The way people search for information is changing faster than ever. As a brand, you might already be experiencing this firsthand with less traffic from traditional sources and a changing path to purchase.

But it’s not just about metrics. The shift to AI-powered search tools can leave you feeling like you no longer have any control over how your brand is interpreted, whether AI will recommend competitors over you for no reason, or if it will display incorrect information about your business.

For many brands, showing up in AI feels too vague to be attainable. Following the best policies for AI success is a good starting place. But there are also AI visibility tools that can help you demystify how it understands your brand. Let’s explore the shift in AI search and look at how you can avoid losing visibility.

Understanding the AI Shift

The landscape of brand visibility has shifted from discovery in search results to citation by AI agents like Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity. But what does it mean to be “cited” by AI? It might help to think of it like this:

An AI agent is like a judge in a bench trial, weighing expert testimony before issuing a verdict in the form of an AI overview. Your brand is one of many expert witnesses that may testify on a topic.

But as an expert witness, you can’t just decide to show up at court on your own to present evidence. The judge needs to decide who can be called as a witness in the first place. Your brand will only be called on if your expertise can be verified through external sources, such as third-party credentials, hands-on experience, and proof that you perform the work you claim to do.

In this analogy, the public doesn’t see the judge’s thought process. They only see the verdict. If the judge decides, for whatever reason, that your brand’s “testimony” isn’t valid, you don’t make it into the final ruling (aka the AI overview), essentially making you invisible.

To apply this analogy to traditional search and SEO practices, you can picture a jury trial instead. The “judge” can still determine which experts show up, but ultimately, the jury members (aka search engine users) decide which experts (brands) they find credible by hearing from them directly.

Understanding How AI Reads and Interprets Your Website

Although AI may deliver responses that sound conversational and human, AI agents don’t read websites or extract information the same way people do. This is where many brands feel most frustrated.

It’s not enough to use keywords that highlight your business offerings or capabilities. While this helps you from an SEO standpoint and boosts your likelihood of being on the first page of Google, it doesn’t necessarily tell AI what it needs to hear to trust and recommend you in AI overviews.

But AI visibility is about much more than just the words on the page. While humans browse your site to get a feel for your brand, AI “crawls” your site to map out the facts that connect your business to the real world. When it can verify this information by cross-referencing reviews, high-quality backlinks, and third-party validation, it can cite you with confidence.

You don’t need to change your brand’s soul or stop writing for humans. In fact, you shouldn’t. You simply need to ensure that underneath your marketing, there is a predictable, organized structure that helps AI understand exactly who you are, what you do, and why you’re an expert.

Putting it All Together: How to Simplify Your Optimization Efforts with AI Visibility Tools

Understanding what strategies improve brand visibility in AI search engines​ is only half the battle. Knowing exactly which parts of your digital presence need a tune-up is where most brands get stuck.

That’s why Brandography created the AI visibility platform aioFetch. Think of it as a translator between your brand and the AI agents. Instead of wondering why you aren’t showing up in AI Overviews, aioFetch audits your visibility across the landscape and provides a clear, actionable roadmap. Our tool identifies exactly what the “judge” is looking for, so you can stop guessing and start being cited.

Fill out our form to give aioFetch a try and see how it can help your brand be the first expert the “judge” calls to the stand.

The post AI Visibility: Showing Up in Modern Search first appeared on Brandography.

If you want to upgrade Shopify to Shopify Plus, it’s as easy as clicking a button to switch your plan. But if you switch without taking advantage of the features it provides, you’re essentially paying $2,300 a month for the exact same store you had for $29 yesterday.

When you upgrade to Shopify Plus, you have access to a more powerful enterprise experience that you can’t get on regular Shopify or other eCommerce platforms. But you still have to set up the features before Plus can start paying off.

This is why many brands that want to migrate to Shopify Plus get frustrated. There’s an illusion that starting is as easy as clicking a button. In reality, there is a lot of heavy lifting involved in building a custom checkout experience, syncing your enterprise resource planning (ERP) platform, and importing historical data.

If Migrating is So Difficult, Why Do It?

Migrating to Shopify Plus (or upgrading from a standard Shopify) is a lot of work, but there are a lot of reasons to make the switch.

* Expansion stores must be the same brand. You cannot have multiple different brands under the same subscription, even for Plus.

How Brands Save Money Switching to Shopify Plus

Glancing at the comparison above, Shopify Plus can seem more expensive. However, enterprise-level brands often save money by switching.

• Brands with complex ERPs or inventory systems can’t afford downtime that might happen when trying to update 10,000+ products at once on a Standard plan, only to get shut down by API limits.
• Shopify’s checkout experience has a 15% higher average conversion rate than other eCommerce platforms. Customizing your checkout with upsells, custom fields, and a tailored Shop Pay experience can boost your average order value (AOV) and conversions even more.
• Some brands must use third-party payment processors either because of the advanced security features they offer or because the brand sells items prohibited by Shopify Payments. For those brands, the drop in processing fees alone (from 0.6% to 0.2%) often covers the $2,300 monthly subscription fee.

Case Study: True Shot Ammo

Sometimes, industry regulations and technical limitations make a Shopify Plus migration the next logical step for business growth. Because ammunition is highly regulated, merchants must follow complex shipping rules to remain compliant. Brandography developed a first-of-its-kind checkout app that allowed True Shot to sell ammunition on Shopify while still meeting complex Federal Firearms License (FFL) shipping requirements.

Read more about how we helped True Shot grow on Shopify.

How Do I Know When to Upgrade to Shopify Plus?

Upgrading your Shopify store or deciding to migrate takes a lot of planning. It’s a major business decision that requires significant investment.

For many brands, upgrading is ultimately the best choice. But when do you make the switch? The complexity of a Shopify Plus upgrade often makes many businesses hesitate.

Calculating the investment is extremely challenging, especially because many brands underestimate the time commitment required to build a truly powerful store on Shopify Plus.

That’s why we created a tool to make it easier. FetchMigration is a free tool that audits your website and calculates the investment you’ll need to make to switch to Shopify Plus. It goes beyond surface-level projections and generalized figures to provide an estimate based on your website.

How to Use FetchMigration

1. Visit fetchmigration.com.
2. Type in your eCommerce store URL.
3. View your customized migration audit.
4. Optional: click Export PDF to download a copy of your report.

You do not need to have a Shopify store to use FetchMigration. The tool provides calculations for upgrading from Standard to Plus and for migrating from another eCommerce platform to Shopify Plus.

How to Interpret a FetchMigration Audit

If you have an existing Shopify store, the report will include two options:

1. Full Shopify Plus Migration
2. Shopify Re-Theme

Full Shopify Plus migrations are more complex and involve a higher investment but offer more customization options. Your audit will include an estimated number of hours and cost based on the complexity of your migration.

If you do not currently have a Shopify store, you will only see an option for Full Shopify Plus Migration.

Alternatively, a Shopify re-theme includes custom theme design, development, and optimization to enhance your current design system and branding as you move to Shopify Plus.

