Uncategorized — Double Your Ecommerce

Before Black Friday: fix this one SEO mistake

kai@doubleyourecommerce.com (Kai Davis) — Wed, 03 Sep 2025 22:02:44 +0000

Heya Friend,

September is here. Crunch time before Black Friday/Cyber Monday.

Speaking of which, I’ve worked with a lot of Shopify stores on their SEO in 2025 and — lemme tell you — there’s one thing that 95% of Shopify stores I work with get wrong that keeps them from generating traffic or making sales.

It doesn’t matter if they’re working with an agency or handling their SEO themselves. Most Shopify store owners are just leaving money on the table with their collections and collection SEO.

Collections are the best way to get your Shopify store ranking and generating traffic for niche categorical / transactional terms where you can rank and drive converting traffic.

Think terms like “Organic Cotton Tea Towels,” “New York Tote Bags,” or “Professional Microscopes for Wine Authenticators.”

But most stores — even the ones that work with great agencies — end up creating too few collections (a half dozen, if that).
If stores do lean into creating collections, oftentimes the collections are under-optimized and missing the essential elements, like an SEO optimized SEO Title, a short + concise collection name, and an on-page collection description.
Google is a dumb robot, not a mind reader! If all the content you’re giving Google on a collection page is a one-word headline and product grid, they aren’t going to be able to figure out what this page should rank for.

The fix? Optimize your existing collections and create new ones for high-value search terms.

That’s exactly what my SEO Opportunity Report tells you for your Shopify store. “Do this, not that” SEO recommendations you can implement yourself (or have your agency or developer implement for you) that will help you bring more high-quality, wallet-out shoppers to your store.

Here’s the truth: fixing your collection SEO alone can add 20-30% more organic traffic to your store. And, in my experience, traffic that comes to your store by landing on a collection page often buys more products, more often, at higher AOVs.

Ready to get more organic traffic to your Shopify store? My SEO opportunity report shows you exactly which collection pages to create and optimize.

Or, if you want me to handle the SEO implementation for you, check out my SEO PowerUp. Reply to this email and tell me about your store!

Excelsior!

Kai, your Shopify SEO guy

PS: i have an opening in September for an SEO opportunity report. if you want to optimize your SEO before Black Friday, reply today.

Originally published on Double Your Ecommerce by Kai Davis.

Market Research for Content Creation

kai@doubleyourecommerce.com (Kai Davis) — Tue, 18 Mar 2025 23:20:56 +0000

This is adapted from a Slack conversation I had with a business owner. They were curious about how to approach market research for content creation. I shared an answer focused on ‘Sales Safari,’ an approach to audience research for product creation, content creation, and marketing.

The main thing that is in the way at the moment is actually validating my hypothesis that [target audience] actually will need or care about the content I want to deliver. Ideally, I’d get to understand the type of content they like to consume, but most of it is will they want all this information or POV i’m trying to get through to them?

You’re on the right track! You want to do a sales safari (copious links follow)!

What’s a sales safari? It’s a term that Amy Hoy came up with for her approach to audience research and product creation. It works best when you have a specific niche that you’re targeting, like German Shepard owners or quilters.

A sales safari is when you go out and look at your audience and the posts they’re making: forums, social channels, tweets, posts, facebook groups, etc. Your goal is to understand what your audience is asking about, talking about, and sharing: the pains and problems they’re experiencing, the solutions they’re seeking out, the advice they’re giving, the language and terms of art they use.

A Sales Safari is a structured way of reading the tea leaves to get ‘say this, not that’ advice on what content to create. End of a sales safari has you easily creating content that makes it seem like you’re ‘reading the mind’ of your target audience.

https://egghead.io/learn/30x500/sales-safari — good overview by a third party I trust
https://shop.stackingthebricks.com/sales-safari-101 — amy’s $99 ’learn sales safari’ product (only way to learn it aside from their $2k+ course called 30x500)
https://shorts.stackingthebricks.com/updating-sales-safari-2023/ — post by Amy’s business partner on how the process changed as social evolved in ‘23
https://stackingthebricks.com/video-sales-safari-in-action/ — video from Amy showing sales safari in action
https://stackingthebricks.com/podcast/ep42-what-is-sales-safari-with-eteinne-garbugli/ — podcast interview on their podcast about sales safari
https://stackingthebricks.com — Amy’s main site on business

That is the process you should go through before you start creating the content for your audience – and it helps especially well . It’ll help validate the need, educate you on what the CXOs care about, and help you refine your understanding of the audience dramatically.

