Demystifying Jargon for Shopify Store Owners

Introduction:

Ecommerce SEO is full of acronyms and jargon that can make your head spin—especially if you're trying to grow your Shopify store and aren't deeply immersed in the world of digital marketing. We know that terms like "canonical tags" and "XML Sitemap" can be confusing, and sometimes it feels like you need a translator just to have a chat with your SEO agency. That's why we've put together this comprehensive glossary of SEO terms specific to e-commerce and Shopify. Our goal? To give you clarity, confidence, and the tools to understand what's happening behind the scenes of your site.

Table of Contents:

  1. General SEO Terms
  2. Technical SEO for E-commerce
  3. Link-building Terms
  4. Shopify-Specific SEO Terms
  5. Analytics and Metrics

General SEO Terms

"URL"
  • Definition: The web address of a specific page on your website.

  • Example for Shopify Store Owners: "www.example.com/products/eco-yoga-mat"

  • Why It Matters: A well-structured URL helps users and search engines understand what a page is about, which can improve SEO.

"Keyword"
  • Definition: A word or phrase that describes the content of a page and helps search engines understand what the page is about.

  • Example for Shopify Store Owners: If you sell eco-friendly yoga mats, the keyword might be "eco yoga mat."

  • Why It Matters: Keywords are the foundation of SEO—they help search engines match your store's content with user searches.

"SERP"
  • Definition: Search Engine Results Page, the page displayed by search engines in response to a user’s query.

  • Example for Shopify Store Owners: The page where your store's product listing appears when someone searches for "eco-friendly yoga mat."

  • Why It Matters: Your position on the SERP affects how much traffic you can attract to your store.

"Meta Title"

Also known as SEO Title within Shopify

  • Definition: The title tag that appears on search engine results pages (SERPs) as the clickable headline for a given result.

  • Example for Shopify Store Owners: "Eco-Friendly Yoga Mats - Sustainable & High Quality | EcoYogaShop."

  • Why It Matters: A well-crafted meta title can improve click-through rates and help you rank for targeted keywords.

"Meta Description"

Also known as SEO Description within Shopify

  • Definition: A brief summary of a webpage that appears in search engine results.

  • Example for Shopify Store Owners: "Shop our eco-friendly yoga mats and accessories. Perfect for sustainable living and a mindful practice."

  • Why It Matters: A well-crafted meta description can improve your click-through rate from search results, attracting more potential buyers.

"Organic Search"
  • Definition: Traffic that comes to your website from unpaid search results in search engines like Google.

  • Example for Shopify Store Owners: When a customer searches for "eco-friendly yoga mat" and clicks on your store's link in the search results without you paying for that placement.

  • Why It Matters: Organic search traffic is cost-effective and often brings highly targeted visitors who are looking for exactly what you offer.

"Paid Search"
  • Definition: Traffic that comes to your website through paid advertising, such as Google Ads.

  • Example for Shopify Store Owners: Running a Google Ad campaign to get your yoga mats to the top of the search results.

  • Why It Matters: Paid search can drive targeted traffic quickly, especially when you're trying to get visibility for new products.

"Ranking"
  • Definition: The position of a webpage in search engine results for a specific keyword.

  • Example for Shopify Store Owners: If your product page ranks in the top 3 for "eco yoga mat," it is likely to get more clicks.

  • Why It Matters: Higher rankings mean better visibility, which can lead to more traffic and sales.

"Traffic"
  • Definition: The number of visitors who come to your website.

  • Example for Shopify Store Owners: If you notice a spike in traffic after launching a new product, it means more people are visiting your store.

  • Why It Matters: More traffic can lead to more sales, especially if the traffic is well-targeted.

"Domain"
  • Definition: The main web address of your store, like www.example.com.

  • Example for Shopify Store Owners: Your store’s domain could be something like "www.ecoyogashop.com."

  • Why It Matters: Your domain is your online identity, and a well-chosen domain can make your store more memorable and improve SEO.

