From HubSpot to Shopify - SEO impact

With HubSpot touting its Inbound Marketing as its strength, there is a key inherent platform that impacts On-site SEO. When you look at marketing and sales as the core activity of a platform, Shopify seems to outshine its rival even when HubSpot isn't an Online Store and Shopify isn't really in the same category. So, how does Shopify outperform in SEO the great HubSpot marketing platform? At its core technology is where it's at.

HubSpot's Key Features

HubSpot's strength is in managing an inbound client's inquiry and can be followed through the Deals board. It is a great and easy feature that allows organizations to have discussions and coordinate in handling a client. This is an internal process within the platform itself. However, HubSpot has a website capability in which your SEO and Content marketing can all be created within the platform. You cannot sell online with it, but the sales and marketing teams can act upon being contacted. There are SEO tools within the platform, which can audit your website's content to optimize it for the search engines.

The Overlap

A Shopify Store is also all about inbound marketing but focused on funneling visitors on a payment gateway. The overlap lies at the SEO level and the inbound marketing efforts in collecting leads and being able to turn them into revenue. With this in mind, having a Website builder, hosting your valuable content, and having a connected sales strategy when the contact lead is received - Shopify can execute the same functions as HubSpot performs.

Why would Shopify outperform HubSpot?

Given the competitive nature of the consumer business market, every customer in Shopify is looking for the best tools and getting an edge over their competition. In order to do this, Shopify has to provide the best tools, and the most error-free cloud-based SAAS offering. Bad SEO, means lower traffic for their clients. Given that Shopify has almost 1/3 of the market share of eCommerce platforms, they have to supply a successful inbound marketing engine for it to sustain and maintain its market dominance.

Shopify Outperforming HubSpot

This is not a Shopping Cart issue, o even related to Social Media - it is about the platform itself. When looking at SEO Audits, you will note there are a lot of "warnings and notices". A lot of times, businesses feel powerless to knock these down to improve their SEO performance and look towards areas where they can have control, mainly the "Error" and Google Search Console issues that come up. In a recent transition for one of our clients, we saw a 79.6% drop in Warnings (1,921 to 392), and a 22.5% (1,849 to 1,432) in notices when moving a non-commercial site from HubSpot to Shopify. The improvement equated to 8% overall site health, from 78% to 86% (Same number of SEO Errors on both sides). When the site Errors were corrected the site reached 88% for a total gain of 10%. The site went from average to a solid performer in just moving to a new platform.

The Shopify Bonus

You might not be starting off with an eCommerce website, just a flat website and might consider starting an online store down the road. You might as well start on a platform that has the right architecture and is a lot less expensive to host. HubSpot pricing is very pricey compared to the Shopify hosting plans. Therefore if you are looking to scale, and start with inbound marketing, the Shopify platform might be the one to consider. Why spend more on a platform that may be of higher cost, and features you might not need.

Shopify integration advantages

In today's world, you can't ignore the power of Social Media and where potential customers spend time online. Your brand might be present on social networks, in order to spread the work of the value you bring to the community and individuals that may share your interests. It isn't enough to be sharing information with the audience, it is the engagement you get and having relevant content to be consumed. Various Social media platforms have different content presentations, for different audiences and their demographics. The social media integrations where you can add UGC (User Generated Content) via Instagram (Imagery), or have Twitter feeds (for short sentences). You have lots to choose from on Shopify, with thousands of Apps to enhance the experience of a visitor. HubSpot, not so much.

Conclusion

Investing in your online presence takes a lot of time, in both cost investment and your time to put down your thoughts and ideas. To gain SEO authority requires a dedication to your content marketing and a good analysis of your search keywords. With this in mind, you want to take that investment and place it into a platform that gives you the most "bang for the buck" on On-site SEO, as well as gives you flexibility in the future to expand. Shopify is no longer using an Online Store, it is a marketing platform with a low-cost structure, massive development, and quality infrastructure, the sky is the limit. If you are looking to move your store from Hubspot to Shopify, feel free to reach out to us at wish@thegenielab.com