Search engine optimization (SEO) plug-ins are tools that “plug in” to your content management system. These tools aim to help you improve how your store shows up in search results while lessening the amount of manual work you have to do.
Backlinko’s analysis of four million Google search results found that the top three organic search results get a combined 54.4% of total clicks. Ranking in those top spots takes consistent SEO work, and plug-ins expedite or even automate much of it.
Here’s what SEO plug-ins do, which features are worth comparing, and which plug-ins can help you handle routine SEO work across your store.
What are SEO plug-ins?
SEO plug-ins are tools that help website owners optimize their pages for search without requiring technical expertise or hands-on code edits. They can also automate routine SEO tasks—writing alt text for images, flagging broken links, and adding schema markup for key product details—so search engines can read and present your store more easily.
For example, if you publish a blog post, an SEO plug-in could suggest an optimized title tag and meta description and flag areas where keywords could be inserted.
Different SEO plug-ins solve different parts of the optimization process:
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On-page optimization plug-ins. Update the parts of a page that affect rankings, as well as how it appears in search—page title, meta descriptions, headings, body copy, and image descriptions.
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Technical SEO tools. Identify behind-the-scenes issues that make it harder for search engines to read or navigate your site, like broken links, duplicate pages, or pages that can’t be crawled or indexed. Some also generate XML sitemaps, which give search engines a structured map of every page on your store.
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Schema and structured data plug-ins. Clearly label important details for search engines, such as price, availability, reviews, and shipping information.
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Site performance plug-ins. Screen for issues like large image files or slow-loading pages that hurt page speed scores, sometimes pulling Core Web Vitals data from Google Search Console.
SEO plug-ins help with execution, spotting and fixing issues, but using one (or multiple) doesn’t guarantee high rankings. Some plug-ins will score your website’s optimization level, but a perfect score just means you’ve passed the plug-in’s checks. Your success with SEO still depends on your overall SEO strategy, including the keywords you choose, content quality, site authority, and how well your pages match what searchers are looking for.
Top SEO plug-ins
- Yoast SEO
- Plug In SEO
- Tiny SEO Speed Image Optimizer
- JSON-LD for SEO
- SearchPie
- SEOWill–404 Link Redirect
Here are six SEO plug-ins that integrate with your Shopify store and what each does.
Yoast SEO
Yoast SEO for Shopify gives you SEO feedback as you write product pages, collection pages, or blog posts. While some plug-ins, such as SearchPie, scan your store after pages are published, Yoast checks the page as you edit and flags things like whether your target keyword appears in the title, description, intro, headings, URL, and image alt text.
It also gives readability feedback—whether sentences or paragraphs are too long, whether the copy uses too much passive voice, and whether the page is easy to follow. It’s useful for store owners who write blog content, buying guides, or detailed product pages and want help improving the copy before publishing.
Pricing: Yoast SEO for Shopify costs $19 per month or $190 per year, with a 14-day free trial.
Plug In SEO
Plug In SEO’s differentiator is AI-powered keyword research. It does keyword research page by page based on the page’s existing content and third-party keyword data, so each product and category page targets search terms people actually use, rather than keywords you guessed at.
Beyond keyword research, it scans your store for common SEO issues, such as missing or duplicate metadata or image alt text, and gives you a prioritized list of pages to review.
Each plan tier also includes different additional features. The Beginner plan includes lazy loading, so images load only as shoppers scroll rather than all at once, the Advanced plan includes broken link detection, and the Expert plan includes URL redirects and Google Search Console integration.
Pricing: Pricing starts at $29 per month, with higher plans at $49 and $79 per month. Plans are structured around store size and support needs, with the entry-level plan covering 20 pages and higher tiers scaling to 200 or 2,000 pages.
Tiny SEO Speed Image Optimizer
Tiny SEO Speed Image Optimizer focuses on image performance—compressing and resizing images, and generating alt text and file names. It’s a good fit for stores with large volumes of product photos, banners, or other visual content.
Pricing: Tiny SEO has a pay-as-you-go plan that is free to install and includes 50 free image optimizations per month. Paid plans cost $14 per month for Beginner, $23 for Advanced, and $49 for Expert. At these tiers, you’ll get access to features beyond image optimization, such as lazy loading (starting at Beginner), broken link detection and redirects (starting at Advanced), and Google Search Console insights (at Expert).
JSON‑LD for SEO
JSON-LD for SEO focuses on helping Google understand your product pages well enough to display rich product details in search results—price, availability, reviews, delivery, returns, and product images.
It does this by adding behind-the-scenes labels (called ecommerce schema markup) to your product pages, so Google can tell which number is the price, whether an item is in stock, what the review rating is, and what shipping or return details apply.
Pricing: JSON-LD for SEO costs $399 per year, with a seven-day free trial.
SearchPie
SearchPie allows bulk editing of page titles and descriptions, alt text, broken links, and slow-loading images. Its AutoPilot feature scans pages, flags issues, and fixes common problems across your store at once, using a mix of template-driven bulk updates, auto fixes, and AI-generated suggestions for you to review and approve.
It also integrates with Google Search Console, so you can review search-related issues, such as indexing statuses and mobile usability, in the app.
Pricing: Includes a free plan with bulk meta and alt tags. Paid plans range from $39 per month, which adds auto alt tags and AI-generated requests, to $99 per month, which adds keyword research and backlink building.
SEOWill–404 Link Redirect
SEOWill–404 Link Redirect helps clean up broken URLs that can occur when you delete products, change page links, or move from another ecommerce platform to Shopify. It tracks 404 errors—when shoppers or search engines land on a page that no longer exists—and lets you send those visitors to working pages instead. It does this with a mix of automatic detection and human review, and the option to create rules for fully automatic fixes.
It can also redirect groups of broken links at once. If many old product URLs follow the same pattern, you can create one rule that sends all of them to the right place instead of fixing each link separately. This is useful for stores with discontinued products, old sale pages, past campaign links, or collection URLs that have changed.
Pricing: 404 Link Redirect includes a free plan. The Pro plan costs $7.99 per month, or $60 per year, with a seven-day free trial, which includes fully automated redirects and real-time 404 tracking.
SEO plug-ins FAQ
Which plug-in is best for SEO?
The best SEO plug-in depends on your needs. Stores with large product photos that slow pages down may benefit from an image-focused plug-in, like Tiny SEO; those looking to consolidate page checks, metadata tools, broken link fixes, structured data, and Google Search Console reporting may benefit from a broader plug-in, like SearchPie.
How do SEO plug-ins work?
SEO plug-ins scan your store for specific issues, like missing page titles, missing meta descriptions, large image files, broken links, or product details that search engines may not read clearly. Some plug-ins also suggest fixes or let you apply updates across multiple pages at once, or connect to Google Search Console so you can review indexing and performance data inside the app.
What are the 4 types of SEO plug-ins?
Four common types of SEO plug-ins are:
- On-page optimization plug-ins. Handle titles, meta descriptions, headings, and alt text.
- Technical SEO tools. Find issues like broken links and can generate XML sitemaps to help search engines discover every page.
- Schema and structured data plug-ins. Label product details for search engines.
- Site performance plug-ins. Surface opportunities to increase page load speed.
