How to Back Up Your Shopify SEO Before Installing an App

Many SEO and image apps run an 'autopilot' or bulk optimize on first install that can rewrite meta titles, descriptions, tags and alt text across hundreds of products at once. Shopify keeps no version history for these fields, so there is no native undo and no record of what they said before. Backing up first is the only way to guarantee you can get your original values back if the app's first run is not what you wanted.

If you didn't already have a backup, those old values are gone — Shopify keeps no history.

The steps below recover what you can. To make the next time a 1-click undo instead of hours of CSV work: a daily snapshot of every SEO field. Free to monitor, no card — and SEO Vault only reads your store unless you click restore.

Protect my SEO free — never lose it again →

Step by step

List exactly which fields the app can edit (meta titles, meta descriptions, tags, handles, alt text, schema) so you know what to capture - and turn off any auto-optimize/autopilot toggle during install so nothing changes before you've backed up.
Export your products to CSV (Products > Export > All products): it includes the SEO Title, SEO Description, Tags and Image Alt Text columns wherever you customized them. Keep the file dated and untouched as your restore point.
The product export does NOT cover collection, page or blog meta - Shopify has no native export for those, so copy each collection's Page title and Meta description by hand, or use the Admin API or a tool like Matrixify to capture them.
A one-off CSV only covers what you remembered to export, on one day. Run a daily snapshot of every SEO field - products and collections included - so the version from the day before any install is always one click away. SEO Vault does this automatically and flags bulk changes the day they happen.

Source: Shopify Help Center: Exporting products with a CSV file; Shopify Help Center: editing a product's search engine listing

Related fixes

Never lose your SEO to an app again

SEO Vault keeps a daily snapshot of every SEO field on your store — meta titles, descriptions, alt-text, tags, handles (products AND collections) — and emails you the moment something changes in bulk, with the likely app responsible. One click restores yesterday's state, just the SEO fields. Free to monitor and get alerted; $14/mo for 1-click restore.

Protect my SEO — free →

✓ Free forever to monitor✓ No credit card✓ Read-only — never edits your store unless you restore✓ Installs in 1 click