Office Hours with Shopify SEO Expert Kyle Risley

[Jacqui]

Unlock Your Store's Potential with Expert SEO Guidance!

Are you looking to boost your Shopify store's visibility in search engines? Join us for an exclusive SEO Office Hours session with Shopify's own SEO expert, Kyle Risley. 

This is a unique opportunity for you to get SEO advice and actionable strategies to enhance your store's performance online.

Date: November 19, 2024  

Time: 1:00 PM - 3:00 PM EST  

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Why Attend?

Expert Insights: Connect with Kyle Risley, a seasoned Shopify SEO professional, who will share his knowledge and experience in optimizing Shopify stores for higher search rankings.

Personalized Advice: Have specific questions about your store's SEO? Bring them to the chat! Kyle will answer your queries, providing tips that are relevant to your unique situation.

Learn Best Practices: Discover essential SEO tactics that can help improve your organic traffic, increase your store's visibility, and drive more sales.

Who Should Attend?

• Shopify merchants looking to improve their store's SEO.
• Business owners who are new to SEO and need guidance on where to start.
• Anyone interested in learning more about search engine optimization in the context of eCommerce.

What to Expect

• A supportive environment where you can ask questions and share experiences.
• In-depth discussions on SEO topics, including keyword research, on-page optimization, backlink strategies, and more.
• Network with other Shopify merchants and eCommerce enthusiasts.

How to Join

No registration is required! Simply mark your calendars and join us here in the Shopify Community on November 19th.

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Stay Updated!

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Subscribe to our Community Events board to be notified of future office hours, AMAs, and other Shopify events!

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Don't miss this invaluable opportunity to clarify your SEO queries and take your Shopify store to new heights! Post your questions below now 👇

[JonathanPJM]

One of the keys to SEO is good site speed. Can you recommend any good tools, apart from lighthouse that can help Shopify stores perform better?

[kyle_risley]

Site speed is essential for delivering a great customer experience and maximizing conversion rate. 

Shopify handles many foundational aspects of site speed, such as using a global CDN, optimizing image formats, and using minification and compression. This is why so many websites powered by Shopify meet or exceed Google's Core Web Vital guidelines.

Beyond that, site speed largely comes down to the customizations (apps, theme changes, etc.) made by a store. This is why Shopify also includes a Web Performance Dashboard in Admin to help you understand how changes you've made to your site, including app installs and code edits, have impacted Core Web Vital metrics. This can help you understand which changes might need a closer look.

To get granular insights, I personally use Google's PageSpeed Insights tool.

[Rockey]

Thanks @kyle_risley .. It will be nice if Shopify's web performance dashboard allowed us to break down the data by pageType/Template.. Without that breakdown, there is lot of guess work where we need to focus

[CamberleyGifts]

When I used Google's PageSpeed just now (thank you for the suggestion) it says SEO is 100% but I have not done anything to get there, nor am I getting a lot of sales. Do you think that is accurate?

[Antonina1]

Hi,

We just changed our template to Dawn theme. We are finding a big issue with how Google is spidering the collection pages. It is using the collection name as the html title instead of our optimized SEO title. And more alarming, it is using the filter names in the HTML description instead of our optimized description. This is the default out of the box way that Google is spidering the SEO. We need help fixing this during this important shopping season. 

[kyle_risley]

Hello - I can try to take a look. Can you DM me your site's URL? 

[Antonina1]

I just did. Thank you.

[Antonina1]

Another thing google is doing is spidering every filter option. How do we give most importance to the direct collection pages? I already see the canonical code in the main liquid file.

[kyle_risley]

The canonical link tag should be sufficient for signaling the version of the collection that you want to index. If you continue to have issues with filtered collections ranking where you don't expect them to, you could explore adding custom liquid code to noindex them.

[JonathanPJM]

In our blog we use a lot of tagging (i.e blogs/journal/tagged/in-season). These pages/archives don't have meta descriptions. Have you found a work around for this or do you feel it's not really a concern?

[kyle_risley]

Personally I rarely write meta descriptions, as Google is usually pretty good about coming up with their own description snippets based on the page content. 

If you're displaying additional content on tag pages, such as excerpt copy for each tagged post, then I wouldn't be too worried about it. 

If you want to create a meta description template for your tag pages, you could add some custom liquid to the <head> theme.liquid like this (PLEASE backup your theme files before making changes and test responsibly, this is just an example):

{% if template contains 'blog' and current_tags %}
<meta name="description" content="Explore our blog posts tagged with '{{ current_tags | join: ', ' }}'. Discover insights, tips, and stories related to {{ current_tags | join: ', ' }}.">
{% else %}
<meta name="description" content="Welcome to our blog. Read the latest articles, insights, and stories.">
{% endif %}

[JonathanPJM]

Thanks! that's really helpful!

[JonathanPJM]

What are your top 5 habits for improving/maintaining SEO on a Shopify store?

