HOLLOW POINT
Shopify Technical SEO

Technical SEO audit Dubai

Most SEO agencies run a crawl tool and hand you a spreadsheet. We write Shopify theme code every day, which means we understand why your store has problems and exactly how to fix them at the source.
The UAE ecommerce market is growing fast, and competition for organic traffic in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and across the GCC is getting fierce. If your Shopify store has plateaued or you're watching competitors outrank you despite having weaker products, there's almost certainly a technical issue underneath. Sometimes it's obvious, like canonical tags pointing to the wrong URL. Other times it's buried in your theme's Liquid code where most agencies wouldn't think to look.Bilingual stores face additional complexity. Arabic and English content requires proper hreflang implementation, and most Shopify themes don't handle this well out of the box. We've seen stores where Google was indexing the wrong language version for 60% of their target keywords.

What we audit

Crawlability

Google needs to reach every product, collection, and content page on your store. Shopify generates thousands of URL variants from filters and pagination alone. If your crawl budget is being wasted on low-value pages, the ones that matter never get indexed properly.

Indexation

We regularly find UAE Shopify stores with 30-40% of their pages excluded from Google's index. Duplicate content from product variants, misconfigured canonical tags, and thin collection pages are the usual culprits.

Core Web Vitals

LCP, INP, CLS. These affect both rankings and whether someone actually stays on your site long enough to buy. With mobile traffic dominating the UAE market, passing these thresholds matters.

Schema markup

Product schema, organisation schema, FAQ schema. When implemented correctly, your search listings show prices, ratings, and availability. Most Shopify themes get this partially right at best.

Hreflang configuration

Running Arabic and English versions of your store? Hreflang tells Google which version to serve to which audience. Get it wrong and your Arabic pages show up for English queries, or worse, neither version ranks.

Why Shopify stores need specialised technical SEO

Shopify is excellent for getting a store live quickly. But the platform comes with technical constraints that generic SEO agencies don't know how to work around. Collection filtering creates thousands of near-duplicate URLs. The default robots.txt blocks paths you might want indexed. Product variants generate separate URLs that cannibalise each other.For UAE stores running both Arabic and English content, these problems multiply. You're not just managing one set of URLs; you're managing two, with hreflang tags that need to be correct on every single page. One misconfigured template can affect hundreds of product pages overnight.We've been building and optimising Shopify stores for years. Our developers understand the platform at a code level, which means we fix things that other agencies would tell you are "just how Shopify works."

Our process

01

Discovery

We start by understanding your business, not your code. Which products and collections drive the most revenue? Where are you trying to grow? This shapes how we prioritise every finding in the audit.
02

Technical audit

We crawl your store with multiple tools and manual inspection. Each issue gets a clear explanation of what it is, why it matters for your revenue, and exactly how to fix it. No jargon-filled spreadsheets.
03

Prioritisation

A 200-item list of issues helps nobody. We rank every finding by estimated revenue impact so your team knows what to fix first. Some issues affect 3 pages. Others affect 3,000.
04

Implementation

We fix issues directly in your Shopify theme code. Canonical tags, schema markup, render-blocking scripts, sitemap configuration. If you have an in-house team, we provide detailed specs they can follow.
05

Monitoring

After implementation, we track crawl health, indexation rates, and Core Web Vitals. New issues appear as your catalogue changes. We catch them before they become problems.

What the audit covers

Full site crawl analysis across every URL
Server response codes and redirect chain mapping
Canonical tag review and correction plan
Internal linking structure assessment
JavaScript rendering audit
Mobile usability testing
Core Web Vitals field and lab data analysis
Schema markup validation and gaps
XML sitemap accuracy check
Robots.txt and meta robots review
Hreflang implementation audit
Log file analysis (where access is available)

Related services

A technical audit is often the starting point. From there, our Shopify SEO service provides ongoing optimisation and content strategy tailored to the UAE market. For stores struggling with load times, our speed optimisation service goes deep on Core Web Vitals. And our development team can implement any structural changes identified during the audit. For broader organic growth strategy, see our ecommerce SEO service.

Pricing

One-off technical audits start from $2,000 depending on store size and complexity. Ongoing technical SEO retainers from $2,800/month including monitoring, regular crawls, and implementation support.We work with Shopify and Shopify Plus stores across the UAE and GCC region.

Common questions

How much does a technical SEO audit cost?

One-off audits start from $2,000, depending on the size and complexity of your store. A 500-product store is a different job to a 15,000-product one. We'll give you an exact price after an initial look at your site.

How long does the audit take?

Typically 2-3 weeks from start to delivery. Larger stores or those with complex multilingual setups may take longer. Implementation timelines depend on scope and whether we're doing the work or handing specs to your team.

Can you work alongside our existing SEO agency?

Yes, and we often do. Many agencies are strong on content and link building but lack the Shopify-specific technical knowledge. We handle the code-level work and coordinate with your agency on priorities.

Do you handle Arabic language technical SEO?

Yes. We work with bilingual stores including proper Arabic implementation, RTL layout considerations, and hreflang configuration. Getting the technical foundation right for multilingual stores is one of the more complex things we do.

Is this a one-time thing or ongoing?

Either. Many clients start with a one-off audit to identify and fix existing problems, then move to ongoing monitoring. Every time you add products, install apps, or update your theme, new technical issues can appear.

Fix what's holding your store back

No aggressive sales pitch. We'll look at your site, tell you honestly what we find, and give you a clear plan with pricing before any work starts.Book a Technical Audit