How to Migrate from WooCommerce to Shopify and Keep Your Australian SEO Intact

Highlights

• Migrating from WooCommerce to Shopify involves transferring product data, customer records, and order history.
• SEO preservation includes redirecting URLs, maintaining metadata, and avoiding content duplication.
• SmartOSC specializes in Shopify migrations for Australian businesses, ensuring performance, compliance, and continuity.

Why Move from WooCommerce to Shopify?

Shopify Advantages Over WooCommerce

Understanding how to migrate from WooCommerce to Shopify is essential for Australian businesses looking to upgrade to a more secure, scalable, and low-maintenance eCommerce solution. While WooCommerce provides flexibility through its open-source framework, Shopify stands out with its fully managed environment, offering simplified store management, faster performance, and streamlined maintenance. Making the switch can unlock greater efficiency and long-term growth opportunities for your online store. In fact, Shopify powers roughly 42 % of all online stores in Australia (about 142,000 sites), making it the dominant eCommerce platform in the region.

1. Fully Hosted Infrastructure

Unlike WooCommerce, which requires users to manage their own hosting, updates, and security patches, Shopify is a fully hosted SaaS platform. This means Shopify handles:

• Server maintenance and uptime reliability
• SSL certification and security compliance
• Performance optimization (such as caching and CDN support)

This reduces the burden on in-house technical teams and eliminates the need for external hosting providers, freeing up resources to focus on growth and customer experience.

2. Simplified User Interface

One of the key reasons businesses explore how to migrate from WooCommerce to Shopify is Shopify’s intuitive, user-friendly admin dashboard, built with store owners and marketers in mind, not just developers. With Shopify, tasks like adding products, managing promotions, accessing analytics, or customizing themes can be handled easily without coding expertise.

In contrast, WooCommerce relies heavily on the WordPress ecosystem, often requiring multiple plugins and custom configurations even for basic functions. Migrating to Shopify simplifies day-to-day store management, making it an attractive choice for growing eCommerce businesses.

3. Superior Scalability for Growing Brands

As your business grows, Shopify grows with you. Whether you’re handling a few hundred or tens of thousands of SKUs, Shopify’s infrastructure can handle spikes in traffic and sales volume without impacting site speed or user experience. Features like Shopify Flow, Launchpad, and Shopify Plus (for enterprises) make it easy to automate and scale operations, whereas WooCommerce may need constant manual optimization and server upgrades.

4. Access to Expert Support and Ecosystem

Shopify provides 24/7 customer support via chat, phone, and email, something WooCommerce typically lacks unless you engage third-party developers. Additionally, Shopify’s ecosystem includes:

• Thousands of vetted apps in the Shopify App Store
• A vast network of certified partners, designers, and developers
• Built-in education resources and community support

This makes it easier to find reliable help and expand your store’s capabilities as needed.

Local Considerations for Australian Stores

When considering how to migrate from WooCommerce to Shopify, it’s important to recognize that Shopify isn’t just a global platform, it’s also tailored to support the specific needs of Australian eCommerce businesses. From local payment gateways and tax settings to fast, reliable hosting across the region, Shopify offers a localized experience that helps Australian merchants scale with confidence. Here’s why it’s particularly well-suited for this market:

1. Native GST Support

Shopify provides built-in functionality to configure Australian tax rules, including GST. Merchants can:

• Automatically apply 10% GST to orders
• Generate GST-inclusive pricing
• Set up compliant tax invoices and reports for ATO submissions

This reduces the need for custom tax plugins and ensures compliance with local regulations.

2. Local Payment Gateway Integration

Australian consumers prefer flexible payment methods, and Shopify integrates seamlessly with popular gateways including:

• Afterpay and Zip Pay for buy-now-pay-later options
• POLi Payments for direct bank transfers
• PayPal, Shopify Payments, and credit/debit card processing for broader coverage

These integrations help maximize conversions at checkout by supporting locally trusted options.

3. Australian Shipping and Fulfillment

Shopify connects directly with local shipping providers like Australia Post and Sendle, making it easier to:

• Automate real-time shipping rates
• Print shipping labels directly from the dashboard
• Offer transparent tracking and delivery options for customers

These localized logistics features create a smoother fulfillment process and improve post-purchase satisfaction.

See more: BigCommerce to Shopify Migration: The Complete Step-by-Step Guide in Australia

Step-by-Step Guide: How to Migrate from WooCommerce to Shopify

Step 1: Backup and Prepare Your WooCommerce Store

• Export all essential data: products, customers, orders, media, and SEO metadata.
• Document custom fields, product variants, and permalink structure.
• Review plugins and integrations currently in use.

