The SPO Blog

March 9, 2023Benny Chan No Comments

Please activate the new theme app extension

Since Shopify will limit the theme access by app developers, we have upgraded the app. Here are the updates:

The code snippet (SPO-social-meta-tags.liquid) is removed. This file was used to rewrite your theme meta tags. It will not be uploaded to your theme.
No file is uploaded to your theme. Theme access is removed
The social share images will be updated to your Shopify admin => Content => Files
A new theme app extension has been added. You can activate it with a 1-click deep link.

Action Required:

Existing users who installed the code snippet:

You can activate the extension in Setting => Activate App Embed Block
Remove the line {% render ‘SPO-social-meta-tags’ %} in the theme.liquid file

Please note that your existing code snippet is still in function. There is no negative impact if you don’t take action now. But this code snippet will no longer be updated by the app

New users:

Following the installation guide here. You’ll hide the existing meta tags and activate the theme app extension in your theme editor

Theme Migrations:

If you’re going to change your theme, you’ll have to install again following the installation guide.

Feel free to contact us if you have any questions. We’ll be happy to assist you!

July 31, 2021Benny Chan No Comments

Video JSON LD (structured data) is now supported for product

By May 2021, Google recommends adding video JSON LD to pages containing video contents. Video JSON LD (structured data) can help Google to generate rich video results and better parse all videos on your store. For example, Google can generate key moments using videos. It can significantly improve the click-through rate.

If your store includes videos, they can serve as shortcuts to rank higher on the search results.

Today, we have added support for video JSON LD for your product pages. If you’re using the latest version of code snippet (version: 31072021), you can test with the Google Rich Result Test.

If you’re using the older version, you can visit the SPO dashboard. SPO will upload the latest code snippet to your theme automatically.

For more information, please read our help article: What is JSON-LD? Why is it important?

June 29, 2021Benny Chan No Comments

A revamp of the SPO interface is under planning

Since Google is going to phase out 3rd party cookies to match with the latest privacy requirements, the current embedded app model is not going to work.

There are mainly 2 directions for our considerations:

Shopify suggests implementing a new authentication called Session Token Authentication with the new Shopify App Bridge. SPO will implement this new auth and continue living in the Shopify admin portal.
Turn SPO from an embedded app to a standalone app. A new tab will be opened when you open it from the app list. In other words, SPO will live on a new website.

Now the interface is a bit outdated and we’re considering a revamp for the interface. It’s becoming difficult to make a code change as well.

For the 1st way, it will cause a huge effort to change every part of the app. Also, it’s more technically challenging. Therefore, I’m more inclined to the 2nd way.

There is a timeline to remove a library (EASDK) we used by 1st Jan 2022. Therefore, the plan is actively undergoing. If you have any feedback, please leave a comment here or email me. I’ll definitely consolidate your opinion!

p.s. I’m writing the post so you don’t feel surprised when everything is changed suddenly

April 20, 2021Benny Chan No Comments

Get Early Access to our new Shopify bundle app, BYOB! ?

Product bundling has always been difficult in Shopify. This is because Shopify doesn’t provide composite products out of the box. If a merchant is looking for build-your-own-bundle (for example like Nintendo Switch), it’s almost impossible even using a Shopify app in the AppStore. There are numerous restrictions given by Shopify, e.g line items script is only offered to Shopify Plus customers, you cannot set up any “product group” even with Shopify API, etc

Build-your-own-bundle (BYOB) is proven to be an effective way to increase average order value (AOV) while delighting the customers.

If you’re running a small & medium store, does it mean you have to give in?

What are we offering?

If you want to offer bundles like

Buy any 1 item in collection A, any 1 item in collection B, any 1 item in collection C => get 15% off or at a discounted price of $100
Buy any 3 items in collection A => for at a discounted price of $100

The purpose is to help you to succeed, to sell more bundle products. You can try a demo page here: Shoe Sales, Winter Bundle.

Case Study

How a beauty company offer Buy-10-Get-1 free with BYOB: https://blog.ilovebyob.com/case-study-how-a-beauty-company-offer-buy-10-get-1-free-with-byob/

How a members-only shop use BYOB to drive sales with BOGO: https://blog.ilovebyob.com/case-study-how-shopify-store-set-up-bogo-bundle/

How a smoothie bowl company uses BYOB to sell n-pack bundles: https://blog.ilovebyob.com/case-study-how-a-smoothie-company-uses-byob-to-use-bundle/

Want to try BYOB?

