Everything I've Learned in 5 Years of Doing SEO on Shopify

by Lorcan Fearon

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Everything I’ve Learned in 5 Years of Doing SEO on Shopify Lorcan Fearon StudioHawk @LorcanFearon

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@studiohawk #BrightonSEO Everything I’ve Learned in 5 Years of Doing SEO on Shopify Year One

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@studiohawk #BrightonSEO Everything I’ve Learned in 5 Years of Doing SEO on Shopify

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@studiohawk #BrightonSEO Everything I’ve Learned in 5 Years of Doing SEO on Shopify

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@studiohawk #BrightonSEO Everything I’ve Learned in 5 Years of Doing SEO on Shopify

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@studiohawk #BrightonSEO Everything I’ve Learned in 5 Years of Doing SEO on Shopify Shopify isn’t a cheat code. The rules of SEO still apply

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@studiohawk #BrightonSEO Everything I’ve Learned in 5 Years of Doing SEO on Shopify The basics are still, and will always be, relevant

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@studiohawk #BrightonSEO Everything I’ve Learned in 5 Years of Doing SEO on Shopify Year Two

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@studiohawk #BrightonSEO Everything I’ve Learned in 5 Years of Doing SEO on Shopify

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@studiohawk #BrightonSEO Everything I’ve Learned in 5 Years of Doing SEO on Shopify

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@studiohawk #BrightonSEO Everything I’ve Learned in 5 Years of Doing SEO on Shopify

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@studiohawk #BrightonSEO Everything I’ve Learned in 5 Years of Doing SEO on Shopify Above the fold content + internal links = easy Shopify SEO wins

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@studiohawk #BrightonSEO Everything I’ve Learned in 5 Years of Doing SEO on Shopify

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@studiohawk #BrightonSEO Everything I’ve Learned in 5 Years of Doing SEO on Shopify

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@studiohawk #BrightonSEO Everything I’ve Learned in 5 Years of Doing SEO on Shopify

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@studiohawk #BrightonSEO Everything I’ve Learned in 5 Years of Doing SEO on Shopify Developing collection page strategies

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@studiohawk #BrightonSEO Everything I’ve Learned in 5 Years of Doing SEO on Shopify

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@studiohawk #BrightonSEO Everything I’ve Learned in 5 Years of Doing SEO on Shopify SERP analysis 🔍 Unique above the fold content ✍ Keyword targeted in metadata 🎯 Internal links to new collection page from other established pages 🤝 CollectionPage Schema Markup 🤖 Build links to page 🔗

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@studiohawk #BrightonSEO Everything I’ve Learned in 5 Years of Doing SEO on Shopify This is why you have to know and understand the basics of SEO.

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@studiohawk #BrightonSEO Everything I’ve Learned in 5 Years of Doing SEO on Shopify Duplicating the theme to get more hands on with code

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@studiohawk #BrightonSEO Everything I’ve Learned in 5 Years of Doing SEO on Shopify

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@studiohawk #BrightonSEO Everything I’ve Learned in 5 Years of Doing SEO on Shopify

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@studiohawk #BrightonSEO Everything I’ve Learned in 5 Years of Doing SEO on Shopify Beware the app that promises you a quick ﬁx!

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@studiohawk #BrightonSEO Everything I’ve Learned in 5 Years of Doing SEO on Shopify

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@studiohawk #BrightonSEO Everything I’ve Learned in 5 Years of Doing SEO on Shopify

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@studiohawk #BrightonSEO Everything I’ve Learned in 5 Years of Doing SEO on Shopify

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@studiohawk #BrightonSEO Everything I’ve Learned in 5 Years of Doing SEO on Shopify Be very careful, don’t expect that apps are set up correctly.

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@studiohawk #BrightonSEO Everything I’ve Learned in 5 Years of Doing SEO on Shopify I am yet to see a single ‘SEO app’ for Shopify that is worth installing.