"Content"
  • Definition: The text, images, videos, and other media on your website.

  • Example for Shopify Store Owners: Product descriptions, blog posts, and collection pages are all types of content.

  • Why It Matters: High-quality content helps attract visitors, keeps them engaged, and signals to search engines that your site is relevant.

"Search Console"
  • Definition: A free tool from Google that helps you monitor, maintain, and troubleshoot your website’s presence in Google Search results.

  • Example for Shopify Store Owners: You can use Search Console to see how many people are clicking on your product pages from Google.

  • Why It Matters: It provides valuable insights into your website's performance in search, helping you identify opportunities for improvement.

"Domain Rating"
  • Definition: A score that reflects the strength of a website’s backlink profile, often used by SEO tools like Ahrefs.

  • Example for Shopify Store Owners: If your domain rating is 50, it indicates that your site has a relatively strong backlink profile compared to competitors.

  • Why It Matters: A higher domain rating can help your site rank better, as it signals authority to search engines.

"Cloaking"
  • Definition: An old technique where different content is presented to search engines than to users, typically done to manipulate search rankings.

  • Example for Shopify Store Owners: Showing a keyword-stuffed page to Google while showing a normal product page to users.

  • Why It Matters: Cloaking is against Google's guidelines and can lead to severe penalties or removal from search results.

Technical SEO for E-commerce

"Canonical Tag"
  • Definition: A piece of HTML code that helps prevent duplicate content by specifying the preferred version of a web page.

  • Example for Shopify Store Owners: If you have multiple product pages for the same t-shirt in different sizes, a canonical tag tells Google which page should rank in search results.

  • Why It Matters: Without using canonical tags correctly, your SEO efforts can be diluted, causing Google to split ranking potential across multiple pages.

"XML Sitemap"
  • Definition: A file that lists all the pages of your website to help search engines crawl and index your content.

  • Example for Shopify Store Owners: Think of it as a roadmap for search engines to easily discover all your product pages and collections.

  • Why It Matters: An updated XML sitemap ensures that Google finds all the important pages of your store, which is key to ranking well.

"Robots.txt"
  • Definition: A text file that tells search engines which pages they can or cannot crawl.

  • Example for Shopify Store Owners: You might use Robots.txt to prevent Google from indexing duplicate pages, like filtered versions of product lists.

  • Why It Matters: Properly managing Robots.txt helps avoid indexing irrelevant or duplicate content, making your store more SEO-friendly.

"Site Audit"
  • Definition: A comprehensive analysis of your website to identify issues that may be affecting its performance or rankings.

  • Example for Shopify Store Owners: Regularly conducting site audits can help spot broken links, slow-loading pages, and other SEO problems.

  • Why It Matters: A thorough site audit ensures that your store is optimised for search engines, improving overall performance.

"Indexing"
  • Definition: The process by which search engines add your web pages to their database.

  • Example for Shopify Store Owners: Google needs to index your product pages so they can appear in search results.

  • Why It Matters: If your pages aren't indexed, they can't be found in search results, which means lost opportunities for traffic and sales.

"Web Crawl"
  • Definition: The process where search engines visit and analyze the pages on your website to understand and rank them.

  • Example for Shopify Store Owners: Googlebot will crawl your new product pages to understand what they’re about and decide how they should rank.

  • Why It Matters: Crawling is the first step to getting indexed and ranked, so it's critical to ensure your site is crawlable.

"Redirect"
  • Definition: A method used to send both users and search engines to a different URL from the one they originally requested.

  • Example for Shopify Store Owners: If you discontinue a product, you might use a 301 redirect to send visitors to a related product page.

  • Why It Matters: Proper redirects ensure that visitors and link equity are not lost, which can help maintain rankings.

"Localisation"
  • Definition: The process of adapting your content and SEO strategy for different geographic locations.

  • Example for Shopify Store Owners: Creating region-specific content and keywords to attract customers from different countries.

  • Why It Matters: Localisation helps your store rank in specific geographic areas, increasing your reach and relevance.

