Leighton Taylor & Patrick Rice

Off the Record Ecommerce

About the show

Insider conversations about how to grow an ecommerce brand on Shopify. From marketing and conversion strategy to operations and scaling, Leighton Taylor and Patrick Rice share what's working now and what isn't.

Newest episodes

Shopify Black Friday Prep: What We're Telling Our Clients

Nov 6, 2026 30 min

Black Friday and holiday shopping can make or break your year for a Shopify store. Patrick and Leighton share what they're telling their clients right now, from offers that protect your margin and keeping the same sale URL every year to delivery dates, gift guides, and Google Merchant Center promotions. Links Mentioned Shopify Delivery Dates Setup: https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/fulfillment/setup/processing-time-and-delivery-dates/delivery-dates Watch This Episode on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mM-jcCkZZh4 Chapters 0:00 Intro 1:14 Black Friday Website Basics 2:28 Types of Holiday Offers 3:23 Discount Math and Margins 5:53 Free Gifts Instead of Discounts 7:46 Q4 Ad Spend and Break-Even 9:22 When to Announce Your Sale 12:00 Reuse the Same Sale URL 14:34 What to Show After the Sale 16:34 Show Estimated Delivery Dates 19:49 Calculating Delivery Dates 22:02 Gift Wrap and Engraving 23:43 Gift Guides for SEO and AI 26:48 Interactive Gift Finders and Bundles 28:41 Google Merchant Center Promotions 30:10 Wrapping Up Book a Call Book a Call with Patrick: https://calendly.com/patrickriceco/strategy-call Book a Call with Leighton: https://cal.com/leightontaylor/discovery-call?utm_source=podcast Work with Us Work with Patrick (SEO and Google Ads): https://patrickriceco.com/ Work with Leighton (Shopify Store Builds, Migrations, & Ongoing Support): https://envision.io You may notice that our content sometimes includes affiliate links or sponsored content. We may receive compensation for this type of content, which supports the work we do at no cost to you.

Muse x Shopify: The Killer App For AI Shopping?

Oct 30, 2026 32 min

Is Meta's Muse the killer app for AI shopping? Leighton Taylor and Patrick Rice test Muse's Shopify and Shop Pay checkout firsthand, break down where it falls short (slow browsing, missed upsells, and a bias toward big brands), and explain how Shopify store owners can get their products ready for Muse and other AI shopping agents. Links Mentioned Muse by Meta: https://ai.meta.com/muse/download/ Shopify Help: Meta as an AI channel in Agentic Storefronts: https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/online-sales-channels/agentic-storefronts/meta Facebook & Instagram by Meta (Shopify app): https://apps.shopify.com/facebook Shop Pay: https://www.shopify.com/shop-pay Stripe Link: https://link.com Google Merchant Center: https://merchants.google.com Land of a Thousand Hills Coffee: https://www.landofathousandhills.com SURI Sustainable Electric Toothbrush: https://www.trysuri.com Watch This Episode on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkAl2CcMYY0 Chapters 0:00 Intro 1:27 Muse as a Personal Agent 2:41 Trusting Meta With Your Data 3:41 Why Agent Shopping Feels Slow 5:54 Buying a Toothbrush With Shop Pay 7:09 Ordering Coffee Through Muse 10:55 Where Muse Misses the Upsell 11:27 Who Is Meta's Real Customer? 13:00 Quick Reorders vs. Big Purchases 15:54 Shop Pay, Stripe Link, and Amazon 17:14 Why Muse Favors Big Brands 18:13 Patrick Gets Blocked by Amazon 20:07 Tracking Muse Orders 22:31 Getting Your Store Ready 23:12 Product Feeds and Feed Hygiene 25:37 The Three Places Muse Looks 26:50 Optimizing 6 to 12 Months Out 28:19 Descriptions and Category Metafields 30:20 Muse Beyond Shopping 31:09 Why Merchants Should Experiment 32:11 Wrapping Up Book a Call Book a Call with Patrick: https://calendly.com/patrickriceco/strategy-call Book a Call with Leighton: https://cal.com/leightontaylor/discovery-call?utm_source=podcast Work with Us Work with Patrick (SEO and Google Ads): https://patrickriceco.com/ Work with Leighton (Shopify Store Builds, Migrations, & Ongoing Support): https...