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@studiohawk #BrightonSEO Everything I’ve Learned in 5 Years of Doing SEO on Shopify All they have bought me is pain, suffering, and sternly worded emails.

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@studiohawk #BrightonSEO Everything I’ve Learned in 5 Years of Doing SEO on Shopify Chopping out Hotjar

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@studiohawk #BrightonSEO Everything I’ve Learned in 5 Years of Doing SEO on Shopify Hotjar is known to add a whole second to page loading speeds.

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@studiohawk #BrightonSEO Everything I’ve Learned in 5 Years of Doing SEO on Shopify Please. For the love of God. You cannot tell me you are reviewing all these heatmaps.

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@studiohawk #BrightonSEO Everything I’ve Learned in 5 Years of Doing SEO on Shopify When you need to do a user behaviour analysis/UX analysis, collect the data and session recordings over a limited period of time and then take the tracking out.

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@studiohawk #BrightonSEO Everything I’ve Learned in 5 Years of Doing SEO on Shopify

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@studiohawk #BrightonSEO Everything I’ve Learned in 5 Years of Doing SEO on Shopify

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@studiohawk #BrightonSEO Everything I’ve Learned in 5 Years of Doing SEO on Shopify Using canonical URLs on collection pages.

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@studiohawk #BrightonSEO Everything I’ve Learned in 5 Years of Doing SEO on Shopify

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@studiohawk #BrightonSEO Everything I’ve Learned in 5 Years of Doing SEO on Shopify https://thereddogcompany.com/collections/dog-mats/products/ﬁre-orange-dog-mat

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@studiohawk #BrightonSEO Everything I’ve Learned in 5 Years of Doing SEO on Shopify https://thereddogcompany.com/products/ﬁre-orange-dog-mat

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@studiohawk #BrightonSEO Everything I’ve Learned in 5 Years of Doing SEO on Shopify

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@studiohawk #BrightonSEO Everything I’ve Learned in 5 Years of Doing SEO on Shopify Make the search engine’s job easy.

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@studiohawk #BrightonSEO Everything I’ve Learned in 5 Years of Doing SEO on Shopify To enact this, we need to go on a simple search & replace mission.

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@studiohawk #BrightonSEO Everything I’ve Learned in 5 Years of Doing SEO on Shopify Duplicate your theme

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@studiohawk #BrightonSEO Everything I’ve Learned in 5 Years of Doing SEO on Shopify

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@studiohawk #BrightonSEO Everything I’ve Learned in 5 Years of Doing SEO on Shopify

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@studiohawk #BrightonSEO Everything I’ve Learned in 5 Years of Doing SEO on Shopify ⚠ WARNING ⚠ This will break the breadcrumb structure on your PDPs. Up to you to decide/test what’s more important

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@studiohawk #BrightonSEO Everything I’ve Learned in 5 Years of Doing SEO on Shopify Year Three

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@studiohawk #BrightonSEO Everything I’ve Learned in 5 Years of Doing SEO on Shopify This was the turning point….

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@studiohawk #BrightonSEO Everything I’ve Learned in 5 Years of Doing SEO on Shopify

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@studiohawk #BrightonSEO Everything I’ve Learned in 5 Years of Doing SEO on Shopify This is where the SEO’s role in the marketing mix and wider business started to sink in

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@studiohawk #BrightonSEO Everything I’ve Learned in 5 Years of Doing SEO on Shopify Google used to be an omniscient, omnipotent being, incapable of doing wrong

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@studiohawk #BrightonSEO Everything I’ve Learned in 5 Years of Doing SEO on Shopify And then I realised it’s just a large company made up of humans, who are intrinsically imperfect

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@studiohawk #BrightonSEO Everything I’ve Learned in 5 Years of Doing SEO on Shopify The same applies to Shopify, so let’s take a closer look at our friends

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@studiohawk #BrightonSEO Everything I’ve Learned in 5 Years of Doing SEO on Shopify