"Hreflang Tag"
  • Definition: An HTML attribute used to specify the language and geographical targeting of a webpage.

  • Example for Shopify Store Owners: Using hreflang to specify that one page is for UK users and another for US users.

  • Why It Matters: Helps search engines deliver the right version of your website to users in different regions, improving their experience.

"404"
  • Definition: An error message that indicates a page could not be found.

  • Example for Shopify Store Owners: If a product page is deleted without a redirect, users may encounter a 404 error.

  • Why It Matters: Too many 404 errors can frustrate users and negatively affect your SEO.

"Alt Text"
  • Definition: A description of an image that helps search engines understand what the image is about.

  • Example for Shopify Store Owners: Adding "woman practicing yoga on eco-friendly mat" as alt text for a product image.

  • Why It Matters: Alt text improves your store’s accessibility and helps images rank in Google Image Search, driving more traffic.

"Open Graph Tag"
  • Definition: Metadata used by social media platforms to display rich previews of your website content.

  • Example for Shopify Store Owners: Using Open Graph tags to ensure that your product image and description appear correctly when shared on Facebook.

  • Why It Matters: Proper Open Graph tags can improve click-through rates from social shares, increasing traffic to your site.

"H1 Tag"
  • Definition: The main heading of a page, typically used to signal the topic to both users and search engines.

  • Example for Shopify Store Owners: "Eco-Friendly Yoga Mats for Every Practice."

  • Why It Matters: The H1 tag helps define the page's purpose, making it crucial for both usability and SEO.

"Latency"
  • Definition: The time it takes for a request to travel from the user to the server and back.

  • Example for Shopify Store Owners: If your product page takes a long time to load, the latency is high.

  • Why It Matters: High latency can lead to poor user experience and lower search engine rankings due to slow load times.

"Internal Link"
  • Definition: A link that connects one page of your website to another.

  • Example for Shopify Store Owners: Linking from a blog post about yoga techniques to your product page for yoga mats.

  • Why It Matters: Internal links help distribute link equity throughout your site and can improve the ranking of specific pages.

"Orphan Page"
  • Definition: A page that has no internal links pointing to it, making it difficult for users and search engines to find.

  • Example for Shopify Store Owners: A discontinued product page that is still live but no longer linked from any collection or navigation.

  • Why It Matters: Orphan pages can be missed by search engines, meaning they won't be indexed or ranked.

"Broken Link"
  • Definition: A link that leads to a page that no longer exists or cannot be found.

  • Example for Shopify Store Owners: If you delete a product page but don’t remove the links to it, those links become broken.

  • Why It Matters: Broken links can negatively impact user experience and SEO, so it's important to fix or remove them.

"Backlink"
  • Definition: A link from another website that points to your website.

  • Example for Shopify Store Owners: If a popular blog writes about your eco-friendly yoga mats and links to your store, that’s a backlink.

  • Why It Matters: Backlinks help establish your website's authority, signalling to Google that your content is valuable.

"Anchor Text"
  • Definition: The clickable text in a hyperlink.

  • Example for Shopify Store Owners: If a blog links to your site with the text "eco-friendly yoga mats," that’s the anchor text.

  • Why It Matters: The right anchor text helps Google understand what the linked page is about, potentially improving your rankings for that keyword.

"Nofollow"
  • Definition: An HTML attribute that tells search engines not to follow a specific link.

  • Example for Shopify Store Owners: Adding a nofollow attribute to links in blog comments to avoid passing link equity.

  • Why It Matters: Helps control how link equity is distributed, ensuring it only goes to valuable pages.

"Dofollow"
  • Definition: A default link attribute that allows search engines to follow the link and pass link equity.

  • Example for Shopify Store Owners: Linking to a trusted partner website with a dofollow link can help both sites' SEO.

  • Why It Matters: Dofollow links contribute to your site's authority, potentially improving rankings.

