Store SEO basics

Before you start

Search engine optimization (SEO) helps people find your products in search results. Shopify handles the technical base for you. It adds canonical tags to prevent duplicate content in search results, and it generates your sitemap.xml and robots.txt files automatically¹. Themes also build title tags that include your store name¹.

That leaves the words. This guide covers the fields you control: page titles, meta descriptions, image alt text and URL handles, plus telling Google where your sitemap is.

Two limits to know first:

• Search engines don't index trial stores. Your store needs a Shopify plan before it can appear in search results².
• Google Search Console can't read your sitemap while your store is in private mode (the password page). You can turn private mode off to verify, then turn it back on³.

Worked example: a candle shop selling 40 products in the US and Canada. Before you start, list the words a customer would type, such as "soy candle" or "unscented pillar candle", and use them in the fields below.

Steps

1. Set your home page title and description. From your Shopify admin, go to Online Store > Preferences. In the Social sharing image and SEO section, enter a title and a meta description, then click Save⁴.
2. Keep titles and descriptions to length. A page title can be up to 70 characters, but 60 or fewer avoids it being cut off in search results. Aim for a meta description of about 160 characters⁴.
3. Use keywords in product titles. Shopify uses the title of a product, collection or blog post as the page's H1 heading. Put the words customers search for in the Title field and click Save⁴.
4. Edit each product's search engine listing. Go to Products and click a product. In the Search engine listing section, click the pencil icon. Enter a Page title and a Meta description, then click Save⁵.
5. Leave product URL handles alone after launch. In the same section, the URL handle field changes part of the product's web address. Shopify creates a handle automatically. You can edit it to match the product title, but don't edit it often, or the product might not display in search results⁵.
6. Edit SEO for your other pages. Go to Online Store > Pages and click a page, such as About. In the Search engine listing preview section, click Edit website SEO. Enter a Page title and a Description, then click Save⁴.
7. Add alt text to product images. Go to Products, click a product, then click an image. Click Edit alt text, describe the image in plain words, and click Save alt text⁴. For a collection or blog post image, click Update under the image, click Edit image, enter the text and click Save⁴.
8. Redirect old web addresses. If you moved from another platform or removed a page, go to Content > Menus and click View URL Redirects. Click Create URL redirect, fill in Redirect from and Redirect to, then click Save redirect⁶.
9. Verify your store in Google Search Console. In Search Console, add a URL prefix property with your full domain, including https://, and choose the HTML tag method. In Shopify, go to Online Store, open the menu for your theme and click Edit code. Under Layout, open theme.liquid, paste the tag on a blank line directly below the opening <head> tag, and click Save. Then click Verify in Search Console³.
10. Submit your sitemap. In Search Console, go to Indexing > Sitemaps. Under Add a new sitemap, enter sitemap.xml and click Submit³.

Check your work

• Open yourdomain.com/sitemap.xml in a browser. Your sitemap sits at the root of each of your domains³.
• In Search Console, use the URL inspection tool on a product page to see how Google renders it².
• Search Google for your store after a few days. Google indexes a site within 48 to 72 hours after you add or update information².
• Open a product and read the Search engine listing section. The title and description you entered should show there⁵.

Common problems

• My store doesn't show up on Google at all. The store may still be in private mode, or on a trial. Search engines don't index trial stores, so choose a plan and launch the store².
• Search Console can't verify my store or read the sitemap. A sitemap reader can't access a store in private mode. Turn private mode off, verify, then turn it back on if you need to. If verification fails, wait 15 minutes and click Verify again³.
• Google shows an old page, or my changes aren't there yet. You can't force Google to re-index your site. Submitting your sitemap in Search Console can speed it up².
• A product stopped showing in search after I changed its handle. Changing the handle changes the web address. Avoid frequent handle changes⁵, and add a URL redirect from the old address to the new one⁶.
• My redirect won't save. You can only redirect a broken URL, not one that still loads a page. Some paths can't be redirected, such as /products, /collections and /cart⁶.
• My title is cut off in search results. Shorten it to 60 characters or fewer⁴.

Further reading

• Shopify's SEO overview lists what the platform does automatically¹.
• Shopify's sitemap guide covers stores with more than one domain³.