ShopGoblin · The Journal
The Journal.
Essays, autopsies, and small scoldings from a Goblin who has audited a great many shops and has, as a result, formed strong opinions about most of them.
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01
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Internal linking, for shopkeepers who would rather not
How one sentence on each product page does more for your traffic than most apps.
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02
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Site speed for small shops, reluctantly explained
What matters, what does not, and the disappointing role of your apps.
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03
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On duplicate content, and what to do about it
The penalty does not exist; the problem still does.
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04
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Why your shop is not showing up on Google
A patient diagnosis of the most frequent, most despairing question the Goblin receives.
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05
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Keyword research without expensive tools
Most of what an SEO tool tells you about your own customers, your customers will tell you for free.
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06
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Should a small shop have a blog?
A measured answer, with the conditions under which the answer changes.
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07
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The five grumbles I find in nearly every Shopify shop
An audit of audits. The same five things, again and again, until the Goblin began to feel like a particularly ill-tempered parrot.
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08
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Collection pages: the most wasted opportunity in Shopify
The page that should rank for your best keyword, and almost never does.
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09
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On title tags, and the lies they tell
A short tirade in defence of the most ignored field on your product page.
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10
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What the Goblin looks for first
The first three minutes of an audit, narrated. A reckoning.
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11
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On meta descriptions, and whether they still matter
Google rewrites most of them. That is not a reason to neglect them.
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12
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Etsy listings that refuse to rank: a brief autopsy
On the algorithm, the tags, the SEO-by-cargo-cult, and what to actually do about it.
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13
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Why your product descriptions read like the manufacturer’s PDF
A short scolding, with examples. Some hope at the end.
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14
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Alt text, properly done
For the search engine and for the person using a screen reader. They want, as it happens, the same thing.
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15
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Do you need a Shopify SEO app?
A short and slightly unpopular answer, with the reasoning laid out.
— Or, more directly
Have the Goblin audit your shop.
$19. Twenty-four hours. One forty-page PDF, signed.
Summon the Goblin — $19 ↗