So you’ve hired a developer to help you manage your Shopify website and your eCommerce business in general. That’s good news, regardless of the reason why you hired one. It could be to help you create a new mega menu, code a custom theme, or just to keep on staff in order to help you clear up bugs that pop up now and then.
Developers have technical expertise, and Shopify developers have specific technical expertise with respect to Shopify’s back-end and API. If that’s the case, and a Shopify developer can clear up basically any technical issues, do you still need to hire a Shopify SEO expert?
It’s a good question, and the answer is, it depends*
*There is an asterisk here because, while a Shopify developer can clear up some technical issues for you that do affect SEO, they can’t solve them all.
Most importantly, a Shopify developer with no digital marketing experience will not be able to set or follow a strategy, and that’s a big concern.
Consider this example. A Shopify developer might, for example, be able to boost your website security, de-clutter the code on the back end, improve page speed, and streamline your site map to improve the user experience. These technical factors all affect SEO.
However, there are many things a Shopify developer can’t do that a Shopify SEO expert can. This is where the difference lies.
What Can a Shopify SEO Expert Do That a Developer Can’t?
If you’re staring down the prospect of hiring a marketing agency with Shopify SEO experts on hand to help you boost your online store’s organic rankings in the search results, consider this:
●A Shopify SEO expert can perform the keyword research that underpins the rest of the campaign. This makes it possible to optimize a wide range of on-page SEO factors, like metadata, alt text, URL slugs, and much more.
●SEO experts know what changes in user behavior to follow and address.
●SEO strategies include link-building efforts – something a developer can’t do alone.
●SEO services include content writing, optimization, publication, and distribution. A developer can make product pages, but not optimize them without keyword strategy and good content.
●An SEO company with dedicated experts knows the difference between white hat and black hat techniques as well as the line that divides them. Using black hat techniques can incur a penalty.
Ideally, you would not hire two separate individuals or teams that don’t work cross-functionally. The truth of the matter is that design and development are very closely interlinked with digital marketing in general and SEO, specifically.
While there is value to having the skills and expertise of both a Shopify SEO expert and a Shopify developer on hand, make sure that you encourage collaboration. These two aspects of managing an eCommerce website are too closely related to justify separating the efforts.
Where Can You Find a Qualified Shopify SEO Expert?
So the short answer to the question posed by this article is – yes, it is valuable to hire both a Shopify developer and an SEO specialist. It’s long been known that eCommerce SEO is one of the best techniques for driving traffic and sales by getting a website to rank nearer the top of the search engine results pages, delivering a higher boost to organic traffic.
One solution to this quandary is simply to hire a team that has both Shopify SEO experts and Shopify developers on hand – such as 1DigitalⓇ Agency. They have worked with both Shopify and Shopify Plus for ten years and are deeply experienced with both.
Check out their website to see some of their success stories and get in touch with them at 888-982-8269 if you’re interested in generating greater success for your Shopify store.
