Shopify SEO apps, compared.

What Shopify does for SEO on its own

Before comparing apps, it helps to know what Shopify already handles, because a good SEO app should build on it rather than duplicate it.

Every Shopify store can set an SEO title, meta description and URL handle for products, collections, pages and blog posts, under "Search engine listing" in the admin. Shopify generates a sitemap.xml automatically and keeps it up to date as you add products. It adds canonical tags so the same product reached through different collection URLs points search engines to one main address. You can edit robots.txt through a theme template, and Shopify has a built-in URL redirect tool under Online Store navigation, which it also uses when you change a handle and tick the redirect option.

That's a solid base. What Shopify doesn't do is help you decide what to write. There's no keyphrase or readability analysis, no templates for filling in titles across a large catalog, no way to edit SEO fields for hundreds of products at once in the admin, and structured data depends entirely on your theme. Some themes output good Product schema; others output little or none, or duplicate it.

What an SEO app should add

A Shopify SEO app earns its place by filling those gaps:

• Guidance while you write. Keyphrase and readability checks that tell you whether a product or post is likely to rank for what you want.
• Templates and bulk editing. A way to give every product a sensible title and description without writing thousands by hand.
• Reliable structured data. Product, collection and article schema that's complete and consistent regardless of your theme.
• Social tags. Control over how products look when shared.
• Clean storefront output. No slow scripts, no theme edits you can't undo, and no duplicate tags fighting with your theme.

The two apps compared on this page approach these differently, and Shopify's own tools are the baseline both are measured against.

Yoast SEO for Shopify

Yoast SEO for Shopify brings Yoast's familiar approach to Shopify. It's a hosted app in the Shopify App Store, installs in a minute, and offers SEO and readability analysis in the product editor, structured data for your store, and social previews. It costs $19 a month, or $190 a year, after a free trial, according to its App Store listing in November 2026.

Its strengths are convenience and polish. You don't need a developer, Yoast handles hosting and updates, and the interface will feel familiar if you've used Yoast SEO on WordPress. The trade-off is the ongoing cost, which applies to every store you run it on.

Rilea SEO for Shopify

Rilea SEO for Shopify is free. It runs as an embedded app inside your Shopify admin and adds a full SEO editor for products, collections, pages, blog posts and blogs, with a Google preview that truncates titles by pixel width, as Google does.

Analysis. Keyphrase checks cover the SEO title, meta description, URL, first paragraph, subheadings, image alt text, density and spread, and warn you when a keyphrase is already used on another item. Product checks flag fewer than three images, missing alt text, descriptions copied from another product, missing price or availability, and variants without SKUs. Readability and inclusive-language checks run alongside.

Templates and bulk tools. Title and description templates use variables such as the product title, vendor and price, with a preview before anything changes and an undo afterwards. A grid editor works like a spreadsheet, find and replace works across titles and descriptions, and CSV export and import let you edit everything offline.

Structured data. Product schema is priced in the shopper's currency, includes GTIN from barcodes, and lists an offer per variant for products with up to 10 variants, plus shipping and returns details if you set them. Collections, blog posts and pages get their own schema, and breadcrumbs follow each product's primary collection.

Clean output. Everything on the storefront comes from a theme app extension, so the app never edits theme files and adds no scripts of its own. A schema validator and theme setup check find duplicate schema, social tags and canonical tags between the app and your theme.

The trade-off is setup. Rilea SEO for Shopify is an early release and self-hosted, so a developer deploys it to your own server and installs it on the store as a custom app. Redirects, a 404 monitor, sitemap controls, internal links and local SEO for Shopify are still being built.

How to choose

Use Shopify's built-in tools alone if you have a small catalog, you're happy writing titles and descriptions by hand, and your theme already outputs good Product schema. Check your product pages in Google's Rich Results Test before deciding.

Choose Yoast SEO for Shopify if you want analysis and schema without involving a developer, you value Yoast's support, and the monthly fee is fine for your store.

