Optimize Your Shopify Store With SEO
So you built your Shopify site, and it's open for business. But now you have to reach potential customers and get them to buy from you instead of your competitors.
"The famous saying "if you build it, they will come" may have probably worked before the digital era, but in today's internet-driven world, it takes more than building an eCommerce store or site to attract customers.
So how do you do it? More importantly, how do you optimize your SEO to rank higher on Google and other search engines?
Here's a breakdown of how to do SEO in Shopify to improve your ranking.
HOW TO IMPROVE SEO IN SHOPIFY
SITE STRUCTURE
Many overlook this step, but it's hugely important to website success. The way your content is organized on each page is vital. When shoppers are able to find what they want easily and quickly, they end up spending more time on the site and click on other pages. Effectively, this will help you rank higher in the search engines.
Simplify the structure of your website. Don't go too overboard with subcategories. Keep it user friendly. Use themes that are SEO-friendly and compatible with all devices like desktops, mobiles, and tablets.
KEYWORD RESEARCH
You may have heard this 100 times before, but keywords are the foundation of SEO success. So, of course, I couldn't write this article without mentioning keywords.
Keyword research tools are great. But sometimes you have to go that extra step and think outside the box.
One great way to do this is to choose four or five main topics that are closely related to your product. Think of yourself as the customer, what search terms would you type? Forums and hashtags are great for some inspiration.
WHAT SEO PLUGINS & TOOLS SHOULD I CONSIDER?
Shopify is known for its simplicity and ease of use platform. There are plugins that you can use for Shopify to make it even more manageable and easier for search engine optimization.
Plugin SEO
Over 30,000 Shopify stores use this tool. It helps you fix your website issues and optimize SEO to improve your organic rankings.
SEO Plus
Designed to increase sales and traffic by analyzing the content on your website, helping you keep it up to date. An added bonus is that it's totally free.
SHOPIFY SEO CHECKLIST
Regardless of whether you have a new store or not, it's always ideal to have an SEO checklist in place.
Make sure your SEO checklist includes:
Google Analytics And Google Search Console
Google Search Console helps check for any crawling errors, if any errors do show up, you'll be able to fix them immediately.
Google Analytics allows you to analyze traffic data, bounce rate, and performance.
Keywords
I know I have already mentioned them, but there's no harm in mentioning them again because they are just that important.
Constantly doing your keyword research can help you to understand what exactly a customer is looking for and what types of content they may be interested in.
Links and Link Building
Google, as well as other search engines, use the quality, relevancy, and number of links to a specific page or website when determining the ranking factor.
A great tip is to look for opportunities and partnerships from other sites in your industry that you could share value with to improve your link building strategy. It's also an idea to check out your competitors' link building strategy to see what pages they are linking to.
Content
There is a misconception that you don't need content for an eCommerce store. Wrong! Good quality content is great for higher rankings. Therefore, you should aim to have a good content marketing strategy if you want to rank higher in SEO. Helping customers get more value out of a product by writing about it, explaining its features and any tips and tricks, they are more likely to buy a product when they know what to expect.
SHOPIFY SUPPORT FORUMS
Starting a Shopify store can be overwhelming, especially if you have no prior SEO and digital marketing skills.
Luckily, Shopify has an enormous forum and a community where you can create and find threads.
You can probably find an answer to just about anything related to Shopify, from payments to shipping to accounting and taxes. Their e-commerce marketing thread alone, which includes SEO, AdWords, and advertising, has over 30,000 posts. So if you have any questions, they have most likely already been answered. Additionally, Shopify also offers a 24/7 support feature.
SHOPIFY SEO EXPERT
It is not easy setting up a store and trying to learn how to optimize it through SEO. And if you feel like marketing isn't your strong suit, you can always hire a Shopify SEO expert, yes they exist, and they specialize in optimizing Shopify stores.
First, define the areas where you need help. It may be in marketing and sales, branding, content marketing, or development. That way, you have a better idea of what you want the expert to focus on.
There's a lot of work that goes into creating and optimizing any kind of website, and as a business owner, you still have to worry about the planning and day to day operations to keep your customers satisfied. Hiring a Shopify SEO expert can help you free up that time to focus on your business.
THE BOTTOM LINE
Whether you choose to hire an SEO expert or decide to do it all yourself, knowing exactly how to optimize your SEO to rank higher is essential for your business.
Make sure you always refer back to your checklist, add to it, upgrade it, and research research research!
Learning the ins and outs of SEO optimization can be a daunting task, but it is extremely beneficial and highly rewarding because it eliminates the confusion of what do next with your business.
It helps you to identify your strengths and weaknesses, what is selling and what isn't. But most importantly and best of all, it helps get your rankings up in search engines, which means more traffic and more sales for you!
