AM Most Shopify stores do not have an SEO problem that needs an agency. They have a list of small, fixable gaps: supplier descriptions copied word for word, product titles nobody searches for, collection pages with no text, and old URLs that return a 404 after a product was renamed. Each gap costs a little. Together they keep a store off page one.
The 25 tips below are the ones worth doing in 2026, grouped by where they apply. Each one says what to change and where to change it in the Shopify admin. If you want the bigger picture first, read the Shopify SEO guide, then come back and work through this list.
Foundations: tips 1 to 5
1. Connect Google Search Console and submit your sitemap
Shopify generates sitemap.xml automatically at yourdomain.com/sitemap.xml. Add your domain as a property in Google Search Console, verify it with a DNS record or the HTML tag method, then submit the sitemap under Indexing > Sitemaps. Without Search Console you are guessing about which pages Google has indexed and which searches already bring impressions.
2. Use one primary domain
In Settings > Domains, set a single primary domain, either the www or the root version of your custom domain. Shopify redirects your other connected domains to it. Open your old myshopify.com address in a private browser window and confirm it lands on the primary domain, so Google never sees two copies of the store.
3. Give every important page one job
Before you write a single title, decide which search each key page should rank for. The homepage targets your brand and broad category, collections target category searches ("women's trail running shoes"), products target specific item searches, and blog posts target questions. When two pages chase the same phrase, they compete with each other. A spreadsheet with URL, target keyword and intent is enough. The Shopify SEO keywords guide shows how to find the phrases.
4. Keep the theme fast
Check the Core Web Vitals report in Search Console, which uses real Chrome user data, rather than chasing a lab score. The usual Shopify culprits are oversized hero images, autoplay video backgrounds and app scripts. Compress images before upload, keep homepage sections to what shoppers actually use, and test on a mid-range phone, not your office desktop.
5. Remove leftover code from uninstalled apps
Apps built on theme app extensions remove their code when you uninstall them, but older apps sometimes wrote snippets directly into theme files. After uninstalling, open Online Store > Themes, choose Edit code, search for the app name, and remove orphaned render tags and script includes. Slow pages and duplicate schema often come from apps that are no longer installed.
Product pages: tips 6 to 12
6. Write product titles people search for
The product title is your H1 and the default title tag, so it carries weight. Use the words buyers type: "Men's Linen Shirt, Short Sleeve, Button-Down" beats "The Riviera". Put the product type and the most important attribute near the start, and keep brand or line names only when shoppers search for them. The product title SEO guide has a formula and before-and-after examples.
7. Set a custom SEO title on your best sellers
Open a product, scroll to Search engine listing and click the pencil icon. The Page title field lets the title tag differ from the on-page title, which helps when the product name is short or branded. Aim for about 60 characters so Google does not cut it off, and put the main keyword first. Shopify's counter allows up to 70.
8. Write meta descriptions that earn the click
If the Meta description field is empty, Shopify falls back to the start of the product description, which is often a shipping note or a size chart line. Write one or two sentences, roughly 140 to 160 characters, that state what the product is, one concrete benefit, and a reason to buy from you, such as free returns. Google may rewrite it, but a clear description gets used more often. The SEO title and meta description guide covers every field.
9. Replace supplier descriptions with your own
If you dropship or import products, the same manufacturer text sits on hundreds of other stores, and Google tends to show one version and filter the rest. Rewrite at least the opening of each description: who the product is for, what problem it solves, key specs in a list, and sizing or care notes. Shopify's own help center suggests at least 250 words for product and collection descriptions.
10. Add alt text to product images
Click an image on the product page and choose the option to edit alt text. Describe what the image shows in plain words, such as "black leather crossbody bag with gold zipper, front view". Alt text helps image search and screen reader users. Do not paste the same keyword into all eight images of a product.
11. Clean up URL handles, carefully
Shopify creates a handle from the title when you first save a product, so imported products often end up with handles like copy-of-new-product-2. Edit the handle in the Search engine listing section and keep it short, for example mens-linen-shirt-short-sleeve. Leave the Create a URL redirect box checked so the old address forwards to the new one. Do not rename handles on pages that already rank unless the old one is truly broken.
12. Handle sold-out and discontinued products properly
A temporarily sold-out product should stay live with a back-in-stock option, because deleting it throws away the page's rankings. For products you will never restock, redirect the URL to the closest replacement or the parent collection. Create the redirect in Content > Menus > URL redirects after you delete the product, since Shopify only redirects URLs that return a 404.
Collection pages: tips 13 to 17
13. Build collections around real category searches
Collections usually rank for mid-volume searches such as "wool baby blankets" or "gifts for gardeners". Create collections for phrases that have demand and enough products to fill a page; eight or more is a sensible floor. Name the collection with the search phrase, not an internal label like "Summer Drop 3".
14. Put real text on each collection
A collection with only a product grid gives Google very little to work with. Write 150 to 300 words covering what is in the collection, how to choose between the products, and links to related collections. Most themes show the description above the grid. If that pushes products too far down, show a two-sentence intro above and the longer text below.
