Fix It: Filenames

Fix This Issue 

If you are getting this error: 

You’ll need to change the filenames that are flagged by our app. 

NOTE: The new UI does not flag the URLs yet, but this feature is coming soon. If you are on the new UI and have a filename error, you can ignore it for now. You can also look at the filename recommendations below - filenames can help your SEO if you use your keywords in them! 

You can do this by: 

  1. Finding those files on your drive
  2. Renaming them using the suggestions below
  3. Replacing the file on your live site with the renamed file. 

Your filenames are treated similarly to alt-text by search engines. Remember that the search engine doesn’t see images or embedded files, they only read the code. 

If your filename is: 

cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0017/3287/0210/files/1_275x.jpg

It doesn’t really give any information. 1 could be anything! 

But if instead it’s: 

cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0017/3287/0210/files/coffee-beans.jpg

Then the search engine knows it’s a file that contains an image of coffee beans. 

You can only modify the part of the keyword that comes after /files/ 

If you repeat this in your alt-text, now your keywords are appearing twice, without the website looking like you’re stuffing keywords into the on-page text. 

Filename Recommendations 

  • The filename should describe the content of the file 
  • The filename should use your primary keyword phrase
  • Use dashes “-” rather than underscores “_” in your filenames. Dashes connect words, but underscores act as a hard stop, so the words will not be linked. 
  • Keep your filename around 4-6 words long 
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