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Service · Shopify SEO

Shopify SEO Built in the Theme Code, Not in an App

We're a UK SEO agency running long-term retainers for Shopify stores. Liquid-level schema, app-stack audits, collection architecture, and the Shopify-specific technical work generalist SEO agencies can't do. Free audit before you commit.

What we do

  • Liquid-level schema

    Product, Review, BreadcrumbList, Article, FAQPage, implemented in product.liquid and collection.liquid, not bolted on via an app that emits duplicates. The kind of schema Google's Rich Results actually consumes.

  • App stack audit

    Most Shopify stores carry 20–40 unnecessary scripts loaded by apps that haven't been used in months. We audit, prune, and replace where needed, Core Web Vitals and conversion rate both lift the same week.

  • Collection architecture

    Smart vs manual collections, tags, metafield-driven filters, canonical handling across /products/ and /collections/. Get this wrong and you ship thousands of thin URLs Google ignores. We design it properly the first time.

  • Content & on-page

    Four or more new pieces a month, briefed against actual Search Console data. Product page copy refreshed monthly based on what's converting. Collection page intros rewritten for search intent. No bulk-generated filler.

  • GSC + indexation

    Weekly Search Console review. Shopify ships duplicate-URL patterns by default, we monitor for canonicalisation drift, soft-404s on out-of-stock products, and sitemap issues caused by app installs.

  • Reporting tied to revenue

    Monthly report against attributed organic revenue, not ranking screenshots. Quarterly strategic review with a real human. We treat the GSC dashboard as a control panel, not a quarterly slide.

How a Shopify SEO retainer with us actually runs

Generalist SEO agencies treat Shopify as "a website". The retainers that move organic revenue treat it as the specific platform it is. Here's the rhythm.

  1. Free Shopify audit (week 0)

    Technical sweep of your Shopify-specific setup: Liquid templates, schema implementation, collection architecture, app stack performance, GSC issues, Core Web Vitals, and the duplicate-URL patterns Shopify generates by default. We tell you what's working, what's broken, and whether your traffic supports a retainer or paid ads should come first.

  2. Foundations (weeks 1–4)

    Schema corrected directly in the theme code. App stack pruned. Canonical handling fixed across /products/ and /collections/. Sitemap and robots audited. Search Console connected with proper segmentation. The heavy lift in month one, most Shopify accounts find recoverable traffic in this phase alone.

  3. Content + on-page rhythm (month 2 onwards)

    4+ new pieces of long-form, briefed content per month, plus monthly rewrites of underperforming product and collection pages based on Search Console data. Product page copy and collection intros refreshed against search intent, not just for keyword density.

  4. Review, refine, scale (quarterly)

    Monthly reports tied to organic revenue. Quarterly strategy reviews looking at what's earning, what's not, and where we deploy effort next. A real human, not a templated PDF.

Why Shopify SEO is a different brief

Most UK SEO agencies running Shopify retainers are running generalist SEO with a Shopify badge on the website. The brief reads the same as a WordPress retainer or a custom-built site retainer, the deliverables look identical, and the team has never opened a theme.liquid file. That's where the retainers underperform, not because the team is bad, but because the platform-specific work goes undone.

Shopify ships with a set of opinionated behaviours that need understanding rather than wishing away. Products appear under multiple collection URLs (/products/X and /collections/Y/products/X) and need canonical handling. Smart collections drive most of the storefront but generate URL patterns based on conditions, not handles, get the tag taxonomy wrong and you ship hundreds of thin pages. The default product schema is incomplete; the apps that promise to fix it usually emit duplicates that confuse Google's Rich Results validator. The blog runs on a separate template architecture that most generalist agencies ignore until it's a problem.

The other thing nobody talks about: the app stack is where most Shopify SEO retainers quietly fail. Apps inject scripts into every page load, and most stores accumulate 20–40 unused or duplicated scripts over a couple of years. Core Web Vitals drop. Time-to-Interactive climbs past three seconds on mobile. Conversion rate erodes. A generalist agency runs a Lighthouse audit, lists "defer JavaScript" as a recommendation, and moves on. We open the theme code, identify which apps are loading what, and ship a fix, the same week. Performance work IS SEO work on Shopify, and it compounds with everything else we ship.

The general SEO retainer covers all of this on Shopify too, same team, same fee, same all-inclusive scope. The reason we publish a separate Shopify SEO page is to be specific about the platform expertise that ships with it. If you're on Shopify and the agency you're talking to can't explain canonical handling across /products/ and /collections/ without checking, they're going to spend month one learning the platform on your dime. We won't.

