Hi Everyone,
I would like to know how I can let Google know which image to show when my page shows in their search results.
The page I am interested is https://theyoungfolkcollective.com.au/collections/moses-baskets which has a lot of images. Alt text does not seem to work as it seems random which image google shows.
I have found the below page on Google but am unsure how to implement it with my Shopify store.
https://support.google.com/customsearch/answer/1626955?hl=en
Thanks!
Hi, there.
My name is Ren from the Shopify support team and I’m happy to offer some suggestions here. Are you referring to the Google Shopping thumbnail or to the thumbnail that appears whenever your link is shared on social media?
For the Google Shopping thumbnail, only the first variant image of a product will be published to Google Shopping, as Google Shopping will directs a customer directly to that product page. There is a third-party app however that claims to allow you to select the second image for Google Shopping, check it out here.
Follow the steps as outlined below:
1 - From your Shopify admin, go to Online Store > Themes.
2 - Click the Customize button besides the theme that you want to edit.
3 - Once you’re redirected to the theme editor page, click the “Theme settings” tab.
4 - Click the Social media button.
5 - Under the “Social sharing image” area, click the Select image button and either choose an image to use or upload a new image.
6 - Hit Save.
It can take a few days to weeks for these changes to be reflected but you can attempt to speed up that process by refreshing your information using the Facebook Sharing Debugger tool.
I hope that’s what you’re looking for! Let me know if I can help clarify any of the above.
Hi Ren,
I went to the social media themes page but that option is no longer there. Did it change?
thanks!
Hi @NonnaGina ,
I’m glad you brought this up. The steps above are now outdated as the Brooklyn theme has undergone several revisions since. We have a different method of selecting your social media image now and I’ll detail them below as well as include the full link here.
Find the Social sharing image section.
To upload a new image, click Add image. To change the existing image, click Edit > Change image.
Select the image from your computer that you want to show on social media.
Click Save.
A page title and description is often shown with the image when you post to social media. Learn more about editing titles and meta descriptions for your pages.
When a social sharing image is not manually uploaded, then Shopify uses images added to your theme as a fallback. Shopify might use the value of one of the following theme settings:
If the logo’s size doesn’t meet the recommend dimensions or is on a transparent background, then Shopify fills the area with a color from Theme settings > Colors > Background. If this setting isn’t available, then Shopify uses the Theme settings > Checkout > Main content area > Background colour. The following image illustrates a background color being used as padding:
Additionally, Facebook stores images for a number of days before checking for updates, so if you change your social media image, then you’ll want to use the Facebook Sharing Debugger to refresh the information that is saved for your page links.
That should do the trick! Let me know if I can help clarify any of that for you.
Hi
How do I select an image I want to display next to my SERP for a specific page? Meaning, on generic search, not shopping or social media sharing. This can’t be something that’s administered in the theme settings, because this will be universal to my website, not my ranking pages.
Any advice how google determines this image?
Hey there,
You’re right, this isn’t something administered in theme settings or otherwise as it’s a function that falls outside of Shopify’s platform. For this reason, I don’t have too much information other than what I can find from third-party sources. It seems that the image is determined entirely by Google’s algorithms and not something you can opt to choose yourself.
There may be ways to encourage which image Google uses which primarily consists of overall improvements to your website SEO. This related forum post is worth a read as it’s full of suggestions and resources you can check out.
Also, it never hurts to fine-tune your meta descriptions, check out these great examples on how to write one.
Hope that helps!
Hi Ren, I’d like to know how to get my images to show on the google search results also, I’m using the Showtime theme, there doesn’t seem to be an option. I’ve noticed when I go to my stores page that’s in the Google listing, it takes me to my product page from my Shopify store, and the image is a zoomable .webp image, Google wont be able to get the .jpg from that. And I can’t find anyway to get it to just show the .jpg through Shopify or Showtime theme.
I know the Shopify .jpg is available, because I can click on it and open it in a different tab, do you know how to just show the .jpg image on our product pages?
Hi there. Did you upload the image as a .webp image or was it initially a .jpg image that appears to have been converted after upload?
