Insights
Working notes on ecommerce growth
What we see inside stores, written up so you can act on it without us. Practical, specific and dated, so you know how current it is. 60 so far.
Ecommerce SEO
September 6, 2026BigCommerce SEO: what the platform does and does not doBigCommerce ships with canonicals, a sitemap, editable URLs and redirects. Where the platform stops, and the checklist for the parts a store owner must build.ReadSeptember 6, 2026Content pruning for stores: merge, redirect or leaveHow to decide what to do with thin collections, dead product pages and old blog posts, with a decision rule per page type and the checks before you delete.ReadSeptember 6, 2026Keyword research for catalogs: demand to taxonomyA catalog-first method: gather demand you already own, build the modifier grid, map each cluster to a page type and decide what to publish.ReadSeptember 6, 2026Log file analysis for large catalogsFor a catalog of tens of thousands of URLs, server logs are the only record of what Googlebot fetches. How to get the logs, verify the bot and act by template.ReadSeptember 6, 2026The migration checklist that protects organic revenuePlatform and domain migrations lose organic revenue through missed redirects, dropped content and untested launches. The checklist that prevents each of those.ReadSeptember 6, 2026Faceted navigation rules: which filters index, which do notA decision rule for every filter URL: index it, canonicalize it, or keep crawlers out. The tests a facet must pass, the ladder and platform notes.ReadSeptember 6, 2026Internal linking rules that pass authority to money pagesWhich links carry authority inside a store, where money pages sit in the click graph, and the rules we apply to navigation, collections, products and guides.ReadSeptember 6, 2026International SEO for stores: hreflang and marketsServing a second country from one store without versions competing: URL structure, hreflang done correctly, real localization and the feed per country.ReadSeptember 6, 2026Handling out-of-stock and discontinued product pagesKeep it, redirect it or remove it: a decision tree for out-of-stock, seasonal and discontinued product pages, and what changes on the page and in the feed.ReadSeptember 6, 2026The Shopify SEO checklist we run on every new storeWhat Shopify handles for SEO on its own, and the duplicate URLs, filter parameters, theme output and content gaps this checklist closes on every new store.ReadSeptember 6, 2026The WooCommerce SEO checklist, plugin by pluginWooCommerce spreads SEO across WordPress settings, the SEO plugin, filters, caching and schema. Here is what to set in each layer, and the traps between them.ReadSeptember 2, 2026Category pages are the most under-built asset in ecommerce SEOCommercial head terms are won by category pages, not blog posts. Which categories deserve a page, what belongs on it, and how to keep facets from burying it.Read
Analytics
September 6, 2026BigQuery for Shopify stores: the first useful queriesWhen a Shopify store outgrows dashboards, BigQuery answers the questions GA4 cannot. The setup, the first four queries, and how to keep the bill small.ReadSeptember 6, 2026Consent Mode v2 for ecommerce: what changes in your numbersConsent Mode v2 changes what GA4 and Google Ads can count when a shopper declines. The two new signals, basic versus advanced, and how to read reports after.ReadSeptember 6, 2026A data layer specification for ecommerce storesA written data layer spec keeps GA4, Google Ads, Meta and your developers on the same event names, item fields and value rules. The template, field by field.ReadSeptember 6, 2026Incrementality testing with the tools you already haveGeo holdouts, audience holdouts and pause tests you can run inside Google Ads, Meta and your email platform, with the sizing maths before you spend.ReadSeptember 6, 2026Reconciling GA4 with Shopify orders, line by lineGA4 and Shopify never agree to the order. A line-by-line reconciliation shows which orders GA4 missed and why, so you can trust the gap instead of guessing.ReadSeptember 6, 2026The weekly ecommerce report: eight numbers that matterA one-page weekly report for an online store: the eight figures worth reviewing, where each one comes from, and the question each is meant to answer.ReadSeptember 6, 2026What attribution can and cannot tell youAttribution is a rule for assigning credit, not a measure of cause. Where it is reliable, where it is not, and the measurement stack to run instead.Read
Conversion
September 6, 2026Bundle and kit pricing that lifts order valueFive bundle structures, how to price each one against margin, and the merchandising and feed details that decide whether a bundle sells or sits.ReadSeptember 6, 2026How to audit checkout abandonment step by stepWhere buyers leave checkout, why, and what to change first: an audit using GA4 funnels, platform checkout reports and a walk through every stage on a phone.ReadSeptember 6, 2026The anatomy of a collection page that ranks and convertsA collection page is read by a crawler and a shopper in the same visit. The parts it needs, from breadcrumb and H1 to filters, cards and copy under the grid.ReadSeptember 6, 2026A mobile product page teardown, thumb by thumbA repeatable method for tearing down a product page on a real phone: what the thumb can reach, what each tap costs, and a scoring sheet to rank the fixes.ReadSeptember 6, 2026The anatomy of a product page that converts on mobileOn a phone a product page is one column, and the order of that column does most of the work. The elements a converting product page carries and their jobs.ReadSeptember 6, 2026Reducing returns from the product pageMost returns are decided before the order. How to find the return reasons your product pages are causing and fix them with sizing, imagery and honest detail.ReadSeptember 6, 2026On-site search: the report most stores never openSite search terms are shoppers saying what they want in their own words. How to read zero-result and low-conversion searches and fix products and synonyms.Read
Development
