Traffic drop after switching from WordPress to Shopify... Any ideas?

Technical Aspects
1

Hey everyone,

I need some help. I moved my website from WordPress to Shopify three days ago, and since then, my visitors have decreased a lot (from about 1k per day to just 400). The main two keywords that bring in most of my traffic are still at the top of search results. I checked the links for those keywords, and they’re working fine.

Does anyone know what might be causing this drop? I checked on the search console, and my top three keywords are still there, still number one, and the links work. I can tell something’s wrong with the SEO, as I have some broken links and duplicate links on the search results, which I’m fixing (hired someone for that). Still, I can’t figure out how these issues could have such a big effect when the main links that bring sales are still ranked and visible.

Has anyone else gone through something like this?

Thanks in advance!

2

Did any URLs change? If so, set up redirects as soon as possible. Maybe check the indexing to see what your issues are.

3

Yes, your URLs changed. Fix them quickly.

4

WordWeaver said:
Yes, your URLs changed. Fix them quickly.

Thanks for your help! Can you explain what you mean? :pray: Just to clarify, most of my sales come from people searching my brand on Google.

That’s where 90% of my traffic comes from. I tested it and when I search my brand, it shows in search results and the link works.

5

@ContentCraftsman1
Then I need to look into it more deeply.

6

Since you’ve hired someone, tell them to fix it. They will understand the issues better than we can here.

7

BookwormBard said:
Since you’ve hired someone, tell them to fix it. They will understand the issues better than we can here.

That’s assuming they are good at their job. But I agree with you.

8

BookwormBard said:
Since you’ve hired someone, tell them to fix it. They will understand the issues better than we can here.

I hired someone on Fiverr but it didn’t work out :frowning: It might not be related to the search console.

Someone said that while working on my Shopify site, a different domain was used and got indexed on Google when searching my brand. Could this take most of my traffic even if it’s in third or fourth position?

9

@ContentCraftsman1
If you see that domain, yes. Otherwise, no.

The main issue is changing permalinks without setting up redirects. If you had links to those pages, you’ve lost them all, and internal links are now hidden from Google.

By the way, avoid hiring from Fiverr. If they knew what they were doing, they’d charge more. They often make big promises but don’t deliver. It’s a lose-lose situation.

10

@BookwormBard
Yes, that domain is seen but it’s not at the top. How can it take 50-60% of my traffic? I would understand if it was 10%, but that’s too high.

I have two main links on Google that give me 90% of my traffic, both are still there. The only difference is with Shopify the link is like “https://mydomain/products” whereas with WordPress it was just “Product” without the ‘s’. When I check the link on search results, it’s still like my WordPress site but clicking it redirects to my Shopify site, so I think the redirect is working.

But yeah… that’s a shame… I’m losing over $1k a day because of this and hope it will recover or I don’t know what else to do. Only two keywords bring traffic and both are indexed, which is stressing me out haha.

11

@ContentCraftsman1
Yes, that domain is seen but as mentioned, it’s not at the top so how come it can take 50-60% of my traffic? I would understand if it was 10% but that high?

Yes. On one hand, that domain has the correct URLs, while yours is now new to Google, even if it only changed by one letter. A change is still a change.

More importantly, this is like a domino effect: once mistakes started, they piled up and hurt your rank, letting competitors rise. Even domains ranked below yours benefited from these mistakes.

Think of it like a cake: you had half the cake, and others had the rest. But when you got distracted, they each took a bit from your large slice. Your slice is now smaller by 60%.

Don’t panic, but if you don’t fix this soon, you could lose all traffic for a while (though it can recover later, but it may take months).

12

@BookwormBard
Thanks! But how can I fix this if on Shopify you can’t have the same URLs as WordPress?

13

ContentCraftsman1 said:
@BookwormBard
Thanks! But how can I fix this if on Shopify you can’t have the same URLs as WordPress?

You create redirects to forward the old URLs to the new ones.

14

ContentCraftsman1 said:
@BookwormBard
Thanks! But how can I fix this if on Shopify you can’t have the same URLs as WordPress?

what u/Maybe_Decent_Human said

15

@ContentCraftsman1
Can you explain something to me?

Not trying to be mean, just curious.

Why did you hire someone from Fiverr for SEO?

I see many people ask about Fiverr SEO here, and I don’t understand why they hire someone from there. Most guides advise against it.

So, why did you hire from Fiverr? Just asking, not to make you feel bad.

How do you search for someone to do SEO for your business?

16

@WordsmithWizard1
To be honest, I’m not familiar with SEO, but my business does well. If I found a good SEO expert who knew their stuff and didn’t make big promises, I wouldn’t mind paying $300-$600 an hour or more. But I haven’t found anyone impressive, maybe because I looked on Fiverr. Where else can I search? Upwork? My website makes over $120k a month from someone on Fiverr, and the person who does my pictures, logos, videos, social media, etc., is also from Fiverr. But SEO is different and more complex.

Honestly, I don’t see what most SEO ‘experts’ can do besides on-page optimization, which is set, writing blogs, and getting backlinks. Competing with my competitors would need spending a lot on backlinks, which I’m okay with, if I have a detailed plan from a real expert.

I’ve been in e-commerce for years and know almost everything about marketing, but SEO is my weak spot. It’s frustrating because I’m missing a big part of it. From what I’ve seen, just White Hat SEO isn’t enough. I need some Grey or Black Hat - not too much, but enough to compete.

I haven’t found any SEO expert who can say, ‘If we do this, you’ll outrank your competitors.’ They always say the same thing: ‘We can’t guarantee, it depends on Google,’ etc. I don’t believe it. A true SEO expert who ranked #1 for tough keywords should know if they can outrank specific keywords. I had a competitor who ranks #1 for hard keywords tell me that SEO is like poker with an open hand—you can see competitors’ backlinks, so you copy them and add more good ones. And then there’s on-page SEO, an old domain, which are basics.

If I could find a real SEO expert with experience ranking difficult keywords, I wouldn’t mind paying well. But I always think—if they are so good, why don’t they just do it themselves? I believe real experts are building many blogs and making millions a month from brands wanting guest posts on their sites—not advertising on Fiverr.

17

@ContentCraftsman1
They would move your site properly without losing all your traffic overnight for one thing.

18

georgefathom said:
@ContentCraftsman1
They would move your site properly without losing all your traffic overnight for one thing.

I talked to a few ‘Experts’, seems like as long as there was a redirect, it should be fine, which is not the case :frowning:

The only comment that made sense was to redo the sitemap and give it time.

19

@ContentCraftsman1
It’s normal to see a dip, not a sudden drop. Did you redirect every page? Why switch to Shopify anyway?

20

georgefathom said:
@ContentCraftsman1
It’s normal to see a dip, not a sudden drop. Did you redirect every page? Why switch to Shopify anyway?

Yes, I did. Only two URLs gave me all traffic (Home page and one product page). The home page is the same and the product page has a redirect.

I had to switch to Shopify because Stripe isn’t supported in my country and there’s a new payment processor with the same checkout as Stripe without redirecting to an external link, conversion increased by 20-25%, which is great but the traffic drop is bad :frowning: