Technical foundation
- Sitemap submitted to Google Search Console. Your Shopify sitemap lives at yourstore.com/sitemap.xml. Go to GSC - Sitemaps and submit it. If it's already submitted, check the "Last read" date - it should be within the last 30 days.
- SSL certificate active. Your domain should load on HTTPS with a padlock in the browser address bar. Shopify handles this automatically, but verify it's active on your custom domain after connecting.
- Password protection disabled. Settings - Online Store - Preferences. "Password protection" should be disabled before launch. This blocks all search crawler access when enabled.
- Custom domain connected. Your store should load on yourstore.com, not yourstore.myshopify.com. Google treats these as different URLs - you want all traffic on your primary domain.
- www vs non-www consistent. Your store should redirect all traffic to one version (www or non-www). Shopify handles this but verify by typing both versions in a browser and checking you're redirected to the same URL.
- Core Web Vitals passing. Check at pagespeed.web.dev. Mobile Lighthouse score above 70 is baseline. Below 60 is actively harming rankings and conversion rate.
Google Search Console setup
- Property verified in GSC. If you haven't set up Google Search Console, do this first - it's the most useful free SEO tool available.
- No crawl errors in Coverage report. GSC - Coverage - Errors. Fix any pages returning 404 that shouldn't be, or pages blocked by robots.txt that should be indexed.
- Sitemap showing expected page count. GSC - Sitemaps - click your sitemap. The "Discovered URLs" count should match approximately how many indexable pages your store has.
- Search Console linked to GA4. GSC - Settings - Associations. Link to your GA4 property to see organic search query data inside Analytics.
On-page content
- Every product has a unique title. Not "Product 1" or the manufacturer's default name. A descriptive title that includes the key search term a customer would use.
- Every product has a description over 100 words. Short or empty descriptions tell Google there's not much here worth ranking. Write descriptions that answer what the product is, who it's for, and what makes it worth buying.
- SEO titles and meta descriptions set on key products. Scroll to "Search engine listing" on each product and customise the SEO title and description. Don't leave them as the default product name + store name.
- Product images have alt text. Click any product image in Shopify admin and add descriptive alt text. "Red leather handbag with brass hardware" is useful. "IMG_1234" is not.
- Collection pages have descriptions. A 80-200 word description on each main collection page gives Google text to index and helps the page rank for category-level searches.
- Homepage has a clear H1. Your homepage should have exactly one H1 heading that describes what the store sells.
URL structure
- Product URLs are clean and descriptive. Shopify auto-generates URLs from product titles. Check that your URLs are human-readable (/products/mens-linen-shirt) not auto-generated IDs (/products/variant-12345).
- No duplicate content from search/filter URLs. If your collection pages generate URL parameters for filters (?sort=price, ?color=blue), check that Shopify's canonical tag is pointing to the base collection URL so Google doesn't index hundreds of filter variations.
Structured data
- Product schema on product pages. Google's rich results for products (price, availability, ratings) require Product schema. Most modern Shopify themes include this. Verify at search.google.com/test/rich-results by entering a product URL.
- BreadcrumbList schema on collection and product pages. Enables breadcrumb display in search results. Check the Rich Results Test for any BreadcrumbList errors.
- FAQPage schema on FAQ or service pages. If you have FAQ sections, marking them up with FAQPage schema can produce expandable result snippets in Google.
- No schema errors in GSC Enhancements report. GSC - Enhancements - check for errors in any structured data type your store uses.
Internal linking
- Blog posts link to relevant service or collection pages. Every blog post should contain at least one contextual link to a relevant product, collection, or service page. This passes authority and improves the ranking of those pages.
- Related products on product pages. Cross-links between related products help Google understand the structure of your catalogue and distribute page authority.
- Orphan pages identified and linked. No important page should be accessible only from a sitemap - it should be reachable through the normal site navigation or from relevant content pages.
Performance and indexation
- Images compressed before uploading. Run every product image through TinyPNG or Squoosh before uploading to Shopify. A 5MB product image should be under 300KB at web dimensions.
- Unused apps removed. Every installed app - even inactive ones - may load JavaScript on your store. Uninstall apps you no longer use. Check your Lighthouse score before and after to measure the impact.
- No render-blocking resources. Check Lighthouse's "Eliminate render-blocking resources" recommendation. Third-party scripts (chat widgets, tracking pixels) loading synchronously slow first contentful paint.
Content and external signals
- Blog exists and has at least 5 posts. A blog with useful content attracts organic traffic for informational queries that product pages can't rank for. Five well-written posts is a minimum to start seeing any benefit.
- Store is listed in Shopify's directory. If applicable, being listed on Shopify's partner directory and similar industry directories provides backlinks and referral traffic.
- Google Business Profile set up. If you have a physical location or local customers, a Google Business Profile improves local search visibility and provides a backlink to your store.