I took Amy’s 30x500 course and learned the sales safari methodology in 2012/2013. It is to this date the single best investment I’ve made in my business or professional development. Untold multiples of that in returns. Amazingly impactful approach. Strong recommendation.

Want guidance applying sales safari and market research to your store’s SEO and content? My SEO coaching can help you put this into practice.

Excelsior!

Kai

Originally published on Double Your Ecommerce by Kai Davis.

The biggest SEO opportunities most Shopify stores ignore

kai@doubleyourecommerce.com (Kai Davis) — Wed, 05 Feb 2025 23:55:22 +0000

Kai here — your Shopify SEO guy.

I was just on Marc Rodill’s 10-Minute Ecom Success podcast to talk about one of the biggest missed opportunities I see in ecommerce SEO: collection pages.

Most stores are leaving traffic and money on the table because they haven’t optimized them properly. In this episode, I break down:

Why Google loves collection pages
The simple tweaks that boost rankings & conversions
How to find untapped keyword opportunities for new collections (with this FREE tool)

Give it a listen here: 10-Minute Ecom Success with Kai Davis (https://10minuteecomsuccess.com/kai-davis/).

Excelsior!

Kai

PS: want expert help optimizing your Shopify SEO? My done-for-you SEO services have an opening in February. Let’s get your store ranking — tell me about your store here and I’ll reach out with a link for us to schedule a call.

Originally published on Double Your Ecommerce by Kai Davis.

Boost Your BFCM Sales with This Simple Pop-Up Strategy

kai@doubleyourecommerce.com (Kai Davis) — Fri, 11 Oct 2024 01:07:54 +0000

The shopping holiday is right around the corner. Let’s talk BFCM wins that you can implement yourself — or work with me to implement as part of my BFCM Content + Marketing Power-Up.

Tip: Add a polite BFCM-specific exit intent pop-up that promotes your Black Friday/Cyber Monday offer

Exit intents are those pop-ups that appear when you mouse outside of the screen and they pop-up saying, “Hey, wait, don’t go yet!”

They’re a useful piece of marketing, especially during a shopping event like Black Friday/Cyber Monday.

I, personally, find best results with what I call ‘polite’ exit intent pop-ups.

No one likes it when they land on a site and immediately get hit in the face with a pop-up. Or land, scroll for 5 seconds, and go to exit without clicking a link — only to get hit in the face with the pop-up. That’s rude.

Instead, a polite exit intent pop-up waits for qualified traffic. Not all visitors are created equal, and someone who clicks around to a few different pages or products is much more likely to convert than someone who ding-dong-ditched your homepage.

So, optimize your exit-intent pop-up to show to that higher-value traffic. Set your exit intent to only show to people who have demonstrated their intent, maybe by some combination of:

Visiting 3 or more pages
Spending > 45 seconds on your site
Visiting at least 1 product or collection page

Then, when those qualified visitors go to exit your site, have the exit intent pop-up appear, present your offer, and nudge them to take action.

You want your pop-up to focus in on the details of your offer:

This is what you get
These are the benefits to you
This is how long you have until the promotion disappears
Click this link to go to the product/collection or informational page and purchase

That way, as visitors browse your store this BFCM, the qualified, likely to buy visitors get a little extra nudge when they’re thinking about leaving your store. And that nudge can often translate into a significant increase in revenue.

“What app should I use for these sort of pop-ups?”

I’ve tested a bunch of Shopify apps and platforms (and wrote a lot of custom code that I threw away) to find a way to get high-quality exit-intent pop-ups that give fine-grained targeting controls. Most of the solutions for this sort of on-site messaging are a blunt instrument.

The one that blew me away? WisePops.

WisePops is great at on-site messaging, including exit intent pop-ups and list building pop-ups. And they’re amazing at targeting options for their pop-ups. You can dial in specific criteria for pop-ups to ensure only the most relevant visitors see that messaging. That’s why I picked WisePops as the on-site messaging solution for my BFCM Marketing + Content Power-Up.

So, as you get ready for your BFCM, I encourage you to set up an exit intent pop-up for your store. That’s an essential bit of marketing messaging that will help you reach your visitors and convert them into customers.

Next week? Look for a letter from me about the ‘$30,000 BFCM insight’ that I uncovered for Outbound Lightning.

Excelsior!

Kai

p.s., If you need help with your BFCM content and marketing, let’s chat about my BFCM Content + Marketing Power-Up. Send me an email or schedule a consultation so I can learn about your store.

Originally published on Double Your Ecommerce by Kai Davis.