What clients say

  1. Peak Digital is "clicks on" for all our digital platforms, nothing is ever too much. It is such a relief to know our money is spent so carefully ensuring our online stores perform and even over-perform our monthly budgets. I am so grateful to have Peak Digital as our supplier in helping us navigate all our digital needs.
    Kelli Kupritz Marketing Director · Dodos Group
  2. We were completely stuck before Peak Digital was recommended to us. We got bad advice and recommendations, we were told what we wanted from a website wasn't possible and that we would have to get it built overseas. We paid hundreds of thousands for the wrong thing. Then Aidan came on board and made all the magic happen. He was so excited and passionate about our project, even researching our market and competitors, helping us clean up our design, and building us the most phenomenal website.
    Dana Booth Founder · Solo Saddlers
  3. I have worked with Peak Digital for the past 10 years and can honestly say our online business only really took off when Aidan launched our Madison Shopify site and took control of the ad spend. He is a pleasure to work with and gets the job done, we have reached great growth with Aidan. I would highly recommend Peak Digital to get your business online and gain market share very quickly.
    Shane McEvoy Operations Director · Madison Heart of New York
  4. Peak Digital has changed my life! My business has grown so much more than I expected in such a short space of time and working with Aidan is a dream! I would and have recommended him to everyone looking to take their business online.
    Debbie Goldstein Founder

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Frequently asked questions

Is Shopify SEO different from regular SEO?

The fundamentals are the same, keyword research, on-page optimisation, technical health, content strategy, link building. The platform-specific work is what's different. On Shopify that means Liquid-level schema, app stack performance, collection architecture, canonical handling across /products/ and /collections/, and the duplicate-URL patterns the platform generates by default. A generalist agency that doesn't know the platform spends month one learning it. We don't.

How much does Shopify SEO cost?

Our Shopify SEO retainer is All-inclusive. That covers Liquid-level schema, app stack audits, collection and product page work, 4+ new pieces of content a month, ongoing rewrites of underperforming pages, Search Console management, and monthly reporting. No setup fee, no percentage of revenue, no contract lock-in. Most UK Shopify SEO providers either sit at £300–£500/month (which doesn't buy real work) or £3,000+/month (which mostly buys slide decks).

Do you only work on Shopify, or other platforms too?

Both. Our general SEO retainer covers Shopify, WordPress, WooCommerce, BigCommerce, and custom-built sites, same team, same fee. We've published a separate Shopify SEO page because the platform-specific expertise is a real part of the brief on Shopify stores, and we want to be specific about it rather than burying it in a generalist pitch.

How long until I see results from Shopify SEO?

Technical wins land within the first 30 days, schema corrections, app stack pruning, canonicalisation fixes, indexation cleanup. Content gains compound from month three onwards as new pieces age and Search Console builds enough click-through data for Google to reassess relevance. By month six most Shopify retainers are showing meaningful traffic and ranking lifts on product and collection pages. SEO is genuinely slower than paid, anyone promising top-3 rankings in week two is selling something else.

Do you do backlink building?

No, and we'd rather be honest about that than sell you something we don't believe in. Cheap link-building packages get penalised in core updates; genuine link-building costs more than the entire retainer on its own. What we do instead is earn links through publishable content, fixable technical issues, and the digital PR opportunities your business naturally generates. If you specifically want a paid-link operation, you'll be happier with a specialist outreach agency.

Will you audit and prune my app stack?

Yes, it's one of the first things we do, and one of the highest-ROI pieces of work in month one. Most Shopify stores carry 20–40 unnecessary scripts loaded by apps that haven't been used in months. We identify which apps are loading what, work out which are paying their way, and replace or remove the rest. Core Web Vitals improve the same week, plan billing drops, and the conversion-rate lift is usually measurable inside a month.

What does "Liquid-level schema" actually mean?

It means we edit your theme's product.liquid, collection.liquid, and article.liquid files to emit structured data directly in the page source, Product, Review, BreadcrumbList, Article, FAQPage schema where relevant. The alternative is bolting on an SEO app to do it, which usually emits duplicate or malformed markup that Google's Rich Results test rejects. Direct-in-Liquid schema is faster, cleaner, and doesn't break when the app updates.

Do you work with Shopify Plus stores too?

Yes. The retainer scales to Shopify Plus accounts, same fundamentals, plus the multi-store, B2B, and custom checkout extension considerations specific to Plus. Pricing on Plus engagements depends on scope (number of stores, languages, checkout customisation depth). Talk to us about the specifics in the audit.

Is the work done in-house or outsourced?

All in-house. The senior team that writes the briefs is the same team that opens theme files and ships the work. No offshore content factories, no white-label developers brought in to fix the things we can't. If you've been burned by an agency where the proposal team and the delivery team were different people, you'll notice the difference.

Is there a contract lock-in?

No. 30-day notice and we go separate ways. Everything we've built, schema, technical fixes, content, internal-link structure, app stack changes, stays on your site. No clawbacks, no "agency-owned" assets, no migration fees. We don't believe in retention through contracts; if the work isn't worth what you're paying, you should leave.

Want to know what your Shopify store is actually doing for organic?

Book a free Shopify SEO audit