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Shopify Collections SEO: 8 Tricks to Optimize SEO of Shopify Collections

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Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the backbone of any successful marketing strategy. SEO impacts every aspect of an e-commerce site’s performance. From traffic to revenue, SEO has a hand in directing a Shopify store’s success. Understanding how SEO can help build a Shopify store is a pivotal task. 

One of the key areas to consider is how SEO impacts collections. In this article, we’re going to look at Shopify collections SEO. In particular, we’re going to focus on improving SEO of Shopify collections to boost revenue and increase profitability.

What are Shopify Collections?

When you think of a physical store, items are usually arranged in a logical manner, on shelves or racks. In a fashion store, for example, similar products are placed together – women’s clothing in one section, men’s clothing in another, and a separate section for new arrivals and sale items. 

Basically, a Shopify collection is the online equivalent of this. It allows you to organize your products into categories, so that your customers can focus on the type of products they are most interested in. It streamlines the experience for your customers and can go a long way to improving your conversion rate. 

How do Shopify Collections Work?

Shopify collections follow a hierarchical structure. In other words, they have a top-down organization that facilitates dividing and subdividing product categories.

This hierarchical structure looks something like this:

Shopify store homepage

>> Collection 1

>>>> Sub-collection 1

>>>> Sub-collection 2

>>>> Sucollection 3

If we re-visit the fashion example, the hierarchy may look like this: 

Shopify store homepage

>> Women’s clothes

>>>> Dresses

>>>> Shoes

>>>> Sale

This division and subdivision process can go on as far as you need to. In theory, you can have an infinite number of collections and sub-collections. However, SEO best practices recommend that you keep collections pages to a moderate amount. An extensive number of collections can make “reading” your site complex for search engines. As a result, this condition may cause your e-commerce to rank lower than expected.

improve set of Shopify collections
Source: gymshark.com

What is Shopify Collections SEO?

Just like any page in your store (unless you specify otherwise), your collection pages are indexed by Google. Google takes into account the content on these pages, as well as the technical SEO elements like meta descriptions, image ALT text, URLs, and more. 

Why is Shopify Collections SEO Important for your Store?

As with your other pages, optimizing your collection pages help your Shopify store rank higher on Google and other search engines. Some shoppers search for highly specific products, like “women’s black ankle boots mid-heel”. A search like this is likely to result in specific products (and product pages) being at the top of the search engine results page (SERP). 

However, many shoppers are less specific, searching for “women’s black boots” or even just “women’s boots”. Your store is more likely to rank in these results if your collection pages are optimized for SEO. It’s important that all of your pages are optimized for search engines, including your collection pages. 

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Top 8 Tips to Optimize SEO of Shopify Collections

Optimizing SEO of Shopify collections boils down to using the best practices currently available. You can use these tactics to improve SEO of Shopify collections, ensuring your e-commerce site sits on the first page of search results.

Let’s look at how you can improve SEO of Shopify collections.

#1: Improve on-page SEO for Shopify Collections

When it comes to Shopify collection page SEO there are several key things to consider:

Loading times. Loading times are very important. As such, keeping scripts, videos, and images as light as possible helps reduce page loading times.

Image optimization. Image optimization refers to image size and dimensions. Following Shopify’s recommended image dimensions and keeping file size under 20MB ensures quick loading times. Additionally, high-quality images improve user experience.

Broken links. One of the biggest no-nos is having broken links.  This condition triggers a 404 error. Search engines hate 404 errors so much that they punish sites by pushing them down the trough.

Page titles. Structure your collection page titles clearly. For example: Men’s Footwear | Men’s Athletic Shoes | Happy Fashion – this clearly states what the page is about and includes the relevant keywords. 

#2: Use the right keywords

Collection titles are what users and search engines look for to identify a collection page. There is one crucial factor to consider: keyword optimization.

For example, a shoe brand uses a Shopify collection title such as “the best shoes in the world.” While catchy, it does not contain relevant keywords. Titles must include relevant keywords users utilize to search for specific products. 

A Shopify collection title such as “Men’s shoes in downtown Miami” includes a keyphrase a user might use to search for “men’s shoes in downtown Miami.” 

Keyword research with tools such as Ahrefs, SEMrush, or Google Keyword Planner can help you figure out the best Shopify collection titles.

#3: Shopify collection description SEO

Shopify collections use metadata to help Shopify’s internal algorithm manage your store. Similarly, search engines like Google use metadata to “crawl” websites. 