Whether you have a Shopify Store or not, you will also see a 7-Phase Analysis that provides a breakdown of each step involved with a migration. Expanding each section gives you a more detailed explanation of migration considerations.

The remainder of your report analyzes your brand identity, SEO, integrations, and other considerations important for migration.

Get Help Migrating to Shopify Plus

Switching to Shopify Plus is a big lift, but it’s worth it for many brands. Whether you’re migrating for a better checkout experience, higher API limits, or limitations on your current eCommerce platform, Brandography can help. As a Shopify Plus Preferred Partner, we take the complexity out of migrating so you can keep your business running without skipping a beat.

Ready to get started with a Shopify migration?
Let’s Talk

The post Making the Switch: How to Plan a Successful Shopify Plus Migration first appeared on Brandography.

Shopify is one of the most powerful and widely used eCommerce platforms. But just because it’s full of capabilities doesn’t mean stores automatically succeed when they sign up or migrate to Shopify. In fact, many brands struggle because there are too many features, and setting them up doesn’t always go as planned.

As brands scale, Shopify decisions stop being about themes and native apps and start being about architecture, custom integrations, and long-term flexibility. Shopify Plus is built for that stage, but using it effectively requires a level of planning and execution that generic Shopify support, freelancers, and internal teams can’t provide.

That’s why Shopify Plus agencies exist. They help brands understand when Shopify Plus makes sense and how to switch without adding unnecessary complexity or risk. Here’s what the right Shopify Plus development agency brings to the table.

Helping You Time Your Upgrade

Shopify Plus is Shopify’s enterprise-level platform built for brands that need advanced customizations and integrations. If you have a standard Shopify plan, you can become eligible once you reach the sales threshold for your industry. On the other hand, enterprise-level companies on other eCommerce platforms usually start with Shopify Plus by default when they migrate to the platform.

However, being eligible doesn’t automatically mean Plus is the right plan for your business. Timing an upgrade or migration can be complicated, especially for growing or complex stores. Working with a Shopify Plus partner agency provides expert guidance on whether and when upgrading makes sense, while minimizing risks and disruptions during the transition.

Managing Complex eCommerce Migrations

Moving an existing store to Shopify Plus is rarely as simple as copying products and customer data. It usually involves setting up new integrations, connecting enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems, consolidating multiple storefronts, and more.

A Shopify Plus migration agency does all the heavy lifting for you, often coming up with custom solutions that solve complicated problems. When a local jeweler came to Brandography for help switching to Shopify, we helped them create custom listings for products priced over $10,000, something you can’t do on Shopify with a standard approach.

P.S.: Did you know Shopify even wrote a case study about our work? Read how we helped air purification brand Molekule execute a complex migration from Adobe Commerce to Shopify Plus.

Direct Line of Communication with Shopify

Shopify provides support to all its merchants, but working with an agency in the Shopify Plus partner program​ gives you direct access to more specialized support teams. Not only does this help you fix issues more quickly, but it also makes it easier to solve complex challenges that aren’t covered in the Shopify Help Center.

For about two years, I had been accepting ShopPay on my Shopify store without any issues. Suddenly, an algorithmic bot decided that we no longer qualified for ShopPay, and despite my efforts, I couldn’t get anyone at Shopify to listen to my concerns. This penalty was costing us an additional 1% on all our sales, directly impacting our bottom line.

After several frustrating months, I engaged with Brandography. Their strong partnership with Shopify proved to be invaluable. Brandography was able to effectively communicate our situation and ultimately got the penalty removed.

Thanks to their expertise and connections, we no longer have to pay the extra 1%, which has been a significant relief. I highly recommend Brandography to anyone looking to grow their Shopify store and resolve complex issues. Their professionalism, dedication, and results speak volumes. – Brandography Client

Ongoing Support for Sustained Growth

Even after a successful migration or build, brands face constant change, with new products, promotions, integrations, and customer expectations. A Shopify Plus partner helps you keep up with these changes so everything works as it should.

An agency can also monitor your store’s performance and fine-tune it to create even better customer experiences and backend functionality. This keeps your store agile, secure, and optimized, so you can focus on growing your business rather than constantly managing technical challenges.

Early Access to New Features

Shopify Plus agencies are often the first to know about upcoming features, updates, and platform changes that might affect your business. Having early insight lets you take advantage of new capabilities strategically instead of reacting to updates after the fact.

Vetted and Certified Expertise

Marketing firms can’t just claim to be a Shopify Plus partner agency. Earning and maintaining the certification is a rigorous process, with partners being vetted directly by Shopify.

• Shopify Plus agencies are evaluated on their experience, expertise, and track record of successful Shopify implementations.
• Partners attend ongoing Shopify classes covering platform features, updates, best practices, recommended apps, and more.
• Agencies must meet milestones, complete specialized training, and maintain performance standards to maintain their status.

Ready to Grow or Migrate?

If you’re ready to unlock the full potential of Shopify, we’re here to help. Partner with Brandography to plan your upgrade to Shopify Plus, execute a stress-free migration, or optimize your store for better growth.

Make the Move to Shopify Plus

The post Why You Want to Work with a Shopify Plus eCommerce Agency first appeared on Brandography.

Until recently, the shooting industry lagged behind many other retail categories in making the shift to eCommerce. Firearm eCommerce regulations are strict, which helps explain why so many brands hesitate to adopt an online sales presence. But it’s not just about laws. The firearms industry has always been rooted in a face-to-face buying experience. This has made eCommerce less popular, even for accessories and soft goods that don’t face the same regulatory scrutiny. 

That started changing in 2020, with countless brands opening online stores to maintain sales during the COVID-era lockdowns. Due to a combination of social unrest and economic instability, firearm sales also surged in 2020, creating an unprecedented demand in the industry. 

While gun sales have returned to pre-pandemic levels in recent years, eCommerce has become a permanent part of the firearms industry. Understanding the shifts in consumer behavior and sales regulations is crucial for brands looking to succeed in online firearm sales.  

Customer Expectations for Firearms eCommerce

One of the most essential strategies for firearms and tactical ecommerce is understanding what customers actually want. It’s hard enough for an experienced retailer to understand the complexities of selling firearms and accessories online, let alone customers. 

No matter what you’re selling, confusion creates friction that limits your sales. This is even more true for the firearms industry, where consumers may hesitate if they don’t understand the legalities of buying from you.  

Customers expect convenience from any online store. But for gun store eCommerce, you also need to provide clarity on laws that may affect their purchase decisions. 

Online gun buyers want:

• Clear explanations of the legal transfer process through a Federal Firearms License (FFL) holder. 
• Up-to-date information on changes in the law, such as the recent elimination of the $200 federal tax on suppressors. 
• A smooth buying experience that makes it easier to purchase from you online versus going to a competitor’s store in person. 
• State-specific shopping experiences that enable them to get through checkout with confidence. 
• Even greater security in how you handle their personal details and payment data. 
• Transparency about timelines, documentation, and what happens after checkout. 