Shopify-Specific SEO Terms

"Product Schema"
  • Definition: A type of structured data that helps search engines better understand your product information.

  • Example for Shopify Store Owners: Using product schema to display star ratings and prices in Google search results.

  • Why It Matters: Rich results, such as star ratings, can increase click-through rates and drive more traffic to your store.

"Collection Page"
  • Definition: A page that groups similar products together on your Shopify store.

  • Example for Shopify Store Owners: A collection page for "Yoga Accessories" that includes mats, straps, and blocks.

  • Why It Matters: Well-optimised collection pages can rank for broader keywords, helping customers discover more of your products.

"Product Page"
  • Definition: A page dedicated to a specific product in your Shopify store.

  • Example for Shopify Store Owners: The page displaying your "Eco-Friendly Yoga Mat" with product details, images, and pricing.

  • Why It Matters: Product pages are key for conversions and SEO—they provide customers with the information needed to make purchasing decisions.

"Product Description"
  • Definition: Text that describes a product, highlighting its features, benefits, and specifications.

  • Example for Shopify Store Owners: Describing the eco-friendly materials used in your yoga mat and how it supports sustainable practices.

  • Why It Matters: Compelling product descriptions can improve SEO and help convince customers to buy.

"Collection Description"
  • Definition: A description on a collection page that provides context about the products within that collection.

  • Example for Shopify Store Owners: Writing about the "Yoga Accessories" collection, highlighting what makes each product useful for a yoga practice.

  • Why It Matters: A well-written collection description can boost SEO by including relevant keywords.

"Metafields"
  • Definition: Extra pieces of data that can be added to Shopify products, orders, or other parts of your store to provide additional information.

  • Example for Shopify Store Owners: Adding information such as "material type" or "care instructions" to product pages.

  • Why It Matters: Metafields help provide more detail to customers and improve search engine indexing for unique content.

"Product Type"
  • Definition: A categorisation used in Shopify to describe what type of product is being sold.

  • Example for Shopify Store Owners: Using "Yoga Mat" as a product type to categorise similar items.

  • Why It Matters: Product types help organise your catalog and can also be useful for SEO.

"Vendor"
  • Definition: The brand or manufacturer of a product in Shopify.

  • Example for Shopify Store Owners: Listing "EcoBrand" as the vendor for an eco-friendly yoga mat.

  • Why It Matters: Listing vendors can help customers filter products by brand, making it easier to navigate your store.

"Variant"
  • Definition: Different versions of the same product, such as color, size, or material.

  • Example for Shopify Store Owners: Offering a yoga mat in different colors (green, blue, purple).

  • Why It Matters: Variants help streamline your product offerings and improve customer experience.

"Category"

Also known as Google Category

  • Definition: A categorisation used to map your products for Google Shopping.

  • Example for Shopify Store Owners: Categorising your yoga mats under "Sporting Goods > Yoga."

  • Why It Matters: Proper Google categories help your products appear accurately in Google Shopping searches, increasing visibility.

"Tags"

Also known as Google Category

  • Definition: Keywords or labels assigned to products to help organize and filter them within the store.

  • Example for Shopify Store Owners: Adding tags like "eco-friendly" and "yoga" to a product.

  • Why It Matters: Tags improve navigation and search functionality within your store, helping customers find products easily. Be careful using tags as they can create a high number of extra URL's with thin content, which can harm SEO.

"Search Engine Listing"
  • Definition: The appearance of your Shopify page in search engine results, including the title, description, and URL.

  • Example for Shopify Store Owners: Reviewing how a product page appears on Google search, including its meta title and description.

  • Why It Matters: Optimising search engine listings can improve click-through rates from search results.

"Theme Template"
  • Definition: The layout and design used to display your Shopify pages, such as product or collection pages.

  • Example for Shopify Store Owners: Using a custom template to showcase best-sellers with a unique layout.

  • Why It Matters: Custom templates can improve user experience and highlight specific products more effectively.

"Default Theme Content"
  • Definition: The pre-designed content and layout that come with a Shopify theme.

