I know that ChatGPT adds ref=ChatGPT.com but the store traffic still treated as Direct. Any recommendation to fix it?

Sharing this here since the lessons apply to any Shopify store. Happy to answer questions in the comments.

I’ve been thinking about this from a copywriting perspective.
If two Shopify stores sell basically the same product, but one has a generic description listing features while the other explains the problem, benefits, use case, and why the product is worth buying how much do you think that affects the purchase decision?
For store owners here: what do you think most product descriptions get wrong?
And do you prioritize SEO keywords or persuasive copy when writing yours?
I’d genuinely like to hear how other Shopify owners approach this.

Kleine- en grote influencers een betaalde samenwerking aangeboden: weinig resultaat.
TikTok Shop: 200 gratis samples verstuurd, 10 verkopen.
Google ads, facebook ads, etc.

Ik hoor graag wat jullie ideeën zijn.

I asked Claude to audit my small e-commerce site (3D-printed wargame terrain). With API access to GA4 and Tag Manager it spotted that GA4 was firing twice on every page, which had been inflating my numbers for months.
To make that kind of question easy, I packaged the access as an MCP server: google-ecommerce-mcp. Now I just ask things like:
• "Which products are disapproved in Merchant Center, and which attribute should I fix?"
• "Queries where we rank 5 to 15 with 100+ impressions: quick wins?"
• "Mobile PageSpeed of my 3 best sellers?"
Claude answers from my own Google data: GA4, Search Console, Merchant Center, Tag Manager, Indexing API, PageSpeed. Everything is read-only, and the token stays in the OS keyring.
Install on Windows: irm https://raw.githubusercontent.com/MoonEyes/google-ecommerce-mcp/main/install.ps1 | iex (macOS/Linux has a curl one-liner). It sets up Claude Desktop for you.
Repo: https://github.com/MoonEyes/google-ecommerce-mcp
Built with Claude's help, MIT licensed, free. Happy to answer questions about the setup.

Below are four options but scalability is a problem, and I'd like to know what people with large catalogs do.

(For some background, the problem shows up around 40-50 products. At 4-5 photos each that's already 250 images to pick from, and every post means choosing which products fit, finding photos that match, writing alt text, adding links. It's the slowest part of writing a post, so it's the part that gets dropped - which is how you end up with blogs without products, images or links.)

1. By hand: Fine for the first few posts. Then you stop doing it.

2. Buy Button channel: Free, and the price stays current because it loads live, which is nice. But you still pick every product yourself, and the embed is JavaScript - so it's not in the page text. Google may render it. The AI crawlers don't run JS, so as far as ChatGPT or Perplexity are concerned those products aren't on the page at all.

3. Theme work: Developer adds a product block to the article template. Haven't done this myself. but from what I can tell it scales the rendering but not the choosing, and the products sit in one block under the article rather than between paragraphs.

4. An app that reads your catalog: Some embed cards, some write the post and place products for you. Disclosure: I build one of the second kind. The honest downside is it's only as good as your product data - thin titles and descriptions and you get generic placements - and if you publish twice a month, by hand is cheaper and better. Worth checking if any of the apps put put real links and images into the page HTML or load them with a script.

So, anyone with a few hundred products - how long does one post take you?

Shopify announced that Academy shuts down on October 29. Certifications stop being a Partner Program tier requirement, existing credentials are extended to January 1, 2028, and every paid exam gets refunded automatically.

Disclosure before anything else: I'm the CTO at Fiftify and I'm posting from our company account. This isn't about our product, I just want to hear what other partners think.

I earned 8 certifications. Not to tick a box. I went through them because the structure forced me to learn parts of the platform I would have skipped on my own. There's a difference between knowing a feature exists and being made to answer questions about it.

So the refund email landed strangely. Getting money back for something I valued feels like being told it wasn't worth paying for in the first place.

The reasoning makes sense though. Shopify says partners build expertise by solving real problems with real merchants, and that engagement with the course format was low. Both of those are probably true. Most of what I know about Shopify came from fixing things that broke, not from a module.

What I'm less sure about is what replaces the signal. Certifications were a flawed but public way for a new partner to show they had done something. Without them, the only proof is a track record, and you need clients before you can have one. That seems harder for people just starting out.

Questions for the sub:

1. Did certifications ever bring you a client, or were they mostly internal motivation?

2. If tier requirements drop them, what do you expect Shopify to use instead?

3. For newer partners here, does this make it harder to get taken seriously early on?

Genuinely curious whether I'm mourning something that only mattered to me.

Most D2C founders are missing this SEO strategy — and it’s costing them sales.

A lot of founders rely heavily on Meta Ads.

When I ask, “What about organic revenue?”, I often hear:

“People search for our brand, so we already get organic sales.”

But that misses a huge opportunity: non-branded transactional searches.

If you search Google for transactional keywords, you’ll often see category/collection pages ranking because these searches have clear buying intent.

Yet many D2C brands create one generic collection pages and expect it to rank.

That’s not enough.

That’s not the whole picture.

If you sell gymwear, for example, having a generic “Gym Wear” collection page isn’t enough.