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@studiohawk #BrightonSEO Everything I’ve Learned in 5 Years of Doing SEO on Shopify Shopify bet BIG on e-commerce during Covid

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@studiohawk #BrightonSEO Everything I’ve Learned in 5 Years of Doing SEO on Shopify They thought the in-store experience was over, and wanted to take aim at Amazon (join the queue lads)

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@studiohawk #BrightonSEO Everything I’ve Learned in 5 Years of Doing SEO on Shopify https:/ /speakerdeck.com/kevinindig/what-the-best-shops-do-best-kevin-indig-at-recommerce?slide=3

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@studiohawk #BrightonSEO Everything I’ve Learned in 5 Years of Doing SEO on Shopify Who could have guessed that e-commerce would boom when people literally can’t leave their houses?

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@studiohawk #BrightonSEO Everything I’ve Learned in 5 Years of Doing SEO on Shopify Needless to say, the gamble didn’t pay off.

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@studiohawk #BrightonSEO Everything I’ve Learned in 5 Years of Doing SEO on Shopify

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@studiohawk #BrightonSEO Everything I’ve Learned in 5 Years of Doing SEO on Shopify

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@studiohawk #BrightonSEO Everything I’ve Learned in 5 Years of Doing SEO on Shopify Mass layoffs ensued. Around 10% in July 2022, and then a further 20% in May 2023* *according to Shopify’s wikipedia article

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@studiohawk #BrightonSEO Everything I’ve Learned in 5 Years of Doing SEO on Shopify

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@studiohawk #BrightonSEO Everything I’ve Learned in 5 Years of Doing SEO on Shopify What does our friend Tobi think of SEO?

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@studiohawk #BrightonSEO Everything I’ve Learned in 5 Years of Doing SEO on Shopify

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@studiohawk #BrightonSEO Everything I’ve Learned in 5 Years of Doing SEO on Shopify

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@studiohawk #BrightonSEO Everything I’ve Learned in 5 Years of Doing SEO on Shopify

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@studiohawk #BrightonSEO Everything I’ve Learned in 5 Years of Doing SEO on Shopify It feels like SEO has left the room at Shopify

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@studiohawk #BrightonSEO Everything I’ve Learned in 5 Years of Doing SEO on Shopify How do I know this?

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@studiohawk #BrightonSEO Everything I’ve Learned in 5 Years of Doing SEO on Shopify

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@studiohawk #BrightonSEO Everything I’ve Learned in 5 Years of Doing SEO on Shopify It’s funny that the same ‘techno-optimists’ who say SEOs ruined the internet also gave 1.75M online shops the ability to create AI content with a click of a button.

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@studiohawk #BrightonSEO Everything I’ve Learned in 5 Years of Doing SEO on Shopify I digress…

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@studiohawk #BrightonSEO Everything I’ve Learned in 5 Years of Doing SEO on Shopify What does this mean for SEOs who work on Shopify sites?

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@studiohawk #BrightonSEO Everything I’ve Learned in 5 Years of Doing SEO on Shopify It means we need to be the ones that advocate for SEO at Shopify

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@studiohawk #BrightonSEO Everything I’ve Learned in 5 Years of Doing SEO on Shopify

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@studiohawk #BrightonSEO Everything I’ve Learned in 5 Years of Doing SEO on Shopify Year Four

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@studiohawk #BrightonSEO Everything I’ve Learned in 5 Years of Doing SEO on Shopify

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@studiohawk #BrightonSEO Everything I’ve Learned in 5 Years of Doing SEO on Shopify

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@studiohawk #BrightonSEO Everything I’ve Learned in 5 Years of Doing SEO on Shopify Restructuring the

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@studiohawk #BrightonSEO Everything I’ve Learned in 5 Years of Doing SEO on Shopify

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@studiohawk #BrightonSEO Everything I’ve Learned in 5 Years of Doing SEO on Shopify

