2022 Shopify Ranking Guide: Optimize Your Site for SEO

To rank on the first page of search engines like Google, it’s critical to carefully optimize your Shopify site in several ways. SEO, short for Search Engine Optimization, refers to techniques used to improve your site’s visibility on search engines and make it easier for people to find you, whether they type your business name into a search engine or visit your website through another channel like Facebook ads or an email newsletter.

When it comes to Shopify SEO, there are countless articles and guides out there, but here’s a checklist to help ensure that you haven’t overlooked any important steps when optimizing your site.

Research target keywords

While there are many ways to research your target keywords for your Shopify store, doing proper research and creating a sound keyword-based strategy is what will really get you moving in 2022. It’s difficult to pin down exactly how many searches on Google there are for keywords, but it’s somewhere between 20-25% of all queries.

This makes it one of the most valuable long-tail keywords users use when searching online. Keywords don’t have to be hard to rank for, and we’ll show you exactly how you can optimize them in your Shopify store so that they are shown when people search Google or even Amazon.

The best way to do research your target keywords is by going straight to Google Trends and getting a good idea of how much interest there is in certain products based on which country and state people are from. That way, you know where to put more focus on marketing certain products rather than others.

In addition, as Google Trends isn’t perfect, you should also go directly onto each platform (Amazon & Shopify) as well as YouTube and find out how many views certain products have gotten over time. You want videos with high view counts because these indicate interest over time, while low view counts indicate less interest over time – which means fewer sales opportunities for your Shopify store.

Optimize your product pages

Start with your most profitable pages and pages with the most conversions, such as your homepage. Don’t just optimize for search engines, though. It’s also important to consider how real people will interact with your product page. For example, you should write titles and descriptions for products and categories.

If a customer can’t find what they want on your site within three clicks, they may leave and never come back. You should also make sure that each product has its own unique URL so that customers can easily share it on social media or send it in an email. All of these things will help you rank better in 2022, but there are many more things you can do as well!

Simplify your site’s structure

If you’re trying to find a way to boost your business’s success, one good place to start is by simplifying your site’s structure. This will reduce clutter and allow customers who are browsing through search engines and social media platforms to easily find what they’re looking for on your site.

When people can’t find your products or pages quickly, they’ll leave and visit another store that has made it easier to be found. Keep in mind that page titles aren’t always used by search engines or social media, so there are a few other strategies you can use as well, such as creating clear calls to action on all of your product pages and using unique keywords throughout each page of your site.

The best thing you can do to optimize your shop is to have fewer but more relevant products. Do not try to rank for too many long-tail keywords! Just pick a few key phrases and make sure they show up often in your copy. You want people searching those terms to land on your website when they click on Google.

Keywords should be included in any page title tags, product descriptions, or even within the alt tags of images that are used within your content (use common sense here). The biggest key though is being consistent with how you use them throughout each post. There’s no need to overdo it with keyword stuffing because Google and other search engines hate duplicate content.

Build backlinks to your Shopify store

Backlinks—inbound links to your site from other sites—are how search engines determine a site’s popularity. Of course, backlinks aren’t everything, but you can’t win if you don’t play. So get out there and start acquiring inbound links to your website.

Acquiring good quality backlinks to your website will not only help build trust with potential customers but will also help boost your rankings in Google Search Results Pages (SERPs). There are lots of ways to build quality backlinks to your Shopify store, and depending on your eCommerce niche, it can be easy or difficult.

Use content marketing

Content marketing is another important factor in your ranking. But it’s not enough to just publish content; you need to publish quality content optimized for search. To do that, you need a steady stream of high-quality, on-topic articles and posts.

Things like reviews and how-to guides are easy sells—consumers love them, and Google loves them. Just remember that if your post doesn’t answer a question or provide some type of value, you may see traffic fall off significantly as Google de-indexes it.

Use plugins and tools

While ranking high in search engines isn’t a guaranteed way to get new customers, it is important to optimize your shop. Luckily, there are plenty of free and paid plugins and tools that can help you optimize your site over time. Some experts have written a very specific eCommerce SEO guide to help you. It may also be more beneficial to outsource your SEO efforts to these types of experts that can fine-tune your strategy.

Once you get started with optimizing your store, be sure to stay up-to-date with Google’s guidelines. It may be easy to set aside time for social media or guest blogging when you first launch a store—but over time, it can be tough to keep track of these efforts without setting them into a larger strategy. To make things easier on yourself as well as future employees or business partners, focus on developing an overall SEO strategy now rather than adding pieces one at a time later.