A Shopify store audit, and what it actually checks
A Shopify store audit is a pass over your live shop for things that fail without any error: a signup form that goes nowhere, links that share without an image, prices search engines can't read, and pages hidden from Google. Below are the twelve checks I run, in order.
Most of what goes wrong on a small store goes wrong quietly. Nothing errors, no dashboard turns red, and the shop just does a little worse than it should — for months. Here is the list I work through, so you can run most of it yourself.
The short version. A store audit checks the things that fail without telling you: whether your signup form is wired to anything that sends email, whether your links share with a picture, whether search engines can read your prices, and whether any page is accidentally hidden from search. Most of the fixes take about ten minutes each and need no developer.
The checks, in the order I run them
1. Does the signup form go anywhere?
The most common fault by a distance. The form submits, the visitor sees "thanks for subscribing", and the addresses collect into a list nobody has ever sent an email to. Test it in ten seconds: sign up on your own site from a phone that has never touched it, then open your email platform and check whether you appear. If you don't, the box is decorative.
2. Do your links share with an image?
When someone sends your shop to a friend, the preview comes from an og:image tag.
Without one, the link renders as a blank grey rectangle in messages, Slack and social. Word of
mouth is the one channel you can't buy, and a missing tag quietly discards it.
3. Can search engines read your prices?
A price a human can read is not the same as a price Google can read. Product pages need
structured data (Product schema with an offers block). Without it your
listing appears plainer than the shop next to you, for no reason you'd notice from the inside.
4. Is anything telling Google to ignore it?
A noindex tag left over from before launch will keep a page out of search forever
while the page works perfectly for anyone with the link. Check your live product and collection
pages, not just the homepage.
5–12. The rest of the list
| Check | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Page titles and meta descriptions | These are the clickable line and the grey text in search results. Missing ones get auto-filled with whatever text the page starts with — often a cookie notice. |
| Broken internal links | Usually a page renamed or unpublished while the menu still points at the old address. |
| Mobile rendering | Most storefront traffic is phones. A desktop-only layout is a checkout you can't complete. |
| Homepage response time | Slow first response costs you visitors before they see anything. |
| Analytics actually installed | A store with no analytics isn't measuring anything, and a store with two installed is double-counting. |
| Cross-storefront links | If you sell in more than one place, each should point at the other. The gap between storefronts is usually where the leaks are. |
| Abandoned-cart and welcome flows | Verified end to end, not just switched on. "Enabled" and "arriving" are different states. |
| Legal and contact pages reachable | Both build trust and are required by most payment providers. |
Common questions
What is a Shopify store audit?
A check of your live shop for things that fail quietly: forms that don't deliver, links that share without an image, prices search engines can't read, and pages hidden from Google. It finds what's broken, not what to sell.
How do I audit my Shopify store myself?
Work through the twelve checks on this page in order. The free checker on this site runs several of them for you in about ten seconds; the rest are settings in your theme editor and email platform.
How often should I audit my store?
Once when you launch, then any time you change themes, apps or email platform. Those three changes cause most silent breakage, because settings don't always carry across.
Do I need a developer?
Usually not. Nearly everything above is a setting in your theme editor or email platform. If a fix does need code, it's normally one line in the theme header.
What does an audit cost?
Mine is free and there's no call attached. Paid audits from agencies typically run a few hundred dollars and usually arrive as a slide deck.
Why am I getting traffic but no sales?
An audit can't answer that on its own, because price, product and audience matter more than any setting. What it can do is rule out the silent causes: a signup form that goes nowhere, prices that don't show in search, or a shop that doesn't work properly on a phone.
Or send me the link and I'll run it
I read the shop from the outside, the same way a customer's browser does, and write back in plain English: what's wrong, what it's costing, and how to fix each one yourself. Takes me about half an hour. No call, no pitch, and most of the fixes don't need me at all.
How this works → · The Shopify-specific SEO checks → · Run the free checker → · Watch the check run →