Shopify SEO: A Checklist for Store Owners

Shopify SEO checklist

• Make sure the store is open to search enginesShopify says search engines do not index trial stores, and that the sitemap is available to them only when the store is open to the public. Check this first on a new store.
• Verify the store in Google Search Console and submit the sitemapShopify generates the sitemap at yourdomain.com/sitemap.xml and updates it when you add a product, collection, page, image or blog post. Shopify says submitting it to Search Console helps Google find and index your pages.
• Check which pages Google hasSearch Google for site:yourdomain.com, using your own address. Shopify suggests this test: if pages from your store appear, Google is indexing the site.
• Write a page title and meta description for every product and collectionShopify allows up to 70 characters in the title and recommends 160 for the description. Google asks for titles that are descriptive and concise, and says identical or similar descriptions across a site are not helpful.
• Replace the manufacturer's textShopify's own advice is to avoid directly copying text that a manufacturer gives you. Google's starter guide says the same of any content. See product page SEO for how to write a description.
• Name image files before you upload them, then add alt textShopify says descriptive, readable file names are better for search engines, and that file names cannot be changed in Shopify. Alt text can be set for product images, collection images and blog post images.
• Put every page in a menu, within three clicks of the home pageShopify recommends that each page has a link in your menus and is no more than three clicks from the home page where possible. Google makes the same point for stores: link from menus to categories, and from categories to every product.
• Keep addresses short and stableYou can edit the last part of an address, which Shopify calls the URL handle. When you change one, create the redirect Shopify offers. Shopify warns that a collection whose handle is edited too often might not display in search results.
• Check the product data your theme outputsShopify gives themes a filter that turns a product into structured data: the Product type for a product without variants, and ProductGroup for one with sizes or colours. Whether your theme uses it depends on the theme. Shopify suggests checking a page with the URL inspection tool in Search Console or Google's rich results tool.
• Send your products to Google Merchant CenterGoogle recommends both structured data on the page and a product feed, and says a feed is mandatory for some places products appear, such as listings in the Shopping tab.
• Leave robots.txt alone unless you have a reasonShopify says the default file is optimal for SEO. It already asks search engines not to crawl pages such as the cart.