Ready for BFCM? Get Your Organic Marketing Done for You!

kai@doubleyourecommerce.com (Kai Davis) — Tue, 08 Oct 2024 20:18:00 +0000

With BFCM around the corner, are you feeling the pressure to get your marketing together?

I’m offering a BFCM Organic Marketing Power-Up for Shopify stores — a bespoke, done-for-you service where I’ll personally optimize your BFCM marketing, create your BFCM organic marketing content, and have everything done and scheduled by Nov 15th.

Learn more about the service and see pricing here or watch the video overview.

What’s included:

Website content + messaging — including a BFCM gift guide to drive sales.
Website optimizations — homepage messaging, countdown timers, and exit-intent pop-ups.
Email marketing — 3 pre-BFCM emails to build anticipation and 5 promo emails during BFCM.
Social media content — 12 custom posts and 6 branded images.
SEO optimizations — updating SEO titles and meta tags to attract BFCM traffic.

Check out the full list of what’s included here.

Scheduling & Availability

There are only two slots available, and with the deadline fast approaching, we’ll need to start by the week of October 21st. Everything will be scheduled by Nov 15th.

Learn more about the service here or book a call.

Reply to this email if you’re interested or have any questions. Let’s make this BFCM your best yet!

Best,

Kai (your Shopify SEO guy)

Originally published on Double Your Ecommerce by Kai Davis.

Best Shopify SEO Apps: Do You Need One? (2026)

kai@doubleyourecommerce.com (Kai Davis) — Thu, 26 Sep 2024 15:25:31 +0000

Best Shopify SEO Apps: Do You Actually Need One?

Most Shopify SEO apps aren’t worth your money. Before you install another app, here’s what actually moves the needle for new and growing Shopify stores — and what you can skip entirely.

Ah, today I choose violence!

You see, my friend, I’m not the biggest fan of most Shopify SEO apps, especially for newer stores.

(Kai Davis: I zag where other consultants zig!)

Most Shopify SEO apps… aren’t that great. They sell you an over-inflated list of ‘all-in-one’ features, a hyped-up list of benefits, and then just spit out the same tired inactionable warnings about:

Low text to HTML ratio

Or,

Duplicate meta descriptions

Alas, these insights are rarely — if ever! — worth the time, attention, and money you’re spending on that Shopify SEO app. Or the time, attention, and money you’re spending on fixing them.

Recommended apps + tooling for new stores

If you’re a new store on Shopify, there are a few (free!) tools that I recommend. But none of them are Shopify SEO apps.

The most important things for you to install are:

Google Search Console (Free). This is Google’s tool that, among many things, will tell you the keywords that your pages are ranking for in Google. That’s valuable to have!
Google Analytics (Free). This is Google’s free analytics tool. Yes, there is a lot to complain about with Google Analytics 4. It’s still a useful tool to have on your site to understand where your traffic is coming from and what it’s doing once it lands there.

Beyond that, for a newer or smaller store, there aren’t that many Shopify SEO apps that I recommend.

That’s not to say I’m against all apps! I just believe you should be cautious about what apps you install/pay for, especially when you’re a newer store.

I’m a huge fan of Ilana Davis’s JSON-LD for SEO — recently named the best SEO app by Shopify!.

But even that app is best for larger ecommerce stores who are looking for specific help with structured data, not general SEO help.

JSON-LD for SEO isn’t what I’d recommend for every Shopify store or a smaller Shopify store, unless they’re looking at specific structured data challenges or objectives.

What to do instead of chasing the latest app

Google — and your customers! — don’t care about what apps you’re running.

They care about your content, collections, and products. They care about what you’re selling that can help them. They care about seeing content of yours that aligns with the questions you’re asking.

So, to seize that opportunity, you should:

Install Google Search Console and Google Analytics. These will help you understand what pages are ranking, the keywords they’re ranking for, and the traffic they’re generating.
Create ~5-10 collection pages on your site. Use a specific SEO title, collection name (headline), and collection description. Find inspiration by looking at the collections your more established competitors have. Identify the ones that align with your audience and products, and build similar collections for your products.
Write ~5 blog posts talking about ‘best [product type]’ (for a product that you sell.) Go into detail about the features and benefits that make your product different, and where customers call out it’s better than the alternative.
Find questions in online forums and communities (e.g., twitter, Facebook, reddit). Look at the questions people ask when considering products and stores like yours. Write blog posts answering those individual questions and post them on your site.

Those actions — more than any app will tell you to do — will have you creating relevant content for your audience that’s about your products and collections and helps your audience with their questions.

