Shopify SEO Agency.

Shopify gets more of the basics right than most platforms. The problems below are the ones it leaves to you. Each was checked against Shopify's own documentation, and the canonical behaviour was tested on Shopify's Dawn demo store.

Duplicate product URLs

Shopify can serve the same product at /products/{handle} and at /collections/{collection}/products/{handle}. The second version comes from the within filter, which themes use to build collection-aware product links, and Shopify's documentation warns that the two URLs carry the same content. On Dawn, Shopify's current reference theme, both versions carry a canonical tag pointing at /products/{handle}, and collection grids link straight to it. Many older and third-party themes still link through the collection path. A canonical tag is a hint, not an instruction, so when the internal links point at one URL and the canonical points at another, Google can choose the wrong one and spends crawl on both. We check which URL your theme links to and fix the templates so links and canonicals agree.

Variant URLs

Every variant can be opened with a ?variant= parameter. On Dawn these canonicalise to the main product URL. That is right for sizes, which nobody searches for separately. It is wrong when shoppers search for the variant itself, such as one colour of a jacket sold in ten. A variant cannot rank on its own, so the fix is a decision about product structure rather than a tag. We check search demand for your variants before recommending whether any should become products in their own right.

Tag pages, filters and sorting

Shopify's default robots.txt blocks the URLs that multiply fastest: sorted collections, tags combined with a plus sign, and collections with more than one filter applied. Single tag pages such as /collections/shoes/waterproof are not blocked, and a single filter is crawlable but canonicalises back to the parent collection. Shopify also treats every tag URL as valid even when no product carries the tag, so those URLs cannot be redirected. On stores that use tags heavily, the result can be hundreds of thin pages competing with the collections they belong to. We sort them into two groups: the few with real search demand, which become proper landing pages with their own copy and title, and the rest, which we keep out of the index.

Pagination

Paginated collections (?page=2 and beyond) canonicalise to themselves on Dawn, which is correct. The risk is depth. A product that only appears on page nine of a collection is a long way from any link Google values. We make sure best sellers and new ranges are linked from somewhere shallower, through featured collections, navigation and related products.

robots.txt

The robots.txt.liquid template lets you add and remove rules instead of accepting the defaults. Shopify recommends keeping its Liquid objects in place rather than replacing the file with plain text, because it updates the default rules over time. We follow that: we add only the rules your store needs, such as blocking a search parameter an app has introduced, and leave the defaults to Shopify. Whether to let AI crawlers in is a separate decision, covered in our Lab Note on the robots.txt dilemma.

Structured data

Shopify's structured_data filter works only on products and articles. It outputs a Product, or a ProductGroup when the product has variants. Organisation, breadcrumb, collection and review markup all have to come from the theme or an app, and that is where it goes wrong. A theme outputs one Product block, a reviews app outputs a second, and Google receives two descriptions of the same product with different prices or ratings. We map what each template and app outputs, remove the duplicates and fill the gaps. Our Lab Note on schema mapping explains why this now matters for AI answers as well as rich results.

Sitemap and noindex

Shopify generates sitemap.xml automatically, with separate files for products, collections, blogs and pages, and updates it as you publish. You cannot edit it directly. To keep a page out of search, Shopify's options are a noindex tag in the theme, a metafield, or setting a product to unlisted. We use those, not robots.txt, for pages that should exist for shoppers but not for Google, such as wholesale or gift-with-purchase products.

Redirects and migrations

Shopify will only redirect a URL that is broken, not one that still loads, and caps a store at 100,000 redirects, or 20 million on Plus, according to its help centre. For a store moving onto Shopify, that shapes the migration: old URLs have to be mapped before launch, and a large catalogue with years of URL history can reach the limit. We build and test the redirect map before the switch, not after rankings drop.

Out-of-stock and discontinued products

Out-of-stock and discontinued products need different handling, and Shopify treats them differently. A product that is temporarily out of stock should stay live: its URL has earned links and rankings, and the page can point shoppers to alternatives or a back-in-stock notice. A product that is gone for good is a different case. Because Shopify only redirects a URL that no longer loads, the product has to be removed or archived before a redirect to its closest replacement, or to its parent collection, will work. Left alone, discontinued products pile up as dead ends in search results and in the sitemap. We agree a rule for each case with your team so it is handled the same way every time.

Apps and page speed

Apps built on Shopify's theme app extensions do not edit your theme code. Older apps often did, and Shopify's help centre notes that some apps add code that is not removed when you uninstall them. On a store that has tried a dozen apps over the years, that leftover code can still load on every page. We list every script the storefront loads, trace each one to an app, and remove what no longer earns its place.

Selling in more than one country

Shopify Markets creates hreflang tags automatically for every international domain or subfolder you set up, and you can turn that off and manage them yourself. The usual problem is not missing tags but near-identical pages, such as an Australian store that adds New Zealand and UK subfolders with the same English copy and only the currency changed. That can work, but the hreflang has to be right or Google shows the wrong version to the wrong shopper. We set it up and check it.

Headless and Hydrogen stores

Stores built on Shopify's Hydrogen framework, or another headless front end, leave most of the above behind and take on a different problem: making sure search engines and AI crawlers receive fully rendered pages. We cover that in headless SEO, and the wider checks in what a technical SEO audit covers.

Last reviewed 5 October 2026. Shopify changes its defaults from time to time, so we re-check them at the start of every engagement.

Collections are where most commercial searches land. Someone searching for women's merino running tops wants a range to choose from, not one product. On many Shopify themes a collection page is a title and a product grid, which gives Google little to rank and AI answers nothing to quote.

We work on collections in this order:

• Match collections to demand. Keyword research decides which collections should exist, what their handles and titles should be, and which tag pages deserve promotion to full collections.
• Give each one something to say. A short introduction above the grid and a fuller guide below it, written for the shopper: what the range covers, how to choose, and what differs between products.
• Link them properly. Navigation, breadcrumbs and links from related collections, guides and product pages, so authority flows to the pages that sell.
• Write the titles and descriptions. A title tag and meta description for each collection, instead of Shopify's defaults.

Product pages get the same treatment at scale: unique descriptions where the manufacturer's copy is shared with every other stockist, clear specifications, and complete product data in the structured markup.

• SEO & LLM Foundations, from $5,000 a month. Technical SEO, keyword research, on-page work on collections and products, structured data, content engineered for rankings and AI citation, citation tracking and monthly reporting. Most Shopify stores start here.
• Website Evolution, $3,500 a month. Rebuilds, replatforming and the ongoing development that keeps a store fast, crawlable and ready for AI: 301 URL mapping, Core Web Vitals and schema-ready templates.
• Ecommerce SEO add-on, scoped on catalogue size. Product and collection page optimisation, product schema and catalogue crawl management, added to Foundations and priced on how many products and collections your store carries.
• Enterprise, scoped to the store. Every plan and add-on in one retainer, which suits large catalogues and multi-region Shopify Plus stores.