Five layers
Framework
SEO · AEO · GEO
Covers
No black hat, ever
Tactics
Fix list, not vanity charts
Reporting
Our framework
Five layers, worked in this order.
Every site we take on goes through the same five layers. The order matters: there is no point chasing AI citations on a site Google cannot crawl properly in the first place.
L1
Technical SEO
Can search engines reach, render and index the site at all.
Crawlability, index bloat, Core Web Vitals, canonicals, redirect chains and the Shopify-specific traps like duplicate collection URLs. Nothing above this layer works until this one does.
- Crawl & index
- Core Web Vitals
- Canonicals
- Redirects
- Sitemaps
L2
On-page SEO
Whether each page tells Google what it is actually for.
Keyword mapping across the site, title and meta structure, heading hierarchy, internal linking, and content depth on the pages that are meant to earn traffic rather than just exist.
- Keyword mapping
- Titles & meta
- Heading structure
- Internal links
- Content depth
L3
AEO, answer engine optimization
Winning the box above the results.
Structuring content so it can be lifted into featured snippets, People Also Ask and AI Overviews. Direct answers near the top of the page, FAQ schema, and question-shaped headings.
- Featured snippets
- People Also Ask
- AI Overviews
- FAQ schema
L4
GEO, AI search optimization
Generative engine optimization. Being named inside AI answers.
A full JSON-LD stack, llms.txt at the site root, Person schema for the founder, named entities and quantified data points, so language models have something concrete to cite when someone asks about your category.
- JSON-LD stack
- llms.txt
- Entity work
- Citable data
L5
E-E-A-T
Whether anyone outside your own site vouches for you.
Google Business Profile, review platforms, LinkedIn company and founder presence, backlinks, Knowledge Graph, press and podcast mentions. The part that cannot be fixed by editing your own pages.
- Business Profile
- Reviews
- Backlinks
- Knowledge Graph
- Press
GEO in practice
AI search optimization: we test whether the models actually name you.
Rankings tell you where you sit on a page fewer people are reading. So every audit includes running your category's real buying questions through the models and recording who gets named.
The schema baseline
Organization, Service or Product, FAQPage, BreadcrumbList and WebSite with SearchAction, all valid and all consistent with each other.
Machine-readable context
llms.txt at the root, Person schema for the founder, and entity references written so a model can connect your brand to your category.
Something worth citing
Models quote specifics. Prices, timelines, numbers and named processes get lifted. Vague brand copy never does.
| "Best Shopify agency for a small D2C brand" | Cited |
| "How much does a Shopify store cost in 2026" | Cited |
| "Agency to migrate from WooCommerce to Shopify" | Not cited |
| "Who does B2B Shopify builds for manufacturers" | Cited |
| "Shopify SEO agency in Los Angeles" | Not cited |
Sample citation test. Every audit runs five queries from your own category and reports the result honestly, including the ones you lose.
The audit
What lands in your inbox.
The audit is a standalone deliverable. You can take it to any SEO consultant or agency, or do the work in-house. Nothing in it is written to be unusable without us.
- Executive summary with a 0 to 100 health score
- Layer-by-layer findings, five layers
- What is already done well, in writing
- Weaknesses and critical gaps, separated
- Schema audit with completeness scores
- Keyword and content audit, homepage plus five pages
- Prioritized fix list: critical, important, nice to have
- Each fix with location, expected impact and hours
- Competitive positioning against three rivals
- AI citation test across five real queries
What is included
SEO services in the retainer, every month.
The audit is the starting point. The retainer is the part where the fix list actually gets worked through rather than filed away.
- Technical fixes implemented, not just recommended
- Keyword research and page mapping
- Title, meta and heading rewrites
- Schema markup written and validated
- Content briefs and written articles
- Service and location landing pages
- Internal linking program
- Google Business Profile management
- Backlink outreach, editorial only
- Core Web Vitals monitoring
- Monthly AI citation retest
- Monthly report and strategy call
Process
Six months, honestly described.
SEO is the slowest thing we sell. Any SEO optimization agency promising month-one results is either counting brand traffic you already had, or lying to you.
01
Audit
Five layers assessed, health score set, fix list prioritized with effort estimates.
Week 1 to 2
02
Critical fixes
Everything blocking crawling, indexing or speed gets cleared before any content work starts.
Month 1
03
On-page rebuild
Keyword mapping applied, titles and headings rewritten, schema stack installed.
Month 1 to 2
04
Content
Service pages, location pages and articles written against real search demand.
Month 2 onward
05
Authority
Business Profile, reviews, editorial links and entity work across the platforms models read.
Month 3 onward
06
Measure
Rankings, unpaid traffic and AI citations retested monthly against the baseline in the audit.
Monthly
SEO work
Sites we work on today.
Ecommerce, trade services and travel. Different categories, same five layers.
Palmetto Upholstery
US upholstery business. Took over from a previous consultant and rebuilt the on-page and technical layers.
RahrDog
Sydney metal fabrication. Local SEO and service pages built for Australian search demand.
Divine Trail
Himalayan trek and yatra operator. Audit and keyword research across a large seasonal catalog.
Questions
Ecommerce SEO questions.
How long does SEO take to work?
Technical fixes can show up within weeks. Content and authority work realistically takes four to six months to move competitive terms. We set the baseline in the audit so you can judge progress against something rather than against a promise.
What are AEO and GEO?
AEO is optimizing to be the answer Google shows above the results, in featured snippets, People Also Ask and AI Overviews. GEO is being named as a source inside ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Claude answers. Both are now a meaningful share of how people find suppliers, and both need different work from classic ranking SEO.
Can I buy just the audit?
Yes, and plenty of clients do. It is a standalone deliverable with a prioritized fix list and effort estimates, so your own developer can work through it. There is no obligation to take the retainer afterwards.
Do you build backlinks?
Editorial links only, through outreach and genuinely useful content. No PBNs, no bought link packages, no directory spam. It is slower, and it is the only version that survives an algorithm update.
Do you guarantee rankings?
No, and nobody credible does. We commit to the work in the scope, to reporting honestly on what moved and what did not, and to telling you when a term is not worth chasing.
Are you a Shopify SEO agency specifically?
Mostly, yes. Shopify SEO is the bulk of what we do, and Shopify has its own structural problems around collection URLs, pagination and app-injected scripts that a Shopify SEO expert already knows how to handle. We also work on WordPress and custom sites for SEO only.
Do you work with small businesses?
Yes. Most SEO companies for small business either sell a cheap package that does nothing or a retainer the business cannot afford. We start with the audit, which is a fixed price, and the retainer only makes sense if the fix list is big enough to justify it. If it is not, we say so and you keep the audit.
Do I need an SEO expert or can my developer do this?
Your developer can implement most of the technical layer from the audit, and we write it so they can. Keyword mapping, content, schema strategy and the AI citation work are where an SEO specialist earns the fee. Many clients split it that way: audit from us, technical fixes in-house, content and authority on retainer.
Ecommerce SEO services by location
Get the audit first. Decide about us afterwards.
Five layers, a health score, a prioritized fix list with effort estimates, and an honest AI citation test. Yours to keep either way.