Best 25 SEO Tips for Shopify to Drive Traffic to Product Pages

To make a sale in your Shopify store, first you need to drive traffic to your product pages. (SEO) forms the foundation of organic traffic to your Shopify product pages. Though it requires dedicated resources and time to show its result, its effects are lasting: over a period of time you will get customers coming to your store for free.

Product page SEO - eCommerce SEO requires different approaches. Since search engines are becoming more and more human centric, you need to make your store in a way that serves humans, not only bots.

1. Create Unique Product Descriptions

Every product page needs a unique, detailed description that includes relevant keywords naturally.

Generic manufacturer descriptions won't help your SEO efforts as Google values original content. Write unique, detailed product descriptions that highlight benefits, features, and use cases. 

In Shopify, you can easily edit each product description by going to Products > [Your Product] > Description field. Include relevant keywords while keeping the content helpful and informative for customers.

2. Optimize Product Title Tags and Meta Descriptions

Craft compelling title tags that include your primary keyword and stay under 60 characters. Your meta descriptions should summarize the product benefits in under 155 characters while including a call-to-action to improve click-through rates from search results.

3. Use Clean URL Slugs

URL structure affects both user experience and search engine rankings.

Shopify automatically generates URLs for your products, but you should customize them for better SEO. Keep URLs short, concise, descriptive, and include your primary keyword, and avoid special characters or numbers.

For example, change "blue-womens-running-shoe-size-8-model-123" to "womens-blue-running-shoes." 

You can edit this in your Shopify admin under Products > [Your Product] > Search engine listing preview.

4. Add Descriptive Alt Tags to product images

Every product image should have descriptive alt text that includes relevant keywords. Add descriptive alt tags to all product images using keywords that accurately describe what's shown. Avoid keyword stuffing, genuinely describe the image like you try to explain to a person.

Add descriptive, keyword-rich alt tags to every image. In Shopify, you can add alt text by editing a product, clicking on an image, and filling in the "Alt text" field.

5. Compress Images for Speed

Large image files slow down your page load times, which negatively affects both user experience and SEO. Use Shopify's built-in image optimization or apps to compress images without losing quality.

⭐️ Recommended apps: Tiny SEO Speed Image Optimizer, BOOSTER SEO IMAGE OPTIMIZER, SEO Image Optimizer Wizard. 

6. Prioritize Important Products

In your Shopify admin, ensure your most important products are published and categorized correctly. The automatically generated sitemap will include all published products, but proper organization helps search engines understand their relative importance.

7. Submit Your Sitemap to Search Engines

Submit your sitemap to Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools to ensure search engines can find and index all your product pages. This is especially important after adding new products or making significant site changes.

8. Implement Breadcrumb Navigation

A logical, well-structured site helps users and search engines navigate your store efficiently. Well-designed website architecture improves indexing and helps distribute page authority throughout your site.

Breadcrumbs show users their location within your site hierarchy and help search engines understand your site structure.

In Shopify, you can add breadcrumbs through your theme settings or with minor code adjustments.

9. Organize Products into Collections

Create logical product collections in your Shopify admin under "Products > Collections." Well-organized collections improve navigation, create additional entry points for search traffic, and help customers find related products easily.

10. Prevent Keyword Cannibalization

Keyword cannibalization occurs when multiple pages target the same keyword, causing them to compete against each other. Review your product pages and collections to ensure they target distinct keywords.

Use canonical URLs in Shopify to indicate which version of a page should be considered primary when similar content exists. This can be configured in your theme settings or with SEO apps.

11. Build a Strong Internal Linking

Internal links guide visitors through your store and distribute page authority. A thoughtful internal linking structure can significantly increase your product pages' visibility.

Best practice for internal linking is adding links from your high-authority pages. Identify your store's most popular pages (like your homepage or top blog posts) and add contextual links to relevant product pages. This passes authority to your product pages and creates natural pathways for visitors to follow.

When linking to product pages, use descriptive anchor text that includes relevant keywords rather than generic phrases like "click here." This helps search engines understand what the linked page is about.

12. Write Helpful Blog Posts

Content marketing drives organic traffic and establishes your expertise in your niche. Because SEO is responsible for driving traffic, not sales, you should focus on creating quality content to engage and convert them. 

High-quality web content attracts visitors who may then explore your product pages.

Create blog content that addresses customer questions and pain points related to your products. For example, if you sell kitchenware, publish recipes, cooking tips, or guides that naturally reference and link to your products.

List-based articles and comprehensive guides tend to perform well in search results. Develop content like "10 Ways to Use [Your Product]" or "The Ultimate Guide to Choosing [Product Category]" with links to relevant product pages.

