Stop guessing. Start fixing.
Most ecommerce SEO advice is vague. "Optimise your titles." "Build backlinks." "Create great content."
That's useless when you're running a Shopify store, managing hundreds of product pages, and trying to figure out why you're on page three.
This checklist is different. Every item is specific, actionable, and directly tied to how Google ranks ecommerce pages in 2026. Work through it top to bottom and you'll fix the issues that are quietly costing you traffic and revenue.
Run a free audit at getmetafix.com to see which of these issues your store has right now — before you dive in.
Section 1: Meta Tags & On-Page Signals
These are the most immediate ranking factors Google uses to understand your pages. Get these wrong and nothing else matters.
1. Title tag under 60 characters with target keyword first — Google displays ~60 characters in search results. Shopify's default format (Product Name – Store Name) is often 70-90 characters and gets cut off. Rewrite every key page title to lead with the primary keyword. Format: [Keyword] | [Brand]. Good: *Organic Cotton T-Shirts | The Good Tee Co* (46 chars).
2. Unique meta description 150-160 characters for every page — Duplicate or missing meta descriptions mean Google writes its own version using random text from your page. Write unique descriptions for every product, collection, and landing page. Include the primary keyword, one concrete benefit, and a soft CTA. Bad: *Shop our products.* Good: *Shop 100% organic cotton tees. Heavyweight 280gsm, sustainably sourced. Free shipping over £50. 4.9 stars from 2,400 reviews.*
3. No duplicate title tags across product variants — If you sell a t-shirt in 5 colours, don't give each variant the same title tag. Either consolidate variants onto one page or make each title unique: *Navy Organic Cotton Tee | The Good Tee Co*.
4. H1 tag matches the page title (or is a close variant) — Every page should have exactly one H1. It should contain the primary keyword and match the intent of the title tag. On Shopify, product names usually become H1s automatically — check they're not being overridden by your theme.
5. Keyword-rich, unique product descriptions (min. 150 words) — Thin product descriptions (or worse, manufacturer copy-paste) tell Google your page has low value. Write descriptions that answer real buyer questions: materials, sizing, use cases, differentiators. 150-300 words per product is the minimum for competitive categories.
Section 2: Open Graph & Social Tags
OG tags don't directly affect Google rankings — but they drive click-through from social shares, email newsletters, and Slack previews. Broken OG tags mean ugly previews and fewer clicks.
6. og:title set on every page — Should be close to your title tag, under 60 characters. Don't just rely on Shopify to auto-populate this.
7. og:description set on every page — 2-3 sentences, under 160 characters. Matches the intent of the page.
8. og:image set with correct dimensions (1200×630px minimum) — This is the single most impactful OG tag. A missing or wrongly-sized image means a broken or blank preview when your page is shared. Use a real product photo or branded image at exactly 1200×630px. Make sure the URL is absolute (https://...), not relative.
9. og:url matches the canonical URL — Prevents social platforms from indexing the wrong version of your URL. Should be the exact same URL as your canonical tag.
10. twitter:card set to summary_large_image — Twitter (X) uses its own card tags. Set twitter:card to summary_large_image and add twitter:title, twitter:description, and twitter:image for clean previews on Twitter/X.
Run a free OG tag audit at getmetafix.com — it checks all of these in 30 seconds.
Section 3: Structured Data & Schema Markup
Structured data is the difference between a plain blue link in Google and a rich result with star ratings, price, and availability. Rich results get significantly higher click-through rates.
11. Product schema on every product page — Add JSON-LD Product schema with: name, description, image, sku, brand, offers (with price, priceCurrency, availability, url). Without this, Google can't show price or availability in search results.
12. AggregateRating schema if you have reviews — If your products have reviews, add aggregateRating with ratingValue and reviewCount to your Product schema. This unlocks star ratings in search results — one of the highest-impact improvements you can make.
13. BreadcrumbList schema on collection and product pages — Breadcrumb schema tells Google how your site is structured and can display your breadcrumb path in search results. Shopify themes often include this, but check it's correctly implemented with ListItem elements and position values.
14. Organisation schema on your homepage — Add Organization schema to your homepage with your name, url, logo, and sameAs (links to your social profiles). Helps Google build a Knowledge Panel for your brand.
15. No schema markup errors — Use Google's Rich Results Test (search.google.com/test/rich-results) to validate your schema. Common errors: missing required fields, wrong data types, schema pointing to non-existent URLs.
Section 4: Technical SEO Foundations
These are the structural issues. Get them wrong and Google will misindex your site — or not index it at all.
16. Canonical tags on every page pointing to the correct URL — Shopify creates duplicate URLs when products appear in multiple collections (e.g., /products/blue-tee vs /collections/sale/products/blue-tee). Every page needs a canonical tag pointing to the primary version. Check yours are correct and not pointing to wrong pages.