Klaviyo for Shopify: The Flows You Need and the Numbers to Hit

Oct 23, 2026 38 min

Email marketing specialist Mel Driver breaks down the Klaviyo flows every Shopify store needs, the open and click-through rates worth aiming for, and how often to email your list. She also covers segmentation, selling subscriptions, cashback loyalty, SMS, and the most common Klaviyo account mistakes. Links Mentioned Mel Driver: https://meldriver.co Klaviyo: https://www.klaviyo.com Redeemly (affiliate link): https://apps.shopify.com/cashback-redeemly?sref=rl_QMs4GlR5 Watch This Episode on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTyGr9-LHBo Chapters 0:00 Intro 0:32 From Skincare Brand to Klaviyo 4:43 Core Flows Every Store Needs 7:21 Anniversary and Birthday Flows 10:18 Why Mel Skips Split Tests 11:40 Open and Click-Through Benchmarks 13:30 Campaigns and Engaged Segments 16:41 How Often to Email Your List 17:18 Writing Emails People Open 21:20 How to Think About Unsubscribes 22:59 Selling Subscriptions With Email 25:33 Cashback vs. Points Loyalty 28:12 Segments Worth Building 29:49 Where SMS Fits 31:03 Common Klaviyo Account Mistakes 34:56 Flows Based on Purchases 37:12 Wrapping Up Book a Call Book a Call with Patrick: https://calendly.com/patrickriceco/strategy-call Book a Call with Leighton: https://cal.com/leightontaylor/discovery-call?utm_source=podcast Work with Us Work with Patrick (SEO and Google Ads): https://patrickriceco.com/ Work with Leighton (Shopify Store Builds, Migrations, & Ongoing Support): https://envision.io You may notice that our content sometimes includes affiliate links or sponsored content. We may receive compensation for this type of content, which supports the work we do at no cost to you.

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All episodes

Shopify Black Friday Prep: What We're Telling Our Clients

Nov 6, 2026 30 min

Muse x Shopify: The Killer App For AI Shopping?

Oct 30, 2026 32 min

Klaviyo for Shopify: The Flows You Need and the Numbers to Hit

Oct 23, 2026 38 min

One Shopify Store's Traffic Was 65% Bots. Here's How We Fought Back

Oct 2, 2026 29 min

One Shopify store we work with had more than 65% of its traffic coming from bots, and it's a growing problem that skews analytics, burns through app credits, and can even lead to a cloned copy of your store. Leighton Taylor and Dave Tanguay break down how they fight Shopify bot traffic with Cloudflare O2O, AI-written security rules, and ongoing monitoring for clone sites. Links Mentioned Blockify Fraud Filter & Blocker (Shopify app): https://apps.shopify.com/blockify Boxify (shipping rate calculator for Shopify): https://apps.shopify.com/boxify Cloudflare: https://www.cloudflare.com/ Cloudflare O2O for Shopify (setup guide): https://developers.cloudflare.com/cloudflare-for-platforms/cloudflare-for-saas/saas-customers/provider-guides/shopify/ Recon Brand & Clone Protection: https://recon.bot/ Watch This Episode on YouTube https://youtu.be/LOlLfAohPUM Chapters 0:00 Intro 0:34 Meet Dave Tanguay 1:40 Bots From Singapore and China 2:26 What Bot Traffic Costs You 4:13 Cloned Stores and Missing Orders 5:01 Why Blocking Countries Stopped Working 5:46 Switching to Cloudflare's Free Plan 6:58 What Cloudflare O2O Is 8:25 Blockify vs. Cloudflare in Plain English 10:30 Challenging Every Checkout 11:30 An Arms Race With Bots 12:55 Letting Good Bots Through 14:09 Moving Your DNS to Cloudflare 16:00 Why Not to DIY Your DNS 17:37 Doesn't Shopify Already Use Cloudflare? 19:07 Using AI to Write the Rules 22:47 How We Spotted a Clone Site 25:15 Tools That Watch for Clones 27:52 Signs You Have a Bot Problem 28:17 Wrapping Up Book a Call Book a Call with Patrick: https://calendly.com/patrickriceco/strategy-call Book a Call with Leighton: https://cal.com/leightontaylor/discovery-call?utm_source=podcast Work with Us Work with Patrick (SEO and Google Ads): https://patrickriceco.com/ Work with Leighton (Shopify Store Builds, Migrations, & Ongoing Support): https://envision.io You may notice that our content sometimes includes affiliate links or sponsored content. We may receive co...