Step 2: Set Up Your Shopify Store

• Choose a Shopify plan based on your business size and goals.
• Select a responsive theme optimized for mobile users.
• Configure core settings: taxes (10% GST), AUD currency, and regional shipping zones.

Step 3: Import Data into Shopify

• Use tools like Matrixify or LitExtension for accurate import.
• Migrate:
  • Product names, descriptions, SKUs, prices, and images
  • Customer account details and purchase history
  • Categories and collections
  • Blog posts and static pages

Step 4: Set Up Redirects to Preserve SEO

• Map old WooCommerce URLs to new Shopify equivalents.
• Apply 301 redirects to retain link equity.
• Generate and submit a new XML sitemap to Google Search Console.

Step 5: Recreate On-Page SEO Elements

• Manually reapply:
  • Page titles and meta descriptions
  • Image alt attributes
  • Structured data or schema markup, if previously used

Step 6: Test and Launch

• Conduct full QA testing: navigation, mobile responsiveness, product filtering, and checkout flow.
• Perform a soft launch, monitor analytics, and review error logs and crawl reports.

Common Migration Pitfalls (and How to Avoid Them)

Learning how to migrate from WooCommerce to Shopify can unlock major advantages for your eCommerce business, but without a well-structured plan, the process can introduce risks that affect SEO performance and customer experience. Two of the most common challenges store owners face during migration involve search ranking drops and data inconsistencies. Below, we outline these challenges along with proven strategies to overcome them and ensure a smooth, SEO-friendly transition.

1. Loss of Metadata and SEO Tags

When exploring how to migrate from WooCommerce to Shopify, one of the most overlooked yet critical concerns is the loss of on-page SEO elements, like meta titles, descriptions, image alt text, and schema markup. These components play a key role in how your store is indexed and displayed in search engine results, directly influencing click-through rates and organic traffic performance. Preserving them during migration is essential to maintaining your online visibility and search equity.

Why It Happens

WooCommerce stores typically rely on plugins like Yoast SEO or Rank Math to manage metadata. When exporting your store data, these SEO fields are not always included in standard product or page exports, especially if stored in custom database tables or fields.

How to Avoid It

• Perform a full SEO audit of your WooCommerce store before migration. Use tools like Screaming Frog or Ahrefs to crawl and export all meta titles, meta descriptions, H1 headers, canonical tags, image alt texts, and structured data.
• Export SEO data manually from your WooCommerce database or use dedicated SEO plugins that allow exporting metadata in bulk (e.g., Yoast SEO Premium’s export tool).
• In Shopify, reapply SEO data either manually or through apps like:
  • Smart SEO – Ideal for bulk metadata management and structured data
  • Plug in SEO – Helps identify missing SEO elements post-migration
  • SEO Manager – Offers real-time optimization and keyword insights
• Use Shopify’s native SEO settings under Products, Pages, and Collections to double-check and customize meta tags after import.

By taking these steps, you preserve your store’s keyword relevance and ensure that your new Shopify store maintains (or even improves) its search engine visibility.

2. Broken Links and 404 Errors

A common challenge when learning how to migrate from WooCommerce to Shopify is dealing with broken links, particularly if your WooCommerce URL structure differs from Shopify’s default format. If not properly managed, this can lead to “404 Not Found” errors that frustrate users and harm your site’s credibility in the eyes of search engines, potentially causing a drop in rankings. Implementing proper URL redirects is essential to maintaining SEO performance and delivering a seamless user experience post-migration.

Why It Happens

WooCommerce URLs typically follow a different pattern (e.g., /product/, /category/, or /blog/) than Shopify’s structure (e.g., /products/, /collections/, /blogs/news/). Without a proper redirect strategy, existing links from Google, emails, or backlinks will lead to errors post-migration.

How to Avoid It

• Crawl your entire WooCommerce website using a tool like Screaming Frog or Sitebulb to generate a complete list of existing URLs.
• Create a URL mapping document that pairs each WooCommerce URL with its new Shopify equivalent. This should include:
  • Product pages
  • Category/collection pages
  • Blog posts
  • Custom landing pages
• Use Shopify’s built-in 301 Redirect Manager to manually redirect old URLs to new paths. This can be done under Online Store > Navigation > URL Redirects.
• For bulk redirects, use Shopify apps like:
  • Easy Redirects by ESC – Useful for importing redirect CSVs and tracking redirect health
  • Bulk 301 Redirects – Helps automate mapping and cleanup
• Post-launch SEO monitoring: Once your store goes live, submit the new XML sitemap in Google Search Console and actively monitor for:
  • Crawl errors
  • 404 pages
  • URL indexing status
• Leverage canonical tags and update backlinks where possible to ensure long-term SEO health.

