How to Get Free Traffic to Your Shopify Store Using SEO: A Step-by-Step Guide

If you’re running a Shopify store, you know that getting traffic is key to making sales. While paying for ads is one way to get visitors, it can quickly become expensive. But what if there was a way to get visitors to your store for free? Well, there is! It’s called SEO, or search engine optimization, and it’s a powerful way to attract organic traffic to your store without spending a dime on ads.

In this blog, we’ll walk you through the basics of SEO, how it works, and the exact steps you need to take to boost your Shopify conversion rate. By the end of this guide, you’ll have a clear roadmap to setting up your store for SEO success, helping you rank higher in search engines like Google and attract more visitors organically.

What is SEO?

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. The main goal of SEO is to make your website visible in search engine results when someone types in a relevant search term. The higher your site appears in these results, the better your chances of attracting visitors. This position in the search results is known as your search engine ranking.

To achieve a high ranking, you need to optimize your store in a way that search engines can easily understand what your site is about and determine that it’s the best result for users’ search queries. This involves using the right keywords, optimizing your site’s structure, and creating valuable content.

Step 1: Finding the Right Keywords

Keywords are the foundation of SEO. They are the words or phrases that people type into search engines when looking for something. The goal is to choose keywords that are highly relevant to your products and have a good search volume. One of the best tools for finding keywords is Google’s Keyword Planner, which is free to use.

Here’s how to use Google Keyword Planner:

1. Identify Potential Keywords: Think about what your customers would type into Google to find your products. For example, if you sell handmade soap, you might start by entering “handmade soap” into the Keyword Planner.
2. Analyze the Results: The Keyword Planner will show you the search volume for your keyword and suggest related keywords. Look for keywords that have a high number of searches per month, as these indicate high demand.
3. Choose Your Keywords: Select one primary keyword (the main term you want to rank for) and two supporting keywords (related terms that also have good search volume). For example, if “handmade soap” has the most searches, it would be your primary keyword, and terms like “natural soaps” and “homemade soaps” could be your supporting keywords.

Step 2: Integrating Keywords into Your Shopify Store

Once you’ve chosen your keywords, the next step is to integrate them into your Shopify store in a way that makes sense for both search engines and visitors. Here’s where to place your keywords:

1. Title Tags: This is one of the most important places to put your keywords. Your title tag should include your primary keyword and ideally one of your secondary keywords.
2. H1 Tags (Headings): Use your primary keyword in the main heading (H1) of your page. This tells search engines what the page is about.
3. Product Descriptions and Collection Descriptions: Write detailed descriptions for your products and collections that include your primary and secondary keywords. Make sure the content reads naturally and provides value to the reader.
4. Meta Descriptions: This is the short snippet that appears under your page title in search results. It should include your primary keyword and provide a compelling reason for users to click through to your site.
5. URL Structure: Include your primary keyword in the URL of your pages. This helps both search engines and users understand what the page is about.

Step 3: Optimizing Your Product and Collection Pages

After setting up your keywords, you need to optimize each of your product and collection pages. Here’s how:

1. Collection Pages: Navigate to your collection pages in Shopify by going to Products > Collections. Choose the collection you want to optimize and make sure your primary keyword is in the title (H1) and throughout the description. Update the SEO settings at the bottom of the page to include your primary and secondary keywords in the title and meta description.
2. Product Pages: The same process applies to product pages. Add your primary and secondary keywords to the title, description, and meta settings. Additionally, make sure each image on your product pages has an alt tag that describes the image using your keywords. Alt tags are important because they help search engines understand what the images on your site are about, and they can also help you rank in image search results.

Step 4: Using Alt Tags for Images

Search engines can’t “see” images the way humans can, so they rely on alt tags to understand what an image represents. By adding descriptive alt tags to your images that include your primary and secondary keywords, you can improve your site’s SEO.

For example, if you have a picture of a bar of handmade avocado soap, your alt tag might read “handmade avocado soap natural.” Be specific and descriptive, but avoid keyword stuffing. Each alt tag should be unique to avoid duplicate content issues.

Step 5: Regularly Create Fresh Content

Search engines love fresh content, and one of the best ways to keep your site active and updated is by publishing regular blog posts. Aim to write a new blog post at least once a month, but ideally once every two weeks.

To come up with blog post ideas, you can use a tool called Answer the Public. Simply enter your primary keyword, and it will generate a list of common questions and topics related to that keyword. For example, if you enter “natural soap,” you might get suggestions like “Where to buy natural soap?” or “Is natural soap vegan?” These can all be turned into blog posts that drive traffic to your store.

Make sure each blog post includes your primary and secondary keywords, has a compelling title, and includes meta descriptions and headings optimized for SEO.

Step 7: Optimize Your Shopify Store’s General Settings

In addition to individual product and collection pages, you also need to optimize your store’s general settings. This includes:

1. Home Page Title and Meta Description: Go to Online Store > Preferences in Shopify. Here, you can update your home page title and meta description. Include your primary keyword and a call to action to encourage users to visit your site.
2. Sitemap Submission: Shopify automatically generates a sitemap for your store, which is a file that lists all of your site’s URLs. Submit your sitemap to Google Search Console to help search engines index your site more efficiently.
3. Domain Redirect: Ensure your store’s domain is set up correctly with a single preferred version (either with or without “www”). This prevents search engines from viewing your site as two separate entities, which can split your ranking power.

Conclusion

SEO is a powerful tool that can help you get free traffic to your Shopify store. By following these steps—choosing the right keywords, optimizing your product and collection pages, using alt tags for images, creating fresh content, and optimizing your general store settings—you can improve your search engine rankings and attract more visitors over time.

Remember, SEO is not a one-time task but an ongoing process. Regularly update your site, monitor your rankings, and adjust your strategy as needed. With consistent effort, you’ll see your store climb the search engine rankings, bringing in more organic traffic and ultimately more sales.

Start implementing these strategies today, and watch your Shopify store grow!