SEO Audit for Shopify help
SEO basics
These 10 checks look at how search engines read your store: page titles, descriptions, headings, image text, web addresses, links and Search Console.
Now on the Shopify App Store. These guides go with Store Audit: SEO & AI Search, the Cape Wired app that checks your store for you. Install it from the Shopify App Store, or follow the steps below to check your store yourself.
Last updated: 29 October 2026Page titles in Google
What it means: The page title is the clickable headline in Google results. Each key page needs its own title, with the main search phrase near the start.
How to fix it in Shopify:
- Go to Products and open a key product.
- Scroll to Search engine listing and click the edit icon.
- Write a page title of 30 to 65 characters, starting with the phrase people search for.
- Do the same for key collections in Products > Collections.
- For the homepage, go to Online Store > Preferences, under Social sharing image and SEO.
What good looks like: Every key page has its own title of 30 to 65 characters, with the main search phrase near the start, and no two pages share a title.
Search result descriptions
What it means: The meta description is the short pitch under your title in Google. If it is blank, Google picks a snippet from the page, which may not sell it well.
How to fix it in Shopify:
- Open a key product or collection and scroll to Search engine listing.
- Click the edit icon and find the Description field.
- Write 70 to 160 characters that sum up the page and give a reason to click.
- Make each one different. Don't copy the same text across pages.
- For the homepage, use Online Store > Preferences, under Social sharing image and SEO.
What good looks like: Every key page has a hand-written description of 70 to 160 characters that gives a reason to click, with no two the same.
One main heading per page
What it means: Each page should have one main heading (an H1) that says what it is about. It helps shoppers, Google and AI tools.
How to fix it in Shopify:
- Look at the pages the app flagged in your results.
- If a page has no H1, check your theme shows the product or collection title as the page heading.
- If a page has more than one, look for banner or slideshow headings that also use H1.
- In Online Store > Themes > Customise, change extra headings to a smaller heading style if the theme allows.
- If your theme makes the logo an H1 on every page, ask your theme developer to change it.
What good looks like: Each key page has exactly one H1 that says what the page is, such as the product or collection name.
Image descriptions (alt text)
What it means: Alt text describes an image for people using screen readers and for search engines. It is an accessibility basic that also helps SEO.
How to fix it in Shopify:
- Go to Products and open a key product.
- Click an image in the Media section.
- In the Alt text field, describe what the image shows in a few words.
- Don't use the file name or repeat the product title on every image.
- Save, then add alt text every time you upload new images.
What good looks like: Every product image has alt text that describes what it shows, not the file name.
Clean web addresses
What it means: Web addresses ending in -1 or starting with copy-of look untidy in search results and hint at duplicate pages.
How to fix it in Shopify:
- Look at the products and collections the app flagged.
- Open each one and scroll to Search engine listing.
- Edit the URL handle so it is short and readable, such as the product name with hyphens.
- Leave the Create a URL redirect box ticked so old links still work.
- Delete true duplicates and test products you don't sell.
What good looks like: Short, readable handles with no -1 endings and no copy-of, test or sample leftovers, and a redirect whenever a live handle changes.
Google Search Console
What it means: Search Console is Google's free tool showing how it sees your store. Without it, you can't see indexing problems or what people search to find you.
How to fix it in Shopify:
- Go to Google Search Console and add your main domain as a property.
- Verify it. A common way for Shopify stores is a DNS record or an HTML tag in your theme.
- Go to Sitemaps and submit yourstore.com/sitemap.xml (Shopify creates it for you).
- Open Indexing > Pages and look at why any pages are not indexed.
- Put a reminder in your diary to check it every three months.
What good looks like: Search Console verified for your main domain, sitemap submitted and showing Success, and the Pages report checked at least every three months.
No broken links
What it means: Links that lead to error pages lose visitors, along with the search value those old pages built up.
How to fix it in Shopify:
- Look at the broken links the app found on your key pages and fix or remove each one.
- In Search Console, open Indexing > Pages and find the "Not found (404)" list.
- In Shopify, go to Content > Menus, click the three-dot (...) button at the top and choose URL redirects.
- Add a redirect from each old address that still gets visits to the closest live page.
- Whenever you delete a product, add a redirect at the same time.
What good looks like: Every internal link works, removed products and pages redirect to the closest live page, and you clear the 404 list regularly.
Links between your pages
What it means: Links from your homepage and blog to collections and products show Google what matters and guide shoppers towards buying.
How to fix it in Shopify:
- In Online Store > Themes > Customise, add featured collection or collection list sections to your homepage.
- Link to at least three of your key collections from the homepage body, not just the menu.
- Check each key collection shows and links to its products.
- Go to Content > Blog posts and add links from each article to the products and collections it mentions.
What good looks like: The homepage links to at least three key collections, each collection links to its products, and blog articles link to what they mention.
Leftover app code and large images
What it means: Old app code and oversized images slow your store down. Slow stores rank lower and sell less.
How to fix it in Shopify:
- Go to Settings > Apps and uninstall apps you no longer use.
- Go to Online Store > Themes > Customise and open App embeds. Switch off any for apps you have removed.
- Leftover code can stay in your theme files after uninstalling. Ask the app developer or a Shopify developer to remove it, and back up your theme first.
- Replace product images over 2 MB with compressed versions.
What good looks like: Unused apps uninstalled with their leftover code removed, and product images under 2 MB and a sensible width.
Collections that match searches
What it means: Collection pages are often your best chance to rank in Google. They need a name and copy built around what people actually search for.
How to fix it in Shopify:
- For each key collection, find the phrase people search for, using Google's suggestions or Performance in Search Console.
- Go to Products > Collections and use that phrase in the collection title.
- Write at least 50 words of helpful copy in the description, using the phrase naturally.
- Add it to the page title in Search engine listing.
- Write a blog post or FAQ that answers a common buyer question and links to the collection.
What good looks like: Each key collection is named around a real search phrase, has at least 50 words of helpful copy, and your blog answers common buyer questions.
Want to go deeper?
The Shopify DIY Self-Audit Kit
Want the full checklist, worked examples and the scorecard? The Cape Wired Shopify DIY Self-Audit Kit covers all 40 checks in depth, including SEO basics.