When searching for a product online, users are typically directed to a product page or a collection page. This means the first introduction to a store is not their home page. But some stores will only optimize their home page for new visitors. Collection pages can get optimized in a few simple steps.

Starting Collection Pages

When a Shopify store opens, the collection pages only have a few elements. The header contains the collection title and the collection description. The product titles and price are only paragraph text, instead of titles. There is no button to buy the product or add a product to the cart. You have to click on the product and go to the product page to buy it. The footer contains a menu and an email sign-up form.

Optimizing the Product Section of a Shopify Store

The first step to optimizing a product page is reducing the customer’s journey to purchase. A “quick add” button enables a modal to display more information to the visitor. Then, add the product to the cart without leaving the page. The modal shows the different options for products. Ensuring the customer buys the exact product they want before adding it to the cart. Next, change the text of the product title and price. By default, the collection makes them paragraph text. Make the Product Title an H2 and Price an H3. From a visual perspective, they will stand out more. For search engines, the likelihood of the products getting indexed increases. Adding text under the title can give the customers more information. The text can give quick notes about the product, “100% Wool” or “Made in the US.”

What is the difference between Heading and Paragraph text?

Heading text helps categorize content. The paragraph text describes the heading text. Search engines use heading text to determine relevance for results. This means a page can rank for search results based on the heading text. In short, Shopify Merchants should make the heading text a keyword they want to rank for.

A page can only have one H1 heading. The product titles need to be H2 headings or others.

Description

The collection description is important for SEO. But I have a theory that customers don’t read or care for the collection description. I am starting to test putting the collection description at the bottom of the page. If the description is at the bottom, customers will see the products sooner. If they see the products sooner, there is less of a chance of customers clicking away from the products. The description is out of the way. But the collection page still gets the SEO benefits of the description.

How to Move Description to the Bottom

There are a few steps to putting the collection description at the bottom of the page. First duplicate the “Collection Heading” element. Second, delete the “Description” element in the original element. Then, delete the “Title” element in the duplicate. The final step is to move the duplicate element to the bottom of the page.

Email Collection Form

At the bottom of every page is an email collection form. Move the form from the footer to above the collection description. This will make the form more visible. Which will lead to more sign-ups.

Turn off “Auto load products on scroll”

By default, the collection pages get set to infinite scroll. This means more products load once the customers get to the bottom of the page. Shopify calls it “Auto load.” The problem with infinite scroll is anything after the first load does not get indexed. The solution to infinite scroll is pages. Customers reach the bottom of the page and click to the next one. Every page will get indexed by a search engine. To turn off auto scroll, click on the “Collection” in the template section. In the settings section, there will be "Auto load products on scroll.” Turn it off.

Conclusion

These tweaks may not seem significant, but they create a better user experience. A better user experience leads to more sales. At the same time, the tweaks make collection pages more search engine-friendly. Which will bring more traffic.

Originally published at https://convertifyapps.com