Recipe Pages on Shopify: Some Stores Make $30K a Month

Sep 25, 2026 53 min

Some Shopify food, beverage, and CPG brands are making $20,000 to $30,000 a month from their recipe pages alone. Patrick Bollenbach, founder of Recipe Kit, joins Leighton and Patrick Rice to break down recipe SEO on Shopify and how his new app Recon catches the scammers cloning Shopify stores. Links Mentioned Recipe Kit: https://recipekit.com/ Recon Brand & Clone Protection: https://recon.bot/ Judge.me: https://judge.me/ Shopify's copyright infringement reporting form: https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/compliance/intellectual-property/copyright-policy Watch This Episode on YouTube https://youtu.be/PLACtwQSaOY Chapters 0:00 Intro 0:39 How Patrick Got Into Shopify 2:36 His First App Got Declined 3:45 What Recipe Kit Does 5:09 Getting Out of Service Work 8:13 Who Actually Uses Recipes 9:40 A Look at the Recipe SERP 10:36 Structured Data and Star Ratings 13:53 Where AI Fits In 17:36 Skip the Grandma Story 20:12 The Ad Problem on Recipe Blogs 23:32 Bare Recipe Cards Ranking First 24:09 Tracking Revenue From Recipes 26:05 Images Are the Big Mistake 29:25 Pinterest Is Underrated 32:33 Better Blog Comments and UGC 35:15 Recon and Store Cloning 37:02 How to Stop a Clone 41:08 Filing a DMCA Takedown 45:58 AI Slop Clones in the App Store 48:48 Product Is No Longer the Moat 52:06 Why Human Teams Still Win 52:54 Wrapping Up Book a Call Book a Call with Patrick Rice: https://calendly.com/patrickriceco/strategy-call Book a Call with Leighton Taylor: https://cal.com/leightontaylor/discovery-call?utm_source=podcast Work with Us Work with Patrick (SEO and Google Ads): https://patrickriceco.com/ Work with Leighton (Shopify Store Builds, Migrations, & Ongoing Support): https://envision.io You may notice that our content sometimes includes affiliate links or sponsored content. We may receive compensation for this type of content, which supports the work we do at no cost to you.

What Is a Good Shopify Conversion Rate?

Sep 18, 2026 39 min

What is a good Shopify conversion rate? It depends on your traffic mix, your industry, and your price point far more than on any benchmark you will find online. In this episode we break down the three step funnel from add to cart, to reaching checkout, to a completed purchase, plus the drop off numbers that show you where a store is actually losing sales. Links Mentioned Baymard Institute (free ecommerce UX articles and research): https://baymard.com Blockify (block bot traffic by country or IP): https://apps.shopify.com/blockify Cloudflare: https://www.cloudflare.com Leighton's Shopify CRO audit checklist: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ZV21GWwNNMWmnsU__hlw9Y-QVMNFY02qjrIjeeofGY8/edit?usp=sharing Watch This Episode on YouTube https://youtu.be/X1Ea1du9vbo Chapters 0:00 Intro 0:20 The Ecommerce Growth Equation 3:06 How Conversion Rate and AOV Compound 4:45 Why Conversion Rate Is a Weird Number 6:34 Conversion Rate Is Always Relative 8:12 How Bots Skew Your Data 10:04 Blocking Bot Traffic 11:39 Cloudflare and Shopify 14:20 Do Bots Actually Hurt Sales? 15:19 The Hidden Cost of Bot Traffic 17:57 Themes, Navigation, and Basics 18:44 Baymard as a CRO Resource 20:24 The 100 Point Audit Checklist 23:11 Mobile Menus and Shop All Links 27:36 Free Shipping Bars and AOV 28:51 The Three Step Funnel Benchmark 31:01 Diagnosing Where Sales Leak 32:14 Improving Add to Cart Rate 33:31 When to A/B Test 35:40 How Much Data You Need 39:06 Wrapping Up Book a Call Book a Call with Patrick: https://calendly.com/patrickriceco/strategy-call Book a Call with Leighton: https://cal.com/leightontaylor/discovery-call?utm_source=podcast Work with Us Work with Patrick (SEO and Google Ads): https://patrickriceco.com/ Work with Leighton (Shopify Store Builds, Migrations, & Ongoing Support): https://envision.io You may notice that our content sometimes includes affiliate links or sponsored content. We may receive compensation for this type of content, which supports the work we do...

Patrick Rice's Story: From YouTuber to Shopify Agency Owner

Sep 14, 2026 43 min

Patrick Rice started a Minecraft YouTube channel at 13 and made his first $3,000 online before he had ever heard of SEO. He walks Leighton through the whole path to running a Shopify SEO and Google Ads agency, including the client he lost to a migration that went sideways and the point where managing everything himself turned into a ceiling. Links Mentioned E&R Business Consulting (Traci Eisenberg-Rayburn, Patrick's business coach): https://www.erbusinessconsulting.com/ Patrick's old Minecraft video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sq51xW8pYqg Watch This Episode on YouTube https://youtu.be/9bTCzlZG3zI Chapters 0:00 Intro 1:23 The Minecraft YouTube channel 3:35 Accidental link building 4:30 First SEO job at 18 7:27 How PRC started 9:15 Going independent too early 10:31 Four years as a freelancer 13:28 Knowing your agency numbers 15:38 Getting into Shopify SEO 17:06 The migration that cost a client 19:17 The cold email that landed 22:41 Referrals and LinkedIn 25:02 LinkedIn is saturated now 26:48 Hitting the growth ceiling 29:58 Ownership versus tasks 33:40 The hire who quit in 4 days 35:52 How much to document 38:30 Where AI fits now 40:17 Ads first, then SEO 41:45 Wrapping Up Book a Call Book a Call with Patrick: https://calendly.com/patrickriceco/strategy-call Book a Call with Leighton: https://cal.com/leightontaylor/discovery-call?utm_source=podcast Work with Us Work with Patrick (SEO and Google Ads): https://patrickriceco.com/ Work with Leighton (Shopify Store Builds, Migrations, & Ongoing Support): https://envision.io You may notice that our content sometimes includes affiliate links or sponsored content. We may receive compensation for this type of content, which supports the work we do at no cost to you.