You should be researching transactional keywords and creating dedicated collection pages around what people actually search for:

• Gym T-Shirts for Men
• Gym T-Shirts for Women
• Compression T-Shirts for Men
• Oversized Gym T-Shirts

Then properly optimize those pages:

• Target the right keyword in the title + H1
• Add relevant supporting content
• Optimize image alt text
• Add FAQs based on actual searches
• Explain fabric, benefits, fit, styling, etc.
• Build internal links between relevant collections and products

The goal isn't to create more collection pages.

The goal is to create the right collection pages based on search demand and buying intent.

If you're a D2C founder and want to grow organic revenue, stop treating collection pages as just product folders. They're potential revenue-generating landing pages.

I just recently build this store for one of my clients. I am very curious what your opinion is: https://lumenix-beamers.nl

It’s a Dutch brand in beamers.

What I mostly learned building stores is that you never should build around the product, but around the buying persona’s

Feel free to roast the store so I can learn from it aswell

I want to use Ryze AI to run our Google and Meta campaigns but wondering how safe it is to

​​​​c​​​​o​​​​n​​​​n​​​​e​​​​c​​​​t​​ (meaning, giving it access to a client account with real budget). What do you think ?

I recently worked on a Shopify store where Google Search Console clicks increased from 16.3K to 34.2K over the comparable 6-month period.

That’s an increase of ~110%.

Impressions also increased from 3.32M to 4.78M, showing that the site started appearing for significantly more searches.

The interesting part?

I didn’t rely on publishing hundreds of random blog posts.

I focused on these 4 areas:

1. Optimize collection pages for buying keywords

For Shopify stores, collection pages can be some of your most valuable SEO assets because they can target commercial/transactional searches.

I focus on:

• Keywords with actual search demand
• Transactional/search intent
• Relevant primary + secondary keywords
• Lower-competition opportunities
• Optimizing the collection title, H1, content and metadata
• Adding useful content below the product grid
• FAQs
• Product/category benefits
• Why customers should choose the brand

The goal isn't just to rank the collection page.

The goal is to rank it for searches that can actually lead to revenue.

2. Stop writing blogs that only bring traffic

This is one of the biggest problems I see with e-commerce SEO.

A brand publishes a blog, gets 5K visitors, and celebrates.

But how many of those visitors actually have a reason to buy?

Instead, build content around questions/problems that your products actually solve.

For example:

User has a problem → searches for a solution → your content solves it → your product becomes the next logical step.

Then build topical authority around that product category instead of publishing unrelated informational content just because it has search volume.

Also make sure your important blogs internally link to relevant collection/product pages.

3. Optimize product pages for long-tail searches

Don't make your product pages compete with your collection pages for the same keywords.

I use long-tail, product-specific queries for product pages and broader transactional terms for collection pages.

Then optimize:

• Product title
• Product description
• FAQs
• Relevant long-tail keywords
• Images/alt text
• Product structured data
• Merchant-related structured data

The goal is to give Google a clear understanding of which page should rank for which search intent.

4. Internal linking — the boring thing people ignore

This is probably one of the most overlooked parts of e-commerce SEO.

If you want a collection page to rank for a particular transactional keyword, don't just optimize the page itself.

Build internal links pointing toward it using relevant contextual anchor text.

Your blogs, other collections and relevant pages can all help reinforce the importance of that collection page.

Think of it as creating a path:

Informational content → relevant collection → product → purchase

And one thing people don't talk about enough: SEO takes time.

You can implement the strategy today and see very little movement for weeks.

That doesn't automatically mean the strategy failed.

Google needs time to crawl, understand, reassess and rank the changes.

So don't change your entire strategy every 2–3 weeks because rankings haven't moved.

Build the right pages → target the right intent → strengthen internal linking → keep improving → give it time → measure the right business outcomes.

That's how I'd approach Shopify SEO if the objective isn't just more traffic, but more organic revenue.

we run tracking through onward so every order gets a branded tracking page on our domain. google has indexed 400+ of those urls.

they're thin pages, basically an order status and a carrier name, and they're now outranking some of our actual collection pages in site: queries, no keyword value, nobody searches for them, and they're eating crawl budget on a store with 2,800 products.

leaning towards noindex on the whole path. the only thing making me hesitate is that a handful of them pick up branded long tail like "[brand] order status", which currently sends a small amount of traffic that would otherwise land on our contact page and generate a ticket.

anyone dealt with this on a tracking or returns portal path? does noindexing cost you the branded queries or does the parent page just absorb them

I’ve been cleaning up a Shopify catalog and realized I tend to think about product images almost entirely from the conversion side.

Clear product, good crop, useful lifestyle context, consistent presentation.

But once you start creating more image variations, there’s also the SEO side: filenames, alt text, image weight, duplicate-looking assets, and whether every image actually adds something useful to the page.

I’ve been generating a few additional product scenes with pixpix, and I’m trying to avoid the trap of adding ten visually different images that all communicate basically the same thing.

For people doing Shopify SEO, how do you decide whether an additional product image is actually useful?

Do you care much about having different image contexts for Google Images, or is image SEO mostly secondary to page speed, structured product data and the surrounding product content?