[kyle_risley]

My main advice for SEO success on Shopify:

1. Make sure you're set up correctly in Google Merchant Center. This involves installing + setting up the Google & YouTube app and logging into GMC to make sure there are not any critical feed errors.
2. Build collections for all of the critical product dimensions that exist across your product set. For example, if you sell hot sauce, you should build collections for the different heat levels (mild, medium, hot), the different peppers used (ghost, habanero, jalapeno), and possibly the different use cases (for wings, for eggs, for tacos).
3. Write descriptions for your products and collections.
4. Set up Google Search Console (and Bing Webmaster Tools!) and review the queries your pages are actually ranking for. Use this data to inform how you write your titles and descriptions.
5. Link to all of your most critical collections from the main navigation. Ensure 100% of your pages can be navigated to from your home page by clicking on links. 

It may seem basic, but many stores are not executing on all of these items.

[Rockey]

Why can't merchants delete 'Collection List' template if they are not using it? Many big merchants use lots of hidden collections and don't make use of 'Collection List' template but there is no way to get rid of it. Merchants need to update code to add 'noindex, nofollow' for this to not get indexed but many merchants have this template indexed and many of the merchants have this page not styled correctly and broken if you search for https://www.example.com/collections

[kyle_risley]

Yes, there are some pages that are difficult or impossible to get rid. As someone who runs their own sites, I appreciate that this is frustrating.

I can pass this feedback along to the appropriate team. If you're seeing instances where this is materially hurting a site's performance or negatively impacting the customer experience, that would increase the likelihood that it is prioritized. 

[Rockey]

Thanks @kyle_risley .. Random search on some Shopify merchants

- https://www.ministryofsupply.com/collections --> Page doesn't render correctly as not all collections have images. I have spoken to this merchant and they didn't know that page even exist and was indexed by Google.

- https://fentybeauty.com/collections -> Another decent size merchant and you will see that page is indexed by Google but broken (only renders header/footer)

I can give you 100 such examples.. Just look for some big merchants and look at /collections URL and see if the page renders correctly and has noindex,nofollow added or not

[kyle_risley]

Thanks!

[Rockey]

Here is a use case for which I haven't find a good solution. 

- Imagine a merchant using Shopify Markets/Translate and Adapt app with single Shopify instance. 

- They have a locale based sub-folder structure https://www.example.com/en-gb

- Now there are some pages which are not applicable for international markets (it can be Loyalty related page if loyalty program is US specific OR 'Final Sale' collection page as some merchants don't do 'Final Sale' outside US)

- I don't want en-gb version of the page to be indexable but I can't override/adapt seo.hidden attribute for a market.

- I want to set seo.hidden = 0 for US URL but seo.hidden = 1 for international version of the URL.

How do we do this?

[kyle_risley]

That does sound frustrating. I can relay this back to the Markets team. 

As far as I know, the only method to handle this would be to use a conditional noindex in your theme file based on the request.path - which I understand is not convenient or easily scalable. 

[Rockey]

Thanks .. Yes.. it's not scalable as type of pages/collections can be all over the place (depending upon specific use cases). I have thought about it and letting us adapt seo.hidden attribute using T&A app is the only scalable solution I could think of.. I believe T&A let's you adapt URLs for market so this is kind of related.

[Rockey]

I have questions on 'structured_data' liquid filter

- Does this work with Combined Listings?

- Can we get support for comparePrices in this liquid filter ? (As announced here - https://searchengineland.com/google-adds-support-for-sale-pricing-and-pricetype-property-446910)

[kyle_risley]

Yes, this should work with Combined Listings. 

Yes, I saw that announcement too. 🙂 I can share this with the appropriate team to try to get it on their roadmap. I'm pretty sure Shopify already distinguishes between list price and sale price in the information it shares with Google Merchant Center via the Google & YouTube app, so as long as merchants have their product feeds in order I don't expect adding this structured data will provide them with any additional benefit.

Still, it is nice to have the structured data as a backstop, so I agree it's worth doing.

[Rockey]

I am working with some big Shopify merchants and from my experience I can tell you that even if you have this information in Google feed, it doesn't really appear in SERP without this structured data.. I am still testing this but no evidence of it appearing with just the feeds. I have seen it for some shopify merchants but they have priceValidUntil implemented in structured data but not easy to do in Shopify has Shopify doesn't have a date associated with prices (some merchants have possibly customised this)

[kyle_risley]

That's helpful to know - I always appreciate feedback from people out in the field. Thanks!

[Rockey]

Follow up question .. You tweeted this - https://x.com/brodieseo/status/1857260723979821111

How do we do this with Combined Listing and this liquid filter? If Color is not a variation but an option in CombinedListing? I doubt that even if this liquid filter works for Combined Listing, it will add Color data in ProductGroup Schema.. I will try this out but wanted to put this on your radar in context of CombinedListing

[kyle_risley]

I don't think we know enough about how this SERP feature works just yet to answer how it interacts with ProductGroup schema, but I'd be surprised if ProductGroup schema is not compatible with this SERP feature. It is something we're aware of and continue to monitor.