17. robots.txt correctly configured — Your robots.txt should not be blocking any pages you want indexed. Common mistake: Shopify themes or apps that accidentally add Disallow: / to staging/testing configurations that persist to production. Check your robots.txt at yourdomain.com/robots.txt.
18. XML sitemap submitted to Google Search Console — Your sitemap should list every indexable page on your store. Shopify auto-generates one at /sitemap.xml — but make sure it's submitted in Google Search Console and has no errors. Also check it doesn't include pages with noindex tags.
19. No pages accidentally set to noindex — A misconfigured theme or app can accidentally add noindex to your most important pages. Check key pages using site:yourdomain.com in Google — if important pages are missing, they may be noindexed. Audit with getmetafix.com to catch this instantly.
20. Clean URL structure — no unnecessary parameters — Keep URLs short, descriptive, and keyword-focused. Avoid URLs like /collections/all?sort_by=price-ascending&filter.p.tag=summer — these create duplicate content. Make sure faceted navigation URLs aren't being indexed.
Section 5: Performance, Mobile & UX Signals
Google's ranking algorithm uses Core Web Vitals as a ranking signal. Slow, mobile-unfriendly stores lose rankings — and conversions.
21. Core Web Vitals passing (LCP under 2.5s, CLS under 0.1, INP under 200ms) — Measure at PageSpeed Insights (pagespeed.web.dev). The most common ecommerce culprits: unoptimised product images, too many third-party apps loading JavaScript, and large above-the-fold banners. Fix the biggest image issues first — they have the highest impact.
22. All product images compressed and served in WebP format — Uncompressed JPEGs are the single biggest cause of slow ecommerce pages. Every product image should be under 200KB and served in WebP format. Shopify handles WebP conversion automatically if you use its CDN — but third-party or manually uploaded images may not be optimised.
23. Image alt text on every product image — Alt text serves two purposes: accessibility and SEO. Google Images drives significant traffic for ecommerce. Every product image needs descriptive alt text: *[Colour] [Material] [Product Type] — [Brand]*. Example: *Navy 280gsm Organic Cotton Crew-Neck T-Shirt — The Good Tee Co*. Never use filenames like IMG_4892.jpg.
24. Site fully functional on mobile (Lighthouse mobile score over 70) — Over 60% of ecommerce traffic is mobile. Google uses mobile-first indexing — it crawls and ranks the mobile version of your site. Test your store on a real phone. Common issues: tiny tap targets, text too small to read, horizontal scrolling, checkout not working on mobile.
25. Internal linking: every collection page linked from navigation or homepage — Orphaned pages (pages with no internal links pointing to them) get crawled less and rank worse. Make sure every key collection and landing page is reachable within 2-3 clicks from your homepage. Add internal links from blog posts to relevant product/collection pages.
How to use this checklist
Don't try to fix everything at once. Prioritise by impact:
- Highest impact (fix first): Items 1-5 (meta tags), Items 11-12 (Product + Rating schema), Item 16 (canonical tags), Item 19 (noindex issues)
- High impact: Items 6-10 (OG tags), Items 17-18 (robots.txt + sitemap), Items 21-22 (page speed)
- Ongoing: Items 23-25 (images, mobile, internal linking)
The fastest way to find which of these issues your store has right now is a free automated audit. GetMetaFix checks all of the above in 30 seconds — no account required.
It will show you:
- Which meta tags are missing, duplicated, or too long
- OG tag issues across your key pages
- Structured data problems
- Canonical tag configuration
- noindex issues
If you want AI-generated fixes — exact code snippets to copy-paste — that's $29 one-time. No subscription.
The ecommerce SEO checklist (quick reference)
Meta Tags
- Title tags under 60 characters, keyword-first
- Unique meta descriptions 150-160 characters
- No duplicate titles across product variants
- H1 contains primary keyword, one per page
- Unique product descriptions (150+ words)
Open Graph & Social
- og:title set on every page
- og:description set on every page
- og:image 1200×630px, absolute URL
- og:url matches canonical
- twitter:card set to summary_large_image
Structured Data
- Product schema on all product pages
- AggregateRating schema if you have reviews
- BreadcrumbList schema on collection/product pages
- Organisation schema on homepage
- No schema errors (validated in Rich Results Test)
Technical
- Canonical tags correct on all pages
- robots.txt not blocking key pages
- XML sitemap submitted to Search Console
- No pages accidentally noindexed
- Clean URL structure, no indexable faceted nav
Performance & UX
- Core Web Vitals passing (LCP <2.5s, CLS <0.1, INP <200ms)
- Product images compressed and in WebP
- Alt text on every product image
- Mobile Lighthouse score over 70
- All key pages reachable within 3 clicks
Ready to audit your store?
You now have the full checklist. The next step is finding out which items apply to your store — and how severe each issue is.
Run a free audit at getmetafix.com. Paste your URL, get results in 30 seconds. No account, no credit card.
If you want the fixes, $29 gets you AI-generated code snippets for every issue found — the exact HTML, JSON-LD, and Shopify Liquid to copy-paste and ship.