Shopify SEO Issues: What AccessComply Finds and Fixes

AccessComply checks every page it scans for the SEO basics that decide how a Shopify page shows up in search: a page title, a meta description, descriptions on images, a canonical tag, no stray noindex, structured data that parses, and internal links that work. After you approve, it writes missing or badly sized titles and descriptions for products, collections and pages from their own names and text, and on Shield and Citadel it writes descriptions for images with AI. Canonical tags, noindex, structured data and broken links it reports with the change to make, because those are theme or settings decisions.

The SEO checks on each page

The scan reads each page as it is served, the way a search engine does, and runs eight checks.

A product whose record is missing details a search engine reads, such as its description or vendor, is also listed, as a task for you.

Why titles and descriptions have a length range

Google sets no fixed limit on a title or a meta description; it cuts the title link to fit the screen and may write its own title when yours is vague or out of date. Shopify recommends keeping page titles to about 60 characters and descriptions to about 160 so they are not cut off. The scan uses the same limits: a title between 10 and 60 characters, a description between 50 and 160.

What the app writes: titles and descriptions from your own words

For a product, a collection or a page with a missing or badly sized title or description, the app writes one after you approve:

• From the item’s own words. A title comes from the item’s name, with your store’s name added only when the name alone is too short. A description comes from the item’s own text, cut at a word within 160 characters. If there is too little text to describe the item, the app does not invent any; the finding stays with you.
• In Shopify’s own fields. It writes the same search engine listing fields you would edit in the Shopify admin, not the theme.
• Only if it is still wrong. Just before writing, it reads the current value again. If you or another app has fixed it since the scan, it leaves it alone.
• With the old value kept. The previous value is saved first, so the change can be undone.
• Then checked on the live page. The app loads the page again and confirms the new title or description appears within the limits.

The home page, the blog index and policy pages are not written. Shopify keeps the home page’s title and description in Online Store, Preferences, and the finding points you there.

Image descriptions on Shield and Citadel

Google uses alt text, with computer vision and the page around the image, to understand what an image shows, and screen reader users hear it in place of the image. On Shield and Citadel the app writes a description for images that have none, with AI, and saves it on the image in Shopify, so it appears wherever the theme shows that image. Read it before you rely on it: a description should say what the image shows, in plain words, without a list of keywords.

What stays with you

These findings come with the change to make, because they are decisions about your theme or settings:

• Canonical tags and noindex. Usually set by the theme or an app; an accidental noindex on a product or collection page is the most urgent SEO finding there is, because it asks search engines to leave the page out.
• Structured data. Product structured data usually comes from the theme or a reviews app; invalid JSON-LD needs fixing where it is written.
• Broken links. Most come from menus, which you edit in Shopify’s navigation settings, or from old product addresses that need a redirect.
• Product details. A description, vendor or SKU lives in the product record.
• Anything beyond the page. Keyword research, rank tracking and backlinks are not what this tool does.

Which SEO findings to fix first

1. A noindex on a page that should be found. Nothing else matters for that page until it is gone.
2. Broken internal links. They waste a crawler’s time and a shopper’s click.
3. Missing titles and descriptions on products and collections. These pages earn the most search visits on most stores, and the app can write them.
4. Images with no description. Start with best sellers.
5. Structured data errors. Check them with your theme’s developer or the app that writes them.

The SEO topic collects the related guides, and what AccessComply checks and fixes covers the other areas. Free includes 3 scans a month and 3 fixes every 30 days; Starter, at $29 a month, writes every title and description fix without limit, and image descriptions come with Shield at $79. See pricing.

Sources

• Google Search Central, Influencing your title links in search results.
• Google Search Central, Control your snippets in search results.
• Google Search Central, Google image SEO best practices.
• Shopify Help Center, Adding keywords for SEO to your Shopify store.
• Shopify Help Center, Setting your online store preferences.