Shopify Collections SEO

[UlsterGooner]

Hi folks,

I'm looking at a competitor who is doing very well only having opened their Shopify store 2 years ago. The site is based on Shopify collections, so if you searched google for 'fishing t-shirt' , google would present their fishing collection on the first page of results.

The store is owned by a marketing company so I'm not surprised they know all the tricks, using google ads, reviews, pinterest promoted pins etc. So I'd like to emulate this success, but need to justify the cost of shopify.

I'd like to know if shopify requires an extra 'seo package' for these collections?
Are the collections automatically set by using tags on the product or would I have to set up hundreds of collections manually for every hobby e.g?
Why is google picking up these collections so well in search results?

 

[finleydesign]

Which company are they? do they appear well naturally?

The issue can be it's tricky to emulate other websites based on simply having the same platform, there are so many factors which contribute to SEO, so by all means don't get fooled into thinking it's just Shopify and being a marketing company that they have success

 

[fisicx]

Shopify SEO extensions cost money. The one I just looked at is $20/month, others are between $10 and $50/month. The whole Shopify business model is built on you paying for all the extras.

And you have to do it all manually. There are no quick fix shortcuts. They rank well because they have put in the hours and worked had to make it so.

 

[JamieM]

Collections is just what Shopify calls departments or categories. It is a standard feature but isn't necessarily the reason why the site you are talking about has good ranking.

Shopify generally has good SEO as it is though. You can edit page titles and meta descriptions without any add ons.

They do a free trial so I'd suggest having a look for yourself.

 

[UlsterGooner]

Ok, I'll spill the beans as I didn't want to link to them or mention them! I'll delete the link later.

supermug co uk/collections/all

If you go that link and click on the drop down menu. You will get a category for fishing mug. Type fishing mug into google all you will get that page appearing on the 3rd organic result. They also have a paid google ad for fishing mugs, so I would imagine google would put their organic result in a premium position too?

On my own site, I'd be lucky if google picked up one of my products in a search result, but not a whole category/ collection of fishing mugs. That's what I'm trying to achieve. I'm not sure if my own woocommerce site is ideal for seo?

 

[finleydesign]

That depends on how your site is structured, if it\s not well structured with categories etc, then google won't consider it as relevant, what category structure do you have

Also, might sound an odd question but, how do you know they are doing "very well"

 

[dilby]

You need to ask yourself what you are expecting that collection seo extension to do. Shopify gives you the control you need, namely page titles and the url handle. The reason they are listed higher than you is less likely to be down to an SEO extension, but due to methods you have control over already.

The sponsored ads is completely separate, and has to be run without a google adwords campaign (paid). As a shopify specialised, I'd be concerned with you saying you need to justify the cost of Shopify. People seem to have an idea that starting an online store should be a cheap alternative to starting a traditional business, but the truth is you need a healthy budget to invest in the marketing and platform. If you really want to be competitive you'll have a monthly marketing budget to use on things like adwords, and you won't need to justify the cost of shopify as it is about the cheapest option around.

It really sounds like you need to pay a marketeer to help out, even if it's for an initial once-over.

 

[fisicx]

It's not Shopify, it's the site structure, content, navigation, SEO and marketing.

You could do the same if you put in the hours. There are no quick fixes, these things take a lot of research and a lot of time and effort. Or you pay someone to do all the work.

 

[UlsterGooner]

That depends on how your site is structured, if it\s not well structured with categories etc, then google won't consider it as relevant, what category structure do you have

Also, might sound an odd question but, how do you know they are doing "very well"

I'd say they are doing well based on the amount of natural reviews they've received using a review plugin and a search on companies house revealing their net worth and cash reserves!

My categories were set up for people and are general in subject rather than for search result keywords, so I should maybe change them for specific keywords. But I don't think my woocommerce theme can do that, it wouldn't work visually and would be massively cluttered. The shopify categories are just drop down menus and simple text. If I thought shopify organised those categories by using a product tag on each product, then that would seem so much simpler and be a much better layout.

 

[deniser]

You can create collections in Shopify in three different ways:
1. Manually
2. automatically using product tags and then displaying the tags as a menu list
3. Automatically based on conditions that you set for each collection.
Some of it depends on which Theme you purchase. Different themes structure the menus in different ways.
But the options are pretty infinite.
I have noticed though that using the tag method confuses Google and then throws up duplicate content warnings.

 

[Rockpapercopy_biz]

They also have a paid google ad for fishing mugs, so I would imagine google would put their organic result in a premium position too?

actually, no, paid ads do not affect the organic search results. You should not feel obliged to pay for an extra SEO package - simply put in the work hours or outsource the SEO work. Content [quality, valuable, helpful content] is key to ranking well organically. Add to it a strong backlink strategy and healthy activity on social media and you will start ranking high soon as well.

 

[fisicx]

You do have to pay for a Shopify SEO package.
Without one you will really struggle with on-site optimisation.

 

[deniser]

You do have to pay for a Shopify SEO package.
Without one you will really struggle with on-site optimisation.

It depends which theme you use. Certainly the one I purchased is extremely SEO friendly so no separate SEO package is required.

 

[NicoleW]

We have our store hosted on shopify (though our theme and lots of other stuff is developed separately). I have been assigned to focus on our SEO strategy now and I can tell you, it is not shopify that does the work. It is us putting in hours to analyse where to improve and then work on it.

So don't use shopify only because you expect it to be great for SEO. Use it as a secure platform that allows you to actively manage your ecommerce store efficiently.

 

[deniser]

I have been assigned to focus on our SEO strategy now and I can tell you, it is not shopify that does the work. It is us putting in hours to analyse where to improve and then work on it.

So don't use shopify only because you expect it to be great for SEO. Use it as a secure platform that allows you to actively manage your ecommerce store efficiently.

Well obviously you have to complete the relevant meta fields when adding products and collections - this should become second nature - but what I mean by SEO friendly is that the fields are all there and easy to use so that for example, meta title also becomes your URL automatically via hyphens - on other non Shopify sites I have to create the URL manually - and if you make changes to the URL, it automatically sets up a 301 redirect from old to new. These are just some examples of SEO friendliness that are incorporated.

 

[UlsterGooner]

You can create collections in Shopify in three different ways:
1. Manually
2. automatically using product tags and then displaying the tags as a menu list

I have noticed though that using the tag method confuses Google and then throws up duplicate content warnings.

Thanks for all the replies. I redesigned the website structure. Took away all the tags and left just one for each product. I clicked the single tag and used that url as a category link for the menu. Done that for every group of products.

Stripped out 80% of the shop description and kept it clean and simple. That should have bumped up the keyword ratio for every page too. Focusing on one keyword phrase throughout rather than clutching at straws. So it's almost how I need it.

 

[Black Bird]

Well, first things first. Sign up for Google Search Console which can help you track and improve your website's indexing. Also, having a competitor doing any SEO to his/her website is an advantage of yours.

You need to analyse their back-link profile through majestic.com or ahrefs.com so you can find out where the links that is bringing them good juice are coming from and acquire them yourself. Now once you managed to get on the same level you only need to do a bit more than they are doing and yes hopefully you will outrank them.

Now as for your mention of PPC improving their organic listing, it can potentially be true. As Google actively crawls websites that advertise on their PPC SERPs making them more likely to be indexed and quickly.

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