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 compensation for this type of content, which supports the work we do at no cost to you.

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? 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 at no cost to you.

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 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 the work we do at no cost to you.

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 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.

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.

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): 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.