While many benefits come with operating online Shopify stores, it has its challenges.
Individualising your brand amongst a plethora of eCommerce businesses can be difficult.
This is especially true if you’re only joining the scene now. As it stands, there are hundreds of online stores for every industry imaginable.
SEO for Shopify websites is one clear way you can distinguish your online store. To do this effectively, you need to understand and incorporate a quality Shopify SEO strategy.
Want to know more about SEO for your Shopify store?
Speak to our Shopify SEO experts today or browse our range of SEO services.
What is ecommerce SEO?
Imagine running an online clothing store that sells handmade women’s sweaters. When a potential customer looks up “handmade women’s cardigans,” you want your store to appear first in the online search results to gain more sales.
To choose the order in which stores are displayed on search engine results pages (SERPs), Google (the world’s most used search engine) uses a complex algorithm that analyses content in various ways.
Readability, grammar, images, keywords, and other factors help determine whether a website is of high quality and worthy of being presented to users first out of millions of possible results.
Google has stated that they want only the best content displayed in primary search engine results. So, businesses aiming to grow their online presence and sales need to ensure their content is optimised. Working with an online marketing agency offering Shopify SEO services can also be beneficial, as these companies usually have resources that new online stores may not have.
How do I optimise my Shopify store page?
You can go about optimising Shopify stores in a myriad of different ways. Building your brand’s presence online can take a long time, especially if you’re just starting. However, utilising proper Shopify SEO practices can significantly boost your store’s profile for search engines.
1. Keywords
One of the most common methods of optimising Shopify websites is to research and employ various relevant keywords that can be incorporated into your brand’s content. Utilising keywords plays a key role in how Google’s algorithm perceives your content and hence where you rank in SERPs.
Research Keywords
There are a number of free and paid keyword research tools available (SEMrush, Wordtracker, Google’s Keyword Planner, etc.) identify keywords terms people search for within different industries.
For example, after its announcement, ‘2023 Subaru Solterra’ was a particularly hot search term on Google and other search engines, making it a relevant keyword that auto brands could utilise in their web content.
By simply mentioning that keyword or some variation of it, search engine algorithms would rank their web content higher on results pages.
Avoid Keyword Stuffing
However, one thing that business owners need to be wary of is keyword stuffing.
After reading a bit about how search engine optimisation works, you might be tempted to go over to Google’s Keyword Planner, see what search terms are trending within your industry, and then update your Shopify page with as many keywords as possible. Unfortunately, search engine algorithms are on the lookout for this and will usually rank your content lower due to perceived spam.
A keyword-stuffed blog post is similar to an ad-heavy webpage — most people find it difficult to read, scroll through, and interact with, so Google and other search engines don’t want to give it attention.
Utilise Keywords Correctly
Once you’ve researched relevant keywords, there are a few places you can use them on your Spotify website. These include on page SEO titles, image alt text, and meta descriptions.
Pro tip: While there are a few schools of thought on how often you should use keywords, the consensus is quality over quantity and to ensure you are writing for your audience.
2. Link Building
Though one of the more labour-intensive SEO strategies, link building is one of the most effective ways to get search engines to pay attention to your website.
Traditionally, there are two kinds of link building tactics that should be included in SEO strategies: internal and external links.
Internal Linking
Internal links are simple to implement. The idea is to connect various pages on your website by sewing links into different content pages. This is especially useful for Google to identify which keywords to associate with which page, as the keyword or term you have placed the link on is then associated with the linked page.
They are also great for new users because they make your site easier to navigate.
External Links
External links (also known as natural backlinks or editorial backlinks) are posted by other websites referencing your content that lead back to your site. External links play a larger role in ranking your website, as they signify a vote of confidence from other websites — and you get additional bonus points if those third-party sites have good reputations themselves.
These links can be created through local directories, third parties linking to your content as it is viewed as high value, or you can create a guest post on a third-party website.
Link building on Shopify is incredibly important to improving user experience and ultimately making your product pages rank higher in search engine results. Read more about how you can consult on conducting a link-building campaign for your Shopify store.
It goes over what goals to set for your site, what practises you should avoid (such as paying for links or providing links to low-security sites), and much more. It also mentions the benefits of working with a Shopify SEO company, as most have tonnes of resources you can make use of.
3. Quality Content
There are a few factors to how search engines rank pages outside your control if you’re a new Shopify store. These include the age of your domain name, how many other sites reference your site, and how reputable your site is deemed to be. In other words, if you’re a brand-new website, then the best way to go about optimising your store is by creating quality content that users will want to read and share with other people.
What makes content quality? Well, for one thing, it needs to be readable. That means avoiding multi-syllabic words that people need a dictionary to understand. Write for common audiences so that everyone can understand.
It also means using quality images that enhance what people are reading. If you can’t afford original photos, there are plenty of royalty-free stock photo websites (like Unsplash.com) that let you use their images for free.
Finally, making the content relevant to your page title and brand is obvious. If you’re a store selling plush toys, you shouldn’t be posting political content or literature reviews. Make your content fit your brand.
SEO for Shopify
Get a customized SEO strategy for your Shopify store today.
Shopify SEO Services at White Chalk Road
A custom Shopify SEO campaign can drive more traffic to your eCommerce site, develop your online revenue and improve your eCommerce sales.
At White Chalk Road, we are WA’s longest running SEO agency. We have thrived this long through building close relationships with our clients and helping their businesses succeed.
Our Shopify SEO experts can help you grow your business. Please don’t hesitate to give us a call on (08) 9361 9534 to speak to our friendly team about how we can develop an SEO strategy for your business.