Given the number of laws and regulations, buyers of firearms and accessories are often more informed than the average consumer. However, they still expect firearms retailers to provide their expertise to create a safe, clear, and compliant shopping experience. 

Choosing a Platform for Online Firearm Sales

As a firearms retailer, you already have a deep understanding of the laws and regulations you must comply with. The challenge is finding a platform that allows you to sell your products while providing the robust features you need. 

Many platforms prohibit the sale of firearms and certain accessories, limiting your options. Historically, BigCommerce, Magento (now Adobe Commerce), and WooCommerce were your best choices. But recent policy changes have also made it easier to sell firearms on Shopify. 

The landscape of selling guns on Shopify is still nuanced, but the platform no longer has a blanket ban on firearms and related accessories. Here are a few things to know: 

• You can’t use Shopify’s native payment gateway, Shopify Pay, for firearms transactions. 
• You must integrate an FFL-compliant payment processor to accept payments. 

Selling firearms, ammo, and accessories on Shopify Plus requires a specialized setup, but it is possible. Brandography recently helped one of our clients implement this setup by configuring a compliant payment solution. This allowed our client to create a Shopify storefront without violating platform policies or facing payment restrictions. 

How We Created a Custom App for True Shot

Marketing Firearms with Advertising Restrictions 

While some eCommerce platforms have relaxed their rules, advertising platforms have not. Meta, Google, and TikTok have consistently banned paid ads for firearms, ammo, and numerous accessories. With more automated detection tools and flagging systems, non-compliant ads are actually more likely to be blocked or removed, meaning loopholes are shrinking for paid ads.

This makes paid promotion increasingly risky and difficult for brands. More than ever, digital marketing for firearm brands needs to lean into organic strategies like:

• Writing educational blog content.
• Search engine optimization (SEO) and generative engine optimization (GEO).
• Building an email list for newsletters, sales, and product launches. 
• Producing educational video content, such as tutorials or product walkthroughs.

Growing Your Firearms Brand in a Digital Landscape

Firearms eCommerce is no longer experimental. It has become foundational for brands that want to stay competitive. Regulations, platform policies, and advertising restrictions continue to shape how firearms can be sold online, while consumer expectations for convenience, transparency, and education are increasing. 

The brands that succeed will be those that treat compliance as part of the customer experience rather than a barrier. Firearms retailers who invest in compliant infrastructure and customer-centric experiences will be in the best position to grow. 

Navigating this landscape is daunting, but Brandography can help. If you need customized apps that streamline your checkout experience or a compliant website that puts customers first, let’s talk. 

Schedule a Consultation

Firearms eCommerce FAQs

What should I consider when building a firearm ecommerce website?

When setting up a store for online firearm sales, compliance should guide every decision. Clear explanations of state-specific laws, FFL transfers, and other restrictions build trust with your customers while avoiding platform violations. You’ll also want to prioritize site security, accurate inventory management, and a smooth checkout that reduces friction and abandoned carts.   

Can I sell guns on Shopify?

Yes, but only under specific conditions. Firearm sales are allowed on Shopify plans as long as you use a third-party, FFL-compliant payment processor, which may require a specialized setup with a Shopify expert.

Is it worth setting up a firearms eCommerce store? 

With the number of regulations and complexities, many brands hesitate to create a digital store. However, this can limit sales as more consumers in the industry look for online resources. As more brands go online, you may risk losing your market share.

How do I handle out-of-state firearm sales for an online store? 

All firearms sold online must comply with federal laws and the laws of the buyer’s state. In many cases, firearms and certain accessories must be shipped to an FFL licensee in the buyer’s state. Keep in mind that some jurisdictions still require in-state purchases to be processed through an FFL. 

Ready to Get Started?

If you want to work with the Brandography team on a firearms eCommerce site, reach out. We’d love to connect and show you what’s possible.

Schedule a Meeting

The post Firearms eCommerce: How Brands Are Adapting to Digital Sales first appeared on Brandography.

You finally have a dashboard that updates automatically and tracks performance across your channels. On paper, it feels like progress. But when it comes time to plan next quarter, adjust your spend, or communicate results to stakeholders, your marketing analytics dashboard might raise more questions than it answers. 

If this sounds familiar, the issue isn’t your data. It’s what happens after you collect it. Data visualization dashboards help you see metrics, but these don’t mean much out of context. So, how do you go beyond surface-level numbers to understand what’s actually working and what to do next? 

Data Visibility Isn’t Data Clarity 

Even when a business data dashboard is set up correctly, the information it contains can become background noise. You might glance at it regularly or share reports with your team, but those numbers don’t always influence real decisions. 

If you’re reviewing data but nothing ever seems to change as a result, it’s often because: 

• Too many metrics compete for your attention, making it hard to focus on what matters. 
• There’s no clear baseline for success, so performance is viewed in isolation rather than in the context of meaningful goals. 
• Data explains what happened, but not what to do next, leaving teams unsure how to respond. 
• No one owns the decisions tied to data points, so insights never turn into action. 

Rethinking Your Dashboard: What You Should Be Asking 

If nothing changes because of your reports, your dashboard isn’t doing its job. Here are a few questions to help you reframe your mindset and start seeing your dashboard as more than a collection of numbers. 

• Instead of: “Did we hit our target this month?”  
• Ask: “What should we do differently next month based on this trend?”

Why: Focusing on targets encourages the mindset of checking boxes instead of continuing your growth. 

• Instead of: “Which channels performed best?” 
• Ask: “Where should we invest resources next?” 

Why: Looking at your channels holistically is important, but metrics for success can’t always be measured the same way for each platform. 

• Instead of: “Why did this number go up or down?”
• Ask: “What changes can we make to influence this metric going forward?” 

Why: While it’s helpful to understand why metrics changed, digging for explanations on every data point can lead to analysis paralysis instead of forward momentum. 

• Instead of: “How do these numbers compare to last month/year?” 
• Ask: “Is there a pattern here that can help us make better decisions?”

Why: Each metric should exist to guide a future action, not just record what happened in the past. 

Turning Data Into Action 

Now that you’re asking the right questions about your data, it’s time to put your dashboard to work. Here are a few ways to use data to make informed decisions and prioritize your resources. 

• Identify which metrics matter the most. There’s no shortage of information on a marketing analytics dashboard. While that can seem helpful, not all metrics will be relevant for your business. Narrow down your priorities so you can cut through the noise and focus on data that actually needs to be measured. 
• Assign an owner for each priority metric. After deciding which data matters the most, put someone in charge of it. Ownership is the best way to keep important metrics from falling through the cracks. 
• Establish triggers that require action. If thresholds aren’t defined, metrics become noise rather than signals for action.  
• Define what decision each metric should drive. Go through each priority metric and write down a specific decision or action. Example: If the bounce rate on our landing page exceeds X%, experiment with a new headline and hero image. 
• Create a schedule for review. Decide how often metrics are reviewed as a team. Weekly check-ins can be used to address urgent changes, while monthly or quarterly reviews can focus on broader trends and strategic changes. 
• Refine your strategy. Successful campaigns aren’t static. Once you understand how to put your data to work, you can make adjustments with confidence. 

