Back

Shopify SEO: How to Optimize Your Product Pages for the Search Engine

This is a part of our series on how to ensure the best eCommerce SEO for your Shopify store. 

As an eCommerce store owner, you know how important it is to attract customers 

to your online store. 

Imagine this scenario: a potential customer "Googles" a product you sell, and voila! 

They find what they are searching for, but there's a catch - it's from somewhere other than your store. 

So what did this other store do better than yours to get discovered at this stage of the buyer’s shopping journey online? 

Shopify SEO

To help you get a headstart with the same, in this guide we are going to deep dive into Shopify product page SEO - since this is often the very first page that shows up on search owing to the specific queries consumers make. 

Why is product page SEO tricky? 

The eCommerce industry is on the rise, with a projected growth of nearly $11 trillion between 2021 and 2025. As more and more eCommerce sites enter the market, it's crucial to have a search strategy that stands out and delivers results. 

But search engine optimization (SEO) requires a holistic approach beyond optimizing individual product pages. Search engines evaluate your entire eCommerce store, and pages can affect each other positively or negatively. It means you must consider the bigger picture when optimizing your product pages.

For a product page to be a ‘Best Performer,’ there are four things that need to come together: 

  • Your product
  • Your brand
  • Your copywriting
  • Your page’s design and user experience
  • Your product is center stage 

While it's essential to focus on individual product pages, it's equally important to understand how they fit together and impact the rest of your site. 

For example, you may need to deal with issues such as category pages and product pages competing for the same search queries, very similar product variants, products available in multiple categories, or discontinued or expired products.

That’s why more often than not, Shopify stores skip on eCommerce SEO and rely on their marketing/ advertising budgets to deal with the number of online shoppers they drive in. 

Dos’ of product page seo on Shopify

While your Shopify SEO strategy may vary based on who you are targeting and what you sell online, here are some things we do recommend following: 

1. Focus on your keyword strategy 

Product page optimization starts with fine-tuning your keyword strategy through thorough keyword research. 

Prioritize using product-focused topics relevant to users and likely to convert rather than solely focusing on search volume.

To foolproof your keyword and topic research, incorporate data from other channels, such as paid search. Look for high-performing ad copy with high click-through rates (CTR) and take note of the words and phrases it has made use of. 

We also recommend focusing on long-tail keywords as they help you index the product page for broad matches. 

2. Optimize your meta data 

This part of product page SEO includes optimizing your meta title, meta description, call to action and of course, the heading of your web page. 

Although it's acceptable to begin with templated meta descriptions that only differ in the product name, it may not be as enticing for online shoppers. It compromises the uniqueness of the products and eats into the capital where you can present the value your product does bring to a consumer. 

For example, your product page is about an iPhone cover. 

A mundane metadata could like like: 

Blue iPhone cover | Brand name 

Buy the blue iPhone cover from our store at 50% off. 

But the approach we recommend would turn this around as the following: 

Blue iPhone cover for drop resistance | Brand name 

Keep your new iPhone safe and sound, and stylish with our 5 feet drop resistant Blue iPhone cover. Get 50% off on your first purchase. 

It is also recommended that you steer clear from using product codes in your metadata; while they may help you keep stock of items available, they too eat into the limited character space available on search - you can though include them in your product description. 

3. Tap into structured data markup for product pages

The correct structure data type can help your brand appear in rich snippets. This is because Structured Data plays a vital role in the strategy as there is a specific product schema that helps get highlighted search results called rich results. 

Similarly, Review Schema calls for structured customer reviews that help identify and pull up product pages quickly.

4. Include Concise and Informative FAQs

If you want to take your Shopify product page SEO to the next level, consider incorporating FAQs on it. 

As you are familiar with your customer base, you likely know the types of questions they have. Addressing these can create more engaging and valuable content while reducing support inquiries.

Alternatively, you may feature a moderated Q&A section on your product pages, especially if you have an active community. 

This allows visitors to ask or answer questions and increases the likelihood of ranking for additional search queries.

5. Leverage your customer reviews the right way

Studies show that product pages featuring customer reviews see a significant 52.2% increase in conversions compared to those without reviews. 

Authentic testimonials from satisfied customers who have used your product hold immense value for potential buyers looking to make informed decisions.

Allowing customers to share their experiences and how your product solved their problems is crucial for building trust and establishing credibility.

But did you know that product reviews and testimonials also win brownie points from the search engine? 