Leighton Taylor's Story: 5 Years Running a Shopify Agency From a Sailboat

Sep 4, 2026 38 min

Leighton started his first ecommerce business on Etsy while teaching English in China, then found Shopify in 2012 and turned freelance work into Envision. He ran the Shopify agency from Mexico, Ecuador, and Southeast Asia, then sold the house in 2020 and spent five and a half years working from a sailboat. Patrick and Leighton dig into all of it, plus the hiring mistakes, QA systems, and priority questions that came with growing a Shopify agency remotely. Links Mentioned Tropical MBA Podcast: https://tropicalmba.com/ Dynamite Circle: https://dynamitecircle.com/ Upwork (formerly oDesk): https://www.upwork.com/ Notion: https://www.notion.com/ The Effective Executive by Peter Drucker: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0060833459 Leighton's weekly planning questions: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1pIWzT0jesjhDvOLUpdMlLrD8lhgCEbrj31cl9jv1B_g/edit?usp=sharing Watch This Episode on YouTube https://youtu.be/jCofHzKUavQ Chapters 0:00 Intro 0:48 Two Years Teaching in China 1:26 Wedding Invitations on Etsy 4:29 Discovering Shopify in 2012 6:13 Landing First Clients on Upwork 7:47 Why the Name Envision 9:32 Going Nomad: Mexico to Asia 12:00 Hiring Contractors and Scaling Pain 15:10 Documenting Systems and QA 20:47 Perfectionism or High Standards? 21:47 The Highest Leverage Task 24:27 The Monday Planning Ritual 28:46 Client Unit Economics and NCCM3 31:17 Becoming a Business Advisor 35:09 From Nursing School to a Sailboat 36:33 A Home Base in Florida 38:06 Wrapping Up Book a Call Book a Call with Patrick: https://calendly.com/patrickriceco/strategy-call Book a Call with Leighton: https://cal.com/leightontaylor/discovery-call?utm_source=podcast Work with Us Work with Patrick (SEO and Google Ads): https://patrickriceco.com/ Work with Leighton (Shopify Store Builds, Migrations, & Ongoing Support): https://envision.io You may notice that our content sometimes includes affiliate links or sponsored content. We may receive compensation for this type of content, which supports t...

Shopify LTV: How to Measure It and Actually Raise It

Aug 28, 2026 40 min

LTV, or customer lifetime value, tells you what a customer is really worth to your Shopify store, and it decides how much you can afford to spend acquiring the next one. Leighton and Patrick break down how to measure LTV using cohorts and time windows, why contribution margin matters more than gross revenue, and the levers that actually move it: post-purchase email and SMS flows, subscriptions, loyalty points, retargeting, and AOV. Links Mentioned Lifetimely (LTV and profit analytics for Shopify): https://apps.shopify.com/lifetimely-lifetime-value-and-profit-analytics Peel (retention and cohort analytics): https://www.peelinsights.com/ Triple Whale (ecommerce attribution and analytics): https://www.triplewhale.com/ Klaviyo (email and SMS marketing): https://www.klaviyo.com/ Smile.io (loyalty and rewards for Shopify): https://smile.io/ Chapters 0:00 Intro 2:06 What LTV Actually Means 3:06 Why Repeat Buyers Cost Less 5:26 The LTV to CAC Ratio 6:37 Nobody Knows Their Contribution Margin 8:09 Slicing Customers Into Cohorts 10:24 Shopify Analytics and Sidekick 11:07 Apps for Cohort Analysis 12:17 Cash Flow and Time-Based LTV 13:38 Why "Lifetime" Is Misleading 18:23 Retention Marketing: Email and SMS 19:26 The Post-Purchase Flow 20:11 Consumables and Subscriptions 20:45 Helping Customers Reach Their Goal 21:47 Building a Customer Persona 22:45 The Creatine Example 24:59 Retargeting Past Customers 26:59 When to Pitch a Subscription 29:09 The \$1 Olive Oil Club 32:12 Loyalty and Rewards Programs 34:29 How AOV Feeds LTV 35:26 Where LTV, AOV, and CR Meet 38:41 Wrapping Up Book a Call Book a Call with Patrick: https://calendly.com/patrickriceco/strategy-call Book a Call with Leighton: https://cal.com/leightontaylor/discovery-call?utm_source=podcast Work with Us Work with Patrick (SEO and Google Ads): https://patrickriceco.com/ Work with Leighton (Shopify Store Builds, Migrations, & Ongoing Support): https://envision.io You may notice that our content sometimes include...