Marketing Dashboard FAQs 

How do marketers use data to identify goals?

Goals such as generating leads, driving sales, increasing brand awareness, and boosting engagement are common across businesses. But how you define and prioritize them looks different for each business. Dashboard data provides the context you need to move beyond simply setting goals to identifying actions that will drive results for your team.

What are marketing insights that I should prioritize?

With so much data, dashboards can make it feel overwhelming to choose metrics that matter. The key is viewing your dashboard as a tool for action rather than a platform for observing numbers. Start by focusing on metrics that tie directly to a tangible goal, such as conversion rates for an important campaign. 

How often should I review marketing dashboard data?

It depends on the metric, but it’s helpful to use a mix of weekly, monthly, and quarterly checks. For metrics that require quick decisions, such as ad spend or campaign performance, you may want to check weekly. For funnel performance or ROI analysis, you’ll actually get better insights by checking less frequently, as it takes time for data trends to emerge. 

Let’s Create a Dashboard that Fuels Your Growth 

A dashboard isn’t just a place to collect numbers. It’s a tool that helps you see what’s working, make decisions, and take action. While dashboards are powerful, they can also feel overwhelming with so many metrics. 

Brandography helps you cut through the noise to clarify what metrics matter most and tap into the full potential of your data. Whether you need help building a dashboard from scratch, prioritizing your goals, or taking action on your data, we can help you make sense of your numbers. 

Learn more about how we help businesses strategize. 

The post You Have Your Marketing Dashboard: What Are You Doing with Your Data? first appeared on Brandography.

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Most business-to-business (B2B) marketing follows the same formula: list your services, show certifications to promote your expertise, and focus on why your company is different from all the rest. 

This approach seems logical, which is why so many businesses rely on it. But it’s also why most B2B content is ignored. Nobody wants their content to be tuned out, but a standard B2B content marketing strategy all but guarantees it. In this guide, we’ll explore how to reframe your content so it becomes a resource that draws B2B customers in, provides real value, and positions you as an ally rather than someone who’s just pushing sales. 

Why is Content Marketing Important for B2B?

In B2B, decisions are rarely, if ever, impulsive. They’re complex, driven by ROI, require extensive research, and involve multiple stakeholders rather than being decided by an individual. The journey is often much longer than in business-to-consumer (B2C) marketing. Along the way, your buyer will spend a lot of time consuming content before making a purchase or using your service.  

This isn’t news to B2B marketers. According to the Content Marketing Institute’s 2026 B2B Content and Marketing Trends Report, 97% of B2B companies had a content marketing strategy in 2025. However, only 12% of respondents reported that their strategy was highly effective, while 47% said their approach was somewhat effective. 

That means more than 40% of B2B marketers feel that their efforts weren’t driving results. Why does this happen? And what can you do if you’re in this category? 

Why B2B Marketing Often Falls Short

Marketing efforts don’t hit their target for a number of reasons. Limited budgets, time constraints, and an understaffed marketing department can all hinder results. But there’s something else at play that’s often overlooked: How you frame yourself in your content. 

You’re not the hero of the story. Your customer is. 

If your content focuses on your qualifications, your expertise, and why your products and services are the best, your customers won’t see themselves in it. 

According to the B2B Content Marketing Trends Report, many companies are struggling to make the connection they want:

• 40% report difficulty creating content that prompts a desired action. 
• 23% struggle to align their content with their buyer’s journey. 
• 20% find it challenging to understand their audience’s informational needs. 

So, How Do You Make Content Marketing More Client-Focused?

Solving customer problems is fundamental to marketing. But in B2B, your customer probably already understands their problem and is familiar with the solution. They’ve spent hours researching suppliers who sell what they’re looking for. They don’t want another sales pitch. They want someone who can guide them to a solution.  

That’s where B2B storytelling comes in. With this approach, your content centers on your client’s pain points rather than on how great your company is. When you stop telling your own story, you can start telling your customers what they really want to hear: that you understand their problem and can give them the tools they need to solve it. 

Strategies for Customer-Centered B2B Marketing

Shifting your mindset is the first step towards improving your B2B content. Here are a few ways to write problem-solving content that speaks directly to your customers. 

Identify Your Customer’s Pain Points 

Writing effective B2B content starts with understanding your customers’ biggest challenges. 

• Talk to your long-term clients about the problems that brought them to your business. Few things will give you better insight into what your potential customers want than understanding what made your current clients choose your company. 
• Analyze customer service tickets, support chats, emails, and other records to identify recurring issues. These are perfect starting points for developing content that answers questions your customers are asking. 
• Look at online communities where your target audience spends time. Facebook groups, review sites, Reddit threads, and other forums can be valuable sources of information. 
• Use ChatGPT to help you explore customer needs, priorities, and challenges. 

Appeal to Pain Points with Empathy 

B2B customers might be making decisions based on ROI and logic, but there is still an emotional component to solving business problems. Your customers might feel stressed, frustrated, or overwhelmed. This is an excellent opportunity to put the focus on your customer and show them how you understand what they need. 

Here’s a sample of rewriting a sentence to center the customer instead of the product: 

• Before: Our pumps are engineered with corrosion-resistant materials and provide customizable flow rates for precision operation.
• After: Worried about downtime and costly maintenance? Our pumps keep your operations running smoothly, helping you maintain production schedules and keep your costs low.

What changed: The messaging uses an emotional appeal to show you understand the stakes of components failing prematurely and positions your product as a solution. 

Centering your customer in blog titles and headlines is also effective: 

• Before: Why Our Ultrasound Machine is the Best Choice
• After: Why Clinics Struggle with Clear Imaging Results (and How to Improve Them)

What changed: The messaging shifts from promoting the machine itself to addressing a pain point for the end user, while positioning your product as a way for clinicians to achieve better results. 

You can also use this technique to highlight client successes, rather than your own, in case studies. 

• Before: This project showcases our cutting-edge logistics tracking system and proprietary methodology. 
• After: Facing shipment delays and rising transportation costs, our client needed a solution to streamline operations. Here’s how we helped them reduce overhead and improve reliability. 

What changed: The first sentence comes across as bragging about the technology, putting the focus on your company. The second explains how you delivered real impact for a client facing a relatable problem, helping potential customers see themselves in the case study. 

You don’t have to avoid mentioning your certifications. In fact, it can hurt your credibility if you do. Here’s a way to highlight your credentials while keeping the focus on your customer: 

• Before: We are GMP certified, and our processes meet strict quality standards and regulatory requirements. 
• After: As a GMP-certified manufacturer, we understand the strict regulatory requirements you face. Our documented processes and quality controls help you reduce compliance risk, ensuring every product meets consistent, reliable standards. 

