Shopify SEO
Shopify SEO from someone who knows where the platform stops you.
Most of what ranks a Shopify store is not Shopify specific. Collection architecture, duplicate content from variants and tags, faceted navigation, schema and content are the same disciplines everywhere. Shopify just draws tighter walls around where you can work, and knowing those walls is most of the job.
The trade-off
Shopify makes the easy things easy and the important things awkward.
It gets you selling fast, which is the point. Then the SEO problems that decide whether you rank sit behind boundaries the platform will not let just anyone move, and the app store fills the gap with plugins that make it worse.
Where Shopify stores lose rankings
- Duplicate product URLs across collections
- Thin tag and filter pages indexed by the thousand
- Boilerplate descriptions fifty other stores also use
- App bloat dragging Core Web Vitals down
Where the rankings come from
- Collection pages with real copy, not just a grid
- Canonical rules that tame the duplicate paths
- Filters that help shoppers without spawning thin URLs
- Buying guides that feed the product pages
Where we stop
We are technical SEO first, and we will tell you where Shopify itself is the ceiling. What we do not do is deep Liquid theme development or custom app builds. If that is your bottleneck, a Shopify developer is the right hire and we will say so on the first call instead of taking the work and learning on your budget.
Scope
What our Shopify SEO services cover.
The disciplines that move a store, applied within what the platform allows, with the boundary marked and nothing promised past it.
Collection and product architecture
How collections, products and their URLs are structured, which is where most Shopify SEO is won or lost. Getting the hierarchy right so a collection page can rank, and products are not spread across duplicate paths that dilute every one of them.
Duplicate content and canonicals
Shopify creates duplicate URLs for products living in more than one collection, and canonicals that need to be pointed correctly. Tag and filter pages that spawn thin near duplicates get the indexation controls they need so they stop competing with the pages that matter.
Faceted navigation
Filters that help a shopper find the product without generating thousands of thin, indexable URLs behind them. The rule for which filtered views are allowed to exist and be indexed, and which are for shoppers only.
Schema and structured data
Product, offer, breadcrumb and review schema implemented correctly, with no app that half does it. The structured data that earns the rich results a shopping search shows, kept valid as the store changes and never left to a plugin.
Speed within the platform
Trimming unused theme scripts and styles, fixing image delivery and sizing, deferring what does not block the render, and cutting the app bloat most stores accumulate. Real gains inside the ceiling Shopify sets, with no promises the platform will not keep.
Content that ranks and sells
Collection copy that is more than a product grid, descriptions that are not manufacturer boilerplate, and buying guides that earn the top of funnel traffic. Written to be read, and to feed the product pages that convert it.
Fit
Worth reading before you enquire.
This works well if
- Your store has traffic, but collections do not rank
- Product copy is still manufacturer boilerplate
- App bloat has made the store slow
- A move to or from Shopify must keep its rankings
Probably not a fit if
- The brief is Liquid theme development or a custom app
- Paid media, Shopping ads or bid management are wanted
- A store only just launched, with no traffic
- You want a guaranteed ranking or revenue forecast
Cost
What it costs.
Shopify SEO is billed at £90 to £110 an hour, or a £95 blended rate where it crosses into content. Most work starts with an audit and is then scoped. Minimum engagement is 4 hours.
Audit first
From £900
The technical and content audit of the store: the duplicate paths, the thin pages, the schema, the speed ceiling and the content gaps, with a prioritised plan of what moves it.
Project
Scoped
A defined piece of work such as the collection architecture, the duplicate content fix, or a batch of collection and buying guide content. Fixed scope and cost agreed in writing first.
Retained
Monthly
A set number of hours a month against a roadmap, for stores that keep adding products and collections and want the SEO kept in step, without catching up twice a year.
Time is logged as it is spent and the ledger is open to you, including anything scrapped or reverted. Full breakdown on the rates page.
FAQ
Questions clients ask
You mostly work in WordPress. Why take on Shopify SEO?
Because most of what moves rankings on Shopify is not Shopify specific. Collection and product architecture, duplicate content from variants and tags, faceted navigation, internal linking, schema, Core Web Vitals and content are the same disciplines whatever the platform renders them. Shopify just draws tighter boundaries around where you are allowed to work, and knowing those boundaries is most of the job.
Where we stop is deep Liquid theme development and custom Shopify apps. That is a build specialism, and if that is what you need we will point you at a Shopify developer. We will not stretch to cover it. On the SEO itself, being platform literate without being locked into one platform is an advantage, not a gap.
What are the SEO problems specific to Shopify?
A handful that show up on almost every store. Shopify's URL structure creates duplicate paths for products that live in more than one collection. Tag and filter pages spawn thin, near duplicate URLs that get indexed when they should not. The default handling of variants can split or duplicate signals. And the theme often ships more JavaScript than the content needs, which the Core Web Vitals then pay for.
None of these are unfixable, but they need someone who knows where Shopify will and will not let you make the change, and what to do when the platform blocks the obvious fix.
Can you improve Shopify site speed?
Within what the platform allows, yes. Shopify hosts the store and controls a lot of the stack, so you cannot do everything you could on a site you own end to end. What you can do is real: trimming the theme's unused scripts and styles, fixing the image delivery and sizing, deferring what does not need to block the render, and cutting the app bloat that most stores accumulate. We name the ceiling Shopify sets, and we do not promise numbers the platform will not allow.
Do you do the content as well, or only the technical side?
Both, because on Shopify they are inseparable. Collection pages that rank need real copy, not just a grid of products. Product descriptions have to be more than the manufacturer's boilerplate that fifty other stores also used. Buying guides and comparison content are where a store earns the top of funnel traffic that the product pages convert. We write it, and we write it for the reader. A word count is not a target.
Is this migration safe if we are moving to or from Shopify?
A platform move is a migration, and it is one of the riskiest, because the URL structure almost always changes. That needs a full redirect map, canonical continuity and a content parity check so the rankings survive the move. We handle that as an SEO migration, where the launch date is not the finish line.
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Book me
Tell us which collection should be ranking.
Give us the store and a collection or product you want to win. We will tell you what is holding it back, whether it is a Shopify constraint or a fixable one, and whether we are the right team for it.