You’ve heard that a great way to get more customers to your store is by using SEO.
But how do you actually rank in the search engines and get more organic traffic?
In this guide, you’ll learn a few essential tips for optimizing your Shopify store.
Getting started…
To get the most of this guide, you should first:
- Be on a paid plan. Shopify doesn’t let search engines index stores on trial accounts.
- Have a custom domain. People are more likely to click a result from handbagstore.com than handbagstore.myshopify.com. Learn how to connect your custom domain here.
- Be secure. SSL encrypts data sent between your visitors and your store. Shopify provides this. Just double-check that it’s enabled.
- Be mobile-friendly. Most Shopify themes are responsive. Check using Google’s mobile-friendly tester.
- Set up Google Analytics. Google Analytics tracks visitors coming to your store. It’s free. Here’s how to set it up in Shopify.
- Set up Google Search Console (GSC). Google Search Console shows what keywords you rank for, amongst other things. Follow this guide to set things up.
- Submit your sitemap to GSC. Shopify creates an XML sitemap for you at yourstore.com/sitemap.xml. Follow these steps to submit it.
Done all of that?
Follow the 10 tips below to take your SEO to the next level.
A good site structure helps users navigate your content more easily. It also helps search engines understand your site, which may help you rank higher.
How do you create a good site structure?
It’s all about hierarchy; you want your main categories at the top, followed by subcategories, followed by products.
For example, if you own an online guitar store, one of your categories might be “electric.” Under this, you might have a few subcategories, like “Ibanez” and “Jackson,” both of which are makers of electric guitars.
Under these sub-categories will be the range of products you’re selling.
