How can a new Shopify store improve SEO on a budget to increase traffic and rank higher on Google?

Topic summary

New Shopify owner seeks low‑budget SEO steps for a fashion/garments store; early feedback flags missing basics (H1/H2 headings and image alt text) with screenshots illustrating issues. A second newbie asks where to find H1/H2; a sample screenshot is provided.

Key recommended actions:

  • Start with an SEO audit (Shopify SEO audit tools/Ahrefs) to surface errors before changes.
  • On‑page essentials: target a primary high‑volume keyword per page; add H1/H2 (page headings) and alt text (image descriptions); write unique meta titles/descriptions; use product keywords in titles/descriptions and add an FAQs section.
  • Technical fixes: resolve duplicate content using canonical tags (mark the preferred URL), fix 404s/redirect loops, add an HTML sitemap.
  • Performance/mobile: compress images, improve page speed, test mobile friendliness (Google PageSpeed Insights/Mobile‑Friendly Test).
  • Content and links: publish informative, buying‑intent blog posts with internal links; pursue quality backlinks and broken‑link opportunities; build an email list via popups.
  • Prioritize top ~25 products/collections first.

Tools/apps mentioned: Google Keyword Planner, GA, Ahrefs, SEMrush; Shopify apps like SEOAnt, Avada, Booster SEO, TinyIMG (SEOAnt promotes features such as AMP, keyword monitor, AI content, backlink exchange, and a 30% discount).

Outcome: No final resolution; OP thanked contributors. Discussion remains open.

Summarized with AI on December 13. AI used: gpt-5.

Seeking Valuable SEO Advice for Shopify Startups!

Hey folks!

I am just a newbie in Shopify store with no sales at all and diving into the SEO world. This is my website https://www.barato.co.in/

Can any one help me where to start and what things we can Implement. Got low-budget so advice tips for ranking on search engines? Share your wisdom!

4 Likes

Your website is about garments and fashion collections. One major strategy you can implement is to optimize the content by incorporating high search volume keywords. For example: Add one primary keyword here:

Besides, H1, h2 and alt tags are missing. Here is the screenshot to back our statement.

So, these are some basics that you can follow. Once, done we will provide you more solutions.

1 Like

Okey! Thank You Miles Web.

Mention not @barato23

Hello! I’m very new, also. I do have keywords in all my alt text for product images. But, where do I find the H1 and H2?

1 Like

One sample shared

To improve your Shopify for SEO here are some ideas that can work.

1. SEO Audit Your Store

Perform the in-depth SEO audit of your store as per the free checklist provided by ConvertMate. That will help you highlight the errors that need to be fixed.

2. Optimize Page Meta

Page meta allows search engine crawlers to identify the purpose and subject of a page. Use product keywords with good search volume in both meta titles and descriptions within your product pages.

3. Use Keywords in Product Titles and Descriptions

Based upon the standard on-page SEO practices, add similar keywords in product titles and descriptions. Use the FAQs section at the bottom to address the questions people ask about similar topics.

4. Fix Duplicate Content

Use canonical tags for the product tags and variations. Duplicate content issue confuses search engine crawlers. So make sure it is fixed to get indexed in SERP.

5. Optimize Product Images

High-quality images are a must to get engagement and catch the attention of visitors. However, large resolutions and sizes badly impact the page loading speed. Use image compressors and online tools to optimize your images. ConvertMate also performs well for this purpose.

6. Publish Blog Posts

Write and publish informative blog posts with buying intent. Educate people about the product and compare it with others. Use your product links within your blog posts. You can also use popups to build email lists of interested people. Then reach out to them through cold email.

All the above methods are practically used and proven.

Hi, Barato

[quote=“barato23”]
Seeking Valuable SEO Advice for Shopify Startups!

Hey folks!

I am just a newbie in Shopify store with no sales at all and diving into the SEO world. This is my website https://www.barato.co.in/

Can any one help me where to start and what things we can Implement. Got low-budget so advice tips for ranking on search engines? Share your wisdom!
[/quote]>

You asked a good question for Shopify newbies, how to maximize the benefits of your budget, here are some of my suggestions for store SEO and SEO tools that you may can carry out.