⭐️ Recommended app: vevy.ai

13. Implement Schema Markup

Schema markup helps search engines understand your content better and can generate rich results in search listings. These enhanced listings can significantly improve click-through rates.

Key schema markup types for e-commerce:

• Product: This markup is essential for e-commerce businesses, providing details about your products, including name, description, image, price, availability, and more. 

• Offer: Used to specify details about the pricing and availability of a product. 

• AggregateRating: Displays the average rating of a product based on user reviews. 

• Review: Shows individual user reviews for a product. 

• BreadcrumbList: Helps search engines understand the structure of your website and the path users take to reach a specific page.

• FAQ: Add an FAQ section to product pages with common customer questions and implement FAQ schema markup. This can help your product pages appear in Google's FAQ rich results, increasing visibility and click-through rates.

14. Choose a Mobile-Responsive Theme

Mobile optimization is crucial as more shoppers use smartphones for online purchases. A mobile-friendly store improves user experience and search rankings.

Ensure your Shopify theme is fully responsive and displays properly on all device sizes. In the Shopify Theme Store, you can filter for mobile-friendly themes or test your current theme using Google's Mobile-Friendly Test.

15. Improve Mobile Page Speed

Mobile users are particularly sensitive to page load times. Use Shopify's Online Store Speed Report to identify opportunities for improvement and prioritize fixes that impact mobile performance.

16. Encourage Customer Reviews

User-generated content builds trust and can improve your SEO with fresh, relevant content. Customer reviews and photos provide social proof that encourages purchases.

Set up automatic review request emails after purchase using Shopify's email templates. Consider offering incentives like discount codes for future purchases to increase review submission rates.

17. Display Customer Reviews and Ratings

Show customer reviews directly on product pages where they're most impactful. Shopify's Product Reviews app lets you easily collect and display reviews with the option to add star ratings that can appear in search results.

18. Set Up Google Shopping

Google Merchant Center helps you promote your products across Google's properties. This creates additional traffic sources beyond organic search results.

Connect your Shopify store to Google Merchant Center and create a product feed. This allows your products to appear in Google Shopping results, creating another traffic channel for your product pages.

⭐️ Recommended apps: Google & YouTube, Wixpa Google Shopping Feed, Nabu for Google Shopping Feed

19. Optimize Product Data

Ensure your product data is complete and accurate with detailed titles, descriptions, GTINs, SKUs, and high-quality images. Better data quality improves your products' visibility in Google Shopping and reduces disapprovals.

20. Set Up Google Business Profile

If you have a physical presence, local SEO helps drive both online and offline traffic. It connects local shoppers with your products through targeted geographic optimization.

Create and verify a Google Business Profile (formerly Google My Business) for your store. Keep your business information updated, add product photos, and respond to reviews promptly to improve local visibility.

21. Embed Map

If you have physical locations, create dedicated store pages with location-specific information, embedded Google Maps, operating hours, and links to relevant product collections. This helps capture local search traffic.

22. Engage in Social Listening

Off-site SEO expands your reach beyond your own website. These strategies help build authority and drive referral traffic to your product pages.

Monitor platforms like Reddit, Quora, and Twitter for questions related to your products or industry. Provide helpful responses with links to relevant product pages when appropriate, but focus on adding value rather than just promoting.

⭐️ Recommended app: Sniff helps you get posts from Reddit and LinkedIn who are looking for your product and services.

23. Build Backlinks Through Partnerships

Collaborate with complementary businesses, industry bloggers, or influencers for backlink opportunities. Consider offering affiliate partnerships where partners earn commission for driving sales to your product pages.

24. Minimize App Usage

Fast-loading pages improve user experience, reduce bounce rates, and rank better in search results. Speed optimization is crucial for converting traffic into sales.

Each Shopify app you install can add code that slows down your store. Regularly audit your apps and remove any that aren't providing significant value to maintain optimal performance.

25. Use a Fast-loading Theme

Choose a Shopify theme that's optimized for speed. Shopify's Dawn theme is built for performance, or you can look for themes that advertise fast loading times and minimal JavaScript.

Enable Split Payments to Improve Conversions

Driving organic traffic to your Shopify store is one thing and converting them into sales is another. Solely focusing on SEO doesn’t not help you make sales: you should work on conversion optimization.

Offering discounts and flexible payment options like group purchases, split payments, or installments can significantly improve conversion rates.

With Split payments, you can:

• Reduce cart abandonment by making products more affordable through installments

• Increase average order value by allowing customers to spread costs over time

• Attract more customers who prefer flexible payment options

• Compete with larger retailers who offer similar payment flexibility

Install Split Payments from Shopify App store and offer flexible payment options to maximize both your visitor numbers and conversion rates.

This article was created with assistance from vevy.ai and proofread, fact-checked, and validated by its author.