Shopify is my top recommended ecommerce platform and one of its standout features is the themes. There is a superb range of both paid and premium themes that you can use to customize the appearance of your online store and turn your ecommerce dreams into a reality.
Sadly, not all Shopify themes are created equal though and some are better than others – particularly when it comes to SEO. In this guide, I take you on a tour of the best Shopify themes currently available and explain why this matters, and what you can look for.
What are Shopify Themes?
I’ve started this article and realized you may not even know what a Shopify theme is so let’s discuss. To make things easier for business owners and so that you don’t need to spend time designing every website element from scratch, Shopify has “themes”.
Themes are essentially the underlying template of your online store. This includes elements like a header, footer, product pages, landing pages, and more. You can use the theme to create the backbone of your online store and the individual pages.
Typically, Shopify themes are customizable and you can change multiple elements like color schemes, fonts, images, and maybe even the positioning of items.
The point is, is that a theme is the starting point that allows you to create your online store. Think of a theme as the blueprint to a building or the instructions for a piece of furniture.
How Does the Theme Affect Your SEO?
Now we know what a Shopify theme is, we can look at how it affects your SEO. As we know, Google is incredibly fussy and certain things irritate it including:
- Page loading times.
- Underlying web code.
- Mobile-responsiveness.
These are three important SEO aspects that a Shopify theme can affect and are an important part of SEO and PPC services. Ideally, the theme must be optimized for fast loading times as Google hates waiting around and your customers won’t like it either.
The underlying HTML and CSS code and any scripts should also be compliant with the latest standards too. This is a harder aspect to identify but you can generally see from reviews about the quality of the code.
Lastly, the Shopify theme must have a mobile-responsive theme which means it seamlessly fits on any screen size and is suitable for smartphone viewing.
5 Of the Best Shopify Themes for SEO
So, you know what a Shopify theme is, and you understand how they affect SEO. Now comes the best bit – answering the question, what is the best Shopify theme for SEO?
Star - Premium
I love the modern landing page design of Star where you can incorporate an impressive background image or product imagery. It’s very chic and looks superb and there are two theme variations included in this premium package – Polaris, and Sirius.
Aside from looking the part, this Shopify theme has an abundance of SEO features including the ability to create a Google Rich Snippet for your business, mobile-optimized design, social media sharing tools, and image optimization.
If you are a first-time Shopify user you will also appreciate the simple interface and user-friendly tools.
Simple - Free
If you want to keep it simple and let your products do the work, the Simple theme by Shopify could be a good option. This free theme is arguably the best one available and it integrates seamlessly with Shopify including fast loading times and excellent mobile optimization.
If you are creating your first Shopify store and don’t have the funds to buy a premium theme, I recommend Simple as a starting point. It’s easy to work with and the mobile-responsiveness can’t be ignored.
Flow - Premium
Flow is another excellent Shopify theme that features a minimalistic design. Instead of lots of different page elements and huge navigation, Flow keeps things simple. This simple design also greatly improves page loading times which Google loves.
There are three core designs to choose from within the Flow theme and they all offer excellent customization. I like the quick-buy feature too that you can add where customers always have access to their shopping cart at the click of a button.
All media content loads quickly too including videos, quotes, and images, so you can add intrigue to your online store and make it a visual feast.
Motion - Premium
There is something about a simplistic theme that is appealing – I think it is the fact that the attention is placed on your products and not just on the site which is a main feature of the Motion premium theme by Archetype.
It has a simple navigation with a landing page that allows you to showcase large, optimized product images. The catalogs and product pages are also similarly modernistic and uncluttered and really easy to navigate.
Motion is jam-packed with SEO features like meta fields, product collection templates, fast loading times, smooth animations for menus, and the ability to add product sale points.
Negan - Premium
I chose Negan simply because he was one of my favorite characters in The Walking Dead. Joking obviously! Cool name aside, this flexible Shopify theme has a clean and uncluttered style that I find modern and minimalistic.
It looks great and it includes 15 different demo versions that you can tweak. For SEO, it has incredibly fast loading times, integration for social media like Instagram, and a fully responsive design for a smooth smartphone display.
This theme is great for fashion businesses but it can easily be tailored to suit any industry and is available for a one-off purchase price.
Get the Right Shopify Theme to Complement Your SEO Strategy
Choosing the right theme is highly important and you should think carefully before jumping into a theme and developing your site. Take time to assess your SEO strategy, your business schema, and your industry.
This should allow you to select an appropriate theme that looks great, fits in with the type of products or services you sell, but is also optimized for SEO.