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@studiohawk #BrightonSEO Everything I’ve Learned in 5 Years of Doing SEO on Shopify Adding custom JSON-LD structured data

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@studiohawk #BrightonSEO Everything I’ve Learned in 5 Years of Doing SEO on Shopify

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@studiohawk #BrightonSEO Everything I’ve Learned in 5 Years of Doing SEO on Shopify

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@studiohawk #BrightonSEO Everything I’ve Learned in 5 Years of Doing SEO on Shopify

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@studiohawk #BrightonSEO Everything I’ve Learned in 5 Years of Doing SEO on Shopify

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@studiohawk #BrightonSEO Everything I’ve Learned in 5 Years of Doing SEO on Shopify

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@studiohawk #BrightonSEO Everything I’ve Learned in 5 Years of Doing SEO on Shopify

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@studiohawk #BrightonSEO Everything I’ve Learned in 5 Years of Doing SEO on Shopify Removing pr_prod_strat

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@studiohawk #BrightonSEO Everything I’ve Learned in 5 Years of Doing SEO on Shopify

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@studiohawk #BrightonSEO Everything I’ve Learned in 5 Years of Doing SEO on Shopify

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@studiohawk #BrightonSEO Everything I’ve Learned in 5 Years of Doing SEO on Shopify

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@studiohawk #BrightonSEO Everything I’ve Learned in 5 Years of Doing SEO on Shopify

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@studiohawk #BrightonSEO Everything I’ve Learned in 5 Years of Doing SEO on Shopify Our target: Whichever snippet is responsible for the recommended products

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@studiohawk #BrightonSEO Everything I’ve Learned in 5 Years of Doing SEO on Shopify Not as simple as the other one as you can’t use the Chrome extendo.

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@studiohawk #BrightonSEO Everything I’ve Learned in 5 Years of Doing SEO on Shopify

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@studiohawk #BrightonSEO Everything I’ve Learned in 5 Years of Doing SEO on Shopify

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@studiohawk #BrightonSEO Everything I’ve Learned in 5 Years of Doing SEO on Shopify Made a decision on subfolders vs subdomains

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@studiohawk #BrightonSEO Everything I’ve Learned in 5 Years of Doing SEO on Shopify

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@studiohawk #BrightonSEO Everything I’ve Learned in 5 Years of Doing SEO on Shopify

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@studiohawk #BrightonSEO Everything I’ve Learned in 5 Years of Doing SEO on Shopify

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@studiohawk #BrightonSEO Everything I’ve Learned in 5 Years of Doing SEO on Shopify Embracing my inner Karen

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@studiohawk #BrightonSEO Everything I’ve Learned in 5 Years of Doing SEO on Shopify Year Five

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@studiohawk #BrightonSEO Everything I’ve Learned in 5 Years of Doing SEO on Shopify

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@studiohawk #BrightonSEO Everything I’ve Learned in 5 Years of Doing SEO on Shopify

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@studiohawk #BrightonSEO Everything I’ve Learned in 5 Years of Doing SEO on Shopify Let’s recap….

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@studiohawk #BrightonSEO Everything I’ve Learned in 5 Years of Doing SEO on Shopify Shopify is not a cheat code.

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@studiohawk #BrightonSEO Everything I’ve Learned in 5 Years of Doing SEO on Shopify You must learn and master the basics of SEO

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@studiohawk #BrightonSEO Everything I’ve Learned in 5 Years of Doing SEO on Shopify Prepare for more really cool ‘techno-optimist’ lizard b******t

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@studiohawk #BrightonSEO Everything I’ve Learned in 5 Years of Doing SEO on Shopify And, most importantly…

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@studiohawk #BrightonSEO Everything I’ve Learned in 5 Years of Doing SEO on Shopify

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Thanks! Lorcan Fearon Senior SEO Specialist [email protected] Twitter: @lorcanfearon Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lorcan-fearon/ Slide deck