Best Shopify themes for SEO – our hand-picked list

Best Shopify themes for SEO – our hand-picked list
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Using an SEO-friendly Shopify theme is a great way to launch your online store on the right foot. Well-optimized and organized pages will make visitors stay longer, improve search engine rankings, and in the end, help you boost conversions. However, choosing the right theme from thousands of options can be daunting.

That’s why, in this article, we’re going to list the 11 best Shopify themes for SEO performance and build a case for each of them. We’ll cover main features, suitability for specific industries, theme styles, and other details.

Let’s get into it.

Best Shopify themes for SEO: our shortlist

Here’s the shortlist of our hand-picked themes that will help you build the best search engine optimized Shopify store:

  1. Booster - top Shopify theme for SEO optimization and conversions
  2. Startup - Shopify SEO theme for small, direct-to-consumer brands
  3. Oars - SEO friendly Shopify theme with trendy design
  4. Flex - customizable theme for simple Shopify SEO
  5. Empire - powerful Shopify theme for high volume stores
  6. Star - great Shopify theme for SEO and features
  7. Everest - SEO friendly Shopify theme focused on conversions
  8. Micra - affordable Shopify theme with easy customization
  9. Negan - inexpensive SEO optimized Shopify theme
  10. Debutify - simple and fast Shopify SEO theme with great add-ons
  11. Yanka - fast and flexible Shopify SEO theme

Choosing the best theme is only the first step. Boost your site's speed & SEO performance with a dedicated app!

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What to look for in the best Shopify theme for SEO?

In order to make sure that people find your Shopify store organically on Google or other search engines, look for some crucial SEO-friendly features. Here’s our list:

  1. Compatibility with all devices. Having your website fully optimized for mobile will ensure better SERP rankings.
  2. Clear navigation menu. When choosing a theme for your Shopify store, make sure to preview its live demo, so you get a good picture of how the theme looks.
  3. Site speed. Speed is an indirect ranking factor – if your website loads slowly, people will bounce, which will impact your rankings, traffic, and CR.
  4. Support for rich snippets. Rich snippets take up quite a lot of space in SERPs, so it’s a great way to get your store seen.
  5. Customizable metadata. You’ll have more control of your SEO if you can customize your site’s metadata.

Other features include social sharing, the ability to customize products, translation support, and image size optimization options.

Is an SEO-optimized theme enough for a Shopify store optimization?

While an SEO-optimized theme is a great first step towards a neatly organized website, it’s not enough for a fully optimized Shopify store.

That doesn’t mean you’ll have to spend your time learning all SEO complexities, as there are apps that do it for you. One of them is TinyIMG. Here are some useful app features:

  1. Third-party app script control. With TinyIMG you can easily disable third-party apps from loading on your website.
  2. SEO audits & actionable suggestions. TinyIMG generates reports on your store’s speed and various SEO issues (like empty title tags). The app also provides suggestions on how to fix said issues.
  3. Extensive image optimization. If the image is too big, it’ll slow down your website, but you can easily resize images in bulk or do it automatically with an app like TinyIMG.
  4. Broken link detection and redirections. The app automatically detects broken links and redirects the readers to working ones.

11 best Shopify themes for SEO for 2024 – our detailed list

Now let’s review each theme in more detail so you can choose which one is the best for your industry, shop size, and aesthetics.

1. Booster – top Shopify theme for SEO and conversion-focused business

booster shopify theme bannner

Great for:

high-volume stores

Theme styles:

70+ different presets

Price:

from $248/year

Try theme:

If you’re looking to rank high on search results – Booster is the best Shopify theme to choose. It focuses on seamless integration with Shopify’s native SEO functionality, website speed, and conversion improvement.

Booster is your all-in-one tool for optimizing a website for better search visibility and conversions. With automatic image optimization and effective lazy loading, this theme is very quick right out of the box. All built-in Shopify SEO tools work perfectly with Booster as well. Booster theme is a seamless experience, helping you get the best out of Shopify and your SEO.

Main features:

  • Auto image optimization
  • Effective lazy loading for better performance
  • Excellent Google speed results
  • 40+ add-ons for increased conversions
  • Full theme customization

Booster is an excellent choice if you’re looking to build a fast, fully-optimized, and highly-converting Shopify site (learn more from our Booster theme review). While the yearly subscription is more expensive, it’s an amazing choice for power users.