  • Example for Shopify Store Owners: Using default banners and sections provided by a free Shopify theme.

  • Why It Matters: Default content can be customised to fit your brand, but using it without modification can make your store look generic.

"Customer Events"
  • Definition: Actions taken by customers on your Shopify store that can trigger specific processes, like purchases or adding to cart.

  • Example for Shopify Store Owners: A "purchase" event being used to track conversions for advertising.

  • Why It Matters: Understanding customer events helps measure campaign effectiveness and customer journey performance.

"Custom Pixels"
  • Definition: Code snippets added to your Shopify store to track customer behavior or conversions for third-party analytics.

  • Example for Shopify Store Owners: Adding a Facebook Pixel to track ad campaign performance.

  • Why It Matters: Pixels help measure the success of marketing campaigns and can be used for retargeting customers.

"Liquid"
  • Definition: Shopify's open-source template language used for customizing themes.

  • Example for Shopify Store Owners: Using Liquid to add custom features to your store, such as displaying unique product messages.

  • Why It Matters: Understanding Liquid can help you make more detailed and effective customisations to your store's appearance and functionality.

"Themes"
  • Definition: The templates used to define the look and feel of your Shopify store.

  • Example for Shopify Store Owners: Choosing a minimalistic theme to emphasise product images.

  • Why It Matters: The theme is your store's first impression—selecting the right one impacts user experience, conversions and SEO.

"Navigation"
  • Definition: The menus and links that help users move around your Shopify store.

  • Example for Shopify Store Owners: A top navigation bar with links to "Home," "Shop," and "Blog."

  • Why It Matters: Effective navigation makes it easy for customers to find what they're looking for, improving user experience and SEO.

"Markets"
  • Definition: Shopify's feature that allows you to manage multiple markets (e.g., countries) from a single store.

  • Example for Shopify Store Owners: Creating separate pricing and content for US and UK customers.

  • Why It Matters: Markets help you manage your international strategy efficiently, optimising for different locations.

Analytics and Metrics

"Click-Through Rate (CTR)"
  • Definition: The percentage of people who click on your link after seeing it in search results.

  • Example for Shopify Store Owners: If 100 people see your product page in search results and 10 click on it, your CTR is 10%.

  • Why It Matters: A higher CTR means your meta titles and descriptions are effective, bringing more potential buyers to your site.

"Conversion Rate"
  • Definition: The percentage of visitors who complete a desired action, such as making a purchase.

  • Example for Shopify Store Owners: If 100 visitors land on your product page and 3 make a purchase, your conversion rate is 3%.

  • Why It Matters: A higher conversion rate means your product pages and customer journey are optimized to turn visitors into customers.

"Bounce Rate"
  • Definition: The percentage of visitors who leave your site after viewing only one page.

  • Example for Shopify Store Owners: If someone visits your product page but leaves without exploring further, that counts as a bounce.

  • Why It Matters: A high bounce rate may indicate that users aren't finding what they need or that your page takes too long to load.

"Bounce Rate"
  • Definition: The percentage of visitors who leave your site after viewing only one page.

  • Example for Shopify Store Owners: If someone visits your product page but leaves without exploring further, that counts as a bounce.

  • Why It Matters: A high bounce rate may indicate that users aren't finding what they need or that your page takes too long to load.

Conclusion:

The world of SEO doesn't need to be confusing. Understanding these terms can empower you to work more effectively with your SEO team, make informed decisions, and ultimately drive more traffic to your Shopify store. Keep this glossary bookmarked for quick reference whenever you're unsure about the SEO lingo being thrown around.

Take Action:

If you have any questions about these terms or want to see how they apply to your Shopify store, feel free to reach out to us at Oglesby Media. We're here to help demystify SEO and drive your store to new heights.

Ciarán Oglesby

Let’s work together

If you’re ready to take your Shopify store to the next level, we’re ready to help. Have a look at our SEO services and let’s start unlocking your store’s full potential.