–Improving your website’s SEO and increasing traffic involves multiple strategies. Here are some several aspects you can make effort:

1. Keyword Research and Optimization**:**

  • Use tools like Google Keyword Planner, GA, Ahrefs or Semrash to identify relevant keywords.

  • Integrate these keywords naturally into your website content, meta tags, headings, and URLs.

  • Eg: If you sell garments and fashion collections, you can do a reseach on this category, and investigating some top competitors’ website keywords.

2. High-Quality Content Creation**:**

  • Produce valuable, informative, and engaging content that addresses your audience’s needs.

  • Regularly update your blog with posts that provide tips, guides, and news of your site.

3. On-Page SEO**:**

  • Optimize your page titles, meta descriptions, header tags, image alt texts and image compression.

  • Ensure each page has a unique title and meta description that includes relevant keywords.

4. Speed Optimization**:**

  • Improve your site speed on PC and mobile.

  • Use responsive design to provide a seamless user experience on smartphones and tablets.

  • Tip: Test your website’s mobile friendliness using Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test and make necessary adjustments like optimizing images and reducing server response time.

5. Backlink Building**:**

  • Earn high-quality backlinks from reputable websites to boost your site’s authority.

  • Reach out to bloggers, industry influencers, and local businesses for guest posting opportunities.

  • Don’t forget broken link repairation.

6. Improving User Experience**:**

  • Update your local business on search engine making it easier for potential customers to find and contact your business;

  • Setup your HTML sitemap.

  • Use tools like Google PageSpeed Insights to analyze your site’s speed and make improvements like compressing images and enabling browser caching.

Shopify SEO Tools Recommendation

For Shopify store owners, leveraging SEO tools can streamline optimization efforts. Here are some recommended tools like SEOAnt AI SEO Optimizer, Avada SEO, Booster SEO, and TinyIMG. Here are some differences between them.

—> Here are some advantages of SEOAnt compared to other competitors like TinyIMG, Avada SEO, and Booster SEO:

Product Power:

  • User-Friendly Interface**:** SEOAnt offers a clean interface with strong usability and comprehensive features.

  • Cost-Efficient Plans**:** We provide three plans: Free, Pro, and Premium, to cover all users’ requirements.

  • Highlighted Features:

    • AMP: Accelerated loading speed on mobile.

    • Keywords Monitor: Identify competitors’ site keywords to help you develop your optimization strategy.

    • AI-Generated Content: Quickly generate SEO-compliant product descriptions and blog content using AI.

    • Backlink Exchange: Enhance your site’s authority and ranking.

  • After-Sales Service**:** Our professional customer service team provides 24-hour response to ensure prompt and high-quality problem resolution.

  • Discount**:** New users can get a 30% discount.

May your business thrive and prosper. :hugs:

1 Like

Thanks for this valuable solution.

Hi

You can do that by following the below practices:

  1. Indenify the bestseller collections and products. To start with let’s focus only on 25 pages.
  2. Optimize their meta tags, content & images.
  3. Run a free audit using software like Ahrefs.
  4. Fix the 404, Redirect loops, Canonical & Images issues.
  5. Work on the overall page speed of your store.

Once done, you can expect jump in your rankings which will result into better traffic and sales.

Try to run Shopify SEO Audit first, random guys can advise random advises.

Hi, I’ve just finished making my website and was looking for any useful tips on how to boost my SEO and traffic towards my website. All help is much appreciated, thank you!

2 Likes

There are 2 Strategies that you should apply when want to boost SEO and traffic:

1. On-Page SEO Strategy:

When it comes to SEO for eCommerce websites, on-page SEO is all about placing your keywords in the appropriate areas. It gives Google a clear understanding of the subject matter of your page.

On-page SEO is important since it allows you to appear in other Search Engine Results Page (SERP) elements.

There are some elements you have to know:

  • eCommerce keyword research: Check to see whether you are selecting the appropriate keywords. You can use Amazon to identify keywords. As a result, Amazon will give forth ideas for autofill. Put all of these keyword suggestions in a Google spreadsheet for future use.

Besides, take a look at your competitor. You can get keyword ideas from your competitors’ websites if they appear higher in search results than you do. In the beginning, enter your phrase into Google, select a rival, and go through their category and product pages for prospective keywords.

