Have you ever heard of Shopify SEO? When it comes to marketing strategies conducted online, search engine optimization (SEO) of your content is an eternal companion for digital marketing success. We all believe that SEO strategies only apply to content marketing plans, but that is far from being true.
E-commerce ventures also come with their own set of SEO expectations that you have to fulfill. Shopify SEO tips are different from your standard SEO strategies and are lesser-known. But having an SEO optimized E-commerce store will multiply your store’s SEO-related ROI by many folds. So here are the best 12 tips for eCommerce store optimization that you should check out.
1. Unique Titles For Every Page
The concept of duplication in general websites is different from e-commerce websites. Ecommerce websites have a lot of similar pages where product descriptions, company descriptions, and other content are identical. Sometimes, except for the product serial number, everything can be virtually similar between two pages.
That is a common issue in Shopify SEO that can be easily rectified by running your website through Copyscape on regular intervals. This tool will tell you when you have duplicate content that you need to edit.
There are a few common ways in eCommerce stores to get duplicated content. When you develop a printer-only version for a webpage, it is considered a duplicated content. If a discussion forum created a separate version of a discussion thread for android users that shows up as duplicate content, lastly, store items linked through multiple URLS that are unique will also be counted as duplicate content.
All of these instances can be cleaned up quickly and you will have an eCommerce store that will rank optimally on Google SERP!
2. Store Images Optimization
On your average website, image optimization simply means placing keywords in the alt-text section when uploading the images. Image optimization and image specification section are a whole new game in eCommerce stores. You have to fill out the image specifications entirely for effective Shopify SEO plan execution.
Always make sure that every image has a unique alt tag that is not identical to any other image. You will need to keep a list of images in an excel sheet to make sure there is no duplication. The alt tag should clearly describe the image as it shows in Google Images search, where eCommerce stores are commonly viewed.
Use the keyword once in image description, and make captivating descriptions with useful information. You can copy-paste the social media captions for the products if the images are being promoted on social media.
3. Google Analytics Integration
You cannot track the traffic on your website without Google Analytics. It is a simple process where you go to the Google Analytics portal to generate a universal analytics code for your URL. You will go to the admin of Shopify, then Online Store, and head to Preferences.
There will be a box with the title ‘Google Analytics Code.’ You will place your provided code here. As you go there, your website is all set to track the visitors through Google Analytics.
4. Product Review System
Shopify has its own Product Review app that is readily available for free to improve SEO on Shopify. The review system will allow the customers to give you feedback. But more importantly, if you receive a positive review, it will be linked directly to the SEO status of your URL on Google SERP.
If you gain positive reviews on the Shopify review system, then you will earn an increase in the website ranking automatically. If you can incentivize a good promotion campaign by attaching a positive review with it, then your website may rank higher and higher in Google SERP easily.
5. Redirects On 301 Pages
The issue with the Shopify store is that you will make many pages for products. But products come and go all the time. If your visitors are directed to discontinued products too many times, they will leave. So avoid leaving these kinds of product pages open for the visitors.
You can redirect from these pages to the home page or similar products for Shopify SEO efficacy. But most eCommerce store specialists avoid taking down the page in hopes that the product will continue again. If that happens, you can always make a new page, but avoid leaving empty pages for clients to see. A redirected page also stops ranking high on Google and will rarely be visited by a customer.
6. Blogs Page Configuration
Ecommerce stores tend to think that they do not need a blog. That could not be farther from the truth. The blog posts ensure that there is new content every week that Google can crawl. That increases the ranking of the website on Google.
Good content, when promoted through effective community management, is also a great way to gain more customers for your products. There is no downside and many upsides to having a blog for your products.
7. Canonicals In Domain And Tag Options
The Canonicalization of webpages is not common in general websites. The reason is that most general sites do not have many pages with versions of the same content. But eCommerce websites have entire pages devoted to various versions of the same or similar-looking products.
In this scenario, the URL that represents the best version of the product should appear first to the client. That can be achieved by incorporating a canonicalization habit in URL management. Always put a preferred version that is canonical for every product. Canonicalization of webpages is a complex process that you will have to learn, but it’s worth your time and attention.
8. Technical SEO
Technical Shopify SEO is all about developing a strong relationship with Google search console. You need to make sure that you have completely updated the technical SEO aspects of integrating Google Console.
You have to add a robots.txt or make sure that have one added in the system. You also need a sitemap.xml file and validate the HTML and CSS and ensure that all crawl error issues are cleared out. Also important is the page speed and page crawling functions that only an SEO expert can manage.
9. Sitemap Integration Into Google Search Console
Now that you have integrated Google Console with your URL, make sure that you add the sitemap for your website into the console. That way, Google will know your website and will be able to navigate better in the SERP results. It is a simple process but it is pretty significant.
10. Backlink To Your Store
Just like you create backlinks to your general pages, you should build backlinks to your store. But developing backlinks for your products is simple enough; have a guest posting strategy that extensively showcases your products is a good place to start.
It is also a great Shopify SEO way to rank high on Google and have a robust online presence for when your consumer will look you up online.
11. Google Paid Campaign
Have a thrifty outlook towards Google AdWords, as it has a way to becoming an expensive commodity. But you must consider running a few ad campaigns as well. It is good to be on Google AdWords, and it will also allow you to display your products to the right consumers.
12. Homepage Linking With Product Pages
There is a strong need for a good SEO strategy in Shopify websites. Most individuals do not think that SEO has any relationship with eCommerce. But that is not true in any sense.
Always link your home page with your product pages. Most of the websites display their latest products on the home page and are easily connecting their product pages to their home pages. It’s a simple and effective trick that you should certainly consider.
It also allows you to bring out your products and makes sure that the visitors see the right products. You will require an extensive full-year product exhibition plan that takes product marketing plans into account.
Google ranking will somewhat decide your consumers and visitors, so you need to make sure that your website is well optimized. The SEO strategy for eCommerce websites is different from the standard ways of SEO execution.
Also, improving SEO on Shopify will require an extensive understanding of Google Console, Google Adwords, and Google Analytics. There is endless content available online that explains these Google products. You should continue to try learning these until you become an expert.
The simple fact is that eCommerce SEO is technical is quite different from your standard SEO strategy. But the good news is that it has limited elements that are easy to excel in, once you focus on the learning process. When you have developed a strong understanding of how to run your page, you can simply run it well.