What changed: While the rewritten content still mentions the GMP certification, it shifts the focus from what the company has to what the customer gains because of it.

Focus and Refresh Your Content 

As you develop your content plan with customer-focused B2B content, keep these pointers in mind: 

• Stick to one main problem for each piece of content. If you’re writing content on a complex or multi-step business problem, approach it as a series rather than trying to fit it into one article. 
• Repurpose content for different audiences. Once you’ve put in the work to write a customer-centered blog post, use the same ideas to craft messages for LinkedIn, email newsletters, and short videos. 
• Keep your content updated. Solutions are always changing, and you may find that new pain points arise for your customers as their industry evolves. Updating your content to reflect these changes shows customers that you’re staying up to date on their top priorities. 

B2B Storytelling FAQ

How do I stay current with pain points as customers’ industries change? 

Monitoring industry news, competitor offerings, and customer support interactions can all clue you in to major changes affecting your customers. For B2B content marketing, this is a powerful way to maintain your credibility and position your products and services as the most up-to-date solution. 

How does storytelling fit into highly technical B2B content? 

In technical industries, remember that the buyers reading your content are people too. While they understand (and probably expect) industry-specific language, centering your customer and using real-world examples of your problem-solving abilities is just as powerful as it is for any client. 

How do I balance customer-centered storytelling with product specifications and certifications? 

You don’t have to avoid talking about your product, service, or qualifications altogether. Listing features, providing product specs, and highlighting your certifications are essential for getting qualified leads and proving your expertise. The key is to lead with the customer’s problem and provide context first, then introduce your product or certifications as proof you can deliver the outcome they need. 

Let’s Put Your Customer First

Your company might have the best customer service, the most competitive prices, and the most stringent qualifications. But these aren’t always enough to make your customer choose you over your competitors. When your products and services support the story rather than being the story, you create content that resonates, builds trust, and helps buyers see how you fit into their success. 

For many B2B companies, this is easier said than done. Not every organization has a dedicated marketing team, the time to develop a clear content strategy, or the resources to consistently write customer-focused content. 

That’s where Brandography can help. We partner with B2B teams to clarify their messaging, uncover what their customers really want, and build strategies that put the customer first, without adding more work to your plate. 

If you’re ready to move beyond generic B2B messaging, Brandography is here to help. Let’s build a content strategy that delivers real impact for your customers.

Learn more about our approach to content marketing!

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The post Stop Talking About Yourself: Switching the Narrative in B2B Content Marketing first appeared on Brandography.

Why your impressions just dropped, what it means for your business, and the strategic opportunity hiding inside the chaos.

On September 11, 2025, Google made a change that looked tiny on the surface but sent shockwaves through SEO tools and even its own Search Console data.

Orange line is Position; Purple is Impressions; Blue is clicks.

Google officially deprecated the &num=100 URL parameter.

To the average business owner, that probably sounds like an obscure technical tweak. But if you or your marketing reports showed sudden drops in impressions or weird “improvements” in average position inside Google Search Console, this is likely why.

For years, SEO tools could pull all the top 100 search results in a single request. That’s how rank trackers monitored positions, how competitive analysis worked, and how many tools reported impressions.

Now?
By default, every request returns only 10 results.

This doesn’t mean your rankings dropped.
It means the way tools collect data has changed.

And while the SEO world panicked for a moment, this is actually the perfect opportunity to rethink how we measure success, and finally focus on what actually moves traffic and revenue.

Let’s break it all down.

What Exactly Happened? The Death of “num=100”

For more than a decade, SEO tools relied on one simple trick: Add &num=100 to a Google search URL → Get 100 results at once.

It was the foundation for most reported metrics:

• Rank/Position tracking
• Competitor analysis
• SERP scraping
• Impressions data
• Keyword monitoring

Tools only needed one request to see positions 1–100. Efficient. Predictable. Cheap.

But as of September 11, 2025, that parameter no longer works.

Google now limits results per request to 10.
No override. No workaround. No backdoor.

Even official APIs and Search Console are affected.

It’s a strategic, structural shift, and it’s global. Everyone knows and will need to adjust.

Why Did Google Remove It? (The Real Reasons)

Google didn’t provide a press release, but the motive becomes obvious when you look at the last few years of product changes.

1. Controlling Scraping and Automated Queries

The num=100 trick was an open door for bots. Rank trackers, AI systems, and data platforms were hammering Google with massive requests, all pulling 100 results at a time.

Removing the shortcut instantly reduces:

• scraping volume
• automated queries
• third-party data collection

It’s probably partly cost control. Partly protection. Partly strategic advantage.

2. Evolving SERP Architecture (Number Pages → Infinite Scroll → Number Pages→ AI Overviews)

Google has been rethinking how search results load.

Infinite scroll was introduced… then rolled back… then reintroduced in specific markets… then restructured again in 2024.

The result: Google wants consistent control over how results load the on-page experience.

3. Infrastructure Load and Cost Reduction

Imagine millions of tools hitting Google with the equivalent of 10x more data than any standard user request.

This change drastically reduces server load; while this matters, it’s probably not the main reason, especially since the data is also missing in Google Search Console.

It’s like an “emergency brake” on exploding automated queries.

How This Change Impacts Your SEO Metrics

This is where business owners or your marketing agency start noticing the effects, especially inside Google Search Console. Even though your actual rankings did not drop, your metrics may have.

Here’s why:

1. Impression Drop Significantly

Because tools can’t pull positions 11–100 the old way, those impressions simply don’t appear in the same volume.

A page that used to get “impressions” from being in positions 87, 55, or 32?

Now those are less likely to be counted or triggered.

Your real traffic didn’t drop; only the visibility of deep, irrelevant positions did.

Why this is good: Those impressions probably never translated into clicks anyway. This change cleans up the noise.

2. Average Position Suddenly Improves

This freaks people out, but it’s purely math. If low-ranking placements vanish, your “average” moves up.

Example:

• If you ranked #8, #14, #27, #53, #89 → average might be ~38
• If Google stops counting #53 and #89 → average jumps to ~16
• It looks like an improvement, but your real positions haven’t changed.

3. Rank Tracking Becomes 10x More Expensive for Tools.

Tools now need 10 separate requests to gather the same 100 positions. That means:

• Higher operating costs
• Higher proxy costs
• slower data
• more rate limits
• possible future price increases – for agencies

This is why your SEO tools (and your SEO agency) may have already warned you about increased monitoring costs.

AI Tools and Data Platforms Are Also Affected, But Not Catastrophically

Some commentary online claimed this change “cuts off 90% of the web from AI models.”

That’s an exaggeration. Here’s the truth:

• Some AI data pipelines did rely on bulk SERP retrieval
• Many AIs use Bing Search APIs or their own crawlers
• Most AIs only use the top results for RAG
• Models don’t need 100 results per query for relevance

So the larger story is this: AI systems and SEO tools that relied on bulk scraping will pay more, move more slowly, and use more resources, but they are not “cut off” from the web.

So, Why Did Your Impressions Drop?