That’s the best way to think about this. Not, “What app should I use?”, but “What content should I create?”

Collections targeting relevant commercial terms and blogs answering relevant community questions will take you far.

Are you looking for help identifying which collections, blogs, and other pages to create to grow your traffic and sales? Sounds like you’d benefit from an SEO Opportunity Report. Or, if you’d rather learn to do it yourself, SEO Simplified walks you through the process step by step.

Excelsior!

Kai

Originally published on Double Your Ecommerce by Kai Davis.

Unbound Merino does collection descriptions really well!

kai@doubleyourecommerce.com (Kai Davis) — Fri, 13 Sep 2024 21:12:09 +0000

I came across Unbound Merino the other day, a Shopify store selling merino wool clothing for men and women. They’ve got an excellent approach to collection descriptions, and I want to call out what they’re doing well. (To be clear, I haven’t worked with them, and they aren’t a client. They’re just doing collection descriptions and SEO well, and I wanted to write about them.)

Check their store and collections out. The images that follow are from their Women’s Merino Socks and Men’s Merino Underwear collection pages.

These collection descriptions — and collection hero sections overall — are well done! Let’s talk about what they’re doing well — and why descriptions make an impact.

First, why are collection descriptions important for SEO?

Collection descriptions are an essential piece of on-page content that helps your customers and Google understand what a collection page is about. Just 25-75 words of on-page content in the description can make a huge difference in your rankings.

Collections are a very important type of page for SEO. Collection pages are great for ranking for transactional and categorical terms, like we see with Unbound: “Women’s Merino Wool Socks,” “Men’s Merino Underwear & Boxer Briefs.” These are great categorical terms for a collection to target.

Collection descriptions are a high-impact opportunity to get on-page content on these very important page types. I’ve written more about Collection SEO and collection descriptions for SEO on those pages. I’m a big fan of collections for SEO.

Second, what is Unbound doing well with their collection descriptions?

As soon as I saw Unbound’s collections, I knew I was going to write about them. They’re a great mini-case study in what well-designed, SEO-optimized collections with descriptions look like.

Length — Their descriptions are short and effective. ~25-50 words of content in the description body. That’s right on target. Any amount of content here is better than no content.
Relevance — These are very topically relevant descriptions. Unbound is using this space to talk about their products and what they’re made from. That’s letting them have the “merino wool [product type]” keyword in this content multiple times in a natural way.
Features — Their 4x1 ‘features’ block is a genius move. This is a way to add product benefits and additional keyword mentions to the header. The use of icon imagery + text is great. And that element overall helps balance the composition of the hero image.

Past that, they’re doing a great job with the breadcrumb and heading on the pages.

The headline is another high-impact piece of content after the SEO Title and Collection Description. They’ve gone with a targeted “Men’s Merino Underwear & Boxer Briefs.”
The breadcrumb is a great spot to get a relevant keyword in, and they’ve gone with “Men’s Underwear.” Very relevant.

I also want to call out Unbound’s aesthetic approach. Oftentimes when I speak with a merchant about adding collection descriptions to their store they’re concerned that the additional text won’t look nice in their theme. That can happen, especially if the store is running a theme out of the box without any design customizations. To implement collection descriptions well, you want to invest in updating the design of your collection pages so this content looks good to your customers.

It’s clear to me that Unbound has invested in a great design here. The hero on their collection page looks great. This space is well designed, features a relevant collection image, breadcrumb, relevant content in the headline and description, and a the 4x1 product features images + headlines. All of this content is great for SEO and well-optimized; and yet it feels natural to read and doesn’t hit the visitor over the head with over-the-top optimization.

This is a very well done approach to collection descriptions and collection pages in general. Let’s give a hand to Unbound.

Third, what could Unbound do better with their descriptions?

They’re missing out on one big opportunity when it comes to collection descriptions: internal linking! I’d love to see them include an internal link or two in each collection description. Here are three opportunities to consider:

Build internal links between collections. In the text of the collection description include a “You might also like…” recommendation + link to another collection in the store. As an example, the “Women’s Socks” collection might have an internal link over to the “Women’s Leggings” and “Women’s Tees & Tanks” collections. This helps surface collections, improve discoverability, and makes it easier for Google to see related collections.
Build internal links to blogs or pages. In the text of the description or in the text of feature icon + image, link to a relevant page that talks more about the feature. That way, if the customer has questions, they can click and learn more.
Build internal links to a recommended product. If there’s a specific product you’d like to promote — or an SEO priority product that would benefit from an internal link — use a text link in the collection description to link to it. A product recommendation in a collection description is a great internal link to build, and looks very natural to the reader. You’re saying, “Hey, make sure you look at this one. People love it.”