September 6, 2026Deciding on headless: the questions before the architectureTen questions that decide whether a headless storefront is right for your store, what it costs to own, and the middle options between a theme and a rebuild.ReadSeptember 6, 2026Image optimization for ecommerce, CDN to alt textA working pipeline for product imagery: source files, formats, responsive markup, loading priority, feed images and alt text that describes.ReadSeptember 6, 2026Checkout extensibility on Shopify Plus, explainedWhat checkout extensibility replaced, which surfaces you can now change, what stays off limits, and how to plan a checkout customization that survives upgrades.ReadSeptember 6, 2026Shopify Functions use cases that pay for themselvesNine Shopify Functions worth building, what each one replaces, and how to decide between a Function, an app and leaving the rule in operations.ReadSeptember 6, 2026A performance budget for Shopify themesAgree the byte, request and Core Web Vitals numbers a Shopify theme may not exceed, then enforce them on every release and app install.Read
Email and retention
September 6, 2026Abandoned cart flows built around why people leftMost abandoned cart flows are a timed sequence with a coupon at the end. This one branches on the reason the shopper left, which checkout data records.ReadSeptember 6, 2026The post-purchase flow, from confirmation to reorderThe messages between the order confirmation and the second purchase decide repeat rate. What each should do, when to send it against delivery, what to suppress.ReadSeptember 6, 2026Replenishment flows for consumable productsA replenishment flow predicts when a consumable runs out and lands the reorder prompt a few days before. The data model, the timing arithmetic and the message.ReadSeptember 6, 2026A welcome series that earns the second openThe first welcome email is opened because it was expected. The second is opened because the first was worth it. How to build a series around that second open.ReadSeptember 6, 2026Win-back flows: timing them to the product's real cycleA win-back flow that fires at ninety days is guessing. Compute the reorder cycle from your own orders, define lapsed from it, and time the sequence to it.Read
AI search
September 6, 2026A repeatable method for monitoring AI search visibilityA prompt set, fixed run conditions, a scoring sheet and a correction log: how to measure whether AI assistants mention your store, month over month.ReadSeptember 6, 2026Buying guides that link to products and get citedHow to choose, structure and maintain ecommerce buying guides so shoppers finish them, the catalog benefits and answer engines can quote them.ReadSeptember 6, 2026The entity consistency audit for ecommerce brandsYour brand and product facts live in four places at once. Here is how to audit them, rank the mismatches and fix them in dependency order.ReadSeptember 2, 2026How AI answer engines choose which stores to mentionAI Overviews, AI Mode, ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity retrieve differently but reward the same things: crawlable pages, complete product data and clear answers.Read
Google Ads
September 6, 2026Brand versus non-brand: the split that keeps ads honestBlended ROAS hides whether ads are finding new demand. Define brand once, split every channel by it, and report the two halves separately.ReadSeptember 6, 2026Google Ads account structure for ecommerceBuild the account around the decisions you will actually make: brand separation, catalog segmentation, conversion actions, budgets and naming.ReadSeptember 6, 2026Negative keyword mining for Shopping and searchA weekly routine for finding wasted queries: waste patterns, n-gram analysis, match type traps and where each negative belongs in the account.ReadSeptember 6, 2026Bidding for new customers instead of cheap conversionsHow to value a first order, feed the platform a reliable customer list, choose between bonus and exclusive modes, and read the reporting afterwards.Read
Growth
September 6, 2026How to audit your own store in a dayA timeboxed one-day audit for an online store: seven passes, what to look at in each, and how to turn the findings into a list ranked by revenue at stake.ReadSeptember 6, 2026B2B ecommerce growth: catalogs, pricing and buyersWhat a trade buyer needs that a retail shopper does not: account pricing, reordering, terms and spec-level search. A build and growth sequence for B2B stores.ReadSeptember 6, 2026Marketplaces and your own store: choosing the channel mixA neutral fit guide to selling on marketplaces alongside your own store: unit economics, what each channel is good at, and how to sequence the two.ReadSeptember 6, 2026The peak season plan: what to lock by OctoberA dated checklist for Q4: feed and account health, promotions, creative, email and site readiness, plus the freeze dates that keep peak trading calm.Read
Product feeds
September 6, 2026Feed rules that fix titles without touching the catalogMerchant Center attribute rules and supplemental feeds rewrite product titles between the store export and the listing. What rules can do and how to test them.ReadSeptember 6, 2026Merchant Center website requirements, walked throughAccount suspensions usually trace to the store, not the feed. Every website requirement Merchant Center checks, page by page, and what to fix before a review.ReadSeptember 6, 2026Product title formulas by categoryA feed title should mirror how its category is searched. Title formulas for auto parts, supplements, furniture, jewellery, pet food and tools, with reasons.ReadSeptember 2, 2026The product feed checklist we run before ShoppingGoogle matches Shopping queries to product data, not to bids. The feed checklist we work through on every store before spending on Shopping or Performance Max.Read
Google Shopping
September 6, 2026Feed-only Performance Max: when it works, how to set it upFeed-only Performance Max runs on your Merchant Center products with no creative assets. Where it fits, where Standard Shopping fits better, and the setup.ReadSeptember 6, 2026Segmenting Shopping campaigns by margin, not categoryCategory campaigns hand low-margin and high-margin products the same ROAS target. How to build margin tiers with custom labels and let bidding follow profit.ReadSeptember 6, 2026Query sculpting across Shopping campaigns with prioritiesStandard Shopping has no keywords, but campaign priorities and negatives route each query to the campaign and bid you choose. The mechanism and the build.Read
Find the leak.
A free Growth Analysis ranks what your store should fix first, by revenue at stake.