How SEO Can Transform Your Shopify Plus Store

Standing out in eCommerce requires more than just selling a great product. Effective search engine optimisation (SEO) can significantly elevate your Shopify Plus store’s visibility, attract visitors, and drive higher sales. 

At Kia Ora Digital, we specialise in providing targeted SEO campaigns for Shopify Plus stores. We’re also proud to be listed as official Shopify Experts. Here we’ll explore how SEO can transform your Shopify Plus store and address common SEO challenges.

The Power of SEO for Shopify Plus

Search engine optimisation enhances your website and improves its visibility on search engines like Google. For Shopify Plus stores, a well-executed SEO strategy can increase organic traffic, better search rankings, and, ultimately, higher revenue. 

Here’s how Shopify Plus supports and enhances SEO efforts:

• Grow Your Traffic: Shopify Plus has a strong track record for driving significant traffic growth. The eCommerce platform’s robust features facilitate this growth, which makes it easier to optimise content, products, and site structure, attracting potential customers through organic search.

• Building Your Brand Reputation: An effective SEO strategy helps to build and maintain your brand’s reputation. Higher search engine rankings translate to greater visibility, building user trust. Over time, consistent high rankings enhance brand recognition and customer loyalty, supported by Shopify Plus’s tools that ensure consistent brand identity across all interactions.

• Improved Search Ranking: Achieving and maintaining top positions in search results is crucial for eCommerce success. Shopify Plus offers functionalities and integrations to streamline the process of improving search engine rankings. With customisable meta tags, clean code, and mobile-friendly templates, Shopify Plus ensures your site aligns with search engine requirements.

• Increased Sales Through Multiple Sales Channels: One of Shopify Plus’s best features is its support for multiple sales channels. Integrating your eCommerce store with various platforms like social media and marketplaces allows you to reach a broader audience and drive more traffic and sales. This multichannel approach increases your store’s visibility and provides multiple entry points for customers.

• Rich with Plugins and Apps: Shopify Plus’s extensive library of plugins and apps enables you to enhance your SEO efforts without needing advanced technical skills. From analytics tools and keyword research apps to solutions for optimising product listings and improving page load times, Shopify Plus offers everything required to boost your site’s SEO performance.

Common SEO Issues with Shopify Plus Stores

While Shopify Plus addresses many limitations of standard Shopify plans regarding SEO, some challenges remain. Here are common SEO issues faced by Shopify Plus stores and practical solutions to overcome them:

• Duplicate Content: Duplicate content can negatively impact your search rankings as it confuses search engines about which page to prioritise. Shopify Plus stores often face this issue because multiple URLs lead to the same content. We conduct thorough audits to identify duplicate content, ensuring search engines recognise the primary version of your pages.

• Limited URL Structure Customisation: A well-structured URL is critical for both SEO and user experience. However, Shopify Plus has some restrictions in URL customisation, which can affect SEO performance. We use Shopify Plus’s customisation options to create clean, keyword-rich URLs that enhance SEO and user experience.

• Slow Page Load Times: Page speed is a crucial ranking factor. Slow-loading pages can lead to higher bounce rates and lower search engine rankings. Our experts optimise images, compress files, and use advanced techniques to improve site performance, ensuring faster page load times.

• Improper 404 Error Management: 404 errors occur when a page is not found, negatively impacting user experience and SEO. Properly managing these errors is essential for maintaining a healthy site. We regularly monitor for broken links and implement custom 404 error pages and 301 redirects to maintain a seamless user experience.

• Lack of Flexible Blogging Capabilities: Blogging is integral to any SEO strategy, but Shopify Plus’s blogging capabilities can be limiting compared to dedicated CMS platforms. We enhance your blog with advanced apps and strategies, creating high-quality content that drives traffic and improves search rankings.

Advanced SEO Strategies for Shopify Plus

To truly unlock the full potential of your Shopify Plus store, it’s crucial to go beyond the basics and implement advanced SEO strategies that cater to the unique needs of your business. 

Here are some advanced techniques that can propel your store to the next level:

• Schema Markup Implementation: Schema markup is a form of microdata that helps search engines understand your content better, enhancing how your pages appear in search results. By implementing schema markup on product pages, blog posts, and other key areas of your Shopify Plus store, you can improve click-through rates (CTR) and provide users with more informative snippets. This additional layer of data can help your products stand out, especially in a competitive eCommerce landscape.
• Content Gap Analysis: A content gap analysis is a powerful strategy for identifying opportunities where your content can outshine competitors. By analysing what keywords your competitors rank for and identifying the gaps in your own content, you can create targeted, high-quality content that attracts more organic traffic. This strategy is particularly effective for long-tail keywords and niche markets, enabling your Shopify Plus store to capture a broader audience.
• Internal Linking Structure Optimisation: While external backlinks are vital for SEO, your internal linking structure also plays a significant role in search rankings. By strategically linking related products, collections, and blog posts, you can improve site navigation, distribute link equity across your site, and enhance the user experience. Shopify Plus offers various tools and apps that can assist in auditing and optimising your internal linking strategy, ensuring that both users and search engines can easily navigate your store.
• Leveraging User-Generated Content (UGC): User-generated content, such as customer reviews, testimonials, and social media mentions, can significantly boost your store’s SEO performance. Encouraging customers to leave reviews and share their experiences with your products not only builds trust but also creates fresh, relevant content that search engines love. Shopify Plus makes it easy to integrate UGC into your store, enhancing your content’s authenticity and SEO value.
• Advanced Analytics and Reporting: Understanding the impact of your SEO efforts is essential for continuous improvement. Shopify Plus’s integration with advanced analytics tools allows you to monitor key performance indicators (KPIs) such as organic traffic, bounce rates, conversion rates, and more. 

By analysing these metrics, you can gain insights into which strategies are working and which areas need refinement, ensuring your SEO efforts are always aligned with your business goals.

The Future of SEO on Shopify Plus

As eCommerce continues to evolve, so does the landscape of SEO. Staying ahead of trends and technological advancements is key to maintaining a competitive edge. 

Voice search, AI-driven algorithms, and mobile-first indexing are just a few of the developments shaping the future of SEO. At Kia Ora Digital, we stay at the forefront of these changes, ensuring that your Shopify Plus store remains optimised and ready to adapt to whatever the future holds.

By partnering with us, you gain access to a team of experts dedicated to driving your business’s success through innovative SEO strategies. From technical optimisations to creative content solutions, we provide a comprehensive approach tailored to your unique needs. 

Partner with Official Shopify Experts

Here at Kia Ora Digital, we specialise in helping eCommerce businesses to maximise their online potential. Partner with us to unlock the full potential of your Shopify Plus store and transform it into a powerful, SEO-optimised platform. 

Contact us today to start transforming your Shopify Plus store and achieving sustainable growth through cutting-edge SEO practices.