Metadata helps tell search engines like Google what your web page’s content is about and why it’s relevant to a user’s search. Using metadata for SEO can improve click-through rates and affect your visibility in organic search.
“We’ve been really focused on [metadata] since day one, so that we would pop up and could compete without a lot of ad dollars,” Plant Material founder Matthew Burrows says on an episode of the Shopify Masters podcast. “If somebody’s searching for a certain plant, we’re there, and we’re competing. That is more of a back-end thing that you should do and can do to be present online without a lot of ad spend.”
This guide explains metadata for SEO, details why it’s important for ecommerce businesses, and shows you how to optimize the metadata on your company’s web page.
What is metadata for SEO?
Metadata is text within a website’s code, comprising elements like meta titles (also known as title tags), meta descriptions, and image alt text. Metadata helps major search engines like Google and artificial intelligence platforms like ChatGPT understand the page’s content.
Depending on the search engine, metadata may show up on search engine results pages (SERPs) as page titles and descriptions, letting searchers know what the page is about. A well-crafted meta description and meta title include the primary keyword, or the main topic of the page.
You can insert metadata manually in your website’s HTML or through content management systems like WordPress. Ecommerce platforms like Shopify designate a title tag and meta description tag for each piece of content, without you needing to dig into the site’s code.
If you’re inserting metadata directly into the back end of your site, this information goes in the <head> section of your HTML. A content management system (CMS) has designated fields in the content creation screen where you input this information. The platform then sets metadata in the proper place within the back end of your page’s content, so that text will show up in search results.
Why is metadata important for ecommerce businesses?
Metadata for SEO is important for ecommerce businesses because it helps search engines understand a page’s content and how it can answer a searcher’s query. Focusing on metadata as part of an on-page SEO strategy has a few key benefits for retailers:
Increased organic traffic
Having metadata in your content signals relevancy to search engine crawlers, which index and rank your site. The more accurate your title tags and meta descriptions, the more information crawlers have to decide how relevant your site is in Google’s search results. A well-written meta description can also encourage users and potential customers to click.
Better search rankings mean a higher click-through rate and more organic traffic (visits that don’t come from a paid search ad) going to your site. A First Page Sage study found that the top three organic search results receive almost 69% of the clicks on the results page.
Brand clarity on SERPs
If you don’t designate a meta title or description, Google will automatically generate one. Writing your own gives you more control over how your shop appears on SERPs and mitigates the risk of Google pulling text from another part of your site, leading to duplicate meta descriptions and confusion for searchers.
While it’s still a good SEO best practice to write your own meta description and other meta tags, know that Google can rewrite this information (as often as 76% of the time) to best fit a search query.
Better accessibility
Metadata is also important for accessibility, as screen readers use text-to-speech technology to detect and read aloud HTML meta tags, such as meta titles and image alt text, for those who are vision-impaired.
Filling out metadata for your ecommerce company’s site has the dual benefit of aiding crawlers as search engines index your site. Incorporate target keywords into elements like meta descriptions and image alt text, but avoid keyword stuffing.
Metadata elements every ecommerce page needs
Keep these metadata elements in mind as you work to improve your site’s search rankings:
Meta title
A meta title is the 50- to 60-character clickable headline often shown on SERPs. For example, the furniture brand Mocka uses this title for their homepage: “Mocka: The Destination for Modern, Affordable Furniture.”
Meta descriptions
A meta description is the 120- to 160-character summary of a webpage’s content, which search engines may use as the descriptive snippet beneath a page’s title in SERPs. The fashion brand PAIGE uses product page meta descriptions to call out distinguishing features: “Discover PAIGE’s Dani Short for women. A vintage yet modern high-rise short designed with an A-line silhouette and a 4" inseam.”
Image alt text
Image alt text is primarily for people with visual impairments using screen readers, though it also helps search engines. Use this opportunity to describe what’s happening in an image. For instance, “Man in a blue hooded sweatshirt, holding a white cellphone and smiling while wearing black over-the-ear headphones.”
SEO-friendly URLs
According to Google search advocate John Mueller, URL length has a negligible effect on SEO, but using a concise, clean URL structure with keywords helps crawlers and readers understand what the page is about.
Meta robots tag
A robots tag tells search crawlers whether or not to index your page and elements like images. This goes in the <head> section of your HTML. Use this with a “noindex” command for older pages you want visitors to be able to access directly but don’t want appearing in search results.
Viewport meta tag
A viewport tag, also for the <head> section of your HTML, adjusts pages based on device width, which is helpful for those browsing on mobile devices. Google notes that a positive user experience across devices helps your SEO efforts.
Ways to optimize metadata for SEO
- Write unique title tags and meta descriptions
- Keep the text short and descriptive
- Conduct regular SEO audits
- Localize your metadata
Follow these best practices to improve your metadata and strengthen your SEO content strategy:
Write unique title tags and meta descriptions
Crafting unique metadata for each page on your site helps them stand out from competitors and your other pages in search results. Shopify merchants can do this in their admin screen, going to the Products page for individual product pages and the Online Store > Preferences page for the home page.
Grow SEO is a free Shopify app that uses AI to generate suggestions for your title tags and meta descriptions. It also scans your current metadata, offering suggested improvements.
Keep the text short and descriptive
Going too long with titles and descriptions, for example, runs the risk of them getting cut off in search results. In the Backlinko study, title tags between 50 and 60 characters had a 33.3% higher clickthrough rate than those outside that range.
Conduct regular SEO audits
Doing an SEO audit every month or every quarter alerts you to missing or poorly performing metadata. First, record benchmark data, such as monthly organic search traffic. Then, use tools like Google Search Console to scan your site and perform the audit.
When you drastically update a product page or go through a rebrand, make sure the metadata is updated too. Prioritize doing this on your highest-traffic pages first, so those show up on search results with your newest messaging.
Localize your metadata
For ecommerce companies that sell internationally, Shopify senior SEO specialist Antonio Santarsiero recommends localizing your metadata to help you cater to customers in different regions. “Understanding the nuances of each market and tailoring your approach to local search behaviors is definitely the starting point,” he says.
Metadata for SEO FAQ
How does adding metadata benefit your website’s SEO?
Adding metadata benefits your website’s visibility and SEO by making it easier for search engine crawlers to index your page (and understand how relevant it is to search queries). It also helps people know what your page is about.
What meta tags should I use for SEO?
The meta tags you should use for SEO are meta titles, meta descriptions, meta robots tags, and viewport meta tags.
How do I write SEO metadata?
You can write SEO metadata using relevant keywords, minding the character limit. There are also free tools, like Shopify’s Grow SEO app, that use AI to generate metadata suggestions.
