SEO is never dull. It’s an ever-evolving puzzle. In this field we come across all sorts of problems, and we love to help our customers rank better. We have many stories and I wish that we had time to share all of them with every potential client – but this story in particular has a lot to do with the way that our SEO Process is structured.
You see, once upon a time, a jewelry artisan named Christine Barbour contacted us. She made beautiful pieces – but they were not showing up on Google. Well scratch that… her HOMEPAGE was showing up on Google – but none of her products were (and there were over 150 of them). So, what we suggested was analyzing the site starting with our 25-Point SEO Report. This is usually step one when we begin working with any new SEO client, because it allows us to really dig into a site and look for glaring errors in the code.
This is very similar to the discovery period that we would need before working on a client’s website. Research on the front end of a project ALWAYS makes for a better experience for everyone. Due diligence, man. Do it. Do the due.
Our SEO Report Unearthed Something Very Interesting…
Christine has a Shopify site – and as a Certified Shopify Expert we are very familiar with the platform. She had purchased a paid Shopify Theme. So at this point one would assume that everything was fine – right?
WRONG.
The theme used jQuery to implement a common website design element known as the “sliding door” effect. Unfortunately, this was not set up properly – and as a result Google was skipping over every product in her inventory when crawling the site. Google literally had no idea that Christine sold ANY products whatsoever.
Had we skipped over the 25-Point SEO Report and jumped right into working on other areas of the website – it would have taken us a while to figure out what was going on. The time spent working through the report allowed us to make an informed decision – not some random suggestion with no merit. We didn’t consult on what we felt, we consulted on what we knew to be true.
Christine actually decided to scrap the crappy pre-boxed template site in favor of a custom design built from the ground up. We made sure her code was Google-friendly. Her products now show up in search – and she even left us a few kind words on Yelp. Here’s just a snippet – the entire (glorious) review can be seen over on this page.
AJ and his crew are remarkable. I asked him for SEO help and ended up with a beautifully designed kick-ass new logo, and a dynamite website that shows right up on the search engines. The Hauser Design Group focuses on mobile first development and works up so it is a pleasure to use on my phone, I get good mobile traffic and sales and Google likes me. What could be better?
Code Matters
- Pre-boxed themes – even when purchased from a reputable theme store – will never outperform properly structured custom code.
- Discovery time comes in many forms, in this case the form of our 25-Point SEO Report. If you are working with a professional they will be able to prove the discovery time was time well spent.
- Problem solving is fun. We’d love to help you solve some of the problems you are experiencing.
There are many other reasons why your site may not be ranking properly in Google Search. However, this is one of our more memorable situations and one that I felt was important to share with our readers.
Now… back to problem solving.
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