How to Perform Shopify SEO Audit

1. Store-Owned Domain & Shopify-Managed Domain Both were Allowed to be Indexed and Causing Duplicate Content Issues

Web pages from their own domain and Shopify-managed domain were being indexed. It is not helpful for the search engines when they found duplicate contents, and the website itself was damaging its crawl budget by allowing this

Last year I tweeted about it as well

If you are on @Shopify or @squarespace be extra careful about BUILT-IN DOMAIN and don’t ruin your #SEO pic.twitter.com/LZNqumlxok

— Russell Huq (@russhuq) February 24, 2017

2. Both URLs With and Without Trailing Slash were Returning 200 Response Code

I used Screaming Frog SEO spider tool to check the HTTP status. Please always try to verify the HTTP status result with Chrome DevTools or Firefox Developer tools to make sure.

From a technical search engine standpoint, these two URL versions can contain different contents. So, search engines (Google, Bing etc .) are considering the pages as separate ones and that must be fixed to avoid the duplicate content issue.

3. Both WWW and Non-WWW Versions were Indexed by Google

Google has specific guidelines on verifying WWW, non-WWW, HTTPS and non-HTTPS versions of the site and specifying the preferred domain. I told my client to verify WWW, non-WWW, HTTP, HTTPS all four versions of the site with Google Search Console. I also recommended them to verify the site with Bing Webmaster Tools because Bing is another popular search engine.

4. IP Address of the Previous Site was Indexed by Google

During auditing Google Search Console account, I found an IP address which was indexed by Google. It turned out to be the IP address of the previous site

The previous site was not blocked for the search engines and a large number of pages got indexed by Google. It was also using the same Google Analytics tracking code as the live site which was diluting their traffic data. That’s why I told them to restrict the old site access by IP address, block or password-protect it, immediately.

I also found that there are rooms to optimize the sitemap file by submitting a separate sitemap for the images.

5. Internal Search Terms Dropped According to Their Google Analytics Account

While auditing their Google Analytics account, I found that internal search term number dropped a lot since the site moved to Shopify.

Which search terms the potential buyers entered, and how effectively the search results created deeper engagement with their site, these are vital information for an e-commerce business. So, it was clear that this issue must be fixed

6. Structured Data Markup, Canonical Tags, Testimonial, Google AdWords Remarketing Tracking Code, and Duplicate Meta Description

After the audit, I recommended the client to add structured data markup, investigate more on canonical tags, and revamp the testimonial page to collect more reviews. They were using AdWords but not the remarketing tracking code, So, I told them to add it.

They had a large number of duplicate meta description which actually is not a critical issue for a large e-commerce store but I still told them to keep an eye on it.

7. Allowing Search Engines to Index Internal Search Result Page URL

I suggested them to analyze their traffic data carefully and allow search engines to index those internal search result pages which are bringing traffic and revenue. Here is a helpful article which discussed this topic

8. Update Google Analytics Goal and Connect Google Analytics & Search Console Account

My client also forgot to update their funnel URLs in Google Analytics when their site was moved to Shopify so I told them to update it as soon as possible because this is vital to measure conversion number. As AdWords & Analytics accounts were linked I also suggested them to investigate the AdWords conversion number carefully.

Connecting Google Search Console & Google Analytics account, allows us to see organic ranking data from the Google Analytics account. For this reason, I recommended them to link those accounts.

9. Pages with HTTP 404 Error were Hurting Traffic and PPC Budget

It was clear from the image that lots of pages were throwing 404. I recommended the client to stop the AdWords shopping, text and Bing campaigns immediately to not waste any more money, and get those 404 errors fixed.

I also told them to find out those 404 pages which were important for link building and which were being used by the affiliates. Those 404 errors being fixed, my recommendation for them was to set up an alert using Google Analytics to easily monitor. I also advised them to redesign the 404 page to inform the visitors that the site has been moved.

10. Traffic Drop in Google Search Console