Running an online store isn’t easy, but Shopify can make it appreciably easier. Shopify is an ecommerce platform that helps webmasters to bake a range of online retail functionality — including payment processing, marketing, and tracking customer engagement — into their sites.
Shopify can also assist you in getting your online store noticed online. Here are several tried-and-tested SEO (search engine optimisation) methods you can use for helping to push listings of your Shopify-powered site up search engine results pages (SERPs).
Make it make sense — your online store’s structure, that is
It would naturally be off-putting if you walked into a physical retail store and struggled to see much rhyme or reason to how the products were displayed there. In this scenario, frustration could start setting in, potentially leading you to leave the shop entirely.
This is basically our roundabout way of saying: your ecommerce website needs to be designed in such a way that shoppers there can easily find what they came for.
One good idea is for the homepage to link to category pages that, in turn, link to product pages. This makes the webpages easier for customers to navigate and search engines to crawl.
Add some zip to your website’s load times
Search Engine Journal points out that “47% of online shoppers expect webpages to load within two seconds”, while “more than 48% of people access the Internet from a mobile device.”
Both figures give you an incentive to strip as much data-heavy flab as possible from your online store without hampering its essential functionality or leaving it looking too clinical.
To this end, you should probably give slider images a wide berth — and make sure product photos on your website aren’t needlessly large. It would also be wise of you to implement a responsive Shopify theme for that site and rid it of any redundant apps still running in the background.
Be selective with what keywords you use
To determine what the most SEO-friendly keywords would be for your particular online store, ask yourself what search terms its target customers would likely use when Googling products they want. However, not all of these people might be quite ready to buy anything specific just yet.
For example, someone intent on buying a screen protector for their new smartphone might first want to educate themselves on the different types of screen protector available. This could be your cue to post a blog article about the subject if your store indeed offers screen protectors.
Shopify also provides technical instructions for how to insert keywords into the title tag and meta description of individual webpages built on the Shopify platform. It is crucial not to underestimate the SEO worth of the title tag and meta description, as they are both displayed on SERPs.
Utilise Shopify Markets if you wish to sell overseas
Until recently, owners of Shopify-powered stores could struggle to put in place the technical infrastructure needed for international sales. Hence, the store owners could be forced to join an online marketplace, such as eBay or Etsy, just to tap into foreign markets.
However, through implementing the Shopify Markets solution, you can enable people based abroad to buy directly from your Shopify outlet. Meanwhile, such complexities as currency conversion and language localisation will be handled without any need for your direct input.
Troubleshoot if your website is faring badly in search results
If you have only recently used Shopify to set up your online store, it might not yet have turned up on SERPs for the simple reason that the search engines haven’t yet got around to indexing it. It’s fair to say that reaping SEO success can be very much a waiting game.
Nonetheless, there remain certain steps you could take to accelerate the process. To this end, you could submit your sitemap to Google Search Console, using instructions provided by Shopify.
It is also worth heeding that search engines don’t index online stores run on Shopify trial accounts. This means that if you are still using one of these, you should shift to a paid Shopify plan as soon as you are ready.
If your Shopify store appears to be performing below par on SERPs, our team can undertake a technical audit of the site’s SEO for you. This is just one of the many expert Shopify services we can provide in order to help get your shop in tip-top shape.
To find out more about these services, please enquire by ringing us on 020 34114 789 or by sending an email to [email protected].