With the help of product review Shopify apps, you can not just display social proof on your store’s product pages, but also ensure they are easily crawlable. This helps the search engines display your reviews alongside the metadata on search results, increasing the likelihood of the link getting clicked on. 

6. Include and optimize high-quality product images and videos 

One of the main challenges of shopping online is needing to interact physically with the product. However, high-quality images and videos can bridge this gap and give customers the necessary information to feel confident in their purchase.

Using high-quality images and videos enhances the user experience while shopping. 

But to ensure these images and videos do get discovered, you will need to work on also optimizing them. 

Leverage ALT text to optimize your product images as per the target keyword and related keywords you’re targeting on the page. 

Similarly, ensure your videos are optimized for search too by including the primary keyword in your title and description. 

7. Minimize the load times of the page

To enhance user experience and increase the likelihood of generating sales, minimizing page load times for your product pages is crucial. With a growing number of consumers searching for products on mobile devices, optimizing for mobile too is a must.

By prioritizing fast-loading webpages, you can ensure that your content is delivered promptly to your target audience, leading to improved engagement and increased revenue. 

Additionally, faster load times can increase the number of pages viewed per session and give you an advantage over your competitors.

Moreover, minimizing page load times can significantly reduce bounce rates, which is essential for keeping visitors on your site. Aiming for three seconds or less load time can help you achieve these goals.

By paying close attention to your product page load time, you also get additional points from the search engine. This is why we include Shopify store speed optimization as a part of the eCommerce SEO strategy! 

8. Audit your product pages for technical issues

To ensure your product pages are crawled by the search engine and indexed well, you need to pay close attention to technical issues. This includes conducting a thorough SEO audit to take note of the following: 

  • One common issue to watch out for is faceted URLs, which can lead to duplicate content, wasted crawl budget, and split link equity.
  • To address these concerns, review your pages for technical and content elements that need optimization. Some key problem areas to watch include duplicate title tags and meta descriptions, slow page load times, broken links, thin content, 404 pages, 302 redirects, and missing structured data.

By addressing these issues and ensuring that your product pages are fully optimized, you can improve your website's search engine ranking and provide a better user experience for your visitors.

Don’ts of product page SEO on Shopify 

1. Never use the same product description from brands/ manufacturers 

The most common mistake these days is the cut+copy+paste of the product description from the manufacturer’s or brand’s website.

Never duplicate content as this will run into plagiarism issues and negatively impact your Shopify store SEO efforts. 

While you can use the original content as reference, we recommend creating your product title and description from scratch. To be able to do this, you can also align with your Shopify marketing strategy

2. Do not kill your seasonal pages 

One mistake we often see brands make is removing seasonal pages after the peak period. While it may seem like a good idea, doing so can harm your website's authority and SEO efforts. 

By removing these pages, you'll start from scratch every year and need help to regain the rankings and traffic you've built up. 

If you have a seasonal product page that has gained rankings, traffic, and sales over time, it's best to keep it active year-round. You can set up a notification bar through which interested shoppers can subscribe for the next time the sale goes live! 

This includes your BFCM and holiday season sale too. 

3. Never automate product page optimization 

Product pages are populated dynamically with the product name as <Title> tag followed by brand, and little to show is not a best practice.

Using Automated Descriptions and changing just a few variables will negatively impact your Shopify store SEO and eventually the CTR you get from organic search. 

Instead, you can include important information in the titles as you can’t automate the identification.

4. Don’t pull out-of-stock pages

As and when products go out of stock, that's when there’s prevailing stress across supply chains.

When the product is temporarily unavailable, you must keep the URL, especially if the page has rankings and traffic.

To keep these pages live, you can interest people by showing other relevant products from the collection or by letting them subscribe to restock alerts. 

Get started with Shopify product page SEO today! 

Paying attention to your Shopify SEO strategy enhances your online visibility and strengthens your brand image.

You provide consumers with accurate and timely information about your products, giving them a compelling reason to trust your brand for making the purchase. 

We know that there is a lot that goes into Shopify store SEO and every little tweak you make can impact your organic search either positively or negatively. 

Not sure where you stand or where to start? 

Reach out to our Shopify SEO experts today

More reading...

What You Need To Know About The Shopify Performance Dashboard And How To Use It
March 28, 2024

What You Need To Know About The Shopi...

Complete Guide to Product Merchandising for Shopify Stores (2024)
March 22, 2024

Complete Guide to Product Merchandisi...

eCommerce SEO Guide
March 20, 2024

The Definitive Guide on eCommerce SEO...