Get Your Store Recommended by ChatGPT Before Black Friday

Aug 21, 2026 35 min

Agentic commerce is generating a lot of hype, but very few people are actually buying inside AI tools yet. Leighton and Patrick break down where AI really fits in ecommerce today, and the practical Shopify setup work every store owner should be doing right now. Links Mentioned Shopify Knowledge Base app: https://apps.shopify.com/shopify-knowledge-base Shopify Inbox: https://apps.shopify.com/inbox Gorgias: https://www.gorgias.com/ Profound: https://www.tryprofound.com/ Peec AI: https://peec.ai/ Local Dominator: https://localdominator.co/ Common Crawl: https://commoncrawl.org/ Patrick's Free AI Visibility Audit: https://patrickriceco.com/ai Watch This Episode on YouTube https://youtu.be/7uZR93yiX3Y Chapters 0:00 Intro 1:56 Hype vs. reality right now 3:54 Why niche brands are winning 6:39 The AI attribution problem 8:10 Tracking your AI visibility 11:47 Where to actually start 12:36 The Shopify agentic channel 13:20 Shopify Knowledge Base app 15:21 Where your product data goes 19:01 Writing product data for AI 21:52 Declarative copy vs. brand voice 26:16 Storefront agents and Gorgias 30:00 What Common Crawl is 32:38 What to do before BFCM 33:36 Free AI visibility audit 34:30 Wrapping Up Book a Call Book a Call with Patrick: https://calendly.com/patrickriceco/strategy-call Book a Call with Leighton: https://cal.com/leightontaylor/discovery-call?utm_source=podcast Work with Us Work with Patrick (SEO and Google Ads): https://patrickriceco.com/ Work with Leighton (Shopify Store Builds, Migrations, & Ongoing Support): https://envision.io You may notice that our content sometimes includes affiliate links or sponsored content. We may receive compensation for this type of content, which supports the work we do at no cost to you.

Shopify AOV: How to Increase Your AOV (and the Mistake that Backfires)

Aug 14, 2026 36 min

Everyone wants to increase their AOV (Average Order Value), but it's not always clear how. Leighton and Patrick break down what actually moves AOV in the right direction: free shipping thresholds with dynamic progress bars, relevant cart cross-sells, frequently bought together widgets, build-your-own bundles, and post-purchase upsells, plus the two cross-sell mistakes that cost stores trust and revenue. Links Mentioned Rebuy (Smart Cart, cross-sells, and A/B testing): https://www.rebuyengine.com/ Baymard Institute (cart and checkout UX research): https://baymard.com/ Monster Cart Upsell (Shopify app): https://apps.shopify.com/monster-upsells Checkout Blocks (Shopify's checkout customization app): https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/checkout-settings/checkout-blocks Watch This Episode on YouTube https://youtu.be/oJQgzmeDnSg Chapters 0:00 Intro 0:33 Is AOV Advice Overhyped? 1:44 What AOV Actually Means 2:14 How AOV Compounds With Conversion Rate 3:48 Margins and Knowing Your Numbers 4:39 Free Shipping Threshold Messaging 6:02 Static Message vs Dynamic Progress Bar 7:09 Cart Cross-Sells and Two Big Mistakes 10:30 Lessons From Retail Checkout Aisles 11:33 Limits of Shopify's Recommendations 12:17 Frequently Bought Together Widgets 13:43 Recommending Items to Hit Free Shipping 16:07 Testing With Rebuy's Smart Cart 19:46 Build-Your-Own Bundles 21:07 Tailoring Tactics to Your Industry 22:29 Checkout and Post-Purchase Upsells 26:13 How Much You Can Realistically Upsell 27:12 Recap: The Quickest AOV Wins 28:02 A/B Testing and Collection Design 30:15 Starter Kits and Gift Bundles 30:51 Gift Wrap and Personalization 32:16 Content That Drives Bundle Sales 33:01 Subscriptions as an AOV Play 34:01 AOV, LTV, and What's Next 35:04 Wrapping Up Book a Call Book a Call with Patrick: https://calendly.com/patrickriceco/strategy-call Book a Call with Leighton: https://cal.com/leightontaylor/discovery-call?utm_source=podcast Work with Us Work with Patrick (SEO and Google Ads): ht...

