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How to Sell Your Shopify Store Like a Pro Using Only SEO...
If the idea of selling your Shopify store seems crazy to you right now, then you definitely need to read this entire post.
So, why even think about selling your Shopify store, you ask?
Well, the truth is, none of us live forever, right?
Are you really planning to take that quirky online store with you when you’re gone?
I didn’t think so.
Even though it may seem overwhelming or not something you're ready to deal with, it’s super important to think ahead. You should make sure the work you’re doing now sets you up for an easy and successful sale later.
That way, when you’re finally ready to sell, you won’t have a ton of extra work to do because you were smart enough to make sure your priorities match what buyers are looking for when they want to buy a business.
Because, deep down, you do plan to sell your store one day, right?
Not Doing SEO? Why Relying on Paid Ads Alone is a Risk
I get it. Ads can bring quick results if you know what you're doing. But if your entire business depends on paid ads, you’re sitting on a ticking time bomb with nothing to back you up.
How so?
Because your whole store depends on whether platforms like Facebook, Google, or TikTok decide to limit or ban you based on their changing algorithms. When that happens, your sales can come to a halt. Then you’re stuck begging for help from their support teams, hoping they’ll give you a break.
I don’t need to explain how often this occurs—it happens to a lot of people, and I’ve been there too.
When you only rely on paid ads, you’re stuck playing a never-ending game with the big tech companies just to get people to visit your store, hoping you can make some sales on that niche product you’ve spent so much time on.
Paid ads as your only source of traffic don’t build a well-rounded foundation for your store, which is exactly what potential buyers want.
Your store needs more than just ads; it needs REAL VALUE that doesn’t come from paid traffic alone, because ads are all about quick gains, not lasting growth.
I'm not here to bash paid ads because, honestly, they can work and make you a lot of money fast if you know what you're doing. If your ads are working, keep them going. But, it’s time to think bigger...
After looking at a lot of online businesses for sale, I noticed something important: they all have traffic coming from different places (at least 2-3), and often a big chunk of that traffic comes from organic sources like Google.
What does that mean? It means buyers want businesses that can stand on their own, not ones that could be shut down if a platform like Facebook decides to cut you off while sipping on their fancy drink in a café somewhere.
Do you think a buyer wants to hand over a big check for a store that could get shut down the day after the deal, leaving them with nothing but a ruined business while you happily cash your check?
No way, my friend. That’s not how it works...
Unless you plan on running your online store forever, at some point, you're going to want to sell for one of these common reasons...
Burnout or getting bored with the business
Need funds for a new project
Margins are too tight, costs are rising, or competition is increasing
Need money for personal reasons (buy a house, start a family, pay for medical bills, adopt a pet giraffe... you get the idea)
A store that depends only on ads is going to be harder to sell because the buyer will see it as too risky.
You might wonder why no one is interested in buying your store. Well, I’m here to explain why that’s probably happening—I've been through two of these sales myself and had lots of talks with buyers that turned into actual payments.
The big thing buyers care about is: "How soon can I make my money back with the least amount of risk?"
So, how can you turn your Shopify store into an asset that buyers will be excited to grab?
Here’s what buyers want and how you can make your store so attractive that they’ll actually compete to buy it (just like they did for my last store)...
Traffic from multiple sources with sales going UP
Your sales should be going in the "up and to the right" direction. While it’s still possible to sell your store when sales are going down, it's easier to sell when the sales are strong, with room for the buyer to keep growing it.
One of the fastest ways to boost sales without doing too much work is to...
Make your current traffic convert better
It's not always about getting more visitors; it’s about making the visitors you already have buy more. If you’re bad at converting your current visitors, why would you want even more people coming to your store?
Throwing a blurry logo on a stock theme and calling it good is lazy, and honestly, it’s not going to cut it.
Shoppers are smart.
This isn’t 2007. Consumers today are way more savvy than they were 5, 10, or 15 years ago, and they can spot poor-quality websites from a mile away.
If your design is confusing, you only have one product, you don’t have clear policies or a support email in the footer, there’s no live chat, your product options are hard to understand, your pictures look bad, or your domain name doesn’t make sense, they’re going to leave and find a competitor who actually cares about their website and brand.
