Shopify vs. WordPress/Magento
Alex: Alright, Vitalii, let’s start with the basics. I’ve heard you say Shopify SEO is a whole different animal compared to WordPress or Magento. Can you unpack that a bit?
Vitalii: Yeah, sure. Shopify’s a bit... rigid. Like, you’re kinda stuck with /products/, /collections/, and some default structures you can’t easily ditch. And it tends to duplicate paths - like collection URLs leading to the same product pages as your product URLs. You don’t get much room to tweak unless you go into Liquid or start using third‑party apps.
SEO vs. Paid Ads & Influencers
Alex: Makes sense. That sounds... limiting. So with all that, why do you still recommend SEO over just dumping budget into ads or influencer campaigns?
Vitalii: Well, I think SEO is the only real compound channel. You write today, rank tomorrow, and that traffic sticks. Ads? They stop when your budget dries up. Influencers? Great for awareness, but not always intent. SEO brings people who are literally searching to buy.
Common Technical Pitfalls
Alex: Yeah, totally agree - there’s something satisfying about long‑term organic growth. What are the biggest tech pitfalls you see when auditing a typical Shopify site?
Vitalii: Hmm, there’s a bunch. No canonical tags on tag pages or paginated URLs, way too many apps loading JavaScript by default, careless use of Shopify’s robots.txt, and some devs just dump schema everywhere without testing. I’ve seen sites tank Core Web Vitals - especially LCP and INP - by 30 points just from bloated themes and third‑party apps.
Repeated Owner Mistakes
Alex: What mistakes do Shopify store owners keep repeating?
Vitalii: Canonical tags ignored. 500+ apps installed. Thin collection pages. Duplicate content everywhere. No internal links. No schema. Oh, and broken redirects stacked on broken redirects. Happens more than you'd think.
Site Structure Strategy
Alex: I’ve seen that too. What about site structure? How do you usually approach that to make sure crawl equity’s not being wasted?
Vitalii: I like to think of it like a pyramid - home at the top, then collections, then products. Simple. But then I connect everything with breadcrumbs, contextual links inside collection text, blogs, even footers if needed. The goal’s to make sure Google doesn’t miss anything.
URL Prefix Workarounds
Alex: That actually clicks. And with Shopify forcing those /collections/ and /products/ in URLs, what’s your workaround? I know a lot of SEOs hate it.
Vitalii: Yeah, I mean, it’s annoying - but you work with what you’ve got. Set canonicals to the cleanest path, ask the programmer to make the links point to canonical URLs, clean up old paths with 301s. And if you’re really hitting a wall, maybe it’s time to go headless. Who knows.
Product Page Optimization
Alex: Got it. Let’s get into product pages a bit. What’s your go‑to process when optimizing those?
Vitalii: First, I map one bottom‑funnel keyword per product. Then: SEO title, meta, H1 - all aligned. I write real descriptions, not just filler. Sprinkle in LSI terms, name image files right, optimize alt tags, and drop in Product JSON‑LD. Keep it helpful, not robotic.
Handling Variants
Alex: Super thorough. What about variants? That seems to trip people up.
Vitalii: Yeah, Shopify makes a new URL for each variant using a query string. Emm, I usually canonicalise them back to the main product page. If the variant actually has search value - like a distinct color or feature - then maybe it earns its own page. But otherwise? Clean it up.
Collection Page Strategy
Alex: Good call. Collection pages - are you seeing those as just category holders or do you turn them into more strategic SEO assets?
Vitalii: Definitely the latter. I treat them like landing pages. 100–150 words of optimized copy up top, helpful FAQs or tips at the bottom, use the right schema, and make sure you’re internally linking to and from them. Shopify’s default collections are underused, honestly.
Blogging’s Role
Alex: I hear that. And on content - how important is blogging really, in your opinion?