Google Ads for Shopify: 4 Simple Numbers That Make You Profitable

Aug 7, 2026 45 min

Many Shopify sellers have no idea whether their Google Ads are actually making money. Patrick Rice breaks down the numbers that tell you the truth, why a 10x ROAS can still lose you money, and how to know your ad manager is doing a good job even if you never open the dashboard yourself. Links Mentioned Google Ads Search Terms Report (Campaigns > Insights and reports > Search terms): https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/2472708 Shopify Marketing Performance & Attribution Reports (new vs. returning customers): https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/promoting-marketing/analyze-marketing/marketing-performance Google AI Max for Search campaigns: https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/15910187 Chapters 0:00 Intro 1:24 How to Hire an Ads Person 3:30 Start With the Search Terms Report 4:53 The Brand Keyword Trap 7:06 Should You Bid on Your Brand? 10:24 What Owners Should Monitor 13:35 Why ROAS Can Deceive You 15:47 Break-Even ROAS Explained 17:09 Why Chasing 10x ROAS Backfires 19:23 New vs. Returning Customers 20:41 Shopify's Attribution Advantage 23:58 PMax, Shopping, and Search 27:03 How PMax and Shopping Interact 28:20 What's Changed Recently 29:26 Testing Google's AI Max 30:39 Consolidation Beats Segmentation 31:41 A 10x Turnaround Story 35:09 Pilot Budgets and Structure 39:15 Site Optimization and CRO 40:19 The 90s Website Story 44:12 Wrapping Up Book a Call Book a Call with Patrick: https://calendly.com/patrickriceco/strategy-call Book a Call with Leighton: https://cal.com/leightontaylor/discovery-call?utm_source=podcast Work with Us Work with Patrick (SEO and Google Ads): https://patrickriceco.com/ Work with Leighton (Shopify Store Builds, Migrations, & Ongoing Support): https://envision.io You may notice that our content sometimes includes affiliate links or sponsored content. We may receive compensation for this type of content, which supports the work we do at no cost to you.

Shopify Themes: When To Update, Retrofit, or Start From Scratch

Jul 31, 2026 34 min

Shopify keeps telling you a new theme version is available, but should you actually update? Leighton and Patrick break down when to update your Shopify theme, when to switch to a new one, and when leaving it alone is the smarter (and cheaper) move. Links Mentioned Shopify Theme Store: https://themes.shopify.com Ilana's JSON-LD for SEO (structured data app): https://apps.shopify.com/json-ld-for-seo Theme Updater & Backups by Out of the Sandbox: https://apps.shopify.com/theme-updater-by-out-of-the-sandbox Google PageSpeed Insights: https://pagespeed.web.dev Chapters 0:00 Intro 0:29 Adjust or start over? 2:21 Two real client examples 3:59 Cost, effort & maintainability 6:31 Where store owners should start 10:29 Custom work traps 11:58 Speed & SEO surprises 13:52 Protecting your nav & links 16:42 What if your traffic tanks? 19:21 The cost of playing it safe 20:25 How to approach the decision 21:51 The Online Store 2.0 cutoff 24:03 Finding the right theme 27:22 Testing before you commit 29:59 To update or not to update? 33:18 Wrapping Up Book a Call Book a Call with Patrick: https://calendly.com/patrickriceco/strategy-call Book a Call with Leighton: https://cal.com/leightontaylor/discovery-call?utm_source=podcast Work With Us Work with Patrick (SEO and Google Ads): https://patrickriceco.com/ Work with Leighton (Shopify Store Builds, Migrations, & Ongoing Support): https://envision.io You may notice that our content sometimes includes affiliate links or sponsored content. We may receive compensation for this type of content, which supports the work we do at no cost to you.

What Apps We Actually Use to Run Dozens of Shopify Stores

Jul 24, 2026 45 min

"What apps should I use on my Shopify store?" is a question we hear all the time. Leighton and Patrick break down how to decide between a Shopify app and custom development, the trade-offs of each, and the apps they install on almost every store, from reviews and subscriptions to CRO, SEO, and indexing. Links Mentioned Shopify Search & Discovery: https://apps.shopify.com/search-and-discovery Judge.me Product Reviews: https://apps.shopify.com/judgeme Microsoft Clarity: https://apps.shopify.com/microsoft-clarity Matrixify: https://apps.shopify.com/excel-export-import Ilana's JSON-LD for SEO: https://apps.shopify.com/json-ld-for-seo Frequently Bought Together (CBB): https://apps.shopify.com/frequently-bought-together Rebuy Personalization Engine: https://apps.shopify.com/rebuy Awtomic Subscriptions: https://apps.shopify.com/awtomic InstaIndex: IndexNow for Bing: https://apps.shopify.com/instaindex AI image alt text app: [URL TO BE ADDED] Chapters 0:00 Intro 1:46 App vs Custom Question 3:02 The Three App Categories 5:57 Must-Have Review Apps 10:03 App vs Custom Trade-offs 16:33 Theme Updates & Maintenance 18:36 Reviews & Subscription Apps 21:22 Should You Build Your Own? 23:09 Microsoft Clarity Deep Dive 30:31 Matrixify & JSON-LD SEO 31:52 Bought Together & Rebuy 36:21 Apps That Hijack Collections 38:46 SEO Apps & Bing IndexNow 44:00 AI Alt Text & Sitemaps 45:25 Wrapping Up Book a Call Book a Call with Patrick: https://calendly.com/patrickriceco/strategy-call Book a Call with Leighton: https://cal.com/leightontaylor/discovery-call?utm_source=podcast Work with Us Work with Patrick (SEO and Google Ads): https://patrickriceco.com/ Work with Leighton (Shopify Store Builds, Migrations, & Ongoing Support): https://envision.io You may notice that our content sometimes includes affiliate links or sponsored content. We may receive compensation for this type of content, which supports the work we do at no cost to you.

