Shopify SEO Checklist: What to Check, Fix and Delegate

With a Shopify site, you have a slight head start when it comes to search engine optimisation (SEO). It lays some of the technical foundations for you. But hogood is Shopify SEO out of the box? That’s a question we explore here.

In this guide, we show you which aspects of SEO Shopify does for you and which you’ll need to work on. This Shopify SEO checklist gives you clear, practical steps towards gaining organic visibility. It applies whether you’re setting up your Shopify ecommerce site from scratch or trying to improve its SEO performance.

Your 5 key focus areas for Shopify SEO

There are five important aspects of SEO that you need to work on to increase organic traffic to your ecommerce site. You can tick off some tasks yourself, but others will need to be delegated to your tech team.

1. SEO foundations

Start with getting your SEO basics right first. Some of these tasks are quick wins; one off tasks that’ll take you minutes rather than hours.

Set up Google Search Console: This is where you see your site’s performance data like impressions, clicks and click-through rate. It helps you understand your customers’ search intent when they look for your products.
Set up Google Analytics 4: Shopify has its own Google Analytics 4 integration. You’re better off using that rather than a third-party app where possible. It keeps your set-up simpler and your data cleaner.
Submit your sitemap.xml to Google Search Console: Shopify auto-generates this sitemap file for you. It’s just a case of telling Google where to find it.
Check your robots.txt file: Shopify auto-generates one too and it’s editable via robots.txt.liquid. But this is best handled by a dev as a wrong edit can accidentally block your whole store from being crawled.

Set up Google Merchant Center: Shopify has a native Google & YouTube channel app that syncs your product feed automatically. This is mainly a connection task rather than technical build.
Use a custom domain: Don’t use your default my.shopify domain as it splits authority and looks unprofessional. Create a bespoke domain name that’s relevant to your business.
Enable HTTPS: This should be on by default, but it’s wise to confirm it with your developer when your site goes live.
Check your site is indexable: Use a Chrome browser extension to inspect your robots.txt, indexing and canonical tags to check if anything’s blocking search engines.

2. Keyword research and site structure

This is your SEO strategy element. It’s well worth getting it in place from the outset. Then your subsequent SEO work will be far more effective.

Carry out keyword research: Understand how your customers search for your products. Target their search terms over ones you may use yourself. Tools like Google Keyword Planner, Ahrefs or Semrush help you determine search volume and possible keyword variations.

Map target keywords to the right pages: Think which terms to assign to collection pages and product pages. Blog pages are also hugely valuable for the informational searches people make around your products before they buy. More on this below.

Create a logical site structure: Keep your user experience simple. Aim for every product to be reachable in three clicks or fewer from the homepage. For example, homepage > category page > product page. A logical, meaningful URL structure is essential too.

Optimise your Shopify navigation: Your main navigation menu should reflect how customers think about your products. Make sure it’s clear and easy to understand.
Build useful collection pages: These often rank better than individual product pages for broader search terms, so they deserve your attention and considered content.
Avoid keyword cannibalisation: If two pages have the same target keywords, they compete for attention. Make sure your target terms are distinct for each page.

Use clean, descriptive URLs: Shopify automatically prefixes URLs with /products/, /collections/ or /blogs/. These can’t be removed without an app or dev workaround. Instead, focus your effort on making the slug itself descriptive and readable.

3. On-page SEO

The goal of on-page SEO is to make each individual page more visible to search engines and AI tools. By optimising your page elements like keywords, meta tags, headers and URLs, you tell search engines and your users what it’s about.

Optimise page titles : Shopify’s default title tag template often duplicates your H1. Take the time to write separate page titles with your target keyword and brand name in mind.
Write compelling meta descriptions: This shows up on your search engine results pages (SERPs). A well-written one can be the difference between someone clicking your result or a competitor’s.

Optimise H1 headings: Use one primary keyword per H1 and page title. Make sure the heading’s relevant and catchy enough to capture people’s attention.
Structure headings properly: Have one clear H1 per page. Then use H2s and H3s to organise your content logically underneath it.
Optimise product descriptions: Avoid pasting manufacturer copy word for word. It’s a surefire way to get duplicate content across multiple retailers. Create unique copy that’ll help your page stand out.

Optimise collection descriptions: Beyond product pages, this is another way to boost your organic search visibility.
Optimise image file names: Change your image name to something relevant before uploading. Something like organic-lavender-shampoo.jpg is more effective than bottle1.jpg.

Add descriptive image alt text: Similarly, write a description that’s specific to your image. This helps both accessibility and image search visibility.
Optimise image sizes: Large images can slow your page load time. Most modern Shopify themes, auto-serve responsive, compressed images and support lazy loading. But to ensure this, optimise the image size before uploading.

