We executed a risk‑managed Shopify migration and ongoing SEO program that delivered a +155% lift in organic traffic and a +673% increase in online sales, while sustaining top‑tier search rankings.
Shopify Migration & E‑commerce SEO Case Study
Our Shopify migration and ongoing support with Linchpin SEO were outstanding.
Bill’s meticulous planning and SEO expertise delivered a 155% traffic increase, 673% sales growth, and sustained top‑tier search rankings. Continuous collaboration ensures every new content effort pays dividends.
Chris
GM, IND Distribution
This engagement focused on a mid‑market DTC e‑commerce brand replatforming to Shopify. The organization required zero revenue downtime, strict brand governance, and a scalable content and category strategy aligned to how customers search—and how merchandising evolves across seasons.
| Attribute | Details |
|---|---|
| Organization | Mid‑market DTC e‑commerce brand |
| Footprint | National reach with seasonal demand spikes |
| Operating Model | Centralized strategy with cross‑functional dev, content, and merchandising squads |
| Primary Channels | Organic search, paid search/shopping, email, and onsite merchandising |
| Starting Point | Legacy platform constraints (site speed, URL structure, limited content publishing velocity) |
| Key Constraints | Zero SEO regressions, strict brand/UX standards, inventory and pricing sync |
| Data Stack | GA4, Google Search Console, Shopify analytics, Merchant Center, and tag‑based event tracking |
| Engagement Goal | Risk‑managed replatform + compounding SEO and CRO growth engine |
Business Objectives & KPIs
We aligned on business outcomes first and translated them into SEO, UX, and analytics objectives that ladder cleanly from page‑level performance to executive reporting. Measurement emphasized revenue, not vanity metrics.
- Objective 1: Complete Shopify migration with no material loss of rankings, traffic, or revenue.
- Objective 2: Grow organic traffic and non‑brand visibility with a re‑architected category and content model.
- Objective 3: Improve conversion rate and AOV through UX refinements, speed gains, and trust enablers.
- Objective 4: Establish an operating cadence so new content and categories capture demand rapidly.
Approach: Shopify Migration & Growth Plan
We paired a detailed pre‑migration playbook with post‑launch growth sprints. The plan balanced technical rigor with pragmatic delivery to protect revenue and accelerate gains.
- Audit & Risk Map: SEO baseline, content inventory, link equity analysis, legacy platform crawl, and gap assessment.
- Information Architecture: Category and faceted navigation model aligned to query intent, filters, and merchandising logic.
- URL & Redirect Strategy: One‑to‑one mappings, regex rules for facets, canonicalization policies, and parameter governance.
- Theme & Performance: Shopify theme hardening, Core Web Vitals improvements, image/CDN strategy, and third‑party app audit.
- Structured Data & Feeds: Product, Breadcrumb, and Organization schema; high‑quality product feeds for Merchant Center.
- Governance & QA: Pre‑launch checklists, staging crawls, content freeze windows, and go/no‑go gates with rollback paths.
Program Components Strategies
- Shopify Replatforming: Theme build, data migration, checkout compliance, and app minimization to reduce script bloat.
- Technical SEO & Architecture: Scalable collections taxonomy, canonical rules, robots directives, and XML sitemaps.
- Content & Category Strategy: Briefs for collections and PDPs, evergreen guides, and FAQ modules mapped to long‑tail intent.
- CRO & UX: Trust badges, reviews, financing cues, sticky CTAs, and simplified purchase flows.
- Performance Engineering: Lightweight images, lazy‑loading, script deferment, and app rationalization.
- Analytics & Attribution: Event taxonomy, UTMs, channel mapping, and revenue‑aligned dashboards.
- Change Management: Roles, SLAs, test calendars, and documentation to sustain velocity post‑launch.
Outcomes & Proof
The re-platform protected existing equity and unlocked substantial growth. Results below summarize post‑migration performance.
| Metric | Change |
|---|---|
| Organic Traffic Growth | +155% |
| E‑commerce Sales Growth | +673% |
| Search Visibility | Sustained top‑tier rankings for priority categories and queries |
- Evidence: GA4, Shopify analytics, and Search Console corroborate lifts in discovery, sessions, and revenue.
- Sustainability: Gains reinforced by an ongoing content and CRO cadence with governance and QA gates.
Inside the Playbook (How We Operationalized It)
The execution model prioritized speed without sacrificing control. We kept feedback loops tight and documentation precise so wins were repeatable.
- Audit & Setup: Establish tracking, crawl staging, finalize IA and redirect maps, and harden theme performance.
- Build & QA: Migrate content and products, implement schema, validate feeds, and run pre‑launch test suites.
- Launch & Stabilize: Execute redirects, monitor logs and rankings, triage edge cases, and fix crawl anomalies.
- Optimize & Scale: Expand category content, iterate on CRO, and roll out new guides aligned to demand pockets.
- Core Artifacts: IA blueprint, redirect registry, schema library, and content brief templates.
- Cadence: Weekly stand‑ups, monthly KPI reviews, quarterly roadmap resets.
- Quality Gates: Brand/UX review, accessibility checks, and automated audits for canonical and indexation drift.
Why This Worked
- Risk‑Managed Migration: Redirect precision and IA discipline preserved equity and prevented ranking volatility.
- Intent‑Aligned Architecture: Category and content models matched how buyers search—capturing incremental demand.
- Performance & UX Gains: Faster pages and streamlined flows improved engagement and conversion rate.
- Operating Cadence: Continuous collaboration turned content launches into predictable revenue events.
- Data Integrity: Clean taxonomy and dashboards kept decisions tied to revenue, not noise.
The net effect is a durable growth engine: protected equity on day one, accelerating traffic thereafter, and sustained visibility that compounds with every content release.