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Shopify SEO 2021 – A Complete Guide
Have you ever been to an art exhibition? What makes an art gallery stand out for you? The curation or the artist? The key to ace an art exhibition is an integration of both components. The most complex job is of a curator, who has to group and assemble paintings according to themes.
Shopify is just like an art gallery, where you can put up your art and sell it. Where the curation bit has a resemblance with Shopify SEO. As the platform is growing with time, the competition is increasing. The only way to make it through this cut-throat competition is to present your business in a way that it stands out. As a business user, you need to curate your website in a way that provides value to your customer. Shopify SEO is a key to this. A way to retain customers and befriend Google too. A win-win situation for all the involved stakeholders.
Moreover, an SEO Shopify Expert will be your curator. A curator is responsible for assembling, cataloging, managing, and displaying collections. Your SEO expert is the curator for your website, whose job is to charm your audience through his/her sense of display. As a business owner, your goal would be to solve the Shopify SEO puzzle. But here is a thing, It is one of the easy puzzles to exist given that Shopify provides you with some in-built SEO functions. However, to achieve numbers and ranking you might have to do some work on your own too. We will be discussing a few pointers that will help your Shopify SEO expert strategize the curation process.
The basic checklist will include the following
- Optimization of the website layout
- Shopify keywords research
- Elevate your user experience
- Optimization of collections and products
- Accessible URLs
- Shopify SEO audit
- Value-adding content
Optimization of the Website Layout
Think like an owner of an art gallery, the customer entering might not know the artist. However, the first association they will have would be with your gallery. In Shopify, your gallery is your website. Your website is your spokesperson, the hows and whys matter a lot. You don’t want to lose a customer by poor display and navigation of your products and collections. Your goal should be to leave them curious, force them to explore more of your website.
A structured and proper website will help you in your rankings too. As a business owner, your goals involve both profits and recognition. Your Shopify SEO is a pathway to both these goals.
Start from a precise yet explanatory ABOUT US page, when working on SEO for the Shopify store keep in mind the role of your landing pages. Contact us page will be followed by the about us page, customers should know how to contact you in case of any query.
About Shopify SEO, your homepage plays a very key role. It not only helps you generate leads but also gives easy access to your customers. Your categories and products should be meticulously laid out. Any confusion for the customer may lead to a bad user experience. Keep it easy and simple.
Shopify Keywords Research
Keywords are pivotal for your Shopify SEO, they help catalyze the whole process. Choosing the right Shopify keywords for your optimization is important. Keywords act as a map for your business, using them your customers are directed towards you. Keywords inform you about what your customer is looking for. It is the way your customer lands up to your website. However, there is a catch here. The keywords used by e-commerce sites show buying intent. In other words, the keywords you should be looking for in your SEO should be commercial.
Going forward you need to keep 4 things in mind i.e; competition, volume, intent, and relevance. You will be looking at these 4 elements while listing down your keywords. Shopify SEO experts rely on these features while working on SEO for Shopify stores.
Under the above-mentioned elements, you can devise a strategy for your website. A strategy that will not only ease out the optimization process but also retain customers.
Elevate your user experience
User experience is all about sensory branding experience when you create a certain ambiance for your customer. It talks about the basic atmosphere or feels of a place. The same goes for your website. If a customer encounters a good user experience, it will automatically elevate your business. The basic purpose of introducing this term was to emphasize the idea of a feel-good experience in addition to providing value to the customer.
Using all the elements in the right proportion is the key to great Shopify SEO. using the right keywords along with extraordinary user experience is the right way to go about it. The usability should be engaging, visually appealing, and user-friendly. Accommodating all types of customers. To add on, work on the responsive time off your store’s website. Netizens today can access your Shopify store by any medium.
Optimization of collections and products
Optimization of Collections and products go hand in hand in SEO for Shopify stores. It’s more of a thematic process, more of curation than a technical task. How do you choose to present your collections and products to your customers? You would want to make the navigation through the website easy.
Collections are the groups you make for your products. Depending on the number of products your store is offering, you can place them in different collections. These collections will be based on your themes or categories. These categories will be based on your customer requirements. Shopify SEO gives few options for optimizing your collections. You can choose and work according to your needs.