  • eCommerce product pages:

The following areas need to have your target keyword in order to successfully optimize these pages:

  • In the URL

  • In the title tag (H)

  • In body copy

  • In image alt text

  • In the metadata

  • Content marketing:

Remember that there is a limit to the number of keywords that product and category pages can rank for. You are unable to cover any more search real estate once you have used them all up.

These holes can be filled in with content. Long-tail and short-tail keywords related to your industry can now be ranked. It might be simpler to develop links to your site to raise its domain authority and increase traffic.

  • Technical SEO strategies: Website architecture, Page speed, Redirects, Internal linking, HTTPs, Mobile responsive, Duplicate content, Hreflang, Canonicals, Sitemap.
  1. Offpage Strategies:

More than almost any other ranking criteria, backlinks from other websites with a high domain authority can help your website rank higher.

It takes a little more effort and time because they are considered off-page SEO. It is not just making a little change to your website. To get those links, you’ll have to work with other bloggers and merchants.

There are some effective off-page strategies:

  • Resource page link building

  • Partnering with influencers

  • Broken link building

  • Stealing competitor’s links

  • Guest posting

To know detail about SEO strategies, you can read this article. It also recommends you some free SEO tools that help you boost your site’s rank!

https://magenest.com/en/ecommerce-seo/

Hope it helps!

There are 3 SEO strategies you should execute when optimizing SEO:

  1. On-Page SEO Strategy

When it comes to SEO for eCommerce websites, on-page SEO is all about placing your keywords in the appropriate areas. It gives Google a clear understanding of the subject matter of your page.

On-page SEO is important since it allows you to appear in other Search Engine Results Page (SERP) elements.

- eCommerce keyword research:

Check to see whether you are selecting the appropriate keywords. Use Amazon to find out intent keywords. Start putting your seed term into Amazon to identify keywords. As a result, Amazon will give forth ideas for autofill. Put all of these keyword suggestions in a Google spreadsheet for future use.

Besides, you have to take a look at your competitors. You can get keyword ideas from your rivals’ websites if they appear higher in search results than you do. In the beginning, enter your phrase into Google, select a rival, and go through their category and product pages for prospective keywords.

- eCommerce product pages: The following areas need to have your target keyword in order to successfully optimize these pages:

  • In the URL
  • In the title tag
  • In body copy
  • In image alt text
  • In the metadata

- Content marketing: Remember that there is a limit to the number of keywords that product and category pages can rank for. You are unable to cover any more search real estate once you have used them all up.

These holes can be filled in with content. Long-tail and short-tail keywords related to your industry can now be ranked. It might be simpler to develop links to your site to raise its domain authority and increase traffic. This will ultimately lead to more sales.

  1. Technical SEO strategies:

Keywords are only one aspect of the eCommerce website and SEO. Another aspect of how to improve the SEO of an eCommerce website is technical. There are important aspects you need to consider when thinking about technical SEO strategies:

- Website architecture:

For a superb website structure, there are three “golden rules”:

  • Make it scalable and easy to use.
  • There should only be three clicks between any two pages.
  • Create page URLs and subdirectories that are extremely relevant by using keyword research.

- Page speed:

Visit Google’s PageSpeed Insights Tool and type in your URL to get a sense of what you can do to make your site faster. Google will grade you on Mobile and Desktop from 1 to 100 and provide tips for reducing load times.

- Redirects:

Redirects allow you to redirect visitors and search engines to a different URL from the one they initially requested. Make sure the previous URL and the one being redirected are related, or else you risk losing SEO rankings.

- Internal linking:

You may create a website ecosystem, and retain visitors to your sites. And it will increase the possibility that they will engage with your content or make a purchase by including internal links on your pages.

- HTTPs:

Among SEO activities for eCommerce websites, make sure that the keywords are considered while creating each of your URLs.

  • Mobile responsive: The SEO approach will be more successful if your website is mobile responsive as well as mobile friendly.

- Duplicate content:

When creating content or category pages, make sure they are distinct from the rest of your website and have something special to offer.

  • Hreflang: If you have many copies of the same page in different languages, using Hreflang to distinguish them on Google might be beneficial for your SEO strategy. You don’t want to be penalized for attempting to reach out to diverse audiences all around the world.