Choose Rilea SEO for Shopify if you have a developer or an agency, you manage a large catalog that benefits from templates and bulk editing, you want full control over structured data, or you run several stores and don't want a monthly fee on each.

Common Shopify SEO problems and how apps help

Duplicate product URLs

Shopify can show the same product at /products/name and at /collections/collection-name/products/name. Shopify's canonical tag points search engines to the main product URL, which handles most of the problem. An SEO app should leave that in place. Rilea SEO lets you set a custom canonical when you need one, and its theme setup check spots conflicts between your theme's canonical tag and the app's.

Duplicate or missing schema

Many themes print their own Product schema. Add an app that also prints schema and you can end up with two conflicting versions. Rilea SEO's schema validator shows every JSON-LD block on a page and marks which came from Rilea SEO and which from your theme, so you can turn one off.

Thin and duplicate descriptions

Stores often reuse supplier descriptions across similar products. Search engines treat near-identical pages as less useful. Rilea SEO's catalog scan flags descriptions copied across products so you know which ones to rewrite first.

Missing alt text

Product images without alt text miss out on image search and are less accessible. Rilea SEO's product checks list images without alt text, and the grid editor lets you fill them in quickly.

App bloat

Every app that loads scripts on your storefront can slow it down. Rilea SEO adds structured data and tags through a theme app extension that reads saved data, makes no outside requests and adds no JavaScript of its own.

Costs at a glance

Using Yoast SEO for Shopify's listed price of $19 a month:

• 1 store: $228 a year on monthly billing, or $190 on the yearly plan
• 3 stores: $684 a year on monthly billing, or $570 on the yearly plan
• 10 stores: $2,280 a year on monthly billing, or $1,900 on the yearly plan

Rilea SEO for Shopify costs nothing to use. Because it's self-hosted, you do pay for the server it runs on, which depends on your hosting choice, and for any developer time to set it up.

A Shopify SEO checklist

Whichever app you choose, or none, these are the basics worth covering on every Shopify store:

1. Write a unique SEO title and description for your homepage in Online Store, then Preferences. It's the one listing Shopify keeps separate from products and collections.
2. Give collections real descriptions. Collection pages often rank for broader searches than individual products, and a short, useful introduction helps.
3. Fill in alt text for product images. Describe what the image shows, including the product name and any variant such as colour.
4. Avoid copying supplier descriptions. Rewrite the descriptions for your most important products first.
5. Keep handles short and descriptive. If you change one, make sure Shopify creates a redirect from the old URL.
6. Check your structured data. Run a product page through Google's Rich Results Test and make sure there's one Product entry with price, availability and, ideally, a GTIN.
7. Submit your sitemap at yourstore.com/sitemap.xml in Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools.
8. Remove apps you no longer use. Old apps can leave scripts or tags behind in your theme.

Before you install any SEO app

A few questions save trouble later:

• Does it edit theme files? Apps that write to your theme can leave code behind when uninstalled. Theme app extensions can be switched off cleanly.
• Will it duplicate my theme's schema? Check whether the app can show you what's already on the page, and whether you'll need to turn something off.
• Where are my titles and descriptions stored? Apps that use Shopify's native SEO fields leave your data in place if you uninstall. Rilea SEO reads and writes those native fields.
• What does it cost across all my stores? A small monthly fee becomes a large yearly one across several stores.
• What data does it access? An SEO app doesn't need your customers' or orders' data. Rilea SEO doesn't request it.

What's coming next in Rilea SEO for Shopify

The current release focuses on the editor, analysis, bulk tools and structured data. The next releases add the rest of what the WordPress plugin already does. A redirect manager and 404 monitor come first, followed by sitemap controls, a robots.txt builder and IndexNow, then internal links, an orphaned content report and a site audit, then local SEO, image SEO and speed basics, and finally roles, an activity log, imports from other apps and a listing in the Shopify App Store. Every one of those updates will be free, for every store you install it on.