The Top 8 Best Shopify Themes For SEO This Year

One of the most important steps during the course of setting up your online store will be selecting the proper theme. If you want your website to have the proper functionality to meet user expectations and rank well in the search engines, using one of the best Shopify themes for SEO should be a priority.

There are many factors that influence how well a website performs, but when it comes to eCommerce platforms like Shopify, the theme is usually one of the most important. If you start with a flimsy foundation, all of the fancy apps and thoughtful content in the world won’t make up for it.

Google has been refining its algorithms over the past few years, and it has become clear that speed and sleek interfaces weigh heavily into how a website gets ranked. If your store is sluggish and uses outdated and clumsy navigation, menus, buttons, sliders, and other features, you aren’t going to generate a positive user experience, and Google will notice.

We’ve put together this guide to maximizing your Shopify SEO by starting off on the right foot with a theme that will help you create a great experience for your users. We will cover the key reasons why you need search engine optimization to begin with, and go through the benefits of each of our top picks to see which of them might be right for your store.

Why Do You Need Shopify SEO?

You might be wondering why you even need SEO to begin with. You may have a solid social media presence or a hot product line that you know will sell like hotcakes, so why would you need to think about where you rank in Google?

Where you rank in the search engines will play a large role in the overall success of your online store. While it’s entirely possible to manage your business through advertising alone and completely ignore the search engines, there is more to SEO than simply organic traffic.

Your standing in Google is what forms the backbone of your online identity. If you aren’t appearing high in the search engines for your important products, your competitors are likely to take a lion’s share of your potential customers. What’s more, your brand is suffering due to a lack of exposure. Having your Shopify website consistently appear on the first page of Google is an authority signal that tells users you are the real deal.

A reliable stream of organic traffic is nothing to turn your nose up at either of course. In fact, this traffic often forms the backbone of most online businesses and is something you definitely want to strive toward if you intend on succeeding online.

Benefits of Starting With an SEO-Friendly Shopify Theme

By selecting a high-quality Shopify theme that is properly optimized, you give your website the best chance to rank high in Google and go up against the other big names in your industry.

There are several important benefits to selecting one of the best Shopify themes for SEO:

• Faster page speed load times
• Will look great on mobile as well as desktop, fully responsive
• Cleanly coded, easier to read for search engines
• Better compatibility with plugins and apps
• Attractive, professional-looking storefronts
• Adaptable and suited for multiple industries

The better a theme is coded and the more inherent features it has, the more likely it is to help your store climb the search engines. The faster loading times will directly translate into fewer site bounces and more conversions, which Google will take note of as well.

Think of your Shopify theme as the foundation of a home. You can certainly try and do a lot with a house once it is already built, but the overall condition of the structure will be largely dependant on the theme. This is why you want to take the time to research a high-quality theme that will adequately meet the needs of your users and help you craft a professional shopping experience.

The Top Shopify Themes For SEO This Year

There are literally hundreds of different Shopify themes to choose from, so it’s easy to get lost in the decision-making process and wind up with a dud. No matter how nice a theme may appear from the outside, it’s important to understand the functionality it delivers and whether or not it is coded with speed in mind.

If you take a look through Theme Forest or the other venues online where Shopify themes are available, you will see that there is no shortage of fancy and eye-catching themes that have what would pass for great-looking layouts. The trouble is, many of these themes provide minimal levels of customization, are slower than molasses, and aren’t coded well.

Star

The Star theme by theme developer Outlane is the shining example of a quality premium Shopify theme that is designed with user expectations and SEO in mind. From the sleek layout options, dizzying array of features, and lightning-fast load times, this theme has it all.

The key highlight to Star is its two primary layouts, Polaris and Sirius. The former is the more modern, flashier option while the latter is more traditional.

Negan

This one makes the list for being a snappy minimalist Shopify theme that is quite affordable and comes loaded with important features, including a variety of ready-made layout options. Its clear benefits include a sleek general aesthetic that is liquid, fast, and easy to use, along with popular features such as customizable product category layouts and unique typography options. The theme is also designed from the ground up with SEO in mind.

Everest

This incredible Shopify theme is one of the best in recent memory, loved for its attractive layout options and recent overhaul which focused on speed optimizations. The result is a responsive, lightweight, and feature-rich experience that makes it easy to create an engaging online store.

Some of Everest’s other notable features include an out-of-the-box mega menu, AJAX Canvas Cart, streamlined mobile design, great search functionality, faux sales notifications, product quick views, an array of advanced pagination options, and more.

Zeexo

An incredible multipurpose Shopify theme with modern design conventions and optimized for the search engines. This theme has over a hundred prebuilt layouts that are perfectly suited for a variety of industries, such as fashion, jewelry, technology, and cosmetics. Growave app integration, full RTL support, completely fluid layouts, and incredible page speed are just a few of its more notable features. A great all-around option for professional store owners who want to stand out in their industry.