Old way:
A bot or SEO tool loaded your page in position 83 → Google counted it as an “impression.”

New way:
Bots rarely load positions 11–100 → fewer impressions appear.

Your site didn’t lose traffic; It lost imaginary impressions.

This is why impressions worldwide dropped for millions of sites, as confirmed by agencies and SEO veterans across the industry.

Your business did not suddenly become less visible; The data simply became more honest.

Why This Change Is Actually Great for Businesses

1. Less Noise, More Signals

Instead of tracking 500 keywords and caring about positions 40–100, we can now focus on:

• The keywords that bring conversions
• The pages that actually drive traffic
• The terms closest to page 1
• The high-intent searches that matter

This is a massive upgrade in strategy.

2. The Pareto Principle (80/20) Finally Wins! (for everyone)

Even before this change, 80% of your traffic comes from 20% of your keywords.

Now we’re forced (in a good way) to prioritize:

• High-intent terms
• Revenue-driving queries

This leads to smarter SEO investments.

3. Content Quality > Content Quantity

Because rank tracking is more costly, smart SEOs will:

• Prune low-performing content (Keep, Kill, Combine)
• Consolidate thin pages
• Prioritize evergreen performers
• Improve meaningful URLs instead of producing endless new ones

This aligns perfectly with Google’s helpful content focus, EEAT.

What Should You Do Right Now?

Here is what your agency will help you with and what you should understand as a business owner.

1. Don’t compare current impressions to old impressions. They’re not apples to apples. Use long-term trends and real traffic data instead.

2. Focus on strategic keywords, not inflated averages. The average position is now less stable and less meaningful. Instead, track:

• Your primary revenue-driving keywords
• Your local intent keywords (“near me” terms)
• Your e-commerce category keywords
• Your brand searches

These matter. Position 87 does not.

3. Ask your agency about content consolidation. This is the perfect moment to:

• Merge weak pages
• Delete irrelevant content
• Boost top performers
• Strengthen category pages
• Improve product descriptions
• Refine service pages

Better content = better rankings.

4. Measure what actually matters. After this update, the smartest KPIs are:

• Organic traffic
• Engagement
• Conversions
• Local pack visibility
• Page 1 rankings
• Keyword movement within top 20 (Search console only does 10, but other tools can do more still – Semrush will keep the top 20)

These metrics correlate directly with revenue.

How Brandography is Staying Ahead

A good agency isn’t reacting to this change; it’s anticipating and adapting to it. Here’s how our team stays proactive:

• Monitoring high-impact keywords only
  • Not wasting budget on tracking irrelevant ones.
• Adjusting rank tracking methods
  • Ensuring accurate data despite the change.
• Reallocating budget to content quality
  • Prioritizing updates that actually move rankings.
• Communicating the “impressions drop” early
  • So you aren’t surprised or misled by the charts.
• Using GSC as a primary signal
  • Because Google’s first-party data remains the most accurate.

The Bigger Picture: SEO Is Entering an Era of Quality

This change is part of a much larger trend:

• Fewer SEO “hacks”
• Less manipulation
• More emphasis on quality
• More machine learning shaping rankings
• Tighter control over data pipelines
• Higher visibility for trustworthy content

The era of quantity-based SEO is fading.
The era of focused, intentional, strategic SEO is rising.

Don’t Fear the Drop. Master It.

Google didn’t hurt your rankings. It cleaned up the data. Your impressions dropped because the noise disappeared, not because your visibility decreased. Your average position improved because irrelevant deep rankings were removed, not because you magically jumped to the top.

And your agency is still monitoring everything that matters.

This is a moment to:

• Sharpen your SEO strategy
• Focus on revenue-driving keywords
• Prioritize better content
• View Search Console with a more transparent lens
• Trust long-term trends over single metrics

A small URL parameter disappeared.
But the opportunity is enormous:

More precise data, more intelligent decisions, stronger SEO.

The post Google Quietly Removed the “num=100” Parameter. The SEO Industry Felt It Overnight. first appeared on Brandography.

B2B marketing isn’t getting any simpler. Longer buying cycles, complex offerings, and decision-making committees all add nuance to how you attract, nurture, and convert customers. But a well-constructed B2B website can make the difference between converting a potential lead and being just another option on the market.

Brandography doesn’t just build websites; we craft digital marketing systems explicitly optimized for B2B goals, merging design expertise with deep strategic knowledge of corporate sales cycles.

To that end, let’s go through 5 common B2B marketing roadblocks we see our clients encounter and how we address them individually.

B2B Web Design Best Practices: 5 Roadblocks & Our Solutions

1. Roadblock #1: Complex Value Propositions That Are Hard to Explain

B2B products and services are rarely simple. Technical features, custom solutions, and multi-layer pricing models can make it difficult to communicate your values concisely and impactfully.

The Solution:

• Clear product and service pages that translate features into business outcomes
• Videos and case stories that show value.
• Messaging frameworks rooted in customer pain points and industry language.
• Interactive content (e.g., calculators, configurators, demos) to simplify decisions

Result: Your audience gains clarity faster and understands exactly why they need you.

2. The Roadblock #2: Long Sales Cycles and Multiple Decision-Making Committees

B2B buyers take their time with multiple stakeholders weighing in along the way. You need a website that’s easily translatable with upper management.

The Solution:

• Proof-of-concept on the homepage: case studies, testimonials, and similar clients.
• Self-guided paths for different buyer roles (technical, finance, executive, end-user)
• Resource libraries with guides, whitepapers, and product content, tailored to different decision-makers.
• Strategic CTAs and lead capture touchpoints across the funnel
• CRM and marketing automation integrations to nurture leads over time

Take it from us: B2B marketing doesn’t end at your website. You’ll also want a comprehensive plan that keeps your brand and messaging in front of your contacts and leads, at least once a month.

This communication can come from a variety of sources — emails, PPC ads — but the foundation of it all is a B2B website. Website links are also perfect for sharing with potential leads or dropping into lead-nurturing emails.

3. Roadblock #3: Outdated or Undifferentiated Buyer Experience

   Today’s B2B buyers expect digital experiences that feel as intuitive as B2C, yet many B2B websites still rely on PDFs, slow navigation, and dated User Experience (UX).

The Solution:

• Conversion-focused design that guides buyers toward action
• Fast, mobile-optimized, accessibility-compliant site performance
• Personalized content and dynamic elements based on user behavior
• Scalable Information Architecture (IA) that evolves with your business

Client Spotlight: Houck Transit Advertising

Houck Transit Advertising needed a B2B website design agency partner to redesign their website with CRO in mind, incorporating strong differentiators, a clean navigation, and cohesive branding.

→ Review our Collaboration

4. Roadblock #4: Difficulty Standing Out in Crowded, Often Conservative Markets

Many B2B industries feel saturated, and brands default to safe, generic language and visuals.

