Shopify is an e-commerce powerhouse, but to tap into that potential, you need to ensure you’re concentrating on technical SEO. Content and backlinks are crucial for SEO success, but technical improvements are what enable search engines to crawl, index, and rank your Shopify store effectively.
In this blog, we will discuss the key technical SEO enhancements that Shopify developers need to implement to achieve improved visibility, faster performance, and a great user experience.
1. Optimize Site Speed and Core Web Vitals
Speed is a ranking factor. Shopify developers must:
- Trim JS and CSS: Eliminate unused code and use async or defer as necessary.
- Optimize images: Serve images in WebP format and compress them without loss of quality.
- Use lazy loading: Ensure that what you see is what you get, keeping all other images off-screen until they’re needed.
- Use a fast Shopify theme: Opt for lightweight themes, such as Dawn, rather than bloated third-party ones.
Bonus Tip: Test your store with Google PageSpeed Insights and address any performance issues it identifies.
2. Improve URL Structure and Canonicalization
Shopify has the following URL structure by default, which can cause content duplication due to variations in collection and product pages. Developers should:
- Use the canonical tags to the preferred version of the page, e.g., the main product URL, not a collection-filtered one.
- Avoid pointing to URLs that duplicate the product with parameters.
- Ensure that any internal links are to the canonical URL.
3. Implement Schema Markup for Rich Snippets
By adding structured data, you can make it easier to understand your content and display rich snippets (such as reviews, prices, and availability).
- Consider JSON-LD (not spoken) for schema.
- Include product, review, breadcrumb list, and organization schema types.
- Ensure that data is injected dynamically as the content is updated (e.g., inventory).
4. Create and Submit an Accurate XML Sitemap
Shopify does create an XML sitemap automatically, but:
- Ensure that outdated or non-canonical pages are not included.
- Submit and monitor your sitemap through Google Search Console.
- Fix crawl errors and delete 404s as often as possible.
5. Ensure Mobile Optimization and Responsive Design
Mobile-first indexing is here to stay. Ensure:
- Your theme is entirely responsive.
- Tap targets are large enough.
- Both fonts and layout are easily readable and adjust smoothly.
Test using Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test to identify and resolve usability issues.
6. Fix Crawl Errors and Improve Crawl Budget
Leverage tools such as Google Search Console and Screaming Frog to find out:
- Broken links (404s)
- Redirect chains
- Server errors (5xx)
Resolve these issues to avoid wasting crawl time and prioritize your valuable URLs.
7. Enable International SEO (If Applicable)
If you have a Shopify Store that is intended for multiple countries or languages:
- Markup for language and region with Hreflang tags on your website.
- If necessary, add country-specific subdirectories or subdomains.
8. Set Up Structured Internal Linking
Get Google to find more pages faster by:
- Referred from a blog to a product page.
- Incorporating associated product sections.
- Linking navigation menus to the most important categories.
With proper internal linking, you distribute authority and enhance user experience (UX).
Final Thoughts
There is no setup-and-forget approach with technical SEO — it’s an ongoing effort. For developers who build on Shopify, Knowing these improvements means being able to ensure that Search Friendly meets Wealthy. Focus on the technical aspects, audit your store routinely, and stay current with the latest SEO best practices.
Echoing the same sentiment, if you mix a clean codebase with a clever SEO strategy, then you are in good stead to improve your rankings, traffic, and conversions.
Struggling to get your Shopify store to rank well in search engines?
Have our specialists audit and improve your technical SEO—because every click counts.