15. Link to products by their main URL
Some older themes link products from collections as /collections/shirts/products/linen-shirt. Shopify sets a canonical tag pointing to /products/linen-shirt, so this is not a penalty, but it splits internal links across duplicate addresses. Current themes such as Dawn link straight to /products/. If yours does not, look for within: collection in the product card snippet and remove it. The collections SEO guide covers this in detail.
16. Keep filters from creating thousands of crawlable pages
Filters from the Search and Discovery app add parameters like ?filter.v.option.color=Black. Shopify's default robots.txt already blocks sort URLs and URLs that combine multiple filters. If a single filtered view has real search demand, such as "black linen shirts", build a proper collection for it rather than hoping the filter URL ranks.
17. Do not rely on tag pages
Shopify creates tag URLs like /collections/shirts/linen. They reuse the parent collection's text, so they look like thin duplicates. Use tags for filtering and organization, and create a separate collection when a tag deserves to rank on its own. The product tags SEO guide explains how to set that up.
Technical SEO: tips 18 to 21
18. Check your structured data
Most current themes output Product schema with price and availability, but review stars only appear in schema if your review app adds them. Paste a product URL into Google's Rich Results Test and confirm there is one Product item with price, availability and, if you collect reviews, a rating. Two Product items usually mean the theme and an app are both adding schema. Turn one off.
19. Fix 404 errors with redirects
The Pages report in Search Console lists URLs returning "Not found (404)". For each one with backlinks or past traffic, add a redirect in Content > Menus > URL redirects to the closest live page. Shopify allows up to 100,000 redirects on standard plans, and you can import a CSV of redirects from the same screen, so there is no reason to leave valuable old URLs broken.
20. Edit robots.txt only for a specific problem
You can customize robots.txt by adding a robots.txt.liquid template in the theme code editor. The default file already blocks cart, checkout, internal search, sort URLs and multi-filter URLs, which covers most stores. Add a rule only when Search Console shows Google crawling a wasteful pattern, such as an app's parameter URLs. One wrong line can block your whole catalog. Our robots.txt generator helps you draft rules before you paste them in.
21. Add breadcrumbs
Breadcrumbs (Home > Shirts > Linen Shirt) show Google a clear hierarchy and add internal links back up to collections. Many themes have a breadcrumb block or setting in the theme editor. If yours does not, a small snippet with BreadcrumbList schema does the job. Keep one primary collection per product so the path stays consistent.
Content, links and trust: tips 22 to 25
22. Publish content that answers pre-purchase questions
Blog posts rarely rank for "buy" searches, but they rank well for the questions buyers ask first: "how should hiking boots fit", "is merino wool itchy". Answer the question fully and link to the one or two collections that solve it. Create posts in Content > Blog posts and fill in each post's own search engine listing.
23. Use navigation and the footer for internal links
Pages linked from the main menu get crawled often and read as important. Put your top revenue collections in the main menu, secondary collections in the footer, and related products on product pages. Skip the mega menu with 200 links. It dilutes the signal and overwhelms shoppers on mobile.
24. Collect and show product reviews
Reviews add fresh, unique text to product pages in the words customers actually use, and they make star ratings eligible in search results when the schema is correct. Send a review request about two weeks after delivery and reply to negative reviews in public. A review app that outputs rating schema is worth the cost for most stores.
25. Earn links from people who already know you
The easiest links for a store come from existing relationships: manufacturers with stockist pages, suppliers, local press, niche podcasts and bloggers who write gift guides. Send samples to relevant creators and ask for an honest review, not a paid link. A handful of links from sites in your niche does more than a pile of directory listings.
Which tips to do first
Not every tip matters equally for every store. Use this table to decide where your first hours go.
| Tips | Effort | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| 1, 2, 19 (Search Console, domain, redirects) | Under an hour each | Every store, on day one |
| 6 to 10 (titles, SEO titles, meta, descriptions, alt text) | 10 to 20 minutes per product | Your top 20 to 50 products first |
| 13, 14 (collections and collection copy) | 30 to 60 minutes per collection | Stores with more than about 50 products |
| 15 to 18, 20, 21 (technical) | A few hours, sometimes developer time | Stores with duplicate or crawl issues |
| 22 to 25 (content and links) | Ongoing | After the catalog basics are done |
A practical 30-day order
- Week 1: set up Search Console, submit the sitemap, confirm the primary domain, and list the 404s worth redirecting (tips 1, 2, 12 and 19).
- Week 1: build a keyword map for the homepage, your top collections and your top 20 products (tip 3).
- Week 2: rewrite titles, SEO titles, meta descriptions, alt text and the opening of each description for those 20 products (tips 6 to 10).
- Week 3: add collection copy, fix product links in collections, and review tag and filter URLs (tips 13 to 17).
- Week 4: test structured data, add breadcrumbs, clean leftover app code and publish your first two question-led posts (tips 5, 18, 21 and 22).
- After that: extend the title and meta work to the rest of the catalog and check Search Console once a month.
On catalogs with hundreds of products, editing SEO titles and meta descriptions one page at a time gets slow. You can export a product CSV, edit the SEO title and SEO description columns and re-import it, or use Bulk Edit Pro, which updates SEO titles and meta descriptions across many products with a preview before anything changes and a one-click revert. Either way, write a template for each product type first so the results still read like a person wrote them.