The Solution:

• Modern, professional design that visually differentiates you
• Brand storytelling that builds trust and personality without sacrificing credibility or authority.
• Search optimized content that earns visibility in your niche
• Industry-specific landing pages that speak directly to buyer use cases

5. Roadblock #5: Complex Shipping, Fulfillment & Pricing Models

   For many B2B companies, products involve unique logistics, making standard e-commerce tools insufficient. You may have freight pricing instead of parcel shipping, pallet/skid calculations, higher price points and negotiated terms, extended payment windows, or even tax-exempt purchasing.

The Solution:

• Integrated freight and pallet-based shipping tools
• Custom checkout workflows and quoting engines
• Automated tax exemption handling
• Tiered pricing, bulk order logic, and wholesale portals

The Importance of CRM/ERPs

Because B2B sales cycles tend to be longer, integrating a CRM with the website is crucial. We hear it all the time that either B2B companies don’t have a CRM integrated with their site, or if they do, it’s disjointed and not used to its full potential.

Having a CRM and connecting it to your website allows your website to work for you. Funneling leads through your CRM, sorting them into segments, and tagging them by source can help you understand how best to connect with them and which messaging is most likely to work.

–Shannon Powell: Client Development Manager at Brandography

Utilize a CRM or ERP to tag potential clients based on how the lead found your company, the type of service/product they are interested in, and where they are in the funnel. This not only allows you to see where your marketing efforts are performing, but also which marketing efforts are underperforming. 

Then, target your messaging more accurately. Email drip campaigns that address pain points help demonstrate that you understand how to alleviate their concerns. You can also track cold or lost leads using a different messaging strategy.

We see every day how starting with a website that automatically tracks where these leads are coming from and guides them through the process substantially increases close rates and creates more lasting relationships with your prospects.

Have a Roadblock We Didn’t Suggest?

We’d love to hear about it. Drop us a line and tell us what’s keeping you up at night. Our team of experts can put their heads together to create a solution tailored to your B2B industry.

Whether you’re launching a new site, optimizing, or rebranding your online presence, create digital experiences that connect with business audiences and drive long-term success.

Contact Brandography today for an audit.

The post 5 B2B Marketing Challenges (& How a Website Can Help) first appeared on Brandography.

Written by Chris F., Brandography Digital Marketing Specialist, and Leila De la Fuente, Brandography Digital Marketing Manager

At Brandography, we’re on the ground floor of search evolution. Across dozens of client websites, Brandography’s team has been adapting strategies and running real-time experiments to understand how Google’s AI Overviews are reshaping the way people search online.

Right now, there are a lot of terms flying around: AI Overview (AIO), ​​Answer Engine Optimization (AEO), Search Generative Experience (SGE). Regardless of what you want to call it, our internal experts across SEO, content, and strategy are here to weigh in on what we’re seeing, what’s working, and how brands can stay ahead.

What’s Changing in Search?

A lot is changing in the way we search online, but none so drastically as the integration of AI into Google Search Results. AI Overview (AIO) describes this new era of how Google is using AI to answer queries.

Let’s discuss recent shifts in Google and AI and how to shift your digital marketing strategies as a response. First, let’s look at what’s changed.

First, What is AIO?

Instead of just showing a list of links, AI Overview gives users a synthesized, conversational-style answer at the top of the search results page, pulled from multiple online sources. It’s designed to help people get quick, context-rich answers without clicking through to multiple sites. It’s already changed the way people search and how websites can interpret traffic. But the changes are continuing. Here’s how it’s developing:

Unpacking the Google Search Shift

Before, AI Mode would appear at the top of the search results page, followed by traditional organic search links below. However, now AI mode is presented as the first tab at the top of the search results page. This new tab appears alongside other filter options.

When users click on the AI mode tab, they are greeted with a search box designed to facilitate a conversational interaction. While this new interface still provides links to relevant websites that informed the AI’s response, the option to scroll down and view additional related webpages directly on this page has been removed.

This mode is now getting presented to users on a normal search result and a pop-up asking them to try out AI mode.

How Does AIO Impact Organic Opportunities?

This shift means Google is increasingly encouraging users to engage with AI mode directly from the search result page. The impact on website traffic is two-fold:

1. We’ve entered a “zero-click” era. Users can get quick answers to their queries directly from the AI result, which decreases the need for them to visit individual websites. We see this affecting high-level, educational “what is” or “how to” content that historically drove high volumes of traffic.
2. The placement of organic search results is de-emphasized. This change further reduces the visibility of traditional organic search results, potentially decreasing the chances of your website being discovered organically, even if you are actively running search ads.

We’ve put together recommendations for continuing to hit your KPIs for this new era of digital marketing.

What are AIO Best Practices Right Now?

Currently, marketers are in an era of “discovery” and “testing” when it comes to AI optimization. But there are tried and true elements that we’re seeing consistently influence success in AI-driven search:

• Content Designed for Generative AI

  When writing, optimizing, or guiding content creation, produce clear, conversational content & question-driven (FAQ content). Not only is this style ideal for traditional search engines, but it also aligns with how AI-driven search platforms generate answers.

  Pro tips: Analyze the type of content on your site that’s getting the most attention from AIO and AI chat bots. To get to this data, check GA4 referral traffic from ChatGPT, Perplexity, etc. aHrefs or Semrush will show you which of your pages are included in AI Overviews. Do you notice any patterns? Is there a topic that seems to receive the most AI attention? Content marketers can use this data to help inform their content strategy.

  Another tip is to simply ask AI what topics in your industry it does not have much insight or content on. Identifying knowledge gaps and creating authoritative, educational content to fill those gaps can help position your brand as a resource for AIs as they interface with their users.

• Focus on Deeper Pages & Content

  As the homepage becomes less relevant in search results and its viewership decreases across the board in analytics, focus on improving the quality and information density of other core pages on the website, including product pages. As user search queries become longer, you should adapt your approach to include how somebody is asking questions. Focus on more technical, nuanced, or experience-based content that provides value beyond what an AI response could provide.

• Leveraging E-E-A-T to Boost AI Trust (where available)

  Strategically integrate available signals of Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness (E-E-A-T) to enhance how AI evaluates your content quality. A few ways to achieve this include:

  • Authorship

    Avoid assigning a default or “Brand name” author to blogs and resources. Instead, ensure each piece of content is tied to a real person and a professional “Author profile page” that illustrates the individual’s industry expertise and links to a profile, such as LinkedIn. NerdWallet and NYTimes Wirecutter are both great examples for how to build author pages that support E-E-A-T and establish real authority.

  • Reviews – both on-site and off-site

    Ensure your Google Business Profile has a solid collection of reviews. If your website has products, enlist and visually feature real user reviews.

  • Earn high-quality backlinks

    We always recommend starting with your ecosystem of partners and industry affiliates. These relationships have already been established, and the opportunity to gain backlinks is easiest.

