Published by Charlotte Davies
01.09.21
Running a successful Shopify store is about more than just high-quality products and great branding. It also has a lot to do with how well your store ranks in search engines like Google. In fact, 75% of people will never scroll past the first page on a Google search, which is why you need to rank on page one of Google if you want customers to find you.
However, securing these top positions in search engines is no simple task, especially when you’re new to ecommerce and don’t have a significant marketing budget.
Thankfully, Shopify’s app store provides you with a range of handy apps and tools that have been designed to help you make your Shopify store more SEO friendly. Whether you’re a beginner or an SEO expert, there’s an app to suit all needs and budgets.
We’ve hand-picked 15 of the best Shopify SEO apps out there that will guarantee to take your ecommerce business to the next level. So without further ado, let’s take a look…
1. SEO Manager
The SEO Manager Shopify app makes it easy for you to understand and implement SEO measures. It allows you to create custom meta tags, titles, keywords, as well as descriptions of your website. Also, it gives you relevant feedback on how those categories are performing on a global scale.
This is the go-to app for SEO beginners, because it provides lots of pre-made templates to choose from, and makes helpful suggestions on how you can improve your Shopify store’s SEO. On top of that, SEO Manager allows you to test and preview how your site will perform in the ranking system, which is great for reviewing what needs fixing straight away.
You can start using SEO Manager with a 7-day free trial to decide if they want to continue using it. Then, it costs $20/month.
2. SEO Optimizer: All‑in‑one SEO
The SEO Optimizer Shopify app constantly monitors Google’s updates and adjusts accordingly. What’s more, the app comes with many other handy features including image and text optimisation, which helps to reduce page load times. And the app also takes care of meta tags, broken links and automatically adds JSON-LD to your store.
The SEO Optimizer offers a free package with limited features. After that, packages range from $29.88/month for the Pro package and £44.99/month for the premium package.
3. FavSEO
The FavSEO Shopify app allows merchants to edit and analyse title tags, as well as meta descriptions, item collections and pages, all in one central dashboard. It also cleverly recommends keywords enhancement and informs you which product descriptions can be improved so they rank better. What’s more, it also comes with live chat support to help you every step of the way.
You can start with a 10-day free trial, then opt to stick with a free plan if you find it’s sufficient. Users who need additional features can upgrade to a Premium plan that costs $20/month.
4. SEO Doctor
The SEO Doctor Shopify app is another excellent app for SEO beginners. It will identify issues, fix them and boost traffic all at the same time. The app offers a large wide variety of features, including sitemap integration, structured data, 404 error fixes, and image compression.
Users can install SEO Doctor for free. But if you wish to upgrade to Pro-Automated package, it costs $14.99/month.
5. JSON-LD for SEO
The JSON-LD for SEO app allows you to earn more qualified traffic and gain more authority, as well as instantly connect hundreds of fields needed by Google for Rich Results, Rich Snippets, and Google Merchant Centre. It also gives you automatic updates on how your data is performing.
At first glance, JSON-LD for SEO seems expensive. The cost is a $299 one time payment. However, when you consider the monthly cost of an SEO app over time, it’s not as expensive in the long run.
6. Schema Plus for SEO
First things first, what makes the app one of the best Shopify SEO apps out there is because Google software engineers were the ones who helped develop it, making it one of the most advanced schema apps in the world. As far as SEO optimisation is concerned, that’s pure gold.
The app adds an advanced markup code to your Shopify store, allowing it to be indexed more efficiently by various search engines. Ultimately, it makes crawlers understand the content of your store better. This translates into more streamlined connectivity to search terms and can bring your site to relevant customers faster.
Schema Plus is the only schema app that reports the content of your reviews to Google. This means your reviews will be included in your schema and will be shown on Google results as “star” ratings, which take your store up a few notches in terms of trustworthiness.
After a 7-day trial, if you decide the Schema Plus app is suited to your business needs, after that it costs $14.99 to keep the app running.
7. Plug In SEO
The Plug In SEO Shopify app offers merchants two visions. One is free, which is best if you’re looking for a basic SEO optimisation tool for your business. But even though it’s free of charge, the plan still allows you to check an unlimited number of pages for SEO issues with its smart page analyser.
Alternatively, the paid edition Plug In SEO Plus, which costs $20/month, is for more experienced users who want to deep dive into data. As well as a great feature pack and unlimited access to optimisation tools, you will be eligible for premium support from the app developers, too. This includes the option to have custom templates created to fit your store’s unique needs, and at no extra charge.
8. AMP By Shop Sherif
It’s now more important than ever before that your Shopify store is optimised for mobile. AMP (or Accelerated Mobile Pages) is an initiative invented by Google to speed up the mobile web. This app allows you to create AMP versions of your most popular Shopify pages and indexes them with Google for nearly instant load times, faster mobile loading speed, and higher mobile search results.
Boasting a 5-star rating on the Shopify app store, AMP by Shop Sherif is a hit with users too. Pricing options are flexible. You can use a free version with limited features if that’s all you need. Alternatively, if you require more functionality, you can upgrade to the Hobbyist ($9/month), Company ($29/month), or Enterprise ($99/month) plans.
