Today I’m going to show you how I was able to increase the organic traffic of my client’s Shopify store.

The crazy thing is, I did it without creating new content. How did I boost the traffic to a Shopify store without creating new content you ask?

One word: Shopscaping.

In this case study, I’m going to show you exactly how to do the same, step-by-step.

How I used the Shopscaping Technique To Increase my Client’s traffic by 20% without creating new content Back in May 2018, one of my client’s called me and they said:

“Marcio, our store’s SEO just dropped, and we have no idea why, can you help?”

I obviously said yes.

Within 14 days we saw a boost of over 7% in organic traffic: After 60 days this Shopify store increased it’s organic traffic by close to 25%: The overall site traffic also improved by over 35%: You can do the same thing by following the steps below, even if you arent experienced at SEO, or consider yourself a tech wizard.

The 3 Shopscaping steps to boost the organic traffic of your Shopify Store

This technique is great because it delivers results and it’s easy to implement:

Step 1: Make sure your popups aren’t a nuisance

Step 2: Reduce duplicate content by guiding Google’s Crawler

Step 3: Add some bling to your search results (aka Star Ratings) with this Shopify App

Here’s why this technique works so well (and what the name means).

Have you ever walked past a home that had fantastic landscaping, and then started to notice how crappy the other lawns looked? That’s because us humans love to compare stuff, it’s how our brains are wired. The funny thing is, Google’s search bot acts the same way. It crawls the web looking at different sites, and it rewards the ones that are well taken care of with more search traffic.

The key to this technique is all about getting rid of the stuff that’s making your Shopify store look bad. Think of it like landscaping for your Shopify store (Shopify + landscaping = Shopscaping). Except, instead of trying to impress your neighbours with your manicured lawn, you want to impress Google, with a well-groomed Shopify store.

Step 1: Tweak your popups so they don’t piss off Google and your users

As I mentioned earlier, Google’s crawler (known as Google-bot) compares the quality of different websites all day long. One of the easiest ways for you to improve how you look to Google is not to add stuff to your site. You probably want to remove a few things from it instead. What’s the first thing I fixed? I tweaked the email popup. I don’t recommend you get rid of your popup; I recommend you tweak it, so it doesn’t make Google or your users annoyed. Here’s how you do that: Login to your Shopify store   Click on “Apps”:     Select the popup app you are using to display popups on your Shopify store:   Click on the popup you would like to edit:   Go to the “Controls” section of your popup so you can change the display setting of your popup:     This is the most important part. Make sure to change the settings so that your popup only appears “When visitors start to leave” your site or “After a delay” (30 or 60 seconds):     Save your settings, and you’ll be done with step #1 of the Shopscaping technique:

Step 2: Tell Google you have a Shopify store

This step entails making some changes to Google Search Console. You’ll have to connect your Shopify store to Google Search Console if you haven’t already done so. The specific change we are making is to configure URL parameters. I know that might sound scary, but trust me it’s not. Setting up URL parameters tells Google’s not to index content that’s filtered, sorted, or searched on your website. Follow these steps to configure your URL parameters in Google Search Console: Go to your Google Search Console Dasboard: Select the property you would like to edit (this is your Shopify store): Next, click on “Crawl/URL Parameters”: Next, click on the “Add parameter” button: Type in “sort_by” in the Parameter text box, then select “Yes: Changes, reorders, or narrows page content” from the dropdown menu: Insert the settings you see below, then click the “save” button: You should now see that the “sort_by” parameter was successfully added: You are going to repeat the last few steps four more times to add the next parameters. Start by clicking the “Add parameter” button then follow the screenshots below: Settings for parameter #2 “tagged”: Settings for parameter #3 “q”: Settings for parameter #4 “view”: Settings for parameter #5 “page”: Awesome! this is what you should see inside the URL Parameters section inside Google Search Console: You are all done with step #2 of the Shopscaping Technique. Let’s move on to the final step to make your search results really pop.

Step 3: Add star ratings to your search results with this free Shopify App

This next tip is great because it’s pretty easy to do and if you’re lucky, you’ll see results fast. A while ago SEO experts found out that improving the click-through rate of your search results improved your SEO. Let me say that again another way: You can increase organic traffic by making your meta titles and meta descriptions more clickable and appealing. Instead of creating new content, you optimize what you already have.

A great way to improve your CTR is to make your search result stand out. And my favourite way to do that is with some bling. More specifically, with star ratings for your products, like this: Which one of these search result stands out to you the most? The second one with the star ratings, right? Here’s how you add star ratings your Shopify store with a free Shopify App: Click on “Apps” inside your Shopify store’s dashboard: Then add a new app by clicking the “Visit Shopify App Store” and searching for “Judge.me”: Now, click on the “Judge.me Product Reviews” app, then the “Add app” button. Great, now confirm the app installation on the next screen: The Judge.me app is now installed. The next step is to configure it properly. To begin, click on the orange “RECOMMENDED SETTINGS” button and you’ll see a notification stating that their “theme concierge will install the Review Widget” for you:   Make sure the Rich Snippets schema markup is enabled by clicking on the “SEO” tab of the Judge.me app, then enabling it, and saving your settings: Now, lets add the reviews widget to you all the right places on your Shopify store. Start by clicking on “Installtion” then “Preview Badge”:   Enable the preview badge on Collection pages, Home page collections and Product pages:

  Now all you have to do is wait for a confirmation email letting you know that the codes needed to add the star ratings have been added to your Shopify store:

Your Shopify Store has Just been Shopscaped!

Unlike other SEO tips you’ve read for Shopify, you don’t need to be a tech wizard or have to slave for days to get Shopscaping to work. You can get through these tips in less than a half-day of work to boost your organic traffic. If you found value in this post, I’d love it if you shared this with your friends.