Why Shopify Store Development and SEO Should Be Planned Together?

When setting up an ecommerce business, you need to make sure your website is looking great, easy to use and easy to find with search engines. By incorporating SEO into your Shopify store creation process you can ensure your online store is built in a way that provides a smooth shopping journey and provides long term organic growth.

While Shopify can provide a variety of tools to allow you to build, manage and grow your online store, how well your website is designed, technical, content and marketing are all combined will determine its success. If not planned well you can run into issues such as poor navigation, duplicate content, slow loading pages and expensive fixes once it is live. By combining your development with professional Shopify development services and best practice SEO you can create a search engine friendly ecommerce website that will attract the right people, improve navigation and provide more conversion opportunities.

1. Plan your site architecture for SEO

Site architecture is how you organise your products, collections, categories and information pages. Having a clear structure will help customers find the right products and allow search engines to easily find and understand your key pages. When developing your Shopify store it is important to plan out how you will set up your navigation and categories. Group your products into relevant collections and ensure your categories have clear links to your individual product pages.

For example, if you are selling fashion products online you could have categories such as Men’s Clothing, Women’s Clothing, Accessories and Seasonal. Then link these to relevant subcategories and products. Having a clear plan will ensure customers can easily look through your products, your key pages will be easy to find, and you can utilise internal links.

Avoid having too many collections and multiple pages targeting the same search intent. Planning your site architecture in advance will help avoid any issues with your site structure and allow you to grow your catalogue in the future.

2. Improve your site performance

Having a fast-performing site will improve the user experience. Customers expect your ecommerce pages to load quickly. Having a slow site can cause problems for customers and may affect the Core Web Vitals. This is part of Google’s overall page experience. Working with your SEO and development team, you can optimise your images, use a suitable theme, limit unnecessary apps and review your scripts. Review key templates such as your homepage, collection pages, product pages and key information pages. You should also consider how your site will perform on mobile devices as many customers will be using their smartphones. While Shopify provides hosting and many performance features, your theme, apps and scripts can affect how your site performs. Generally, it is more efficient to consider these factors during development.

3. Plan your product pages around search intent

Your product pages are an important part of your site as they help search engines understand what your product offers. If you plan your development with SEO in mind, you can ensure your product pages have a clear template. Ensure your pages have a clear title, unique product descriptions, high-quality images, pricing, product details, product variation and relevant purchasing information. Using keyword research you can identify what keywords your customers are using to find specific products. These should be included in your product titles, descriptions, headings and meta.

For example, if you are selling skincare products you may want individual pages clearly explaining the product ingredients, use, compatibility with skin and packaging. If you are selling clothing you may want size guides, fabric and care instructions.

Avoid just using the manufacturer’s description, which will be the same on many ecommerce sites. Having your own descriptions will help customers understand the value of your products and provide useful information. Your development team should also ensure your product templates have clear CTAs, easy to navigate and relevant internal links. This will ensure your product pages are useful for search engines and potential customers.

4. Create search-friendly URLs

Ecommerce sites can have many different URLs due to variations, filters, sorting and other navigation features. If you don’t plan your URLs, you may end up with duplicate or near duplicate content. Shopify has its own URL structure for products, collections etc. However, you should try to keep your URLs clear and descriptive. Where possible personalise them.

Work with your developers and SEO specialist to ensure you have correct canonical tags, indexing, internal links and filtered collection URLs. This will ensure search engines can find the correct version of your key pages and not waste resources. If you are migrating from another ecommerce site, it is important to map your URLs. Any URLs that have valuable traffic or backlinks should be mapped to the most relevant pages and have the correct redirects. If you involve your SEO specialists during planning and testing, it will be easier to manage these technical aspects. Having a clear structure will help ensure you don’t lose any of your search visibility.

5. Use keyword research to plan your site

Keyword research should not just be used for blog topics and page titles. It can help you plan your site structure, collections and navigation. If your research shows customers often search for specific product types, materials, sizes or uses, you can decide whether to create specific collections, improve your category pages or create buying guides. During your Shopify store development, you can plan your page templates, navigation, content and internal links based on your findings.

However, you won’t need a page for every keyword. Group similar searches together based on user intent and create pages with useful information. As your product range, customer behaviour and market demand changes you should revisit your keyword research. By including this during your development, you will have a strong structure in place and can continue to optimise.

6. Ensure mobile-friendly design

Having a mobile-friendly site will help improve your conversions and organic search performance. While customers may be finding your site via search engines, if your site isn’t easy to navigate on mobile, they won’t be able to look through your products. Ensure your menus, product galleries, filters, forms and checkout features are all working well on smaller screens. Your text should be easy to read, products should look good and your key buttons should be easy to use.

Your SEO specialist can help ensure your content, internal links, meta and key elements are all working well on mobile. Ensure you aren’t hiding any important information. Test your site on different screen sizes and common shopping scenarios. Having a mobile-friendly approach will help create a consistent experience for your customers.

7. Use structured data

Structured data helps provide extra information to search engines. If your ecommerce pages are eligible, you may want to include relevant structured data so search engines can understand your product names, pricing, availability, reviews etc.

During your development, ensure you are using the correct structured data based on your Shopify theme and any apps you have installed. Ensure your product structured data is accurate. Depending on how your site has been set up you may also want to include other structured data for breadcrumbs, organisation and other relevant elements.

Avoid having multiple structured data from your themes and apps. This can cause issues if the information is incorrect or inconsistent. Structured data doesn’t guarantee you will see improvements in your search results, however it will help provide accurate information in a format search engines can understand. Regularly test your structured data to identify any errors.