Shopify Migration Without Killing Your Traffic & ROAS (Free Checklist)

Jul 24, 2026 47 min

Migrating your store to Shopify can tank your organic traffic if you're not careful. In this episode, Leighton Taylor and Patrick Rice walk through the exact pre- and post-launch checklist that protects your SEO, ad tracking, and conversion rate when making the switch. Links Mentioned Microsoft Clarity (free heatmaps & session recordings): https://clarity.microsoft.com LambdaTest (cross-browser & device testing): https://www.lambdatest.com Screaming Frog SEO Spider: https://www.screamingfrog.co.uk/seo-spider/ Matrixify (Shopify data import/export): https://apps.shopify.com/excelify SEMrush: https://www.semrush.com Patrick's Post-Launch SEO & Ads Checklist: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1yVGNMzXcDhBkHCDsX05dqO7tmEqd8XHPT6fP3ecx-b4/edit?usp=sharing Chapters 0:00 Intro 2:48 Why Merchants Move to Shopify 3:41 Shopify's Analytics & AI Advantages 6:09 How Migrations Go Wrong: SEO 8:02 Pre-Launch SEO Checklist 10:06 Ad Tracking & Conversion Setup 12:35 Using Microsoft Clarity 13:54 Redesign & Modernize Your UX 14:51 Dev Mistakes to Avoid 16:51 Keep Your Content During Migration 18:07 Testing Checkout & Fulfillment 19:53 Cross-Device & Browser Testing 24:31 The Three Migration Phases 25:49 Pre-Launch Design & UX Planning 27:58 Pre-Launch SEO Crawl 30:21 Blog on a Subdomain: SEO Impact 32:49 Post-Launch Day-One Checklist 37:23 Protecting Your Google Merchant Center Data 39:08 Monitoring Revenue After Launch 41:40 Importing Products & Customer Data 44:29 Wrapping Up & How to Get Help Book a Call Book a Call with Patrick: https://calendly.com/patrickriceco/strategy-call Book a Call with Leighton: https://cal.com/leightontaylor/discovery-call?utm_source=podcast Work With Us Work with Patrick (SEO and Google Ads): https://patrickriceco.com/ Work with Leighton (Shopify Store Builds, Migrations, & Ongoing Support): https://envision.io You may notice that our content sometimes includes affiliate links or sponsored content. We may receive compensation for this type...

How Shopify SEO Actually Works in 2026: What to Skip, What to Double Down On

Jul 24, 2026 37 min

How do you actually do SEO for a Shopify store in 2026? Patrick Rice and Leighton Taylor break down when SEO is worth the investment, how to size up your competition, what legitimate link building looks like today, and how to get your products recommended by AI tools like ChatGPT and Google's AI Overviews. Links Mentioned Ilana's JSON-LD for SEO (Shopify app): https://apps.shopify.com/json-ld-for-seo Shopify's GEO Playbook: https://www.shopify.com/enterprise/blog/generative-engine-optimization Koray Tuğberk Gübür (Topical Authority / Holistic SEO): https://www.holisticseo.digital Kurt Elster — The Unofficial Shopify Podcast: https://unofficialshopifypodcast.com SEMrush: https://www.semrush.com Ahrefs: https://ahrefs.com Moz Domain Authority: https://moz.com/domain-authority Craig Lawson — ClickReady Marketing: https://www.clickready.com Patrick Rice's YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@patrickriceco Chapters 0:00 Intro 0:20 Does your store even need SEO? 2:34 Niching down: coffee & graphic tee example 6:08 Keyword & competitor research (SEMrush, Ahrefs, Moz) 10:09 Link building in 2026: what still works 12:53 Affiliate programs & who to pitch for links 17:23 AI search & getting recommended by ChatGPT 21:11 Topical authority & GEO 24:31 Schema & structured data 27:07 Setting realistic SEO timelines 29:22 SEO wins & disasters 32:55 How Patrick got into SEO 35:43 How to work with Patrick 36:47 Wrapping Up Book a Call Book a Call with Patrick: https://calendly.com/patrickriceco/strategy-call Book a Call with Leighton: https://cal.com/leightontaylor/discovery-call?utm_source=podcast Work With Us Work with Patrick (SEO and Google Ads): https://patrickriceco.com/ Work with Leighton (Shopify Store Builds, Migrations, & Ongoing Support): https://envision.io You may notice that our content sometimes includes affiliate links or sponsored content. We may receive compensation for this type of content, which supports the work we do at no cost to you.

