in search results. H1 tag on the other hand specifies the title on the webpage itself. Keep your title tags and H1 tags similar, as it can be confusing.
You should use your primary keyword in both the title tag and H1 tag, as it helps the search engines know your page better and improves ranking.
Tip#6 Look for Relevant Keywords
You know what keywords are; they are the words that people type in search engines like Google or Bing. So, you should find keywords that are relevant to you and include them in your content.
This is needed as it tells the search engines that your content is relevant to the search. As a result, it will be shown in the search results. However, do not do keyword stuffing, as it will be easily detected by search engines.
So, find all the target keywords based on your product categories and specific products. You can do this with the help of Keyword research tools like Ahrefs, Google Keyword Planner, Semrush, etc.
You should keep an eye on search volume, which is the average number of times a keyword is searched every month. Keyword difficulty, which is in terms of percentage, indicates how hard it is to rank in the top 10 for a particular keyword.
Search intent is the purpose behind the search, which can be commercial, transactional, or informational.
Tip#7 Make Use of Relevant Shopify Apps
There are Shopify apps available that help with SEO automatically instead of requiring manual effort. You should use them to your advantage.
One such app is Shopify Finder, which is a comprehensive eCommerce product research app. It can be used for identifying in-demand products based on order trends and profits. Shopify Finder can also be used to find competitors’ product details like order data and pricing.
It can also be used to plan your offers based on the shelf life of popular products. Shopify Finder has both a free trial and a paid option.
Another Shopify App is called Schema Plus for SEO which can be used to automate schema implementation. It was developed by former Google employees for seamless, structured data implementation.
It is easy to use, and after a free trial of a week, you have to pay for it.
Another app for Shopify stores is Tiny SEO Speed Image Optimizer. It can be used to increase your Shopify store’s speed by image compression, lazy load configuration, broken link detection and Alt text generator.
It has both free and paid versions.
Checking Out & Wrapping Up…
So, now you have seven tips to optimize your Shopify store and do maximum business. As there will be much more competition in the eCommerce domain in the coming years, you cannot take your eCommerce platform for granted.
You can hire experts who can help you with your online store SEO, in case you do not have the skilled professionals to do so. Rest assured, it will be worth the investment as your online store will see massive growth.
You can get in touch with Buzzlink Studios to discuss your website and app development requirements.