BYOB has launched on the AppStore: https://apps.shopify.com/byob-build-your-own-bundle . Try it for Free!

April 7, 2021Emma No Comments

Why You Should Start Blogging on Shopify Store Now

If you’re running a Shopify store, you may be asking whether blogging on Shopify can help your business. If yes, in what way and should you use the platform to host your blogs, or is it better to use a WordPress subdomain? But before we take a deep dive into this exciting topic, let’s set the record straight. If your business revolves mainly around blogging, the better choice is to use WordPress. However, experts suggest that if you’re already on Shopify, it’s better to use the platform to run your blogs.

Why? Simply because it can boost your store traffic by 40%.

If you’re not confident enough to take that giant leap of faith and solely use Shopify for blogging, you can at least try writing your first 20 blog posts within Shopify. And if after that you don’t see a significant increase in your store traffic, then move on to WordPress.

March 26, 2021Emma No Comments

10 Reasons Why You Need A SEO App

If you’re a Shopify store owner, you need to optimize your shop to gain a massive following that will eventually increase your conversion rate and add to your sales.

Since the launch of eCommerce, people have grown a non-stop, insatiable hunger for dropshipping. However, after realizing that success in this field, just like in any other field, requires a steep learning curve, most of them give up. Luckily, those who stuck around and carried on despite the struggle were greatly rewarded. They just unlocked a new endeavor that blew up and became more and more profitable.

But the story doesn’t end there. Since almost everyone sees the platform as profitable, the competition grew more vigorous. Therefore, if you want to stand out, you need to be on top of the search list, and that your listings should show up when people search for products like those you sell.

No matter how uncomplicated these things sound, they are easier said than done. The truth is, your market is ever dynamic, and they bank more on the experience they get when using the product than the thing itself. To get their attention, you must challenge their minds, touch their hearts, and tickle their funny bone. And how do you do these? By intensifying your SEO efforts.

August 14, 2020Benny Chan No Comments

From 0 to 0.1: the Journey of Bootstrapping a Small E-commerce Plugin to a Scalable Business (Part 3)

Fierce Competition & Commodization

Well, it’s been 3 and a half years after I published part 2 of the series. Since I was busy working on different projects, I didn’t have the time to update the series for a while. Time flies. My app has changed a lot and the Shopify ecosystem is very different from the early days.

For my Shopify app, SEO Product Optimizer (SPO) is slowly growing with more than 1,000 merchants joining on board. The first version of SPO was published in Dec 2016. After 4 years of bootstrapping, I don’t make a big-money but I feel very proud of myself to keep everything going.

August 12, 2020Benny Chan No Comments

What is AMP and why is it useful for my Shopify store?

What is AMP?

AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages) is an open-source framework developed by Google in collaboration with Twitter.

AMP creates better, faster experiences on the mobile web. At its core, the framework allows you to build lightweight experiences for mobile by simplifying the HTML and following streamlined CSS rules.

August 7, 2020Benny Chan No Comments

SPO v2.0 update – support structured data with JSON LD

Hi SPO users, ?

After the last update, I’ve been working on stability and performance improvement. In the meantime, JSON LD (structured data / rich snippets) has been added to generated rich results on Google. We mainly support organization and product schema now.

New

JSON LD has been supported by our latest liquid file. For existing paid users, please enter the product listing page once and SPO will automatically update the liquid file to the latest version
JSON LD will support social media profile links. Your rich search result on Google will include these links
Bulk edit supports editing products under a collection
Added Google PageSpeed testing in Setting

Fixed

Stability and loading speed has been improved in the listing page
In Setting tab, you can click “Submit Now” button next to Sitemap Submission to notify Google to re-scrape your sitemap. Google will update its index after that.

If you want to give us feedback, please email us via support[at]seo-product-optimizer.com. We’d love to hear from you! ?

Reference:
JSON LD format for Product: https://developers.google.com/search/docs/data-types/product

July 14, 2020Benny Chan No Comments

10 Google shopping ads Strategies to up Your Game in 2020 (Guest Post)

Google Shopping Ads Campaigns has been taking the eCommerce world by storm. Ads on mobile and desktop devices have been garnering more clicks and seeing a rising trend when it comes to PPC management. For any brand that is into eCommerce marketing, Google Shopping Ads Campaigns cannot be missed.

The date says they are worth it and the amount you make, you get back more via Return on Ad Spends (ROAS). If you’ve ever wanted to learn what Google Shopping ads are, how to create and optimize them for better performance, then this post will give you a nice walkthrough.