9. Bulk Image Edit ‑ Image SEO
When it comes to site speed, file size matters. That’s where the Bulk Image Edit Shopify app can help. This app allows you to add watermarks to your images and fits them to scale and size images for a variety of platforms. It also allows you to minimise product or theme asset image file sizes whilst retaining the quality of the images. Also, you can bulk update image alt text and file name with customisable templates to reflect your branding. This app is a great choice if you have lots of visual data.
A free starter plan is available. But you can upgrade to Basic ($9.99/month), Professional ($19.99/month), or Advanced ($49.99/month) plans as well.
10. Image Optimizer
Again, if you have an image-rich store, then you’ll need an image optimisation app. Image Optimizer Shopify app automatically compresses images to minimise file size without risking image quality. With compressed images, store loading time, user experience, and SEO all improve.
The Image Optimizer app can convert images from PNG to JPG and reduce the file size up to 80% of the original size. It also backs up original images before making any changes. This gives you peace of mind, because should anything go wrong, you can be safe in the knowledge that you can restore your images with just the click of a button. Once you install the app, it will automatically scan all your existing images and optimise them, as well as periodically scan for new images, which means there is no need to worry about slow and unoptimised images ever again.
You can either opt for the free plan or upgrade to Basic ($4.99/month), Advanced ($9.99/month) or Premium ($19.99/month) plans instead.
11. Tiny IMG SEO & Image Optimizer
The Tiny IMG SEO Image Optimizer app uses an intelligent algorithm to compress images by 70% without losing the image quality. The app also lets you choose particular compression methods for your images, optimises SEO related to your pictures, and provides 30 days’ worth of backup so you can restore your data whenever you want.
The app is free to install, but after that, its package includes monthly or usage-based charges, which are billed every 30 days.
12. AVADA SEO Suite
AVADA SEO Suite is a comprehensive SEO optimisation tool for Shopify. From improving your site speed to standardising your meta tags, it does everything you need to improve your online store’s rankings. On top of that, the app is continually being upgraded and provides weekly reports, so you continually improve your SEO game.
However, AVADA SEO Suite is no longer a free application. There is now a free and premium version. As part of the free version, you can optimise up to 50 products per month and get access to some of the basic app features (alt text optimisation, SEO checklist, 404 pages scan, sitemap). The premium version costs $29 per month and unlocks unlimited image optimisation, meta tags, SEO analysis, and many other features.
13. Smart SEO
The smart SEO app automatically generates meta tags, alt tags, fixes broken links and helps you manage your Shopify store’s sitemap, ensuring you’re well on your way to securing those top rankings.
This app is particularly useful if you’re running a store in multiple languages because it has a dedicated functionality to optimise multi-language meta tags. If you want to learn more about going global, then check out our resource on Shopify SEO: Best Practices for International Expansion.
Smart SEO is also great for providing JSON-LD data to search engines to improve your rankings. The structured data generated by Smart SEO is the most complete among all SEO apps for Shopify. For example, you can generate structured data for every product on your collection pages.
Like many of the apps discussed in this article, you can start with a 7-day free trial, spending $4.99/month after the trial expires if you decide to continue using the app.
14. Nada – Sort Out-of-Stock Products
If your products sell out quickly, you should never just switch your product page to drafts. By removing them, even just temporarily, you’ll lose a source of organic traffic. This is because when you un-publish a product in your Shopify store, it generates a ‘404 not found error’ with no re-direct, and Google will penalise you for this.
The best way to optimise your product pages’ SEO is to ensure all your products are active and visible, and this means ensuring your in-stock products are at the top of your collection pages. This is where the Nada app can help. It automatically sorts your collection pages, as your inventory quantities change, and ensures hidden product pages are redirected to the homepage or any other page you want to drive traffic to instead. Nada starts at $9.99 and comes with a 7-day free trial. The pricing is defined by your Shopify store plan and can go as high as $79.99 if you’re on Shopify Plus.
15. DropInBlog ‑ SEO Friendly Blog
Having a Shopify blog on your store is important It’s where your customers connect with your brand, build trust and ultimately boost your search ranking too. Out-of-the-box Shopify comes with basic blogging management capabilities, but if you really want your blogs to stand out, you should install apps like DropInBlog.
This app comes with lots of great features, allowing you to customise your blog page in terms of layout, colours, fonts to suit your branding.
The app also comes with a handy ‘Add Shopify Product’ function, which allows customers to add products directly from your blog posts to their shopping cart. On top of that, it comes with an SEO analyser which gives you feedback on how your content scores in terms of SEO.
We’ve integrated the DropInBlog app on a number of clients’ sites, including health and nutritional brand, SCi-MX. If you want to hear more about the importance of blogging and what it can do for your Shopify store’s rankings, check out this resource on Why You Should be Blogging on Your Shopify Store.
We make Shopify SEO easier
Any successful merchant will tell you SEO is crucial.
If you’re focusing on improving your Shopify store’s organic traffic to grow your business, these SEO apps are a great place to start. But if you need some assistance on where to begin, or would like to understand more about where your online store ranks against your competitors, you can book a free SEO audit today, our Shopify SEO experts are happy to help.
Alternatively, if you have figured out your store’s SEO, it may be a good time to focusing on other areas of your business. Check out this list of 7 Shopify Plus integration to scale your sales.