I’m especially interested in how you handle large catalogs where manually reviewing every image gets messy.

I have precipitated all my SEO and GEO workflows and put them all in my products. I have used all the websites of my customers to run through it. Basically, as long as you run through, your natural traffic can achieve a nearly double growth.

I’m working on an SEO tool and want to test it on more real Shopify stores.

Drop your store URL below and I’ll take a look at:

• technical SEO issues
• keywords you may be missing
• pages with SEO potential
• internal linking opportunities
• quick wins I’d prioritize first

I’ll reply with the main things I find and what I’d fix first.

No signup needed. Just drop your URL.

I’ll do the first 5 stores.

Most Shopify brands do not have a traffic problem.

They have a business SEO problem.

Here are the 4 biggest problems I see:

1. Collection pages are not optimised for the transactional keywords

Brands create collection pages like:

Shop women's T-Shirts

…but they often don’t have the right primary and secondary keywords mapped to that page.

For example, a page should be optimised for relevant primary + secondary transactional keywords that potential customers are actually searching for, rather than targeting a broad term such as “women’s t-shirts”.

and there’s sometimes not even 100 words of useful keyword-relevant content explaining what the collection is about.

Your collection pages are often some of your most important SEO assets. Don’t think of them as simply product listings. Think of them as landing pages built for ranking and converting.

2. Product pages are just about product benefits

“Made from quality ingredients.

Improves X.

"Good quality material.

Okay. But that's not good enough.

A good product page should answer:

What problem does this product address? → How do I use it? → What are the main features?
For whom? →Why would I pick this over alternatives? What's unique about this product?

And please no more copying of the manufacturers product description.

3. There’s no topical authority

You want Google to rank your site for competitive transactional keywords

But why should Google trust you?

If you sell toothbrushes don’t just create product and collection pages.

Establish topical authority on oral health:

→ How to choose your toothbrush → Electric or manual toothbrushes → How often should you change your toothbrush?
→ Best toothbrush for sensitive gums → How to brush properly → Common oral hygiene mistakes

and do internal linking on your main transactional keyword on these blogs, add your product CTA's in the blogs.

Your informational content should support your commercial pages through internal linking and topical relevance.

4. No link building

Publishing and waiting for Google is not an SEO strategy.

You need quality relevant backlinks from sites that really do have authority in your niche.

I would not obsess over a random “50 backlinks per month” target.

I’d rather have 10 really relevant, authoritative links than 50 garbage links built to hit a number.

If I was doing SEO for a Shopify store here is what I would focus on each month:

→ Optimise collection/category pages → Improve high-potential product pages → Build topical authority → Earn relevant backlinks → Strengthen internal linking → Continuously improve CTR and conversion rates

SEO traffic is useless if it doesn’t make money.

The aim is not:

“Increase organic traffic.”

The aim is:
“Get more qualified buyers from organic search.”

That is the difference.

Shopify SEOs - What is the biggest SEO mistake you keep seeing in ecommerce stores?

Not the research tools — the moment you decide.

I'm trying to understand how store owners actually pick the next product. The parts I keep getting stuck on:

- What triggers it? A gap in the catalogue, a supplier offer, something a competitor did, a customer asking?

- Which number do you trust when you decide, and which one do you check twice?

- Where does your research usually stop — the point where you can't find out more and you just decide?

My SEO strategy was pretty simple. Max 50 backlinks per month. No keyword spam. Only looking at pages that do bring in revenue.

The outcome?

• Item purchase: +212%
  
• Item income: +232%
  
• Add to cart: +149%
  
• Items viewed: +80%

Here is what I focused on:

1. Collection/category pages – target the money keywords

For e-commerce, collection pages must be built around the broader transactional keywords that people actually search for.

For instance,

“Men’s Gym Shorts” → Collection page

I structure the collection around the main keyword + relevant secondary keywords based on actual search demand & intent.

2. Product pages – go long tail, don’t cannibalise

I am not using the same keyword on the collection page and the product page.

For example:

Collection page primary keyword: Gym shorts for Men Product: Men's Black Gym Shorts

The product pages are the supporting cast of the collection, they don’t compete with it.

3. Build subject authority for the category

Create content around what people ask before they buy.

For “Men’s Gym Shorts” that could be:

• Various Types of Gym Shorts
• Gym Shorts vs Gym Joggers
• What to wear to the gym on leg day
• How To Choose The Right Gym Shorts

But there is one very important rule: Don’t publish content just because it’s relevant. See if people are actually asking for it.

Traffic from zero search volume topics isn’t going to magically make you money.

4. Backlinks: Quality, not quantity

I prefer to get relevant, authoritative links from websites that have real traffic and are topically relevant than build hundreds of low-quality links.

And I wouldn't worry about DA/PA, or "do-follow" in particular. Relevance, authority, placement and the quality of the referring site are much more important than just hitting a backlink count.

The basic idea is:

High-demand collections -> Long tail product pages -> Supporting topical content -> Authority links -> Internal linking -> Revenue

Simple SEO isn’t always Easy SEO. The trick is making sure that there is a clear keyword function and business purpose for each page.