Growing an e-commerce business is tough. Between building your store, managing inventory, and processing orders, it’s easy to neglect marketing. But without a steady stream of qualified traffic, even the best store struggles to survive.
That’s where SEO comes in.
SEO, or search engine optimization, helps people discover your products when searching online. By optimizing your content and site for keywords potential customers use, you can tap into demand and generate more organic sales.
I’ve been doing SEO for over a decade, helping e-commerce merchants grow and thrive online. And in this post, I’ll share my top 10 tips for optimizing a Shopify store for more traffic and sales.
These are advanced tactics I’ve battle-tested with clients to dominate the SERPs and drive revenue. So be sure to take notes!
1. Research and Target Multiple Keywords
The foundation of any good SEO strategy is keyword research. You need to find terms and phrases related to your products that get decent search volume and have less competition.
Some good places to find these keywords are:
Make a list of at least 30-50 keywords to target. You want a mix of short and long-tailed phrases. For example, a hobby store may target:
- hobbies
- scale models
- RC cars
- model trains supplies
- hobby paint brushes
- balsa wood sheets
Tools like SurferSEO are great for organizing your keywords and planning out targeting strategies.
Once you’ve conducted thorough keyword research for your store, it’s time to start optimizing…
2. Include Target Keywords on Key Pages
Now you need to add targeted keywords to important pages on your Shopify store. This helps search engines understand your content focus and what queries you want to rank for.
Some key places to include target phrases are:
- Page titles
- Headers like H1 and H2
- Image file names and ALT text
- Product titles and descriptions
- Blog and article content
Don’t over-optimize though with awkward repetition. Aim for natural inclusion with 1-3% keyword density.
Pro Tip: Install a free SEO browser extension like MozBar or Ubersuggest to track keyword data on a page. Very helpful for optimizing!
3. Create Useful, Keyword-Rich Blog Content
Blogging drives SEO success on many top e-commerce sites. Useful articles help you rank for valuable informational queries beyond straight product terms.
You want to craft compelling content around your target keywords. Cover things like:
- Product guides – Best [product type] for [thing]
- How-tos – How to [do something] with [product type]
- Industry analysis – The state of the [industry name] market in 2023
- Trends articles – The latest trends in [niche] and how to leverage them
Then link out to related products people can purchase after consuming the content!
Tools like Clearscope and MarketMuse help generate ideas.
I also recommend setting a blogging schedule and commitments. For example:
- 2x new blog articles per month
- Each at least 2000 words
- Contains links to 5-10 products per post
This produces regular content to engage visitors.
4. Optimize Site Architecture and Navigation
Beyond just text content and keywords, the way you structure your Shopify site also impacts SEO.
E-commerce sites should make it easy for customers to navigate to the products they want. This means using:
- Clean navigation menus
- Logical category organization
- Filtering options on collection pages
- Product variations for colors/sizes
- Fast site speed for good UX
Optimizing these elements helps decrease the bounce rate. And it provides clearer signals to Google about the relevancy of search queries.
Additionally, ensure your store follows e-commerce SEO best practices like:
- Using product JSON-LD schema
- Adding XML sitemaps
- Setting up proper 301 redirects
- Fixing broken links across pages
This strengthens technical health to support rankings.
5. Score More Link-Earned Authority
In addition to on-page optimization, earning backlinks from external sites is key for SEO authority.
Relevant sites linking back signals to Google your content provides value worthy of ranking.
So you need a blend of proactive outreach and organic link-building tactics, including:
1. Guest posting – Reach out to niche sites to contribute content with a link back to your store. Use tools like BuzzStream to identify prospects and manage outreach.
2. Link inserts – Monitor sites that cover your products in reviews or mentions. Reach out politely asking them to hyperlink retail URLs to help readers purchase.
3. Influencer marketing – Send free products to relevant bloggers, YouTubers, and social media personalities. Provide suggested text they can use alongside for backlinks.
4. Roundup lists – Pitch adding your store to content like “Best Online Stores for X Niche” to news and review websites.
Don’t buy links or do anything deceptive though. Focus on earning placements organically through high-quality content production. Patience pays dividends.
6. Cultivate Customer Loyalty and Word-of-Mouth Buzz
Happy repeat customers are some of the best evangelists for your brand. Plus they provide social proof that encourages new conversions.
That’s why you need to focus on excellent service and nurturing loyalty.
Some ideas:
- Send a personal thank you email after the purchase
- Create early access and VIP clubs
- Offer generous return policies
- Seek product feedback and reviews
- Reward referrals and shares on social
- Send surprise gifts or discounts
This incentivizes raving fans to shout your praises far and wide. And word-of-mouth referrals and branded search interest feed the SEO flywheel for sustained growth!
7. Leverage Video Content
YouTube is the #2 search engine behind Google. And video marketing is massively underutilized in e-commerce.
Setting up a branded YouTube channel provides multiple SEO advantages:
- Additional real estate to rank new keywords
- Helps pages rank better in video carousels
- Taps into video-based shopping queries
- Allows optimizing description and metadata
- Embeds help pages rank for target phrases
Types of videos that work great include:
- Product demos
- Customer testimonials
- Behind-the-scenes company tours
- Educational tutorials
- Unboxings and reviews
Short shoppable videos can help your brand dominate both text and video search results!
8. Implement Advanced Technical Improvements
Now for some more advanced Shopify SEO tips from my technical toolkit:
1. Improve page speed – Faster load times boost rankings and UX. Enable gzip compression, upgrade hosting, and minify code. Test with Google PageSpeed Insights. Target scores above 90.
2. Expand schema markup – Use JSON-LD and Microdata to highlight more page data. Helps search bots understand key e-commerce elements.
3. Create AMP pages – Accelerated Mobile Pages load super fast on mobile. Use an app like Shopify AMP to easily build them.
4. Update metadata – Audit that titles, descriptions, and alt text reflect target keywords where relevant. Dynamically generate based on categories and products.
5. Fix indexation issues – Verify all pages get crawled and indexed properly. Check for restrictions blocking bots. Submit new URLs directly.
These superior technical foundations establish greater authority to climb rankings.
9. Always Be Testing!
SEO success requires continuous testing and learning about your audience and ideal channel mix.
You need to regularly experiment with new factors like:
- Products/brands
- Keywords
- Ad copies
- Page layouts
- Promotions
- Content formats
Tools like Google Optimize, ClickFunnels, and Stackla streamline split testing.
However, the key is relentlessly analyzing data and feedback to refine your store and marketing. Incremental gains compound over the long run into major wins.
So don’t “set and forget” your Shopify SEO!
10. Track Rankings and Stay Passionate!
Lastly, real quick, be sure to:
- Use rank-tracking software like SEMRush, Ahrefs, and Serpstat to monitor keyword progress monthly.
- Check Google Search Console and Analytics for organic traffic and top sessions.
- Stay positive and determined even if progress feels slow. SEO rewards patience!
And that wraps up my 10 most powerful SEO tips and strategies for Shopify stores!
I know that was a LOT to digest in one sitting. But diligently applying even just a few of these recommendations can unlock tremendous growth.
So start with foundational elements like keyword targeting and blogging. Then layer on more advanced tactics over time as you build expertise.
It’s a journey, but one well worth embarking on.
To your ecommerce SEO success!
If you need any help getting set up or have additional questions, don’t hesitate to drop me a note below. I try to answer every query personally.
