It’s important to choose the eCommerce platform that works for you. And Shopify is one of the world’s most popular eCommerce platforms, with 600,000+ businesses using it to open their online store. When you start a dropshipping business and open a Shopify store, you need to think about how you get customers to find your store.

You can use SEO (search engine optimization) to improve the search engine ranking for your store. The higher you rank in search engine results, the more traffic your store will have. This naturally leads to increased sales. The article will introduce 8 different ways to boost your Shopify store’s search engine rank. And for stores on other eCommerce platforms, the general ways are the same.

Choose Keywords And Put Them In the Right Places

Keywords are the heart of SEO. Place the correct keywords on your site so search engines like Google can find your products. Also, you need to know what your target customers would search to find your products. Try the keywords between broad keywords and niche key phrases. And because you want searchers that will actually buy something, try modifying your keywords to include active words such as “buy”, “best”, and “cheap”.

It is a good idea to use Google Keyword Planner to see what people are searching for and my Amazon, Google, and Wikipedia for keyword inspiration. And don’t forget to search the keyword in Google to check out the competition.

Then where to put your keywords? There are five important places.

①Page Title

The page title is the title that will appear on the search engine’s results page. The enticing keywords on the page title will attract your target customers to click.

②Meta Description

The meta description is the short piece of words that shows up underneath the title. Put the keywords here and make it descriptive and intriguing which will convince your target customers to click.

③Image Description

You can change the name of the image file with the keywords that describe the image for the search engine may not identify the image. And you can set image alt text.

④Headers and Titles

Your headers are one of the first places search engine looks to see what your store’s about. It is important that your product pages all have descriptive headers with your keywords.

⑤Product Descriptions

Write unique and exciting product descriptions with keywords so that the search engine can find your page.

Optimize Your Site Structure

Your site structure determines the way your content is organized, which is crucial to SEO success. Try to make your site structure simple and this will make it easier for search engines to crawl your site and rank your products. You can refer to the following structure which is SEO-friendly and simple.

There are only a few clicks from your home page to your products, which makes it easy and fast for your customers to find what they’re looking for. Search engines will also be able to crawl your site more efficiently. And don’t forget about the page and contact page to let customers and search engines know that the site is credible and trustworthy.

In addition, your page should also cover a search box to help customers find what they’re looking for.

Increasing The Number Of Links To Your Store

External links are the backbone of good SEO. It is a good way to increase the number of links to your store for the reason that links to your store from other websites help search engines know that your site is popular and trustworthy. Though there are paid links, they don’t have a good results and might result in a lower search rank.

There are some tips for you to increase the number of links to your store:

• Look for opportunities to list your online store on other websites.
• Maintain updated and interesting content to create a website that naturally gets linked.
• Build relationships with other websites and blogs so that you can ask for a link back. For example, ask the supplier for links.
• Reach out to industry leaders and influencers for interviews to generate both links and content.

Submit Your Sitemap To Google Search Console

The sitemap is located at the root directory of your Shopify store’s primary domain name. It contains links to all your products, product images, pages, collections, and blog posts.

In short, it is a comprehensive list of all of the pages on your site. And it is used by search engines to index your site so that your store’s pages appear in search results. Submitting your sitemap to Google Search Console helps Google knows about every page on your site and crawl and index valuable pages on your site. Furthermore, it gives Google a place to check for updates more quickly than a manual crawl.

Upgrade To SSL

SSL is important for security. By switching to total site SSL, you can get a small ranking boost because Google is pushing for better security all across the web. You can activate these by going to your Shopify dashboard =>Sales Channels => Online Store => Domains.

Making an existing Shopify site secure is straightforward. And when migrating to SSL from a non-secure site on different platforms, you may need to undertake some additional technical work to make sure that you don’t damage your position in search results. So look at Google’s guidelines on making the switch to SSL or communicating with Shopify’s support team.

Improve the Customers Experience

The longer you keep customers around on your site, the better search ranking and conversions you’ll have since Google looks at time-on-page as a marker of a site’s value. Make sure customers always have a place to go from page to page quickly. If the site speed is fast, customers may spend more time on your site.

To make your Shopify store faster, you can use a fast, mobile-friendly theme, use smaller, optimized images, remove any apps you’re not using, and avoid using sliders. It is also a good idea to use a responsive design which can greatly improve user experience and keep visitors on your site longer. Make sure your store looks great on any device, including desktops, tablets, and smartphones.

Take Advantage Of Content Marketing

Content marketing is one of the easiest ways to rank for more keywords and build backlinks. And it is helpful for both customers’ experience and SEO. Your content is a chance to make customers and potential customers get to know your brand.

Every eCommerce store needs a content marketing strategy that reaches out to its target audience on its website, Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, or whichever social media channels are your preferred options. And the content can be how-to videos, FAQs, stunning photography, and informative articles.

Use The Best Shopify SEO Apps And Tools

There are some best Shopify apps and tools that you can use to boost your store’s search engine rank. You can use SEO apps to identify where there may be Shopify SEO problems with your site including your images, such as SEO Image Optimizer and Plug in SEO.

What’s more, you can use SEO tools that make life easier when building your site to be as search-friendly as possible. From tools that help you identify keywords which can also be an alternative to Google Keyword Planner to those that help you optimize video and images, these useful tools, such as Keywordtool.io, Ahrefs, can cut down the time it takes for you to get your store in shape.