Vitalii: I think it’s underrated. People say Shopify’s bad for blogging, but that’s just a template issue. Blog posts can rank fast, bring top‑funnel traffic, and are goldmines for internal links. Plus, it shows Google you’re active.
Finding Content Ideas
Alex: Right, especially with how competitive product pages have become. Where do you usually get content ideas?
Vitalii: Well, keyword gap tools like Ahrefs is my first stop. Then I check customer support emails, product reviews - basically, anywhere your real users ask questions. You’d be surprised how many blog topics come straight from complaints.
Recommended & Avoided Shopify Apps
Alex: Let’s talk Shopify apps - any that you swear by or refuse to touch?
Vitalii: Yeah, I like Smart SEO, JSON‑LD for SEO - those are solid. But I stay away from apps kind of “1‑click SEO” or auto‑alt‑text generators. They’re usually more trouble than they’re worth.
Essential SEO Tools
Alex: Outside of Shopify, what are your staple SEO tools?
Vitalii: Screaming Frog or Netpeak Spider for crawling. Ahrefs for keyword and link tracking. Google Search Console, obviously. For speed: PageSpeed Insights.
Performance Optimization
Alex: Speed - let’s talk performance. How do you squeeze every bit of speed out of Shopify?
Vitalii: I always start with Core Web Vitals. Then I strip out unused apps, defer or lazy‑load anything non‑essential, inline critical CSS, and reduce requests. Shopify’s Fastly CDN is good, but you’ve gotta use it right - caching, compression, the works.
Mobile‑First Optimization
Alex: All great points. And on mobile - what do you do specifically for mobile‑first optimization? It’s one of those things that’s easy to overlook.
Vitalii: Emm, yeah, it’s easy to mess up. I usually start with a super lightweight theme - Dawn or something custom without the bloat. Mobile users don’t wait, so speed’s the baseline.
Alex: Totally. What kind of things are you looking at beyond speed?
Vitalii: Well, I think design plays a huge role. Buttons need to be big enough for clumsy fingers - mine included - and spacing matters. Fonts too - if they shift around and blow up your CLS, it’s game over. It all has to feel native on mobile, not like a squished desktop site.
Alex: And scripts? I’ve seen mobile sites get wrecked by too much going on.
Vitalii: Yeah, that’s a big one. Scripts love to stack up. Apps on Shopify are notorious for loading a bunch of JS by default. So I try to defer whatever isn’t critical and just cut the junk. Mobile’s not the place for experiments - it’s gotta be clean and focused.
Link Building Strategies
Alex: You’ve mentioned link building earlier - what’s working for Shopify in 2025?
Vitalii: Outreach with value. Create something worth linking to - a size guide, trend report, whatever - and pitch that. Guest posts, unlinked brand mentions, co‑marketing with influencers. Just no spammy directories, please.
Generating Legitimate Buzz
Alex: What about generating buzz without dipping into black‑hat territory?
Vitalii: I go for UGC campaigns, run giveaways with real bloggers, sponsor small niche events, or drop original data into PR outreach. Even a fun quiz or calculator can earn links if it’s useful enough.
Local SEO Best Practices
Alex: Nice. Now let’s hit some edge cases - what about local SEO?
Vitalii: Oh yeah, local’s its own animal. If you’ve got a physical location or do local deliveries, you need a well‑optimized Google Business Profile. That’s non‑negotiable.
Alex: Right, and the basics - still relevant?
Vitalii: Definitely. Consistent NAP - name, address, phone number - across all platforms still matters. Seems basic, but you’d be surprised how many businesses mess it up. That, plus a solid LocalBusiness schema on your site? That combo still works.
Alex: And location pages - are they worth the trouble? What’s the deal with reviews these days?
Vitalii: For sure, if you’ve got more than one service area. But make them real, not just carbon copies with swapped city names. Add localized content, testimonials from local customers, maybe even team photos. Google’s smart enough to tell if it’s just filler.
