Paid ads are rented attention. The moment you stop paying, the traffic disappears. SEO is the opposite — it compounds quietly in the background and keeps working long after you have done the work. The best part? Most of the highest-impact fixes cost nothing and do not need a developer. Here is the checklist we run on every store.
1. Write a Real Title Tag for Every Page
Your page title is what shows up as the blue clickable link in Google. "Home" or "Products" tells Google nothing. Use the words your customer actually searches — for example, "Handmade Ceramic Coffee Mugs — Free Shipping."
2. Fix Your Meta Descriptions
This is the short summary under the title in search results. It does not directly affect ranking, but a good one gets more clicks — and clicks matter. Write one sentence that makes someone want to click.
3. Add Alt Text to Every Image
Google cannot "see" images, it reads the alt text. Describe each image in plain language. This helps you rank in image search and makes your store accessible — a genuine win-win.
4. Check Your Page Speed
Run your store through Google's PageSpeed Insights. A one-second delay on mobile can cut conversions by up to 20%. Compress oversized images and remove apps you no longer use — these are the two biggest speed killers on most Shopify stores.
5. Clean Up Your URLs
A URL like yourstore.com/products/blue-cotton-tshirt beats one full of random numbers and codes. Keep them short, readable, and keyword-aware.
6. Write Descriptions on Your Collection Pages
Most stores leave collection (category) pages as a bare grid of products. Adding 150–300 words of genuine description gives Google something to rank and helps shoppers understand what makes that collection special.
7. Use Your Blog for the Questions People Ask
Every question a potential customer Googles before buying is a blog post you could rank for. Answer it well, then link from that post to the relevant product. That is how a curious reader becomes a buyer.
8. Add Internal Links
Link your pages to each other naturally — blog to product, product to related product. This helps Google understand your site and keeps visitors moving toward a purchase.
9. Make Sure It Works on Mobile
Google ranks the mobile version of your site first. Open your store on your own phone and actually try to buy something. If anything is fiddly, fix it.
10. Set Up Google Search Console
It is free, and it shows you the exact searches bringing people to your store. Look for queries where you appear on page two — those are the closest wins, often just needing a little more content to push onto page one.
11. Fix Broken Links
Dead links (the dreaded 404) frustrate visitors and waste Google's crawl time. A quick free crawler will find them so you can redirect or remove them.
12. Add FAQ Sections
Answer the five questions customers ask most before buying, right on the product page. It reduces pre-sale emails, builds trust, and each question can quietly rank for a long-tail search of its own.
Work through even half of these and you will see movement within a few weeks. Want us to run a full SEO audit on your store? Send us a message