The world of Ecommerce tools and processes prove to be similar across many different platforms. So, do these online stores support and help drive your company’s goals to completion? Let’s see if Shopify can put its money where its mouth is.

The short answer is, yes, Shopify is good for SEO. The website is easy to use and the default settings allow the editor to do everything needed to properly optimize your store. The features editors have control over include:

  • Page titles
  • Content
  • Meta description
  • URL
  • Image titles
  • Alt tags for images
  • Headings

All of these features are crawled for SEO by Google, so the more you use your keywords in these sections, the better optimized your store will be. The best thing to do as you are creating your Shopify store is to fill out each of those features on each of your pages, products and blog posts. Optimizing your content really comes down to you and how you decide to use the tool. Everything you need for successful marketing is right there ready to go.

Taking things one step further, Shopify not only has its features set up to optimize content, but it also has several resources in the Shopify App Store. There are several SEO and marketing based apps to help increase your visibility; however keep in mind that if you don’t use them to their full capability, you may not see the results you’re hoping for. Here are the top two resources to make sure you get involved with when using Shopify:

  1. Plug in SEO. One of the most downloaded SEO apps for Shopify, Plug In SEO is a free app that helps identify any issues with your SEO. This app will help to optimize your store when adding new content.
  2. SEO Scan Pro. This tool generates an ongoing analysis of your store so you can improve as you go. The highlight of this app is the backlink checker, which allows storeowners to analyze backlinks quickly and easily. There is a small cost of $25 per month for this app, but the SEO Scan Pro tools may be just what you need.

Shopify and Google AdWords

Shopify and Google have partnered to help new storeowners optimize their SEO. Shopify will give new store owners $100 credit for AdWords, which can help owners understand how Google AdWords works, what works best for them, and how to best use the tool. After all, the more you can promote your Shopify account the better, and for Google, the more you use AdWords they better off they are, so the match is a win-win all around (for you, website owner, included).

A Very Quick AdWords Review

You will first want to set up your Google accounts. Once that is done, connect your Google Analytics and Google AdWords accounts. Once these advertising tools are connected you can start planning how to spend that advertising money. Of course if you’re brand new to AdWords there are a lot of best practices and tips to understand, so you can visit this series to learn all of the basics.

In short, the best way to begin this process is to plan, research and execute. Ask questions about your business, products and goals, Google search your products, review your analytics data and read about how others are more successful.

You can identify products to advertise by choosing those products that have the highest return on investment (ROI), best sellers and if any items are trending. You’ll want to push those products in front of your customers.

When working with your AdWords account and running campaigns, creating separate Ad Groups for each product can help in a number of ways.

  1. It will help you control your keyword list
  2. It will help you control the ads for that product

Ad copy that matches your keywords greatly improves performance – the more similar descriptors, the higher it will be pulled in searches. Knowing your target audience including the words they use, the products they buy, the places they buy the products, hobbies, etc., will help you identify keywords that will help bring your content up during Google searches.

Connecting Your AdWords Account with Shopify

Downloading the Google Shopping Shopify App and syncing your store with Google Merchant Center will make the process easier and allow your products to appear at the top of standard Google searches. Below shows an example of what paid ads look like on Google, many of which use Shopify to get there:

adwords-2Once this is complete, sync your Merchant Center account to your AdWords account. Data shows using product-listing ads raises click through rates (CTRs). The streamlined effect will support your store’s ad process.

The Takeaway

Shopify is a great e-commerce site that is easy and intuitive. Linking your Shopify account to your Google AdWords account can only help improve your SEO game while providing data to constantly improve. Improvements and updates are also provided solely through Shopify with specific apps to manage your store. Free or for a small cost, these apps will suggest keywords, meta descriptions and tags to float your ad to the top. You can also visit here to learn about other tools that can help you stay organized.

Do you use Shopify to help improve your AdWords strategy? Let us know how you do it or any experiences you’ve had in the comment section below.