Ad costs in 2025 are painful. The same budget that used to bring in thousands of visitors now barely moves the needle. A few years ago, I decided to stop fighting the auction and go all-in on SEO instead.
The result? Today, more than 70% of the revenue in my six-figure Shopify store comes from free Google traffic that shows up 24/7 — no ad spend required.
Below is the exact beginner-friendly playbook I still follow (and teach) every time I launch a new store. It works whether you’re selling handmade soap, fitness gear, or digital printables.
Step 1: Find Keywords That Actually Have Traffic (100 % Free)
I only use Google’s free Keyword Planner.
Example from a recent store selling handmade soap:
- “handmade soap” → ~1,900 monthly searches
- “natural soaps” → ~720 searches
- “homemade soaps” → ~320 searches
Pick one primary keyword (the one with the most volume that perfectly matches your products) and two supporting keywords. That’s all you need to start.
Step 2: Tell Google Exactly What Each Page Is About
Google reads code, not pretty themes. Shopify already creates all the important code for you — you just have to fill in four spots:
- Homepage title & meta description (Online Store → Preferences)
- Collection pages (Products → Collections → “Search engine listing preview”)
- Product pages (same section + image alt text)
- Blog posts (we’ll get to those)
Quick hack: paste this prompt into ChatGPT
“Write a natural Shopify collection title (<60 chars), meta description (<155 chars), and 300-word description. Primary keyword: handmade soap. Secondary: natural soaps, homemade soaps.”
Copy → paste → done.
Step 3: The One Thing Almost Every Store Skips (Image Alt Text)
Google can’t see your photos, so you have to describe them.
Examples I use:
- “Lavender handmade soap bar front view”
- “Stack of natural soaps with flowers”
- “Handmade soap gift box open”
Takes seconds per image and often sends 15–25 % of total organic traffic from Google Images alone.
Step 4: Keep Google Coming Back (1 Blog Post Per Month)
Fresh content = higher rankings.
I use the free version of AnswerThePublic → type your main keyword → get dozens of real questions people ask Google.
Turn the best ones into simple 1,000–1,500-word blog posts every 2–4 weeks. Include your keywords naturally, add a proper title and meta description, and publish. That’s it.
Step 5: Two 5-Minute Technical Wins
- Submit your sitemap. Go to yourstore.com/sitemap.xml → copy the URL → paste into Google Search Console. Shopify auto-generates this for you.
- Fix duplicate domains Settings → Domains → make sure only one version (with or without www) is set as primary, and the rest redirect. Prevents Google from splitting your ranking power.
The Real-World Results
The handmade soap example store went from 0 to 2,800 free visitors per month in under seven months. My main store now gets well over 300,000 free visitors every month.
Once the rankings stick, the traffic is basically free forever.
P.S. If you haven’t started your store yet, you can try Shopify free and pay only $1/month for the first three months here (my partner link — I only share it because it’s the platform I actually use and trust):
