Shopify SEO: a practical checklist for store owners

Store-wide basics

1. Online Store > Preferences: set the homepage title and meta description.
2. Remove the storefront password when you launch; a password-protected store can't be indexed.
3. Shopify creates /sitemap.xml automatically. Submit it in Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools.
4. Connect your custom domain and make it the primary domain, so other addresses redirect to it.

Product and collection pages

• Edit each product's "Search engine listing" section: page title, meta description and URL handle.
• Write your own product descriptions; manufacturer copy appears on many other sites.
• Give collections a short, useful introduction above or below the products.
• Use descriptive image alt text, edited in the product media.
• Keep sold-out products live if they'll return; redirect discontinued ones to the closest alternative (Online Store > Navigation > URL redirects).

Duplicate URLs

A product can be reached at /products/name and through collection paths such as /collections/shirts/products/name. Shopify themes add a canonical tag pointing at the /products/ URL, so this is handled, but check that your theme's internal links point to the canonical URL too.

robots.txt

Shopify's default robots.txt is sensible for most stores. You can customize it by adding a robots.txt.liquid template in the theme code editor (Online Store > Themes > Edit code > Add a new template > robots). Shopify calls this an unsupported customization and warns that incorrect use can result in loss of all traffic, so change it only when you need to, for example to allow or block a specific AI crawler.

Speed and structured data

• Use a fast theme and remove unused apps; each app can add scripts.
• Compress images before upload.
• Most modern themes output Product structured data with price and availability. Test a product URL in Google's Rich Results Test.
• For Google Shopping and free listings, connect Google Merchant Center.

Shopify and AI search

• Check robots.txt allows the AI search crawlers you want: OAI-SearchBot (ChatGPT search), Claude-SearchBot, PerplexityBot. See the AI crawler list and the robots.txt generator.
• Check your host's or CDN's bot protection doesn't block them even when robots.txt allows them.
• Make sure the main text is in the HTML the server sends. AI crawlers don't run JavaScript.
• Avoid nosnippet and tiny max-snippet values on pages you want quoted; they also keep pages out of Google's AI Overviews.

Hiring a Shopify SEO expert or agency

Ask what they'll change in the theme code versus in the admin, how they handle apps that inject content, and for examples of stores they've worked on. Google's general advice on hiring an SEO applies; see how to choose an SEO agency.