Are you looking to improve SEO on your Shopify website and make it rank high on search engines like Google? This Shopify SEO strategy guide is for you.
Let’s face it: ranking your website high on Google is not as easy as it used to be in the early days of the web. Then, all you needed to do was stuff your page content with keywords, and everything else fell into place. Now, you could even get penalized for keyword stuffing. Plus, Google’s ranking metrics have become more complex than ever, so keyword stuffing isn’t helping anymore.
However, the good news is that you can still rank your Shopify website high on Search Engine Result Pages (SERPs). Ecommerce agency san diego will show you Search Engine Optimization strategies to help you improve your store’s ranking.
What is Shopify SEO?
Simply put, Shopify SEO involves optimizing your Shopify store for search engines. Shopify SEO isn’t so different from the regular search engine optimization you do on WordPress – only that there are some peculiarities. For example, to increase the visibility of your store products on Google, you need to take extra care to infuse relevant keywords into your product descriptions and image alt texts. In addition, avoid littering your website with duplicate content. Duplicate content is a unique problem to Shopify, unlike WordPress.
That said, let’s look at some of the strategies that you can use to improve your Shopify store’s ranking on Google.
7 Shopify SEO Strategies to Improve Ranking on Google
Here are 7 things you can do to improve your Shopify store’s visibility on Google and other search engines.
1. Conduct Keyword Research
The success or failure of your SEO campaign largely depends on your choice of keywords. Unfortunately, many eCommerce entrepreneurs don’t give keyword research a moment of thought. It’s not enough to infuse keywords all over your website. What matters most is using the right keywords.
How to Conduct Keyword Research:
- Niche Down: Picking a broad niche like “sneakers” won’t cut it. The narrower the niche, the better. Something like “CBD for pets” can work.
- Use Auto-Suggest: Use Google or Amazon auto-suggest to find the keywords your customers are searching for.
For instance, if you sell toys for pets, type “dog toys” into Google. You will notice that several related keywords will pop up. These are the keywords your customers are searching for, and they should be the foundation of your SEO strategy.
2. Infuse the Keywords Into Your Page Content
Once you have your target keywords, the next step is to make it easy for Google crawlers to find your pages using those keywords.
Where to Add Keywords:
- Page Title
- Meta Description
- Page Body Content
- Image Alt Texts
For example, let’s say you want to add the keyword “women’s sweatpants” to your product page title. Assuming your website is new and has no product page, you will need to create one and infuse your keyword into it.
3. Improve Your Website’s Navigation
One of the metrics Google checks before ranking a website is its ease of navigation. Websites that are easy to navigate have better user engagement and lower bounce rates. This means users stay longer, which significantly improves your Shopify store rank.
Tips for Better Navigation:
- Ensure that your product pages can be easily reached from your homepage.
- A visitor shouldn’t click more than three times to reach a particular product.
4. Get More Backlinks to Improve SEO
The number and quality of backlinks to your website have an enormous influence on your Shopify SEO. Getting high-quality backlinks is essential for SEO success.
What are Backlinks?
Backlinks are simply links pointing to your website from another website. However, not all backlinks are created equal. Links from social media platforms won’t significantly impact your ranking, nor will links from low-quality websites. Conversely, a link from a popular website like CNN carries a lot of weight.
How to Get Quality Backlinks:
- Publish Guest Posts: Write for high-authority websites.
- Product Reviews: Reach out to bloggers and review websites to review your products.
- Manufacturer Links: Ask product manufacturers to link to your store.
- Create Shareable Content: Post insightful, shareable content on your blog.
Avoid buying links; it could harm your website’s ranking.
5. Optimize Your Website for Speed
A slow-loading website can frustrate visitors, leading to increased bounce rates and lower Google search rankings.
Tips for Speed Optimization:
- Compress Images: Compress product images before uploading them.
- Use JPEGs: JPEG images are lighter and load faster.
- Light-weight Themes: Use a lightweight theme. Check out SalesHunterThemes for fast-loading themes.
- Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP): Integrate AMP technology for faster mobile page loading.
- Minimize Apps: Reduce the number of apps installed on your website.
6. Take Blogging Seriously
Regularly publishing insightful content on your blog can significantly improve your Shopify SEO. Thankfully, Shopify has an out-of-the-box blogging feature. You can access it by navigating to Online Store >> Blog posts.
Content Ideas:
- Create content around the keywords you are targeting.
- For example, if you sell women’s sweatpants, blog posts like “10 Best Sweatpant Outfit Ideas” or “How to Rock Your Sweatpants to a Party” could work well.
Publishing blog posts that align with your niche helps Google understand your website’s focus, improving your search rankings.
7. Use the Right Shopify SEO App
While Yoast SEO is popular for WordPress, it doesn’t work on Shopify. Fortunately, there are several Shopify SEO apps that can help improve your SEO strategy.
Recommended Shopify SEO Apps:
- Plugin SEO: This app checks your shop for SEO issues and alerts you via email.
- Smart SEO: Generates meta tags and alt tags automatically and provides structured data for search engines.
- Booster SEO & Image Optimizer: Optimizes images for faster loading and better ranking in Google Image search.
- Yoast: Though not available on Shopify, similar apps can help optimize your site for chosen keywords.
- SEMRush: Helps analyze competitors’ keywords and find underused keywords for your store.
Conclusion
By following these seven steps, you can significantly improve your Shopify store’s visibility on search engines, attract more traffic, and boost your sales. Focus on optimizing your site structure, enhancing user experience, researching the right keywords, optimizing product pages, building backlinks, leveraging content marketing, and using effective seo services in irvine and apps.
Investing time and effort into these SEO strategies will pay off in the long run, helping you build a strong online presence, drive more organic traffic, and achieve sustainable growth for your Shopify store. Remember, SEO is an ongoing process that requires regular updates and adjustments. Stay informed about the latest trends and best practices to keep your store ahead of the competition.