[Rockey]

Sharing in case you find it useful. I have seen ComparePrice appear for this merchant in SERP - https://www.function18.com/products/nike-golf-dri-fit-tour-heather-shirt-dv3123-midnight-navy-410?sr...and if you see they have priceValidUntil implemented 

[Rockey]

This is more of a suggestion.. 

Shopify adds .atom  href as a link tag on collection pages and Google bot waste time trying to crawl these URLs.. (take a look at any shopify merchant's GSC)

<link rel="alternate" type="application/atom+xml" title="Feed" href="/collections/limited-edition.atom">

I think Shopify should add following in robots.txt by default.

User-agent: *
Disallow: /*.atom

Is there any reason why this is not added by default in robots.txt?

[kyle_risley]

Yeah, this is old, old code. It may need to be revisited. Until then, we don't see it causing performance issues for merchants, but if you have concerns about it you're free to customize the /robots.txt of your clients.

[Rockey]

Yes.. I have been customizing the robots.txt and adding this for the merchants I work with.. It just seems waste of crawl budget

[Jacqui · Accepted solution]

Thread Closed

Thank you to everyone who participated in our first Office Hours! Be notified for future office hours and other events by subscribing to our Community Events board. Big thanks to @kyle_risley for sharing your knowledge with our community!

[ncn]

SO WHERE DO WE GO TO BE PART OF TODAYS SESSION??

[sinanadba]

I really do not understand why you are making it so difficult for everyone to join! Just post the link here so we can join! 

[Daniele25]

• What is the importance of schema markup for SEO optimization, and how can I improve this area on my site?
  Additional: Are there any apps or plugins for Shopify that can help implement or fix schema markup issues?

• Is there a specific tool on Shopify or a plugin that can automate the correction of duplicate meta descriptions?

• What can I do to ensure that my site’s content is unique and valuable, avoiding Google penalties for duplication?
  Additional: Can anyone share best practices or apps that help with this process on Shopify?

• What are the best practices to ensure that all links on my site are crawlable by search engines?

• Are there tools on Shopify that make it easier to implement and fix issues related to hreflang?

• What are the best link-building strategies to improve my site’s authority and increase the number of high-quality backlinks?

• What are the signs that my site might be suffering from a backlink penalty, and how can I fix it?

• How can I ensure that conversion tracking between my marketing tools and my e-commerce system (Shopify) works properly, especially in identifying where the sale comes from?

• When a salesperson contacts a customer to close a sale, how can I properly record this conversion in Shopify and associate it with a specific marketing campaign?

• How can I improve lead tracking and ensure that sales information from different sources is correctly recorded in my CRM?

• How can I improve the sales process to ensure that information about the origin of the sale is collected more efficiently, especially when a salesperson finalizes the sale over the phone or by email?

• How can I configure Shopify to track the source of sales, especially when a customer visits the site multiple times before completing the purchase?

• How can I track offline sales (such as those made by phone or directly with a salesperson) and associate them with online marketing efforts?

[nora_berman]

Hello - what's the best approach with writing meta descriptions for product pages? is shorter better? is it possible to write different meta descriptions for variations of a product? thanks

[kyle_risley]

I don't write meta descriptions at all. I just focus on writing the important content on the page. But if you want to write them, you can use the "Search engine listing" tool at the bottom of each page's editor to see how it will look in search engine results.

[Paola_Rivera]

We are currently doing a migration from Magento to shopify but we are having a lot of errors acording to ahrefs, theres a plugin that we can use in shopify to analyse the new website?

[kyle_risley]

I would just use Google Search Console to help report 4xx and 5xx errors and then Screaming Frog to crawl the new site. 

Hopefully you have a redirect mapping of your Old URLs to your New URLs. Assuming you do, then make sure all redirects are working as expected. If you did not set up redirects, then you must set up 1:1 redirects from all old URLs to its new URL counterpart, especially for URLs that received traffic or made you money.

[StephBB]

Hey there, will the transcript be available after the office hours for those of us who can’t attend? 

[kyle_risley]

The Questions and Answers will remain visible in the Community thread. It's all Q&A - there is not any live aspect.

[Paola_Rivera]

Hi! to track the website position do you think is better with GSC or shopify had a plugin that we can use?

[kyle_risley]

Use GSC

[LunasQuest45]

Hello can you look at my site and tell me what improvements I can make? I'm targeting a niche target market (Dungeons and Dragons inspired by Japanese design) so I was wondering if perhaps I should use key words that are relevant to them. Here's my site: https://www.lunasquest.shop/  I'm super new to SEO so I'd appreciate any new info. I'm not sure where I can make improvements. Meta description? More blogs? Thanks!

[kyle_risley]

Unfortunately I can't provide personalized advice as part of this AMA.

I'd recommend checking out the recent SEO Beginner Tutorial that we just published on the Learn With Shopify YouTube channel.

You can also check out Learning SEO.