Micra

This Shopify theme offers a super minimalist, modern storefront that boasts 100% responsiveness and a solid variety of features. Great SEO capabilities, quick view, dropdown shopping cart, and other clean and essential features make it a great option for trendy fashion stores, accessories, shoe outlets, or similar niches.

Amanto

A gorgeous theme available on the Envato Market, it includes unique and attractive layouts, incredible customization options, a built-in mega menu, product labels, AJAX add to cart and wishlist features, blog post sliders, completely fluid designs, and is built with SEO in mind from top to bottom.

While Amanto claims to be suited more so for the electronics industry, it has all of the features and layouts necessary to craft a beautiful storefront for just about any niche, from fashion to toys, or anything else. This is a newer theme developed in 2020 that is truly designed with user expectations and search engine optimization in mind. From the modern layout options to the comprehensive list of features, this is one of those premium themes that really has it all.

Calfia

Another incredible Shopify theme that will help ensure your SEO has the right foundation, it has an array of different eye-catching layout customization options that are sure to push conversions. Despite the graphic-rich layouts and impressive array of features, the theme is remarkably lightweight and perfectly tailored for SEO.

The Calfia theme is an excellent choice if you are creating an online clothing boutique or fashion outlet, as it captures that trendy and attractive atmosphere that works well for such niches.

This is another premium Shopify theme that also has all the features you could ever need in terms of core functionality, including layered navigation, unlimited color variations, Facebook chat integrations, an Instagram images slider, buy together functionality, unique header and footer style options, and full control over the site identity. In terms of the best Shopify themes for SEO that are out right now, you can’t go wrong with this option.

Vodoma

This powerful and responsive theme takes the top spot here as the best all-around Shopify theme for SEO and likely one of the best ones in general at the moment if you are looking for out-of-the-box professional functionality. Not only is the theme coded elegantly and is designed with speed and user experience in mind, but its layout designs are also extremely creative and it comes packed with features.

This Shopify theme has truly impressive page load times, Progressive Web Apps integration, dozens of attractive skins, unlimited footer styles, complete control over metadata and title tags, Google rich snippet features, a high-quality built-in mega menu, a comprehensive banner creator, fine-tuned control over the shop layout, disable right-click, beautiful AJAX search, and unique blog layout options. What’s more, it’s not even the most expensive theme on this list, making it the easy option for anyone who wants to create a truly professional online store with all the bells and whistles.

How to Improve Your Shopify SEO Even Further

The theme you select will often depend on your industry and your specific business goals, but regardless of the products you sell or what kind of store you manage, SEO has to take top priority. If you aren’t making the proper optimizations on your website to improve the user experience, you are going to find it hard to rank on page one for any of your keywords.

Starting off with a high-quality theme is just the beginning of your Shopify SEO efforts, however. While clean code and great user-centric features make a difference, they aren’t everything. You don’t start off with a professional foundation and then build the rest of your house out of mud and sticks. This is where many store owners fall short, by neglecting their SEO after the fact.

Here are a few additional eCommerce SEO points to consider when managing your online store:

• Make sure your product titles use informative keywords
• Create comprehensive product descriptions that educate your customers
• Don’t spam your users with popups or other visual clutter
• Use high-quality images throughout your website, and make sure to use alt-tags
• Use Shopify SEO apps like SEO Booster, SEO Image Optimzier, and AMP by Ampify Me
• Your navigation should be intuitive and helpful, not stuffed and cluttered
• Streamline the checkout experience as much as possible.
• Don’t surprise users. The content of every page should be able to be discerned by the anchor text or button that leads to it.
• Start a blog! These provide valuable information to your users and are incredible SEO tools.
• Work on cultivating high-quality backlinks in your industry.

Sound like a mountain to climb? You’re not alone – for most store owners, taking care of all of the aspects of website optimization while trying to manage the day-to-day operations of a business are a tall order to say the least. This is one reason why a professional Shopify SEO company is something you might want to consider investing in.

Here at Genius eCommerce, we excel at providing top-notch SEO services for Shopify store owners who want to rank on page one and find real success in their industry. We understand what it takes to construct a campaign that gets results, starting with in-depth keyword research and competitor analysis that will ensure that your store has the edge it needs to compete.

Our SEO campaigns are specifically tailored for eCommerce websites, and with our team of knowledgeable Shopify experts at the helm, you can be certain that your store will begin to attract more traffic and get more sales than ever before.

If this is what you are looking for, what are you waiting for? We can help you select the right theme, choose the most impactful keywords for your niche, and start generating powerful SEO-driven blogs that will make you an authority in the eyes of your users and Google as well. Contact us today at 888.982.8269 to get started.