Shopify Theme Maintenance: Quarterly Audit Checklist

Shopify themes degrade over time without active maintenance. Apps install scripts that fail to remove cleanly when uninstalled. Browsers update and break old polyfills. Search algorithms shift. Here is the quarterly maintenance checklist we run on every theme we manage.

Speed audit

Run Lighthouse mobile + desktop. Compare to last quarter.

Look for new render-blocking resources from recently-installed apps.

Audit image sizes — recently-uploaded large images can drag down LCP.

Check Web Vitals real-user data in Search Console.

Broken link scan

Use Screaming Frog or a Shopify app like Detective Pikachu to scan for 404s.

Internal 404s (broken navigation): fix immediately.

External 404s on pages no longer needed: redirect via Shopify admin → Online Store → Navigation → URL Redirects.

App audit

List installed apps. Flag any unused in last 30 days for uninstall.

Check for app overlaps (two apps doing similar things).

Test critical paths after uninstalling: cart → checkout → payment success.

Security check

Verify SSL is current and not expiring (Shopify handles this, but verify).

Verify staff accounts: remove staff who left the team.

Audit Shopify app permissions: any app you do not actively use should be uninstalled (each retains data access until uninstalled).

Run a fresh Lighthouse Best Practices audit. Look for security warnings.

SEO health

Search Console: any new errors? Core Web Vitals trending down?

Indexation: count of indexed pages should be roughly stable or growing. Sudden drops mean indexation problems.

Sitemap submitted and current.

Check rankings on top 20 keywords. Significant drops warrant investigation.

Inventory and product hygiene

Out-of-stock products: should they be hidden, archived, or kept visible? Out-of-stock visible drives email captures via 'Notify me' but kills conversion if too many.

Discontinued products: archive them. They should still 200 (live) for SEO but be removed from collections.

Image alt text: spot-check 10 random products. Alt text in place?

Email and marketing

Klaviyo flow performance: any flow with open rate below 15 percent or click rate below 1 percent? Audit and rewrite.

Suppression list: clean. People who hard-bounced should not be re-emailed.

Pop-up performance: conversion rate above 2 percent? If not, refresh the offer or design.

Customer support hygiene

Common support questions: log them. The top 10 should be on the FAQ page.

Response time: averaging under 4 hours? If not, automation or staffing fix.

Reviews: respond to every public review (Google, Trustpilot, marketplace). Unresponded reviews damage brand.

What to do with the audit findings

Prioritize by impact. Speed regressions and broken links are urgent. App audits and content hygiene can wait until end of quarter.

Fix in batches, not one-by-one. Saturday morning maintenance windows minimize customer impact.