Can you do SEO on Shopify?

Shopify gets a reputation in some circles for being bad for SEO, usually from people who have run into one of its constraints and assumed the whole platform was the problem. That reputation is not deserved. Shopify gives you a strong technical foundation, it has a handful of real limitations you need to work around, and thousands of stores rank extremely well on it. The platform is rarely what holds a store back. The absence of actual SEO work usually is.

So the more useful question is not whether you can do SEO on Shopify, but how to do it well given how the platform behaves. Here is what Shopify gives you, where it get

What Shopify handles for you

Out of the box, Shopify takes care of a lot of the technical groundwork that you would otherwise have to build or bolt on. It serves clean HTML, generates an XML sitemap automatically, applies canonical tags, enforces HTTPS across the store, produces mobile-responsive themes by default, and adds basic product schema without you lifting a finger.

That is a genuinely solid starting point, and it is why Shopify compares well against platforms like Wix, Squarespace and WooCommerce for SEO. If you have heard that Shopify is bad for search, this is the part of the picture that myth ignores. The foundations are sound.

The catch is in the word foundation. Shopify handles the basics, but it does not do your SEO for you. Titles, descriptions, content, internal links, images and the work of actually ranking are all still your responsibility, and that is where stores either pull ahead or fall behind.

The limitations you need to work around

Being clear-eyed about Shopify’s constraints is what separates people who rank from people who blame the platform. There are a few that matter.

Fixed URL structure

Shopify forces certain prefixes into your URLs: /products/ for products, /collections/ for collections, /pages/ for content and /blogs/ for blog posts. You cannot remove them. This is the limitation people complain about most, and in truth it is mostly cosmetic. It does not stop you ranking. It just means your URLs are slightly longer than on a fully customisable platform, which is rarely the thing standing between you and page one.

Duplicate URLs for products

This one matters more. The same product can be reached at two different addresses, its clean /products/ URL and a longer version nested under a collection, such as /collections/mens-wallets/products/leather-wallet. Left unmanaged, that sends duplicate content signals and splits the authority of the page. Shopify’s canonical tags handle this reasonably well by default, but it is worth checking that every product’s canonical points to the clean /products/ version rather than a collection-filtered one. This is a five-minute check that prevents a real problem.

App bloat and speed

Every app you install adds JavaScript that runs on your storefront, and this is one of the biggest hidden drags on Shopify SEO. We have seen stores carrying so many apps that pages take six or seven seconds to load, which hurts both rankings and conversions. Worse, uninstalled apps often leave code behind in the theme. Core Web Vitals are a confirmed ranking signal, and in March 2026 Google tightened the threshold for good Largest Contentful Paint from 2.5 seconds to 2.0, so speed has only become more important. A lean, well-coded theme and a disciplined approach to apps matter a great deal here.

Less flexibility for content and schema

Compared with a CMS like WordPress, Shopify’s blog and content tools are basic, and your control over schema for content is more limited. For most stores this is manageable, but content-heavy strategies need more care and sometimes some theme-level work to get exactly what you want.

Where the real wins are

With the foundations understood and the constraints handled, the question becomes where to spend your effort. For most Shopify stores, the answer is consistent.

Collection pages

This is the single most underused opportunity on the platform. Most store owners pour their energy into product pages and leave collection pages as bare grids of products. That is backwards. A search like “men’s leather wallets UK” has far more volume than any individual product name, and the page best suited to rank for it is the collection page. Add 150 to 300 words of useful, original copy above or around the product grid, write a proper title and description, and link to related collections. Optimised collection pages are where a lot of Shopify stores find their biggest gains.

Original product content

Never run with the manufacturer’s product descriptions. They appear on dozens of other sites, which makes your pages near-duplicates of everyone else’s. Original descriptions that include relevant terms naturally and highlight real benefits are worth the effort across your key products.

The blog most stores ignore

Shopify includes a blog, and most owners do nothing with it. That is a missed channel. Product and collection pages capture people ready to buy. Blog content captures people earlier in their journey, searching things like “how to care for a leather wallet,” and gives you somewhere to answer the questions your customers actually ask. Done well, it brings people in at the top of the funnel and links them through to the products that serve them.

Internal linking

Shopify’s menus give you basic navigation, but strong SEO needs more deliberate internal linking. Link from product descriptions to related products and relevant collections, and from blog posts through to the products they relate to. This helps Google understand how your pages connect and spreads authority to the pages that matter most.

Backlinks

This is the most underused lever of all, and it is not really a Shopify question at all, it applies to any store. Earning links from relevant, credible sites through digital PR, partnerships and genuine outreach is often what decides who wins competitive terms once everyone’s on-page work is in order.

A realistic word on timelines

One thing worth setting expectations on, because it is where a lot of frustration comes from. SEO is not a switch. For a Shopify store, long-tail and low-competition terms can start moving in around four to eight weeks, meaningful traffic gains typically take three to six months to show, and competitive head terms in crowded verticals like fashion or supplements can take twelve to twenty-four months of sustained work. Anyone promising page one in a fortnight is selling something. The stores that win treat SEO as ongoing work, not a one-off setup.

So, can you do SEO on Shopify?

Without question. Shopify gives you a strong technical base, asks you to work around a few well-understood limitations, and then rewards the same things that drive results anywhere: useful content, sound structure, a fast site and credible links. The platform is not the obstacle. What usually holds a Shopify store back is simply that nobody is doing the work, or the work is scattered and inconsistent rather than steady and strategic.

If you are running a Shopify store and want to know what is holding back your rankings, or you would like a hand building a proper plan as part of a wider SEO services and technical SEO strategy, get in touch with the team at TAL. We work on Shopify stores regularly and can show you exactly where the opportunities are.

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