Product Pages That Actually Convert (CRO + SEO)

Jul 24, 2026 46 min

Your product page is the most important page on your store, so in this episode we break down how to optimize it for both conversion rate and SEO. We cover product imagery, reviews and social proof, cross-sells and bundles, unique product content, structured data, and page speed for Shopify stores. Links Mentioned Judge.me (reviews): https://judge.me Stamped (reviews): https://stamped.io Okendo (reviews): https://www.okendo.io Trustpilot: https://www.trustpilot.com Frequently Bought Together (Shopify app): https://apps.shopify.com/frequently-bought-together Ilana's JSON-LD for SEO (Shopify app): https://apps.shopify.com/json-ld-for-seo WebPageTest: https://www.webpagetest.org Google PageSpeed Insights: https://pagespeed.web.dev Google Search Console: https://search.google.com/search-console Google Merchant Center: https://merchants.google.com Schema.org: https://schema.org Chapters 0:00 Intro 0:35 Why Product Pages Matter 2:34 Product Imagery 8:15 Reviews & Social Proof 9:48 The Fear of Bad Reviews 14:40 Upsells, Subscriptions & AOV 18:16 Cross-Sells, Bundles & Free Shipping 23:35 Pricing & Competition 25:55 Unique Product Content 30:08 Specs, FAQs & Part Numbers 34:21 Schema & Structured Data 37:47 Page Speed: How Much Matters 39:24 Page Speed Hacks to Avoid 41:14 Core Web Vitals & Tools 44:44 Theme Updates & OS 2.0 45:32 Wrapping Up Book a Call Book a Call with Patrick: https://calendly.com/patrickriceco/strategy-call Book a Call with Leighton: https://cal.com/leightontaylor/discovery-call?utm_source=podcast Work With Us Work with Patrick (SEO and Google Ads): https://patrickriceco.com/ Work with Leighton (Shopify Store Builds, Migrations, & Ongoing Support): https://envision.io You may notice that our content sometimes includes affiliate links or sponsored content. We may receive compensation for this type of content, which supports the work we do at no cost to you.

Shopify Collection Pages: The SEO & CRO Playbook

Jul 24, 2026 35 min

Collection pages are the SEO and CRO workhorse of any Shopify store. They rank for the most commercial keywords, and they're where most shoppers decide whether to keep browsing or bounce. In this episode, Leighton and Patrick break down how to balance content for search engines with an optimal user experience, plus the specific Shopify defaults to turn off and the subcategory strategy that wins both rankings and conversions. LINKS MENTIONED: 🔗 REI (collection page example): https://www.rei.com 🔗 Crutchfield (product title formatting example): https://www.crutchfield.com 🔗 Link Stacks (Shopify internal linking app): https://seolinkstacks.com WATCH NEXT: 🔗 Product Page Optimization: https://youtu.be/1kgV035Y_TY CHAPTERS: 0:00 Intro 1:07 Why Collection Pages Matter for SEO 1:21 The SEO vs CRO Tension 2:34 Where Collection Pages Fit in the Buyer Journey 3:47 Hybrid Page Structure: H1, Content, Products, FAQs 5:35 Collection Pages in the Age of AI / GEO 7:38 Demonstrating Breadth With Subcategories (REI Example) 10:36 Filters vs Subcategories: SEO Implications 13:15 Breaking Up Long Product Titles (Crutchfield Example) 16:46 Product Card Attributes That Help SEO and CRO 18:22 Turning Off Quick View on Most Themes 21:43 Pagination vs Infinite Scroll vs Click-to-Load 24:25 Canonical Tags on Paginated Pages 28:41 SEO Basics: Title Tags, H1s, and Entities 30:34 Internal Linking and the Link Stacks App 31:44 Recap and Quick Wins BOOK A CALL: 🗓️ Book a Call with Patrick: https://calendly.com/patrickriceco/strategy-call 🗓️ Book a Call with Leighton: https://cal.com/leightontaylor/discovery-call?utm_source=youtube WORK WITH US: 🔥 Work with Patrick (SEO and Google Ads): https://patrickriceco.com/ 🔥 Work with Leighton (Shopify Store Builds, Migrations, & Ongoing Support): https://envision.io You may notice that our content sometimes includes affiliate links or sponsored content. We may receive compensation for this type of content, which supports the work we do a...

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Podcast details

Created by: Leighton Taylor & Patrick Rice
Status: Active
Latest episode: Nov 6, 2026
Episodes: 18
Release period: Weekly
Avg. episode length: 39 min
Explicit: No
Language: English

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