New and existing stores on Shopify have one common problem: the need to get traffic to the site. The more traffic you get, the more revenue you’ll earn and the more successful your business will be. There are numerous ways to do SEO on Shopify and to get traffic, such as email marketing, social media, and direct visitors being common tactics. However, nothing beats SEO.

Imagine your Shopify store is like a shop in a busy market. The more people who walk by and see what you’re selling, the more likely you are to make a sale. This is what we mean when we talk about ‘traffic’. Traffic, in the online world, means people visiting your website. So, the more traffic you have, the better chance of making more sales and growing your business.

There are plenty of ways to bring people to your site. You might use email marketing, sending messages straight to customers’ inboxes. Or, you might use social media, sharing posts that people will see when they’re scrolling through their feeds. You might even get people who type your website directly into their browsers. But, amongst all these methods, there’s one strategy that stands out: SEO.

Now, SEO might sound like a fancy term, but it simply stands for ‘Search Engine Optimization’. This is a way to make your site more attractive to search engines like Google. The better your SEO, the higher your site will appear in search results. For instance, when someone searches for ‘CBD skin care’, you’d want your Shopify store to be one of the first things they see. That’s the power of SEO - it’s like putting up a big, bright sign in that busy market, catching people’s attention and drawing them into your shop.

Therefore, mastering SEO is a crucial step in getting more traffic to your Shopify store. It might seem complex at first, but with a bit of learning and practice, it can be a game-changer for your online business. The key is understanding how search engines work and tailoring your site to their liking. Then, sit back and watch the traffic, and hopefully, the sales, roll in.

So let’s start at the beginning of:

SEO on Shopify

Key Takeaways
1
SEO drives traffic, increasing revenue and business success on Shopify.
2
Higher SEO ranking means appearing top in search results, boosting sales.
3
Organic search is user-driven, and top results capture 90% of traffic.

What Is Organic Search?

Organic search is when a user goes to a search engine and types in a query and a list of potential solutions (websites) appears. The user can then click on these. The users action is what makes up traffic. Search results are based on a number of factors that becomes part of your SEO strategy, including on-page optimization.

Your site needs to be optimized for search engines, so it appears higher on the list of potential solutions (known as results). The higher your site is on the results the more traffic you will get. For comparison, those in the top five search results receive 90% of the traffic. Those who rank tenth, get 1% of the traffic.

What Factors Are Included in Search Engine Algorithms?

The search engine algorithms are what determine your rank on the search results (Page Rank). Google has stated that there are 200 factors that can determine your Page Rank. This includes the content on the website, the internal links, meta tags, external links, speed and more.

There are a lot of potential changes you can make to improve your rank. However, sometimes, your rank may decrease because of changes you’ve made to your website. You should also be aware that for some terms you’ll rank poorly and others you’ll rank badly for. You have to determine what keywords (or search terms) are more important to you.

Steps to Improve Your Search Engine Rank

The first thing you need to do is to ensure that your website is fast. There are plenty of Shopify speed apps you can use, however we really recommend using this one. It allows you to effortlessly improve your site’s speed through different means, including optimizing images to reduce loading times on your site.

You will also need to optimize content on your site. This should be finding keywords which are relevant to your website’s niche and then ensuring that your main pages have that keyword included at least 1.5% of the content but no more than 3%. You should also include this keyword within your meta description, page title and within the image description text.

You should also look at the sitemap.xml and ensure that this has been connected to your Google Search Console. This enables the search engine to index your website, which allows it to show your website in search results more easily.

Finally, you need to start looking at adding content regularly to your blog. Research has found that those that create content at least 15 times a month will get 70% more leads than those that don’t blog at all. Blogging also improves the number of potential inbound links you get which can significantly increase your site’s ranking.

Built-in SEO Features That Are Included with Shopify

Shopify does have some inbuilt SEO features that can help you optimize your site for Google. The first thing that you can do is ensure that you have the sitemap.xml and robot.txt files. These are generated automatically and can be pushed to Google.

Your themes should also be optimized for mobiles, which is an important ranking feature.

Finally, there are some great options within the content that allows you to generate title tags, meta descriptions and more for all your website pages, blog posts, products and collections. You can also edit the alt tags for any image you upload.

SEO ROI Calculator

Estimated Monthly Revenue
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An SEO ROI (Return on Investment) calculator helps businesses measure the financial return from their SEO efforts by comparing the revenue generated from organic search traffic to the costs associated with SEO. This tool gives you a clear picture of how much value your SEO activities are bringing to your business and whether your investment in SEO is paying off.

How an SEO ROI calculator works:

  1. Input revenue generated from organic traffic: Enter the revenue that can be attributed to visitors coming from organic search (non-paid traffic). This can come from sales, leads, or other conversions tracked through analytics tools like Google Analytics.
  2. Input SEO costs: Add all the expenses related to your SEO efforts. This includes costs like SEO tools, agencies or consultants, employee salaries, content creation, link-building campaigns, and any other relevant expenses.
  3. Calculate ROI: The calculator applies the following formula to calculate SEO ROI: SEO ROI = [(Revenue from SEO - SEO Costs) / SEO Costs] x 100 This gives you a percentage that reflects the profitability of your SEO efforts. For example, if your SEO efforts generated $10,000 in revenue and cost you $2,000, your SEO ROI would be 400%, meaning you earned $4 for every $1 spent on SEO.

Why use an SEO ROI calculator?

  1. Measure the effectiveness of your SEO strategy: The calculator gives you a clear understanding of whether your SEO efforts are generating a positive return. It helps you assess if the time and money spent on SEO are delivering profitable results.
  2. Optimize your SEO budget: By tracking your SEO ROI, you can decide where to allocate more resources. If certain strategies or keywords are yielding high returns, you can focus more on those areas while cutting back on less effective efforts.
  3. Justify SEO investments: If you’re working with a team, management, or stakeholders, the ROI calculator provides hard data to justify continued investment in SEO. It shows the tangible financial impact of your organic search efforts.
  4. Compare SEO with other marketing channels: Knowing your SEO ROI allows you to compare it with other marketing strategies (like paid ads, social media, or email marketing). This helps you prioritize the most effective channels for your business.
  5. Track progress over time: Using the calculator regularly allows you to monitor the long-term performance of your SEO efforts, helping you track improvements and see how your ROI increases as your site ranks higher.
  6. Improve decision-making: With a clear picture of your SEO return, you can make informed decisions about which tactics to continue, optimize, or abandon. This helps fine-tune your strategy for better results.
  7. Set realistic goals: Knowing your SEO ROI helps set measurable goals for your SEO campaigns, such as targeting specific revenue or conversion rates. It also helps align your goals with your overall business strategy.
  8. Identify high-value keywords: By analyzing which keywords or content generate the most revenue, the calculator helps you focus on optimizing for terms that drive the highest returns.
  9. Assess the cost-effectiveness of SEO tools and agencies: If you’re using external agencies or SEO tools, the ROI calculator can show you if they’re delivering sufficient value relative to their cost.
  10. Maximize profitability: Ultimately, using an SEO ROI calculator helps you focus on the most profitable SEO activities, reducing waste and increasing the return on your SEO investment.

In summary, an SEO ROI calculator is essential for understanding how well your SEO efforts are performing, optimizing your budget, and ensuring that your investment in organic search is driving meaningful growth for your business.