This blog post was originally published by Deliverr, which is now Flexport. The content has been adjusted to fit the Flexport brand voice and tone, but all other information remains unchanged. With the merging of Deliverr’s services (DTC fulfillment, B2B distribution, and Last Mile delivery) into Flexport’s existing international freight and technology services, we’re now able to provide merchants with true end-to-end logistics solutions spanning from the factory floor to the customer’s door.

If you’re looking for a Shopify SEO guide to rank your website on Google and Bing quickly, you’ve come to the right place. Top search engine ranking is essential for helping customers discover your website and find your products - and this best practice guide helps you master Shopify SEO, fast.

Shopify SEO Overview

For those new to SEO and running your own Shopify website, let’s quickly cover what SEO is and why it’s so crucial for your eCommerce store.

SEO stands for “search engine optimization” and is the process of improving the quality and quantity of visitors to your Shopify store from organic search engines such as Google and Bing. Search engine optimization of your Shopify website, helps search engines understand what you sell and determine how trustworthy your website is, so they can:

• Boost your organic search result ranking, improving your visibility without advertising
• Display your website in relevant search results, increasing your click-through rate
• Send you qualified leads, increasing your conversion rate and reducing your bounce rate

Ultimately, good SEO leads to more customers, sales, and profit.

Shopify SEO Tips for Fast Ranking

Fortunately, Shopify is a very SEO-friendly platform, making it entirely possible for your store to top the search results and receive high-volume organic traffic. And, while SEO is a long-term investment, the following Shopify SEO tips help you to achieve some quick wins for faster ranking and initial results.

1. Identify Your Keywords

Keywords are the building blocks of SEO, so they’re an excellent place to start. Keywords are the words or phrases that a shopper must type into a search engine for your website to display in the search results.

Create a list of keywords for your website and product pages by using a keyword tool to identify those that are:

Relevant to your brand and products
Regularly searched for by shoppers
Specific enough to be achievable

2. Optimize for Keywords

Once you have identified your keywords, you need to demonstrate to the search engines that these words are relevant to your store. Achieve this by using your keywords in content across your website, including:

• Page titles
• Meta descriptions
• Page headings
• Page content
• Alt text for images and videos
• URLs

Google and Bing will cross-reference all of this information, so keep your keywords consistent and relevant, and your copy readable and unique.

3. Organize Your Website

Your website’s architecture (also known as site structure) is used by search engines to determine how easy it is for customers to find products on your website. Make your store easy to navigate by:

• Using a logical hierarchy of categories
• Avoiding iframes (embedding an external website)
• Adopting logical and straightforward URLs

4. Register Your Store With Google and Bing

The quickest way to get search engines to know about your Shopify store is by telling them that you exist and showing them what you have on your website.

Verifying your store with Google and Bing
To verify your store with Google and Bing, you must:

• Disable password protection on your Shopify store
• Signup for Google Console and Bing Webmaster tools, and choose to verify your store by meta tag or HTML tag
• Copy the generated codes
• From your Shopify Admin go to Online Stores > Themes > Action > Edit Code > Layout > theme.liquid
• In the online code editor, paste the generated codes on a blank line directly below the opening tag, and click Save
• Click Verify on Google and Bing, and follow the on-screen steps.

Registering your sitemap with Google and Bing
Your store’s site map is a file containing links to all of your store’s content and is used by Google and Bing to return relevant pages in search results.

Shopify automatically generates and updates your sitemap at [your primary domain name]/sitemap.xml (for example, pauls-pants.com/sitemap.xml.)

Log into Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster and select the sitemap option to submit yours. 

5. Activate an SSL Certificate

Increase search engine (and consumer) trust in your webstore by activating your SSL (secure socket layer) certificate. From your Shopify dashboard go to Sales Channels > Online Store > Domains. 

6. Boost Your Store’s Speed

Search engines give preference to fast-loading websites. Increase your Shopify store’s speed by:

• Using compression tools to reduce image sizes
• Using web-safe fonts such as Arial, Helvetica, Courier New, and Courier
• Keeping external scripts or custom codes to a minimum
• Using Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) via plugins

7. Create Content

Add more depth, interest, and authority to your Shopify store by creating content beyond your product pages. Blogs, articles, and guides are useful for shoppers and perform very well in search results, especially when:

You’re posting quality content relevant to your keywords
Trusted third-party sites are linking to your content (also known as “backlinks”)
Your posts are regular and of substantial length (at least 500 words)

8. Reduce Your Bounce Rate

Search engines monitor their success by your bounce rate (how quickly a shopper returns to the search results). Reduce your bounce rate by engaging shoppers and increasing conversions using:

• Exit-intent popups and offers
• Dynamic product recommendations
• Fast and free shipping

9. Optimize for Mobile

We’ve already mentioned the importance of AMP for your Shopify store’s speed, but there’s plenty more you can do to increase your Shopify stores’ mobile optimization and ranking in mobile search engine results:

• Use a mobile-ready Shopify theme
• Make your text visible and readable
• Make call to action buttons clear and large

10. Increase Traffic

Finally, you want to increase the overall traffic coming to your website, to encourage more direct searches. You can achieve this by:

• Investing in Google ads for your listings
• Expanding to multi-channel selling
• Marketing on social media

Together, these top Shopify SEO tips will rank your website quickly and successfully - increasing your visibility, organic traffic, and increasing your sales figures.

The contents of this blog are made available for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon for any legal, business, or financial decisions. We do not guarantee, represent, or warrant the accuracy or reliability of any of the contents of this blog because they are based on Flexport’s current beliefs, expectations, and assumptions, about which there can be no assurance due to various anticipated and unanticipated events that may occur. This blog has been prepared to the best of Flexport’s knowledge and research; however, the information presented in this blog herein may not reflect the most current regulatory or industry developments. Neither Flexport nor its advisors or affiliates shall be liable for any losses that arise in any way due to the reliance on the contents contained in this blog.