Search Engine Optimization, or SEO, has been a hot topic in eCommerce. Still, there are people that aren’t sure what it means or how it relates to store performance. Merchants want to improve SEO, but have no idea how. That’s where we come in. When you partner with Shopify Plus Partner Fyresite, we can offer you our full range of SEO assistance for your Shopify Store.

What is SEO?

SEO can be rather complicated, but at its core it refers to where a website (or product, or article, or blog) ranks on a search engine’s search page. For example, what determines what is the first result on a search page versus the fifth? SEO. SEO is important for a business because 68% of online experiences start with a search engine, and 75% never look past the first page of results. That means there are a lot of customers looking for products, and if you rank low on SEO they’ll find your competitor instead. Fortunately, partnering with Fyresite gives you and your Shopify shop an advantage.

Keywords

You may be asking yourself, “How do keywords help SEO?”. Well, keywords are the search terms that potential customers will use to try and find a product to buy. You want to use clear and concise keywords to make sure your shop is higher in their search results.  For example, if you sell shoes and only have them labeled as shoes on your website, then you will not show up in searches for boots, heels, sandals, flats, etc. However, if you have shoes sorted by category, you improve your chances of showing up for the search.

This doesn’t just apply to products like clothing, keywords are helpful for all products and services. If you are a mechanic, using keywords such as car repair and part replacement will help you rank higher too.

You can add keywords to your site in a few different places, including:

Title tag and meta description

The title tag is the HTML code that gives your web page a title. The meta description is the blurb that appears under the title for a website on a search engine.

Image alt text

An image alt text allows you to use text to describe an image, in case the image doesn’t render properly or a customer is using accessibility settings to read the screen.

Page Content

Using keywords on pages is important, because a search engine will compare your title to your page content to make sure it is about what the title claims.

The most important part of keywords is to use natural phrases. If you just add keywords for SEO purposes, even where they don’t fit, then it will actually harm your SEO standing.

Sitemaps

A sitemap is a list that shows the links that belong to a domain, such as product pages, images, and blog posts. They are automatically generated by Shopify for all levels of stores. However, while Shopify Basic still generates a full site map, it is only by the primary domain. Those who have Shopify, Advanced, or Plus plans are able to have international domains that can be used to create region or county-specific domains. These files are used by search engines to index your site so you’ll appear in searches. 

Search Engine SEO Tools

Different search engines have their own tools that you can make accounts with to improve your SEO with their search engine.

The Google Search Console helps improve SEO on Google by measuring your site’s search traffic and performance, identifying and fixing issues, and optimizing your content. GSC is free, but you must sign up with an account.

Bing Webmaster Tools

Bing Webmaster Tools gives you SEO insights to help rate higher on Bing. It is free, but you must sign up with an account.

Firefox

While Firefox does not have their own built in SEO tool like Google or Bing, they do offer SEO extensions to help you have a better understanding of your SEO impact.

Shopify SEO Assistance

Fyresite offers SEO as an add-on for our Shopify services. To reach out and see if Fyresite will be the right fit for your business, you can contact us here.