5 Common Shopify SEO Problems and Their Solutions

Shopify isn’t bad for search engine optimization per se. It’s pretty useful out of the box, with tools that make adding title tags, meta descriptions, image alt text, and other positive SEO elements easy. That said, when you’re trying to beat 5 million other Shopify stores for search rankings, Shopify’s SEO problems start to show.

What Are the Most Common Shopify SEO Problems To Watch For?

For better or worse, Shopify is the Apple iPhone of eCommerce. The average user loves its click-and-go features. On the other hand, SEO professionals get frustrated by the lack of flexibility and control. When you try to push from “good” to “great,” Shopify’s limitations can start to hold you back.

1. Duplicate Web Pages

The biggest pain point with Shopify SEO is the way it organizes web pages. It doesn’t let you modify the way categories appear.

Say you sell running shoes for men, women, and kids. Your new product is a men’s shoe called ManWalkFast. When you create a product page for it, Shopify gives it the URL:

• “runningonsweat.com/products/manwalkfast”
  

So far, so good. But what happens when you add your new product to a collection, such as Men’s Shoes? Shopify now creates a duplicate page with the URL:

• “runningonsweat.com/collections/mens/manwalkfast”
  

The web pages are different, but they have identical content. To avoid SEO problems, Shopify adds canonical tags and redirects in the HTML code. These are like flags that tell Google: “This is the version of the page I want you to look at for search results.”

Here’s where it gets crazy. When you create blog content, the page Shopify chooses for the link is — wait for it — the redirected version you’re specifically telling Google to ignore! It’s like spending all day cleaning your house for a big party, and then your friends decide to host the event at McDonalds instead.

If you’re not careful, your internal linking structure can become a confusing mess — for your team and for Google. Sending conflicting messages to web crawlers can play havoc with link equity, the page authority Google assigns to web pages it trusts.

2. Variant Product Ranking Issues

Fashion variants (e.g., different colors of the same shirt) can cause the opposite issue for Shopify SEO. Google ignores pages with a variant tag, which is normally a good thing.

But what if one of the variants stands out so much that people specifically search for it? Here’s an example:

• Your main product is a women’s running shoe called UGoGirl.
• You release a leopard print version of the shoe.
• There’s a spike in keyword searches for “leopard print UGoGirl” and “leopard print running shoes.”
• Your “UGoGirl – Leopard Print” page has a redirect so Google completely ignores it.
• A competitor capitalizes on your success by creating a dedicated web page for leopard print running shoes.
  

In this situation, Shopify’s automatic features actively work against your search ranking goals, treating the variant like it doesn’t exist for SEO purposes.

3. Duplicate Product Content

The story goes like this: You’re pressed for time, so you decide to use the same product description for multiple similar items or different URLs of the same product.

Imagine you sell unisex athletic wear, but you don’t have a unisex category. So, you make two copies of the same hoodie page, one for your men’s category and another for women.

Google won’t penalize you for this type of accidental duplication, but it can hurt your SEO. Search engines always give preference to unique pages when ranking content. Plus, you now have two pages competing against each other for the same keyword traffic, weakening your overall rankings.

4. Not Enough Page Content for Search Optimization

Some Shopify store owners limit product descriptions to the bare minimum: name, image, price, and size. That’s not enough for a good customer experience, and it doesn’t give you enough eCommerce content to work with for SEO. At the very least, you need a paragraph to describe the product and include a keyword or two.

5. No Blog Posts

A surprising number of eCommerce stores completely ignore Shopify’s blog post functions. Don’t fall for these common misconceptions:

• “Blog posts don’t matter for eCommerce stores.” (False)
• “Blogging doesn’t help SEO that much.” (False)
• “Visitors don’t read blogs anyway.” (False)
• “I’m too busy.” (Maybe true but solvable)
  

If your Shopify site doesn’t have a blog, you’re missing out on a crazy number of opportunities to improve your organic search traffic, make your audience happy, keep people engaged with your brand, and attract new customers. Unlike paid ads, blog posts are practically free and they keep working their magic for years.

How Do You Make Shopify SEO-Friendly?

Now that we’ve discussed the five biggest Shopify SEO problems, it’s time to talk solutions. We’ll cover these SEO tips in the same order.

1. Perform a Sitewide SEO Checkup

Fixing Shopify’s link-equity-killing duplicate page issues requires carefully managing your site’s link profile and canonical tags.

First, make sure the most up-to-date and search-optimized pages have the canonical tag. Second, keep a list of these “chosen ones” and always use them for internal linking. That way, you keep your link juice flowing and those pages get a boost in search rankings.

2. Keep Tabs on Website Traffic and Keyword Trends

Use free tools like Google Analytics, Google Search Console, and Screaming Frog to regularly check your website traffic. What you learn can help your SEO efforts massively.

Are you seeing a spike in page visits for leopard print sneakers? That’s a sign that you should ditch the variant tag and create a separate page.

Any time people are likely to search for a specific color — black dresses, rose-gold shoes, gold purses, or another trend — you can maximize your search rankings by treating the item like a unique product.

3. Prioritize Your Most Important Products

It’s not easy to manage content if you have 500 different items on your store. We get it. SEO is like flossing.

A patient tells a dentist: “I don’t have time to floss my teeth every day.” So the dentist says: “I’ll make you a deal. To save time, just floss the teeth you want to save.”

If you want your products to rank high on Google, there’s no way around it. Start with your biggest sellers and give them the full content optimization treatment. Then, move on to the next 50 or 100 products.

4. Keep Product Descriptions Simple — With the Right Keywords

Some owners have trouble creating product content because they misunderstand what a description should be. Unless you have a particular brand voice that calls for it, there’s no need for flowing phrases and word pictures about relaxing with a glass of wine.

What search engines want — and many customers — is a short but detailed description:

• What the product is
• What makes it special
• What options are available
  

Keyword research is the most important factor for SEO success. Use relevant keywords in every description, like “comfortable running shoes,” “fall fashion,”or “date night dresses.”

5. Create Blog Articles To Attract New Customers

Content marketing works wonders for SEO. Blog articles and videos have a stupendous return on investment ratio, often more than 150%.

What if you feel overwhelmed? The easiest solution is to partner with our team. We can literally handle everything, from content planning and writing to SEO optimization and posting on your site.

For DIY blogs, keep things simple by organizing your content around topic clusters. Pick subjects that your target customers care about, do some research on related keywords, and focus on creating high-quality information that helps your audience. Buying guides are great for this.

The Solution to Shopify SEO Problems for People Who Don’t Like Coding

One of the reasons small business owners love Shopify is precisely because it’s a breeze to use. There are apps for everything so you don’t have to code.

Some Shopify SEO problems require HTML editing to solve, but you don’t have to mess with it. Call our team instead. We can perform a comprehensive SEO analysis for you.