The worst thing you can do is leave Shopify collection descriptions blank. Doing so is like leaving money on the table. 

So, why not take advantage of the situation?

Shopify collection descriptions require you to enter a brief description of what each page contains. The secret here is to load up on relevant keywords and phrases. Here are two essential best practices:

1. A solid description contains about 100 words. This description should summarize page content, including as many relevant keywords in logical and coherent prose. 

2. Include links to other pages and texts such as a blog, other product pages, collections, or high-quality third-party links so users can find more information about your brand or products.

#4: Shopify collection URL SEO

A URL is your Shopify collection page’s actual address. Technically, URLs are numerical codes that identify internet addresses. However, web browsers translate these codes into words to facilitate reading them.

Shopify collection URL SEO focuses on including the most relevant keywords to identify your categories and subcategories.

Consider this example:

how to optimize Shopify collections for set
Source: gymshark.com

In this example, the URL clearly identifies what the category entails, that is, “women’s leggings” A subcategory might look something like this:

Shopify collection page seo
Source: gymshark.com

In this URL, we’ve added “high-waisted” as a subcategory, making the search more specific. 

#5: Shopify collection meta description SEO

Meta descriptions are a key part of metadata. Meta descriptions are the snippets that appear below page titles. Meta descriptions should:

– Be between 150 and 160 characters (not words)

– Contain relevant keywords

– Clearly tell users what the page contains 

Consider this example:

Happy Fashion offers the best in men’s athletic shoes. Find the best men’s athletic shoes in downtown Miami at our convenient location in downtown Miami.

This meta description contains 153 characters. It tells users about the brand and the items offered. In particular, notice the use of keywords such as “men’s athletic shoes” and “downtown Miami.”

Why is this characteristic important?

Suppose a user types in a query such as “men’s athletic shoes in downtown Miami.” The search engine will compile search results that contain as many of these keywords as possible. With a meta description such as this one, the chances of your e-commerce site popping up are quite high.

#6: Shopify collection product information SEO

Product information is part of your on-screen content. It is another key element search engines look for to crawl your Shopify store. As a result, your collection product information SEO strategy should include the following:

– Relevant keywords and phrases

– Internal links to other product pages and collections

– High-quality backlinks to third-party sites such as manufacturers

Be sure to fill out all the fields required for each product page. Leaving fields blank doesn’t help your Shopify collection SEO strategy. 

There’s one caveat: avoid copying and pasting the manufacturer’s product information. This content type may constitute duplicate content. Search engines hate duplicate content. If your e-commerce site gets flagged for duplicate content, your SEO ranking will pay the price.

#7: Shopify collection navigation menu SEO

Your collection page navigation menu may seem like a minor player in your SEO strategy. Nevertheless, it helps users quickly locate the product collections they seek. 

Collection navigation menus are also another opportunity to pack keywords. Consider this example:

Shopify collections seo

In this example, we see a clean and stylish homepage. At the top, we see the navigation menu. It contains tabs visitors can click on to find what they want. This homepage works because it has lightning-fast loading times and uses keywords to help users navigate the site. 

#8: Shopify collection image SEO

Images play a big role in your Shopify collections. They make your collections look great, and they also help boost SEO. 

Specifically, Shopify collection image SEO refers to optimizing images, so they reduce page loading times and provide a high-quality user experience. Shopify recommends the following parameters to ensure your Shopify collection images do the job:

– Use JPG or PNG files

– File size must be under 20 MB

– Filename should include relevant keywords

– Shopify recommends image dimensions of 2048 by 2048 pixels

– Use square photos as much as possible

It’s easy to overlook these aspects, especially since Shopify automatically resizes and crops photos. Nevertheless, neglecting image optimization can cause your Shopify collection SEO strategy to miss the mark.

Shopify Collection SEO: Final Thoughts

There you have it! Eight great Shopify collection SEO tricks you cannot miss. 

What’s the next step?

Take the time to give your Shopify store a thorough SEO audit. There are Shopify apps you can use to help detect major issues. Doing so can save time and effort by pinpointing your efforts in specific areas.

Additionally, review your site’s architecture to ensure your categories and subcategories do their job. Then, focus on image optimization and keyword research. These tasks will surely pay off in the long run.

Investing time and effort today in your Shopify collection SEO strategy will pay off in droves down the road.

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  • Topics: Shopify How-To

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