2. Startup - Shopify SEO theme for small brands

startup shopify theme banner

Great for:

small catalogs, direct-to-consumer brands

Theme styles:

Tech, Travel, Cloth, Home

Price:

$240

Try theme:

Startup is a Shopify theme built for smaller stores, looking to build their brand. From the SEO standpoint, Startup shines in trying to help you build brand trust. The theme offers flexible, customizable testimonial sections so that your product reviews can be displayed in fashion.

This theme also puts a lot of focus on editorial content, allowing you to tell store visitors what your brand is about. There’s also a section for blogging which is great if you’re looking for a good SEO friendly theme, as blogging is a classic and proven SEO strategy for many businesses.

Main features:

  • Product reviews and customizable testimonials
  • Included blogging section
  • Fit for dropshipping
  • Support for high-resolution images
  • Breadcrumbs

3. Oars – trending design styles and clean back-end

oars shopify theme banner

Great for:

fashion industry

Theme styles:

Light – 7 demos

Price:

$69

Try theme:

Oars was developed by the Envato Top Elite author team – tvlgiao. It offers clean designs and is fast-loading, mobile and SEO-friendly.

This theme has all important SEO microdata coded, it’s fully responsive with different screen resolutions, the code is lightweight so it loads fast. If you want to get creative, Oars allows for a lot of customization, so you can build a unique store perfect for your products.

Main features:

  • Fully responsive
  • Fast loading
  • Mobile-friendly pages
  • Lightweight code
  • Customer support

If you’re looking to boost your rankings not only in desktop, but also mobile, Oars could be yours (for $69, of course).

4. Flex – highly customizable theme for Shopify SEO

flex shopify theme banner

Great for:

custom design websites

Theme styles:

13 different presets

Price:

from $495

Try theme:

Flex is highly customizable, making it great for professionals looking to build SEO-friendly sites. This theme offers custom CSS, as well as multiple layout and section options.

Coming from the well-known designer group Out of The Sandbox, Flex really lives up to its name. You can customize and configure just about anything on your site, giving you freedom rarely found on Shopify stores. SEO professionals will love the enhanced CSS editing and top loading speeds.

Main features:

  • Flexible layouts and custom CSS
  • Several header, footer, mega menu, and drop-down styles
  • Easily customizable content pages
  • Massive icon library
  • Easy to edit product variant options

Looking for a stylish, easy to edit theme that’s perfect for SEO? Flex is an excellent option to consider.

5. Empire – marketplace-style Shopify theme for big SEO ambitions

empirse shopify theme banner

Great for:

high volume stores, dropshipping

Theme styles:

Supply, Industrial, Depot, Graphic

Price:

$340

Try theme:

Empire Shopify theme is great for those with high volume stores and big ambitions when it comes to SEO and conversions. It’s a powerhouse of a theme, offering features for product discovery, comparison, and conversion. You will also get to use cross-selling and upselling features that could help you sell more, therefore, improving revenue targets.

Of course, this theme is perfectly fit and optimized for mobile use. All SEO-friendly templates look as good on mobile and tablet as they do on desktop.

Empire also gets frequent updates, so you’ll never fall behind when it comes to features. While not on the cheap side, this theme is definitely worth it in the long run.

Main features:

  • Good looking blogging section
  • Cross-selling and upselling
  • Product reviews and trust badges
  • High-resolution images
  • Breadcrumbs
  • Enhanced search

6. Star – modern in appearance and rich in features

star shopify theme banner

Great for:

travel accessories and active lifestyle

Theme styles:

Polaris, Sirius

Price:

$59

Try theme:

Star boasts a sleek and modern look without overlooking its strong features. Created by Outlane, this Shopify theme is great for those seeking to get ahead in the SEO game.

Star offers a mobile-first design, large image optimization, Google’s rich snippets, social media integration, multi-level dropdown menu, and other features that follow SEO best practices. This stunning theme is easy to navigate and set up – a hassle-free experience even for the inexperienced.

Main features:

  • Mobile-first design
  • Google rich snippet
  • Lots of customization tools
  • Support for product reviews
  • Social media sharing
  • Smart image optimization

This dreamy-looking theme better not deceive you – it’s cutthroat when it comes to SEO matters. And it’s great for newbies!

7. Everest – a powerful theme designed for conversions

everest shopify theme banner

Great for:

fashion, furniture, lingerie, technology, accessories

Theme styles:

Light – 7 home demos

Price:

$59

Try theme:

Everest is one of the most feature-packed themes out there. Developed by CleverSoft, it offers modern eCommerce designs and powerful functionality.

Everest Shopify theme incorporates lazy loading to improve site speed and performance, which is one of the most important SEO metrics. It also allows you to fully customize the entire store and choose from several most popular header variants. We can’t possibly include all features this modern theme offers, but in the end it all focuses on increasing conversions.