“I worked for a company that had dozens of technology partners. Oftentimes, these partners would reference our brand or feature our logo on their websites. Some would include a hyperlink to our site, some didn’t. This was an easy channel for us to tap as we looked to increase backlinks from reputable domains, because the relationship was already there.” – Leila De la Fuente, Digital Marketing Manager at Brandography

• Technical Optimization & Speed

  Since AI search prioritizes fast-loading websites, your site needs to be optimized for high performance, scoring highly on Google’s Core Web Vitals. AI tools also factor mobile usability and accessibility into their results, so are building and maintaining responsive sites while following accessibility best practices.

• Structured Content and Schema Markup

  Advanced schema markup helps explicitly define content elements. Hierarchical URL structures ensure every page has a topically relevant parent/child relationship. This structuring helps AI search tools (and organic search bots) easily interpret, understand, and accurately represent your content.

“If I had to choose just one tactic to implement, I’d choose schema every time. Adding the appropriate schema markup to a website consistently produces improvements in organic impressions and clicks. Do you have instances within your content where a question is asked and an answer is provided? Wrap FAQ Schema around those. Do you have product pages? Add Product Schema. Job listings? Add Job Schema.” – Leila

• Paid Advertising: AI Mode in Search Ads

  Google is also integrating AI Max into search ads, and agencies will be testing the effectiveness of AI mode over the next few months.

We are in the middle of another profound shift comparable to the Internet or mobile revolutions. It is not just an incremental improvement, but will fundamentally change how people interact with computers and information.

We are prioritizing a unique user experience while focusing on distinctiveness and reliability. We are also diversifying distribution channels and building strong brands and communities around them. – Chris F.

How Can I Expand My Digital Reach?

It’s a good time to remember Google isn’t the only place people are looking. In today’s marketing landscape, there are lots of opportunities to expand your digital real estate and meet more potential audience members where they’re searching. Here are a few additional strategies to consider:

• Expanding to New Platforms

  Creating new accounts and engaging with customers on platforms such as Reddit, and pushing less-used search platforms like Bing.

• Consideration for How Social Media Factors In

  These changes mean your social media presence is a more integrated part of your brand and how users can find and understand your offerings. Make sure your Instagram and Facebook bios have comprehensive “About” sections. Review old posts that might be pulled into AI overviews and post relevant, unique, and engaging content.

• Landing Pages

  Landing pages are becoming even more crucial to your marketing strategy because AI Max can potentially pull ad copy directly from them. Think diligently about your landing pages through the lens of unique content and user experience. Now is a good time to review live landing pages. Do they clearly state your brand benefits and differentiators? Look at your low-performing landing pages and make updates or change them out altogether.

• DMs as a Conversion Layer

  Customer service and social media DMs have been interlinked for a while, so promoting messaging instead of your website is nothing new, but the advantage is turning the DM into a choose-your-own-path funnel. Effective use of DMs to remove questions, not add pressure, converts higher than most websites.

• Creating Informational Videos

  Google is pushing helpful videos as responses to search results. In addition, they have changed up options across the top to include forms more prominently.

• Building Community

  Establishing targeted groups on Facebook to foster closer relationships and reduce the distance between your brand and your customers.

The Next Phase of Digital Marketing is Here

This sounds like a lot of change, and it is! But our team at Brandography is excited to meet the challenges of this new phase of AIO and create holistic strategies that make sense for your industry and brand.

Learn more about our approach to strategy! 

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The post Best Practices for AIO Success: Direct from Our Search & Content Leaders first appeared on Brandography.

Reviewed by Leila De La Fuente, Brandography’s Digital Marketing Consultant and SEO Specialist.

If you’re running a business online, you probably already know how essential SEO can be to growing your presence. But how easy is it to get organic traffic when your business runs on Shopify? Does SEO work differently on that platform?

The short answer: Yes, there are differences, but these can help you get seen more easily. Understanding how Shopify SEO works can help you make more informed decisions when optimizing product pages or planning content strategy.

Read on to make sure your store is found, seen, and shopped.

The Art and Science of Regular SEO

Regular SEO is the art and science of helping websites rank higher on search engines like Google. It includes:

• Keyword research
• On-page optimization (title tags, meta descriptions, image alt text, etc.)
• Content creation
• Backlink building
• Technical SEO (e.g., site speed and mobile-friendliness)

Whether you’re using WordPress, Squarespace, or building from scratch, these fundamentals are the same from platform to platform.

Learn more about working with a Shopify Plus eCommerce agency.

How Shopify SEO Differs

Because Shopify is an eCommerce platform, SEO functions a bit differently:

• Built-In URL Structure

Shopify automatically creates a certain URL structure for products, collections, and blogs. For example, URLs often include /products/your-product-name/, /blog/your-blog-title/ or /collections/your-collection-name.

This predefined parent folder structure is helpful in ensuring the website’s organization stays consistent and easily readable for search engines and significantly reduces the issue of “orphaned” pages, which occur when URLs are not created with a parent-child relationship. While this guided URL structure is beneficial for SEO, it can limit customization options because you can’t easily customize or remove these parent folder URLs.

• Focus on Product Pages

Because Shopify is an eCommerce-focused platform, Shopify’s SEO strategy leans heavily into product and collection pages. Optimizing these pages with thoughtful keywords, structured data, and strong calls to action is key.

“I highly recommend implementing product schema on product pages, which can substantially improve the visibility of your product pages in search. This schema will help visually showcase specific product information, such as price, availability, and customer ratings, directly in search results, which encourages clicks and purchases. A Shopify developer can manually implement this, or you can leverage a schema-specific app from the Shopify App store.” – Leila

• App-Heavy Optimization

Many SEO features (like image compression, redirects, and schema markup) are handled through apps in Shopify’s ecosystem. That’s convenient, but also means you need to vet those apps for performance and compatibility.

• Limited Access to Backend

Unlike a custom site, where developers can tweak every line of code, Shopify limits access to certain backend files, making it harder to implement some advanced technical SEO strategies.

• Duplicate Content Challenges

Out of the box, Shopify may create multiple URLs for the same product (e.g., a product listed in multiple collections), which may lead to duplicate content. Canonical tags can be helpful, but you’ll want to be intentional about how you manage them.

“The good news is that this issue is easily solvable with a little dev work. As part of our typical Shopify builds, our developers update this setting to eliminate any duplicate URL issues.”  – Leila De La Fuente, Brandography’s Digital Marketing Consultant. 

Which One Is Right for Me?

The good news is that you don’t have to choose between “regular” SEO and Shopify SEO—the two can work together to help your target audience find you. But your platform should affect your approach. If you’re selling products on Shopify, your SEO strategy should be tailored to how Shopify works, how people shop, and how search engines crawl eCommerce websites.

Drive Organic Traffic Shopify SEO

Our team Brandography helps brands navigate both the technical and creative sides of SEO, whether you’re on Shopify, WordPress, or another platform. From optimizing product pages to creating search-friendly content, we help you turn casual browsers into loyal buyers. If you’re looking for help with your Shopify site, we’re here. Reach out and connect with our team.

The post Regular SEO vs. Shopify SEO: What’s the Difference? first appeared on Brandography.