8. Plan your content marketing

Having an SEO-friendly ecommerce site means you will need to include content to help answer your customers’ questions and explain the benefits of your products. This will help encourage customers to make a purchase. Buying guides, comparison articles, product care guides and educational blog posts can help attract people who are researching their purchase.

For example, an electronics store may want to create a guide explaining how to choose a laptop for professional use. This can be linked to relevant laptop collections and products.

During your Shopify store development, you should plan how your blog will relate to your collections and products. Having reusable content templates, clear navigation and relevant internal links will make it easier to keep your content organised. Focus on providing content that will help your customers. Avoid using too many keywords. Ensure your articles provide useful information and a relevant next step. This will help improve the connection between your organic traffic and products you want to sell.

9. Set up analytics and SEO tracking

If you don’t have reliable tracking in place, it will be difficult to understand if your site design and SEO are working well. Ensure you have the right analytics and SEO tracking in place. This could include Google Analytics, Google Search Console, ecommerce tracking and Shopify reporting. Track relevant activities such as product views, adding to basket, checkout progress, purchases and traffic sources. Consider privacy and consent requirements. Before going live, ensure your tracking is working and you are tracking your key conversion activities.

Once your site is live you can view reports to see which pages are getting organic traffic, where customers are dropping off and which marketing channels are generating sales. Regularly monitoring your site will help identify any technical issues, improve low-performing pages and make informed decisions on your future development.

10. Minimise SEO issues and development costs

If you are adding SEO to an already built site, you may need to make significant changes to your page templates, navigation, URLs, content and technical settings. This can take extra time and resources. In some cases changing your URLs and reorganising existing pages can cause short term issues with your search visibility.

By planning your SEO with your development, you will be able to address these requirements and have a clear checklist to test your meta, internal links, mobile-friendly design, page performance, structured data and indexing. If you already have a Shopify store, a joint audit can help identify what improvements will require development.

While this won’t mean you don’t have any SEO to do in the future, search optimisation is an ongoing process. A strong technical foundation will make it easier to improve your site.

How Bloom Agency can help with your Shopify development and SEO?

Having an effective ecommerce strategy means your site will be functional, provide a great experience for customers and will be easy to find via search engines. Your site should be set up to help sell your current catalogue but also allow for future growth.

Bloom Agency can help you with your Shopify development and digital marketing. By considering your site structure, usability, performance and SEO requirements you can avoid any unnecessary technical issues and create a more cohesive shopping experience.

This could include planning your site structure, improving your product and collection pages, reviewing your technical SEO settings, improving your mobile-friendly design and improving your organic search visibility with relevant content. Planning your site in advance will help set up your new store with the right foundations. If you already have a Shopify store you can review your site with us to identify opportunities to improve your performance, navigation, indexing and conversion paths. If you are looking for professional support, take a look at our [Shopify development services]and [Shopify SEO services] to understand how we can help you with your development and search optimisation.

Conclusion

You should plan your Shopify store development with SEO in mind as your site design, technical setup, content and search visibility will all impact your overall ecommerce experience. While your site may look great, if it doesn’t have a clear structure, optimised product pages, good performance and correct technical SEO, it may struggle to get the right organic traffic.

By planning your SEO with your development, you will have a strong foundation, avoid any unnecessary fixes after launch and create an easier shopping experience. Every aspect including keyword research, mobile-friendly design, structured data and analytics should all help your business goals. By having a thoughtful approach to your Shopify store development and ongoing SEO improvements, you will make your site easier to find, easier to use and set up for sustainable online growth.

Frequently Asked Questions

1.Why should I plan my Shopify Store development and SEO?

By planning your Shopify Store development and SEO you are ensuring your website has a solid structure, will be easy to use and will be search engine friendly. By planning ahead you can reduce any costly changes and have a better customer experience.

2. How does Shopify Store development impact SEO?

Shopify Store development will impact the structure of your website, page speed, mobile friendliness, URLs, internal linking and schema. All these can affect how search engines crawl and understand your website.

3. Can I implement SEO after my Shopify Store has been developed?

Yes you can, however by planning your SEO ahead of your Shopify Store development you can ensure you avoid any structural issues and reduce the amount of changes you need to make.

4. What should my Shopify Store have for SEO?

You should ensure your Shopify Store has good page titles, relevant meta descriptions, easy to find collections, unique product descriptions, good internal linking, correct canonical tags, optimised images and correctly set up schema.

5. How does keyword research impact Shopify Store development?

Keyword research will help you understand what your customers are searching for and allow you to plan your collections, products, navigation and additional content.

6. Does Shopify have any built in SEO features?

Shopify does have several built in SEO features. These include page titles and meta descriptions, automatic sitemap generation and canonical URLs. You may require some additional setup or development.

7. How can Shopify development services improve SEO?

A professional Shopify development service can help you ensure your website has a logical structure, is mobile friendly, has no technical issues, has optimised page templates and search friendly features. This will give you a solid base to carry out SEO.

8. How long until I see results from SEO?

This depends on how competitive your industry is, how good your website is, the content, backlinks and optimisation. Some changes can be seen within a few weeks however to really start seeing organic growth you will likely need to work consistently for a few months.

9. Can Bloom Agency help with Shopify development and SEO?

Yes! We offer Shopify development and SEO services to help you improve your website functionality, optimise your ecommerce pages, improve your technical SEO and increase your organic visibility.