Main features:

  • Lazy loading for better speeds
  • Fully customizable
  • Newsletter popups
  • Smart image optimization
  • Countdown timer

With the feature list so long, Everest swooshes its SEO theme competitors aside. But the length is not everything – ultimately, it’s for you to decide what’s needed in your Shopify store.

8. Micra – an inexpensive, modern and SEO-focused Shopify theme

micra shopify theme banner

Great for:

fashion industry

Theme styles:

Blue, Green, Lavender, Yellow

Price:

$29

Try theme:

Micra was created by MagikCommerce and it offers responsive SEO-friendly solutions for fashion stores and boutiques.

This Shopify theme is minimalistic and easy to customize. It’s 100% responsive, meaning your store will look great on all popular screens – laptop, tablet, mobile. Micra is optimized for the best speed with clean, minimal styles.

Main features:

  • Optimized for better performance
  • Instagram gallery module
  • Lots of customization options
  • Newsletter popup options
  • Clean, professional designs

Out of all paid options, this one stands out, as it’s the least pricey. If you want something minimal, cheap, yet still focused on boosting organic traffic, go for Micra.

9. Negan – clean and flexible Shopify theme

negan shopify theme banner

Great for:

fashion industry

Theme styles:

Light – 15 home demos

Price:

$89

Try theme:

Negan is a minimal theme, yet it’s full of powerful features. It was built by Nova-works with SEO in mind from the very beginning.

Important SEO features include srtuctured data for Google’s rich snippet, speed optimization, metadata and heading customization. Negan is also mobile-friendly and gives you full product category customization options, as well as social media integrations.

Main features:

  • Structured data
  • Optimized speed
  • RTL support for easy translation
  • Instagram integration
  • Fully responsive
  • SEO optimized website templates

Rich in SEO-focused features and contemporary theme styles, Negan is a great alternative for a more pricier contender at the top of this list.

10. Debutify – fast Shopify theme with 50+ powerful add-ons

debutify shopify theme banner

Great for:

boosting conversions, flexible customization

Theme styles:

1 preset, 50+ built-in add-ons

Price:

Free (paid plans start at $29/mo)

Try theme:

Debutify is a powerful Shopify theme with the focus on boosting conversions. This theme is great for SEO since it’s fast-loading and fully customizable, meaning you can easily make any changes that will benefit your business.

Debutify has 50+ add-ons that can help you optimize your profits, AOV, and conversions because simply gaining organic traffic will not necessarily grow your business. This theme allows you to cover all the bases and get to the top of SERP (Search engine results page) easier. Debutify also focuses a lot on user-centered design which is crucial in order to win the race to the top of the ranking page.

Main features:

  • Fast-loading and powerful
  • Focus on UX design
  • 50+ conversion boosting add-ons

11. Yanka – powerful Shopify theme for a well-rounded online store

yanka shopify theme banner

Great for:

fast performance, boosting conversions

Theme styles:

18+ presets

Price:

$48

Try theme:

Yanka is a fast performing Shopify theme with PageSpeed Score of 81%, and tons of features focusing on conversions, design, and overall web performance.

Yanka offers a lot of customization options, including multiple headers to choose from, fast product configuration, flexible banner placement, a layout for a single-product store, and more. It’s a feature-rich theme that focuses on making user experience better with color swatches, clear navigation, numerous product filters, and Ajax functionality (search, cart, and filters).

Yanka also includes Google Rich snippet tool, share buttons for socials, and adaptable currency and language options.

Main features:

  • Fast performance
  • Focus on boosting conversions
  • Google Rich snippet tool
  • Multi-currency & multi-language
  • Dynamic checkout buttons

SEO-optimized Shopify themes: Final words

An SEO-friendly Shopify theme is the first step to better search engine rankings – as we’ve already established. We hope you can find your best fit in our list depending on your product niche, expectations, and store size.

If you want a feature-packed theme focused on increasing conversions, go for Booster. And if you’re running a business with a small catalog, we highly recommend Startup – a stylish Shopify theme that will help you build a brand that people trust.

And after you’re done scouting for the best theme, don’t forget that your SEO efforts don’t end there. Let TinyIMG app help you out in keeping your Shopify store high up in the rankings!

About the author
Nikoleta Kokleviciute
Nikoleta is a Marketing Manager at TinyIMG, an app for image and SEO optimization for Shopify merchants. Nikoleta loves diving deep into digital marketing, eCommerce, social media trends, and creating content that benefits its readers!