Accessible URLs
Having clean and accessible URLs are very important. It’s just like giving someone a vague address to your place. You would want your users to reach the desired destination without any glitches. You wouldn’t want to roam the entire block just to reach your house. So for that, you provide clear instructions. The algorithm used by Google looks at both your domain name and website URL. therefore, have clean URLs, that will help your customer to reach your business by using the right keywords. Your URL should entail your keyword. It will not only ensure your product name but also help with SEO optimization Shopify.
Apart from your Shopify meta tags and titles, your URL is also used for engaging the audience. All SERPs use this method, and for your store to show up on search engines you should not forget to change your URL.
Value-adding content
When working on Shopify SEO, the goal should be original and rich content. Now the term rich content entails everything from blogs to elaborate product descriptions. As an owner of a Shopify store, you have complete ownership of your content.
Nobody can define your content strategy for you however, there is a certain framework that will help you with the technicalities of Shopify SEO. Here are few pointers that one should keep in mind while formatting your content.
As a Shopify SEO expert, you should follow some basic on-page SEO rules. This will include:
- Catchy titles. It should contain your focus keyword and must not be longer than 50-60 characters.
- Headings and subheadings
- Use of Shopify meta keywords
- Alt Image Text
- Optimization of the images you insert
- Use of Shopify tags
- Elaborative product descriptions
- Keyword density
- Focus on readability.
- Meta description
- Relevant slug
Keep your content SEO friendly and in sync with these pointers, other than that you can be as creative as you want. Checking them off the list will help you in your ranking and optimization strategy,
Shopify SEO Audit
After you have finished with all the basic steps for Shopify SEO, you should conduct an SEO audit. This will enable you to go through all the things you have done. Also, if you have missed out on something it will cover that.
Shopify SEO experts should follow the following Shopify SEO checklist
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][mkdf_accordion style=”toggle”][mkdf_accordion_tab title_tag=”h3″ title=”Citations”][vc_column_text]Look for typos and online references, make sure all the information provided on the website is accurate and updated,[/vc_column_text][/mkdf_accordion_tab][/mkdf_accordion][mkdf_accordion style=”toggle”][mkdf_accordion_tab title_tag=”h3″ title=”Meta tags audit”][vc_column_text]Make sure keywords are added in meta tags and they are readable. Google algorithms pick up in your meta tags so make sure there are no mistakes.[/vc_column_text][/mkdf_accordion_tab][/mkdf_accordion][mkdf_accordion style=”toggle”][mkdf_accordion_tab title_tag=”h3″ title=”Content audit”][vc_column_text]Check for keyword density and readability. Go over your on-page SEO once again.[/vc_column_text][/mkdf_accordion_tab][/mkdf_accordion][mkdf_accordion style=”toggle”][mkdf_accordion_tab title_tag=”h3″ title=”URL audit”][vc_column_text]Insert your focus keyword, should be relevant to your product,[/vc_column_text][/mkdf_accordion_tab][/mkdf_accordion][mkdf_accordion style=”toggle”][mkdf_accordion_tab title_tag=”h3″ title=”Backlink audit”][vc_column_text]Check for any broken or expired backlinks.[/vc_column_text][/mkdf_accordion_tab][/mkdf_accordion][mkdf_accordion style=”toggle”][mkdf_accordion_tab title_tag=”h3″ title=”Review google and SERP optimization”][vc_column_text]Make sure all elements such as meta tags, meta descriptions, internal and external backlinking are in order. All the things that are picked by the google algorithm for ranking must be double-checked.[/vc_column_text][/mkdf_accordion_tab][/mkdf_accordion][mkdf_accordion style=”toggle”][mkdf_accordion_tab title_tag=”h3″ title=”Site speed audit”][vc_column_text]Take note, response time and site speed are 2 important elements. According to Google analytics, a good website takes approximately 4 seconds to load. This is the standard you have to meet because slow sites are a bummer.[/vc_column_text][/mkdf_accordion_tab][/mkdf_accordion][/vc_column][/vc_row]