- Canonicals:

Keywords may exist in numerous separate URLs within the same subjects or pages. Your SEO rankings may suffer without the master page’s tagging since Google may punish you for using too many duplicated search phrases.

- Sitemap:

Sitemaps are an under-appreciated yet essential component of any eCommerce SEO plan. You may try to direct potential readers and viewers to particular sites by instructing search engines where to look. This will improve those pages’ rankings and provide you with more control over site traffic.

  1. Offpage Strategies (Link building)

More than almost any other ranking criteria, backlinks from other websites with a high domain authority can help your website rank higher.

It takes a little more effort and time because they are considered off-page SEO. It is not just making a little change to your website. To get those links, you’ll have to work with other bloggers and merchants.

There are some effective off-page strategies:

  • Resource page link building

  • Partnering with influencers

  • Broken link building

  • Stealing competitor’s links

  • Guest posting

Hope it helps!

7 Likes

This is extremely useful, thank you so much

Hello @JakeT1 ,

It’s flareAI - your Fully Automated Free Sales Machine here. We are helping Shopify merchants providing solutions for the last few years in Shopify Community.

If helpful, please consider Like and Accept solution.

Here are a few tips to help improve the SEO and traffic to your Shopify store:

  1. Optimize your title tags and meta descriptions
    Make sure that the title tags and meta descriptions describe the content of your pages, and include relevant keywords so that customers can get your website in organic searches.

  2. Use alt tags for images
    Using descriptive alt tags for images can help search engines understand the content on your pages and improve your visibility in image search results.

  3. Create high-quality content
    Having a blog or resource section on your website can be a great way to create high-quality content that attracts backlinks and visitors.

  4. Optimize product pages
    To optimize the product pages, include unique and descriptive title tags and meta descriptions, high-quality product images, and detailed product descriptions with relevant keywords.

  5. Use backlinks:
    The more backlinks you have pointing to your website, the more authoritative and relevant it will appear to search engines.

  6. Use Google Analytics
    Google Analytics will help to get insights about your website traffic, see where your traffic is coming from, and track conversion rates.

  7. Make use of social media
    Consistently post on your social media accounts about your store products which help to interact with your target audience. This will help drive more traffic to your website, and can also be useful for building backlinks.

  8. Submit your site to Google
    Make sure to submit your sitemap to Google Search Console. This gives Google a nudge to speed up the indexing of your website.

It’s important to note that SEO is a long-term process that requires consistent effort and monitoring. So don’t expect instant results, but with consistent effort, you can see improvement in traffic and search engine ranking.

Also, your ongoing SEO efforts can only work if the page is indexed by Google. Unless your store is old and has very few products, there is no guarantee that all the pages you carefully SEO’ed are actually indexed by Google. flareAI automates the update submissions to all the major search engines. Let flareAI help you to grow your revenue on the world’s best free sales channels.

If you found the answer helpful consider supporting the Shopify Community by giving it a Like + Accept the solution.

Gina
flareAI

2 Likes

This is extremely helpful, thank you very much :slightly_smiling_face:

Thanks a lot for your reply, it’s very useful :slightly_smiling_face:

1 Like

Hi Jake,

As others have mentioned, blogging is very important for SEO. Having consistent, high-quality and optimized blog posts really helps kickstart your organic inbound traffic. It does this by giving the search engine crawlers more content to index and shows activity on your storefront.

Blog Pilot automates the blog post creation and management process for you, posting once per week automatically. We offer a free trial as well!

https://apps.shopify.com/blog-pilot

Happy to answer any questions you might have about blogging and SEO. Feel free to reply to this comment or shoot us a message directly!

Guest posting are companies that specialize in creating high-quality content and publishing it on relevant blogs and websites on behalf of their clients. These services can be incredibly beneficial for businesses and individuals looking to increase their online presence, as they can save time and effort while still achieving the desired results.

There are many different guest posting services available, each offering a range of different features and benefits. Some services focus on creating unique and engaging content, while others specialize in finding the best blogs and websites for guest posting. Some services also offer a range of additional services, such as keyword research and optimization, social media promotion, and more.