Each of those is a win for SEO, discoverability, and the customer experience. I think it’s worth picking one of those three opportunities for each collection page and adding one or two internal links. Always aim to keep the experience good for your customers. (I’ve written more on internal linking for collection SEO here.)

And there you have it. Unbound is doing collection descriptions the right way. If you want to learn how to write collection descriptions like these for your own store, SEO Simplified covers the process step by step.

Excelsior!

— Kai, your Shopify SEO guy

Originally published on Double Your Ecommerce by Kai Davis.

'Do Less' SEO

kai@doubleyourecommerce.com (Kai Davis) — Tue, 10 Sep 2024 20:58:52 +0000

I’m all about the ‘do less’ mindset. Life is for the living. You’ve got a business to grow, and if there are ten items on your to-do list, you should focus on the items that will make the highest impact with the least effort.

It’s the same in SEO. Rather than doing all the things, I want to find the high-impact, low-effort opportunities and focus on those. (Heck, that’s what my SEO Opportunity Report is all about.)

TL;DR: Do less SEO. Focus on what works, and you don’t need to do more.

A few days ago, some friends and I in a Slack community were talking about this recent Moz article ("The Helpful Content Update Was Not What You Think") and part of the conclusion of the piece, specifically this bit:

And a friend said this:

“TL;DR: Do everything you always did, and more besides.” I’m ready for some “do less” messaging, even if it’s a lie.

That got me thinking, and I wrote a version of these six bullets for my friend. It’s the idea of doing less than everything and focusing on the core helpful bits.

Six high-impact SEO tactics to focus on

Here’s my personal ‘do less’ advice for SEO in e-commerce. You don’t need to do everything. You won’t need to do more if you do the right things. Here are the core tactics I like focusing on:

Create content that addresses a relevant problem your customers face with your products.

Incorporate first-hand research and experience—try recommended solutions, experiment, or interview an expert and share what you learn. This separates your content from generic rewrites, where someone just rehashes the top articles.
Don’t overthink your first draft.

Knock out and publish a quick draft like an old-school blog post in ~20 minutes and a few paragraphs. Check where it’s ranking after a few weeks and rewrite to improve. “Hey, people often say you can make grain free bread for the auto-immune paleo diet these three ways. I’m testing them out and reporting back on which makes the best sandwich; here’s what i found.” Good start. You can always come back, edit it further, and optimize it later.
Use the search console to spot new content opportunities from your existing work.

If an article/page is ranking ~20-30th for a phrase it doesn’t fully cover/isn’t fully related to, that’s your cue that Google is searching for a relevant page on your site for this relevant query. Create a new page on that topic. Aim for the optimized version of the page to be as good as the average of the top ~5 articles for that topic — and mix in some of that first-hand research and experience.
Search the keyword phrase/term/query you’re thinking about writing a page for and see what types of pages Google ranks there today.

Are they transactional pages, informational articles/blogs, or something else? This can guide you on the best format and angle for your content.
Got a page stuck around ~10-15th for a relevant keyword? Build internal links aggressively.

Add text links from your homepage, new posts, and high-linked pages. Aim for ~3-5 internal links with exact match anchors to start. Give it a few weeks and come back. If it’s still stuck, optimize the title tag and build more internal links from new pages.
Promote your content and business in ways that naturally generate links.

Collaborate on blog posts with other businesses, co-brand something, guest on a podcast, or just ask a friend to naturally mention your latest link when they blog next.

That’s still six items, but it’s much less than ‘do everything you always did, and more besides.’

So next time you’re sitting down to work on your SEO, review this list and focus on one of these high-impact, lower-effort opportunities. And if you want guidance working through these tactics for your store, SEO coaching can help you prioritize and implement. Or, if you want to learn these tactics step by step on your own, check out SEO Simplified.

Excelsior!

Kai, your Shopify SEO guy

P.S. Want a clear action plan for the top 5 SEO opportunities to boost your store’s growth and revenue? Check out my SEO Opportunity Report. I’ll dive deep into your site’s SEO, content, keywords, and rankings and deliver targeted ‘do this, not that’ advice so you know exactly where to focus your efforts to grow and increase revenue. And if you’d rather have me handle the implementation, check out my SEO PowerUp.

Originally published on Double Your Ecommerce by Kai Davis.