Add internal links: Help search engines and your users to navigate your site easily. Include internal links between related products, collections and blog posts to encourage movement between pages. Remember to include relevant keywords in your anchor text (the clickable link to another page) too.

4. Technical SEO

This is where delegation comes in. Yes, there are some tasks that you (or your website manager) can handle yourself. But others are best left to a developer.

Tasks for website managers:

Check canonical URLs: Use a browser extension to spot self-referencing canonicals. Shopify handles most of this natively, but apps for customer reviews or filtering can interfere. It’s worth checking periodically.

Fix broken links: Regular crawls of your site will flag these.
Implement redirects correctly: Shopify doesn’t let you redirect a live 200 page, so redirects generally only apply to broken 404 pages. That’s worth knowing before you plan a URL change.
Perform SEO audits: Check for issues and identify fixes to be made. Tools like Semrush, Ahrefs or Screaming Frog are great for this.

Tasks for developers:

Manage duplicate content: On Shopify, common causes include products listed in multiple collections (which generates duplicate URL paths for the same product), paginated collection pages without proper canonicalisation and duplicate collections. Your developer will need to override this functionality so that each product only has 1 URL.

Optimise faceted navigation and filters: Filters can generate thousands of near-duplicate URLs that reduce your site’s authority. Ensure you set them up carefully to avoid that.

Improve Core Web Vitals (site speed): People are impatient, time-poor or both. So, slow-loading sites tend to have higher bounce rates and lower conversion rates. To remedy that, start by tackling app bloat. It’s relatively easy to remove unnecessary apps. But to optimise themes further, you’ll need dev support.

Make the store mobile-friendly: Your customers are likely to search on their mobile devices. Make it work for them. Most modern Shopify themes are responsive by default, but custom sections can impact that.

Use structured data/ schema markup: This supports rich results for products and reviews which makes it easier for search engines and AI tools to understand your content and display rich snippets in their search results. You’ll find that some Shopify themes include basic organisation/ product schema out of the box. But review, FAQ, and breadcrumb schema usually need custom implementation or a dedicated app.

Create a useful 404 page: You can edit this directly in Shopify’s theme settings. To create a more useful page that includes product links and search, for example, you’ll need custom work.

5. Content

Your optimised content is your opportunity to connect meaningfully with your audience, AI and search engine algorithms.

Create an ecommerce content strategy: Work out what to publish, why and when. Strategically plot which keywords to use on which pages. For example, use super specific long-tail keywords on individual product pages, apply broader terms on category or collection pages and informational keywords on your blog pages.
Publish SEO-focused blog content: Create content that matches your customer’s search intent. You could also consider guest posting and collaborating on trusted, relevant websites to gain backlinks and reach new audiences.

Create product buying guides and comparison content: Publish informative pages to educate people when they’re researching what to buy.
Optimise your existing content: Don’t forget about pages you’ve already published. Review and update them regularly to keep them accurate, relevant and optimised.
Monitor SEO performance: Use Google Search Console and Google Analytics 4 to see what’s working and what needs to be amended. Make continual refinements.

FAQs

Do I need a Shopify SEO app?

You don’t necessarily need a Shopify SEO app. And there are many to choose from, with some working better than others.

Shopify covers many of the basics natively. You’ll find things like sitemap generation, HTTPS, a native Google Analytics 4 integration and a Google & YouTube Channel app for Merchant Center are all built in or available as free tools. If you use these instead of an app, you avoid extra app bloat which can slow your page down.

There are good SEO apps to simplify tasks like metadata management, schema markup, compressing images and fixing broken links. But they’re a nice-to-have rather than being essential.

Our suggestion is to check what’s available natively first, then look elsewhere to fill the gaps. Remember that apps can slow down site speed, so should be a last resort.

How can I optimise product pages for SEO on Shopify?

You can gain real value from investing time in optimising your product pages. After all, product pages are where you make your sales. So it pays to make sure they’re visible, engaging and working well.

Focus your efforts on the on-page SEO elements listed above. Your largest block of content is your product description. Use this to its full effect by incorporating specific, target keywords related to that product. Make sure to expand the content around product attributes, benefit, use, aftercare and a strong strategy for reviews.

Help with your ecommerce site

Shopify handles a lot of the SEO basics. And there are plenty of additional fixes and customisations you can make to improve your Shopify ecommerce site. This Shopify SEO checklist provides you with the important aspects to work through to optimise your ecommerce site.

If you’d like some strategic advice or hands-on guidance with your ecommerce SEO, you can count on us to help you. Please contact us to chat through your project.