So, you’ve finally decided to move your store to Shopify. Great decision, Shopify is fast, flexible, mobile-friendly, and perfect for scaling D2C brands. But just as you're about to pop the confetti, there’s a voice in your head going:
“What about our Google rankings? Will all our SEO efforts disappear overnight?”
Totally valid concern. You've probably spent months (or even years) building up your visibility online, ranking for niche keywords, getting backlinks, optimizing pages. Losing that traffic would be a nightmare.
The good news? A platform migration doesn't have to tank your Search Engine Optimization. You just need to know where the pitfalls are, and how to sidestep them. That’s exactly what we’re walking you through in this post.
Let’s talk about what can go wrong, how to prevent it, and how to actually come out stronger on the SEO front after moving to Shopify.
The SEO Risks of Migrating to Shopify (If You Don't Plan It Right)
Let’s start with the scary part, not to stress you out, but so you know what not to do.
Think of a website migration like moving to a new apartment. If you forget to tell your friends (or in this case, Google) your new address, they won’t know where to find you. And that can lead to:
1. Broken URLs = Lost Rankings
One of the biggest SEO mistakes during migration is changing your page URLs without redirecting them. If your old page (say, /collections/summer-dresses) was ranking on Google and you move it to something like /summer-dresses-collection, you risk losing all the traffic unless a redirect is in place.
2. Internal Links Get Messy
If your navigation or in-page links still point to the old URLs, it creates broken links across your site. That hurts SEO and makes for a bad user experience.
3. Backlinks Become Useless
Let’s say Vogue once featured your product and linked to a specific page. That link is gold. But if the linked page no longer exists (and there’s no redirect), the SEO value of that backlink is lost.
4. Crawling and Indexing Issues
Google needs time to crawl and understand your new site structure. If the sitemap or robots.txt is incorrect, Google might not index key pages at all.
5. Temporary Ranking Drops
Even if you do everything right, it’s normal to see a dip in rankings for a few weeks post-migration. Google needs time to re-crawl and re-evaluate the new site. The key is to monitor, and not panic.
How to Migrate to Shopify Without Hurting SEO (And Maybe Even Help It)
Okay, time to flip the script. Here’s what a smooth SEO-friendly migration looks like:
1. Start with an SEO Audit
Before moving a single page, audit your existing site. Which pages get the most traffic? Which ones have the most backlinks? What keywords do they rank for? Tools like Ahrefs, SEMrush, or even Google Search Console can help here. These are the pages you want to protect during migration.
2. Create a URL Mapping Plan
This is just a fancy way of saying: make a spreadsheet. List every URL on your current site, and note what its new URL will be on Shopify. If they’re changing, make sure you set up 301 redirects for each one.
Pro tip: Don’t redirect everything to the homepage. That confuses users and search engines. Always redirect to the most relevant equivalent page.
3. Set Up Redirects in Shopify
Shopify makes it super simple to set up 301 redirects using its built-in URL redirect tool. You can even upload them in bulk with a CSV file. This tells Google where to find your pages at their new address, preserving link equity and rankings.
4. Review Internal Links
After migrating, check all your internal links (menus, footers, buttons) to make sure they point to the new URLs. There are tools like Screaming Frog or Broken Link Checker that can help you catch any stragglers.
5. Submit a New Sitemap to Google
Shopify automatically generates a sitemap at yourdomain.com/sitemap.xml. Once your new site is live, go to Google Search Console and submit the updated sitemap. This helps Google crawl your new site faster.
6. Don’t Forget Meta Titles & Descriptions
These often get missed during migration. Ensure your product and collection pages have custom meta titles and descriptions, with target keywords, and don’t rely on defaults.
7. Check Your Schema Markup
Schema helps Google show rich snippets like product prices, reviews, and availability in search results. Shopify themes usually come with built-in schema, but if you had custom markup on your old site, make sure to carry it over.
8. Monitor Google Search Console Like a Hawk
Keep an eye on indexing errors, 404 pages, and traffic patterns. It’ll help you catch issues before they hurt your SEO.
Special Note for International Stores
If you're running a multilingual or multi-country store, there are a few extra steps:
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Use subdirectories (like /us/ or /fr/) instead of subdomains, they retain more SEO value.
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Translate everything, including metadata.
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Make sure hreflang tags are implemented correctly (Shopify handles this in most multi-language apps).
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Avoid auto-translation tools, they often create gibberish that Google hates.
The SEO Upside of Migrating to Shopify
Let’s be real, your current platform might be holding you back. Shopify offers:
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Faster load times (a major SEO factor!)
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Mobile optimization by default
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Clean URLs and auto-generated sitemaps
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Built-in SSL security
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Apps to improve everything from structured data to image optimization
In fact, many brands we work with see an increase in search visibility a few weeks after migrating, once the dust settles and the new structure is indexed.
Real Talk: You Might See a Dip, But That’s Temporary
Even if you do everything right, your rankings may fluctuate for a short while post-migration. That’s totally normal.
What matters is the long game. If your Shopify store is better structured, loads faster, and is easier to use (for humans and Google bots), your SEO will come back stronger.
TL;DR: How to Save (and Grow) SEO During a Shopify Migration
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Audit your current site before moving
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Map old URLs to new ones,and use 301 redirects
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Review all internal links
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Submit your new sitemap to Google
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Retain (or improve) meta data and schema
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Monitor closely post-launch
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Stay calm if rankings drop temporarily, it’s part of the process
Final Word
Migrating to Shopify can feel like a big leap, especially when SEO is on the line. But with the right prep and support, it doesn’t have to be stressful.
At Propero Consulting, we’ve helped 200+ brands move to Shopify without losing their search traffic, and often gaining more. If you’re thinking about making the switch, we’d love to help you do it right.
Let’s chat. No pressure, just good advice.