Reviews are still that big of a factor. But they’ve got to look natural. Like, if you suddenly get 50 perfect five‑star reviews overnight? That’s a red flag. Better to have a steady flow, even if they’re not all glowing. Real reviews build trust with both Google and people.
International SEO Tactics
Alex: How do you approach international SEO? That’s always tricky.
Vitalii: Oh, for sure - it’s a whole different beast. There’s no one‑size‑fits‑all approach, but I usually lean toward using subfolders, like /de/ or /fr/, instead of ccTLDs. They’re easier to manage, consolidate domain authority better, and honestly, they tend to perform just fine unless you’re doing heavy regional targeting.
Alex: So you’re not a big fan of ccTLDs unless it’s a very region‑specific play?
Vitalii: Exactly. ccTLDs can work, but they come with more overhead - different domains to manage, slower link equity growth, more complexity overall. Unless the brand has a strong local presence or legal reasons to use them, subfolders just make more sense most of the time.
Alex: And hreflang… I’ve seen people mess that up so often.
Vitalii: Yep, all the time. Hreflang tags have to be perfect - reciprocal, consistent, pointing to the right canonical versions. It’s not forgiving at all. One mismatch and Google just ignores the whole setup, like “nah, too messy.”
Alex: What about translations - are brands still relying on Google Translate?
Vitalii: Emm, yeah, some still do. And I get it - it’s quick and cheap. But if you’re serious about international markets, native‑level copy is a must. It’s not just about grammar; it’s about understanding how people search - the phrasing, the cultural tone, even what products they care about. Poor translation kills trust.
Alex: Do you also localize things like pricing and shipping?
Vitalii: 100%. If someone in Germany sees USD prices or can’t find local delivery info, they’re gone. You need local currency, local payment methods, relevant shipping options. Otherwise, it just feels like a half‑baked attempt to go global. So yeah, international SEO? It’s not just translation - it’s full‑on localization. That’s the only way it really works.
SEO KPIs & Success Metrics
Alex: What SEO KPIs are you actually tracking month‑to‑month?
Vitalii: Organic sessions, click‑through rate, keyword movement, indexed pages, technical health, conversions, revenue per session - and now Core Web Vitals and branded search volume too. It’s not just about rankings anymore.
Expected Timeline for Results
Alex: So let’s be honest - when should someone expect to see results from all this?
Vitalii: I’d say, months 1–3 for technical cleanup, 3–6 for traffic gains, 6–12 for revenue lift. But SEO’s like planting trees. You water it, wait, and it eventually shades your whole funnel.
SEO Myths to Bury
Alex: And what myths still need killing off?
Vitalii: Oh yeah, tons. First off, the whole “set it and forget it” idea - nah, that’s a fantasy. SEO is not a one‑time task, it’s ongoing. You publish a page, great—but now you’ve gotta monitor how it ranks, update it, add internal links, fix stuff when Google changes the rules.
Then there’s keyword stuffing. Some folks still think if you just repeat a phrase 20 times, you’ll rank. But I mean, Google’s smarter than that. It looks at semantics, intent, structure - it’s not 2005 anymore.
Also, this one’s big: thinking schema markup is some kind of ranking cheat code. Yeah, it helps enhance your listings, but it doesn’t guarantee better rankings. It’s just one part of the picture, not a magic bullet.
And those SEO apps that promise to “optimize everything” with a click? Emm, I don’t want to be rude, but come on. Most of them just fill in metadata with your product title. That’s not SEO - it’s autopilot fluff.
At the end of the day, I think people want shortcuts, but SEO still runs on strategy, testing, and actual thinking. That part hasn’t changed.
AI & Future‑Proofing SEO
Alex: Final question. With AI Overviews rolling out, SGE evolving - how do you future‑proof a Shopify SEO strategy?
Vitalii: Hmm, I’d say: write for snippets, use FAQ/HowTo schema, cite fresh data, structure your content clearly, and watch what Google surfaces in those AI cards. It’s not just about 10 blue links anymore.
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