By planning ahead and implementing a thorough redirect strategy, you can protect your hard-earned SEO equity and deliver a seamless browsing experience for both search engines and human visitors.

Watch more: Everything You Need to Know About Shopify Migration in Australia

How SmartOSC Supports Your WooCommerce to Shopify Migration in Australia

SmartOSC provides end-to-end WooCommerce to Shopify migration services designed specifically for Australian businesses. From the early planning stages to launch and post-migration optimization, our approach ensures that every critical detail is handled with care. Whether you’re running a mid-sized retail brand or a fast-scaling enterprise, our team helps you transition smoothly without sacrificing SEO performance or data quality.

Our migration process includes:

• Strategic Planning and Data Mapping: We start by auditing your existing WooCommerce store, products, categories, customer profiles, orders, metadata, and more, and build a detailed migration roadmap tailored to your business model.
• Data Integrity Assurance: Our team ensures the safe transfer of all product data, customer records, order history, images, and reviews. We validate every import step to guarantee no information is lost or misaligned.
• Australian Market Localization: We configure your new Shopify store to comply with GST rules, and set up integrations with leading local payment gateways like Afterpay, Zip, and POLi. Shipping is optimized with providers like Australia Post and Sendle.
• Post-Launch Performance Monitoring: Once your Shopify store is live, we actively monitor site performance, fix crawl errors, analyze user behavior, and implement conversion rate optimization (CRO) strategies to help you grow faster.

SmartOSC recently partnered with a Melbourne-based consumer electronics retailer to guide them through how to migrate from WooCommerce to Shopify. By following a strategic, SEO-conscious approach, the transition was smooth and highly effective. The results spoke for themselves:

• 97% of organic traffic was retained, thanks to proper SEO migration and redirects.
• Bounce rate dropped by 22% in the first 30 days, reflecting improved site structure and mobile performance.
• The brand also saw higher checkout completion rates and faster load times across devices.

With SmartOSC as your partner, Shopify migration becomes not just a technical shift, but a strategic upgrade for long-term growth in the Australian eCommerce landscape.

FAQs: How to Migrate from WooCommerce to Shopify

Can I migrate my customer accounts from WooCommerce to Shopify?

Yes, you can migrate customer accounts from WooCommerce to Shopify. This includes essential data such as customer names, email addresses, order histories, and account creation dates. Tools like Matrixify or custom migration scripts make it possible to transfer this information accurately. After migration, businesses can send account activation emails to customers, allowing them to securely access their new accounts on the Shopify platform.

What tools are best for WooCommerce to Shopify migration?

Matrixify and LitExtension are two of the most trusted and widely used tools for migrating from WooCommerce to Shopify. They support the structured transfer of products, categories, customer records, order data, blog posts, and more. For businesses with complex data structures or unique requirements, SmartOSC also provides proprietary migration scripts and full-service support to ensure seamless execution, preserving relationships across all data types.

Will I lose my SEO rankings after migrating?

If the migration is handled correctly, your SEO rankings should not be negatively impacted. Key SEO practices must be followed, including implementing proper 301 redirects from your old WooCommerce URLs to the corresponding Shopify URLs, maintaining your metadata such as titles and descriptions, and reapplying image alt text and structured data. It’s also essential to submit your updated XML sitemap to Google Search Console post-launch. SmartOSC ensures all these steps are covered to help maintain or even enhance your organic search performance.

Can I keep my existing blog content?

Yes, your existing blog content can be retained during the migration. Posts and static pages from WooCommerce can be exported and then reformatted to fit Shopify’s content management system. Although Shopify structures content differently, all posts can be manually adjusted or automated through tools to maintain the original formatting, metadata, and URLs. SmartOSC ensures that blog content migration is handled with care to preserve your SEO equity and audience engagement.

Conclusion

Understanding how to migrate from WooCommerce to Shopify is key to preserving your hard-earned SEO while upgrading your eCommerce platform. With strategic planning, the right tools, and expert support from SmartOSC, your Australian business can transition smoothly, unlocking Shopify’s scalability, simplicity, and performance without sacrificing organic traffic or brand authority. Contact us now!