An experienced and profound business owner is constantly looking for new ways to promote his products or services. However, in today’s world, all promotional techniques eventually come down to digital marketing, as it is now the leading force with its wide range of tools and tricks.
Nevertheless, there is no good-for-everyone strategy that will suit any business and also work perfectly on any platform. Each resource requires a unique approach and a deep understanding of its algorithms. Otherwise, one may risk wasting loads of money on something that does not bring ROI.
Lasting Trend is a New York digital marketing agency that has an in-depth knowledge of this industry and has completed dozens of successful services. Our team can implement their knowledge to make your performance better. We offer a free consultation to each caller!
As a company that works closely with different kinds of platforms, we would like to share our knowledge with people who need it. Today we are going to shed light on how to set up SEO for Shopify, what are the most common mistakes that people make, and ask our Shopify SEO experts for tips.
Why Shopify?
Shopify is a well-known online store design that first appeared in 2004. We have found this platform to be a fantastic option for small businesses that do not have the capacity to recruit a programmer but want to manage their own store and deal with the Shopify SEO themselves until they decide to upgrade to a more advanced e-commerce platform.
The CMS (content management system) at Shopify is quite simple and easy to use for anyone. Users are also provided with a set of ready-to-use templates (some of them are free of charge) and a basic analytical platform. This means that no programming skills or experience with Google Analytics are required.
However, like the majority of e-commerce platforms, SEO for the Shopify store is not devoid of technical problems, which results in pesky mistakes. Lasting Trend’s Shopify SEO experts have grown to know how to not only avoid, but to fix some of them, or at least make the best of them. Our team has an impressive list of successfully solved cases regarding this matter. The expertise we have been collecting for years can be used for the sake of your business. Give us a call if you want to discuss your Shopify SEO!
5 Shopify SEO Mistakes and Tips to Fix Them
Below you will find five of the most common issues with Shopify product SEO. We have selected them as we believe them to be the most crucial and widespread. Take a look:
Incorrect restrictions for the symbol counter in Title and Meta Description
One of the drawbacks of Shopify SEO is the existence of character counters for Title tags and Meta descriptions. The problem is that these restrictions set 70 characters for a Title, which is a confusing number. Google sets the width by measuring pixels, and studies show that this is usually 600 pixels.
Thus, the number of characters should be about 60, give or take. And let’s not forget that some letters simply take more space – compare “W” and say, “I.” Even scanning emulators such as Screaming Frog contain a report that highlights Title tags that are longer than 65 characters.
Most Shopify-based sites are caught in this trap, as not all their owners are familiar with the basics of SEO for Shopify stores. As for the Meta descriptions, the maximum number of characters here is 160. Our experience shows that in this case, the Shopify limit is set correctly, and if you do not exceed the specified number, you can avoid truncating the text.
Tip: One of the fastest ways to check if title and meta description headers are too long (meaning pixels) is to use Google’s “site:” command with the URL of interest. However, one thing to keep in mind is that not all changes are immediately displayed in the Google search results.
ALT tags for your Shopify SEO
Shopify SEO experts still argue about whether adding ALT attributes is necessary. However, there is no denying that this is of value to the user.
If the image is not loaded because of a slow Internet connection, the browser will show a window with the alternative text specified in the ALT attribute. This way, users will be able to understand what the picture is all about. This information is also recognized by screen readers, which are used by people with visual impairments.
Compared to other platforms (for example, “WordPress”), Shopify adds ALTtext at the image level. So, when using the same picture of the product in different places of the site, it will be necessary to repeat this action every time.
Tip: The only solution, in this case, is a coordinated approach to creating an ALT text. It is important to remember that it should be descriptive but not too packed with keywords.
URL structure
Surely the most annoying feature of Shopify product SEO is that the platform forces users to accept the structure of subfolders.
On traditional e-commerce sites, the URL of the guarantee policy page will look like this: exampleshop.com/guarantees. On Shopify, it will have the following appearance: exampleshop.com/pages/guarantees/.
For products and category pages, these will be the following URLs:
- exampleshop.com/collections/category/
- exampleshop.com/products/product-title
However, this problem cannot be avoided, even if you switch to a paid version of the service.
This does not have to be the end of the world for product pages and categories, as even though there is no control over the structure of the URL and the products can receive different forms of URLs…
(a) /products/product-name
(b) /collections/collection-title/products/product-name
… Shopify canonicalizes so that page B will point to page A as canonical, and A – to itself. This eliminates the problem of content duplication.
The same thing happens on the blog and in the administrative section of the site, which inherits the /blog/ and /admin subfolders.
Tip. We are afraid that there is no way to get away from the default URL structure, as Shopify SEO expert confirms this.
Access to the robots.txt file
As well as a bunch of other platforms, Shopify restricts access to editing FTP and robots.txt files by automatically creating the following file:
There is no mention of the XML Sitemap in the file. Given that Shopify generates a site map automatically, we believe this is a huge flaw.
Redirects
Despite the above-mentioned drawbacks, there are practically no problems with redirections in Shopify SEO. The developers of the platform have simplified the process of their configuration as much as possible, making it even easier than in WordPress.
What Can a Shopify SEO Expert Do for You?
Lasting Trend has rightfully gained the reputation of one of the best marketing agencies in NYC, and it didn’t come easy. Now, we have a very deep level of expertise in everything connected with e-commerce and digital marketing. We can provide you various solutions for your SEO, PPC, Marketplace Management, Content Marketing, and much more. And we know how to set up SEO for Shopify as well.
If you place an order with us, we will provide you with a deep and informative technical audit report, as well as our comments and possible ways of improving the situation.
What Does a Shopify Store SEO Audit Include?
If you want us to conduct a Shopify SEO audit, we will provide you with the data on:
- Full and in-depth analysis of your competitors
- Technical audit of your SEO for Shopify store
- Recommendations on your Shopify SEO and easy fixes
- Report on the basic usability audit
- Our recommendations on your content marketing situation.
Conclusion
Like any other platform, Shopify has its own pitfalls. And it is natural that you do not know your way around them. This is why we are here for you! Call Lasting Trend to get a free consultation. Are you ready to conquer the market with us?
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