THE RECIPE FOR SEO SUCCESS



Shopify Masterclass notesDate: 10 July 2019Digital Masterchefs GroupAbout meKerri BennettYellow Door DigitalUsing Shopify since 2014. Built 10 ecommerce sites including start ups, transfer from custom CMS, wholesale, limited inventory as well as stores with hundreds of products. Also collaborator account on multiple store to assist in managing / improving stores built by store owners.Am part of the Shopify developer platform but not classified as Shopify expert as I choose to remain platform agnostic and not be held to reach sign up targets set by Shopify to remain an ‘expert’.Shopify – what the hell?Developed in 2004 and released in 2006Developed and still owned by three clever guys who wanted to sell snowboard gear but found the eCommerce platform options unsatisfactory.Software as a service (SaaS)Plans from $9pm (USD) buy button only - Shopify Plus $2000pmRuby on Rails frameworkAs at 31.12.18 reported 800K businesses were using it as their platformMore info here.Some Aussie Shopify Stores you may know:Rock Your BabyBudgy SmugglerSunday SomewhereBondi SmileSkinny Me TeaDestination Towels Natural Supply Co6ft6 Wine Shopify any good for SEO?Depends largely on your knowledge and skills of SEO and for on-page elements its not dissimilar to optimizing for any platform.Keyword researchKeyword focused pagesStrong Title TagInclude KW in URL (however in Shopify it will be appended with:/pages/collections/blogs/productMeta descriptionsAlt tags for images (on an instance by instance basis, ie when you upload it unlike Wordpress when you upload it once and label the Alt tag once)Image file sizeImage file namesHowever as a hosted platform there are some elements that are out of your control. If in a highly competitive niche where you need every inch of SEO artillery at your disposal, Shopify might not be the right platform for you. You can hire a developer or install an app to assist but the cost or app load might negate the improvement impact.What you can doPlan your information, content and productsOptimise all elements on product, collection and product pages, including adding content to your visible collection pages.Use optimized file names and compress images before upload (there are image compression apps but more apps = more load time)Apply Alt textLimit number of appsUninstall apps not usingBe critical of the apps you do use – are they helping convert? Are they necessary?Build linksReach out to app devs to ask about completely uninstalling appsWrite keyword optmised contentChoose a fast theme by a reputable developer with many of the features already built in so you don’t have to install as apps. My go to themes are from Out of the Sandbox, Pixel Union, We are Underground, only one I’ve had issue with was Krown Themes Kingdom.Put theme through speed testsStay away from Shopify themes on ThemeforestUse Google Tag manager to Java script tags (Not GA or FB Pixel)Plan good information and product structureInstall Metafields-FD Chrome plugin to add hidden meta fields (advanced)Install Lightweight AMP app ie Shop Sherrif (Amp is tricky to edit via code even for very experience Shopify Devs, thus why so many AMP apps.Install Lightweight Schema app if you don’t want to use dev to code directly. JSON-LD by verge is free and decent.When looking at themes look at the ‘real life examples and speed test them as the demo themes are designed to be pretty slick.Beware:SEO Plugins help highlight what needs attention but will add load to your site.Canonical URLs for pagination are in most cases set by the theme with the canonical pointing to page# as the main link.As each page shares title and meta info with all the other pages in the collection there is the potential for this to be considered duplicate content. (Some say its not duplicate content the products are different). Ways to avoid: faceted filtering so that pagination is not necessary ie or continuous scrolling ie edit the code and change the canonical to the full listing of products or the first page.Shopify experts – to remain an expert they need to sign up a certain number of new stores per year and they get ongoing payments from every store they sign up. This is why you can sometimes find shopify stores ‘for sale’. They build them and then offload them but get to keep the trailing commission and Multiple URLs. A single product has multiple URLs Ie are automatically added to most templates to point back to the main product. Ie Ie <link rel="canonical" href="">Check your page source to see what happens in your theme or reach out to the theme developers.The Shopify Page title space sets limit of 70 characters, which is a bit misleading especially for Shopify users with no understand of SEO. (Ideally 50-60 is recognized as more likely to be in line with the pixel length of the title tag)Shopify with its low start up cost and ease of use has been designed for non developers. Therefore Shopify stores can be easily constructed with little thought about information and product structure, over-whelming and distracting pop ups, messy layouts, low quality product photography. Shopify base level support is good for text book stuff but need to ask for level 2 support for more complex matters and sometimes getting to level 2 is not easy.Shopify shortcomingsRobots.txt file – locked inRobtos.txt file Disallow: /collections/*+*therefore if ‘+’ features in your URL it won’t be crawled. Ie when faceted filtering of products is used: to alleviate this, Sunday Somewhere has coded a canonical to point this sort page to <link rel="canonical" href="" />Hosted platform so no user control over hostingSet url sstructure. Ie all pages are appended with /collections /pages /blogs /articlesSo blogs appear like this: offering is pretty horrid301 redirects are one to one rather than one to many, in the case you need to redirect a large number of URLs you need to do them individually.Other TipsAvoid to many pop ups (remember mobile first indexing and turn off for mobile)Instagram Feeds are pretty but slow down load times.Ask yourself if you could you code instead of use and app?Remove App crumbs – Reach out to app devs and ask them how to fully uninstall apps that you now longer needRemove Quick view function (if customers not using) as in most themes creates preload and slows down page speed. (use Hotjar or something for a limited amount of time to see if Quickview is being used.)Use automate collections via tags but ensure you have a solid and consistent tag naming convention in placeQuestions:1. Yotpo for reviews creating AMP issues for all product pages.>More info required about what errors are reporting. Speak to Yotpo and Amplify about why happening.2. Best Set up for new product for max seo juciness>Optimise all the available elements including title tags, Headings, URL, meta information, optimized images with good file names, Alt tag. Add schema mark up to product points. If theme allows look to create extended product page: content for product information (advanced) use Metafields-FD or Custom Fields for Chrome (advanced)3. Best ThemesI like Out of the Sandbox themes because they are so feature rich, optimize for speed and their support is top notch. If you need a simpler store without the need for bells and whistles most in the Shopify store are great, as they have gone through Shopify’s guidelines before being accepted. Look closely for developer who has multiple themes as it points to experience. If you choose a Shopify designed free theme (I think there are 16 of those) Shopify provides the support directly for them.Stay away from Kingdom by Krown Themes. Used it and disliked it. Most issues where due to the sidebar navigation (which was chosen at clients request.) 4. Duplication of product titles>Answered in content5. What's the easiest way to set up a tick box "how did you hear about us" to be checked at checkout?>Check out page is locked down by Shopify on Shopify Core plans (some options on Shopify Plus plans). Shopify point to minimising distraction for optimal conversion on cart and checkout pages. They advise that a post purchase survey to determine how you heard about us is a better option. 6. Is there a way to alter the text, or ad a button on the 'share' function on product listings?> Send me an example of what you are talking about. It might be as simple as a change in the code at product.liquid or if only required on certain products your may be able t use Shopify-FD (advanced) or Custom Fields.7. Best SEO tip for Shopify sites specifically> Answered in Content8. Apps to installDepends on what you theme already has, your products, audience and budget. But I usually recommend an email marketing app, schema app, AMP app, Review App, Accounting software plugin, Upsell app (if not built in), depending on volume and order handing, label print apps also.Resources:(Just be sure to check dates on content as may be outdated information). (highly geeky) BennettYellow Door Digital.auhello@.au ................
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