Everything comes down to TRUST. Why should customers trust you?
Quick tip: Adding live chat to your store can really boost trust.
And yes, that means you need to actually respond to the live chats yourself. Don’t just rely on AI or chatbots — people can tell when it’s fake.
When I was running my store, I would answer live chats and make sales at 2am on my phone, one eye barely open. It was me, not a bot, handling those chats.
Sell More to People Who Just Bought
One of the quickest ways to boost sales is to sell more to people who have already made a purchase.
For example: "Cha-ching!"
You: "Sweet! Time to grab some tacos to celebrate my big $29.15 sale!"
Nope.
Instead, sell to them AGAIN in the order confirmation and shipping emails (offer related products). There are apps that can help you do this.
Here’s why...
After they buy from you, you have at least 2 more chances to get their attention (in the confirmation and shipping emails). If you don’t use those chances to offer something else, you’re missing out on easy sales.
Next, we need to mix up your traffic sources so you're not just relying on paid ads.
Here’s where we start...
Shopify SEO
Even though I have some experience with paid traffic, my background is in SEO, and I’ve always preferred building organic traffic that keeps growing over time...
Is it more work? Yes.
Does it take longer? Yes.
Is it more sustainable? Yes.
Is it more SELLABLE? YES.
On-Site Shopify SEO
On-site SEO is something you control fully, and it provides a great long-term return on your effort.
This means doing thorough keyword research for each of your products (use tools like Ahrefs, Google Keyword Planner, or even Amazon's search suggestions). Make sure to include those keywords in your title tags, description tags, URLs, and product page descriptions.
Don’t be lazy with this — writing good title and description tags is an art. When done right, they get more clicks, which increases your CTR (click-through rate) and helps improve your rankings. The product URLs, in particular, are crucial for long-lasting SEO results.
Example:
Product: Armenian underwear
URL: /armenian-underwear
Title tag: Stylish Armenian Underwear | Your Brand Name
Meta description tag: Premium Armenian underwear to make a lasting impression. Vibrant colors. Free shipping and returns (we promise, no hassle)...
Product page copy: At least 200 words with relevant keywords.
Do this for all your products, then run a forced crawl in Google Search Console to get your changes indexed faster. This can save you several days or even weeks in indexing delays.
Building Backlinks:
A strong backlink profile = better rankings = more organic traffic = REAL VALUE.
Here’s how you should prioritize backlink building:
Product pages
Homepage
Collections (these are harder to get, but almost worth ignoring)
There are many ways to get backlinks, but for Shopify stores, I highly recommend doing product review outreach campaigns to get natural, relevant links. It takes time to set up, but once you're in a routine, you’ll start seeing great results.
Pro tip: Since competition for long-tail product searches is much lower, you can sometimes rank a product on the first page with just one solid backlink or even none — but only if you have great on-page SEO, like I’ve shown above.
FOCUS ON YOUR TOP PRODUCTS FOR MAXIMUM RETURN <<<
Even without backlinks, you can still attract long-tail traffic to your product pages using basic SEO strategies I mentioned earlier. Over time, you'll start seeing that traffic come in and convert into sales.
When is the right time to sell your Shopify store?
The best time to sell is when your store has multiple traffic sources, sales are going up, and there’s still plenty of room for growth for a new buyer. That's when you’ll want to start thinking about selling, because you're in the best position to negotiate and get the highest price. Knowing this now will help you recognize when the right time comes so you don’t miss that sweet spot.
Pricing Your Shopify Store
No buyer will take you seriously if you don't know how to price your store.
Sure, you could use a broker who’ll give you an estimate, but if you want to save around 15% in fees, you can handle it yourself — especially now that the Shopify Exchange is gone.
In general, the value of your store is based on your TTM profit (trailing twelve months' net profit) multiplied by a multiple. For online businesses, this multiple usually ranges from 1-3, depending on various factors. You can also do valuations based on a monthly multiple.
For example, if your store made $50,000 in net profit in the past year and you use a multiple of 2, your store’s value is around $100,000, and you should expect to negotiate in that range.
This means it would take the buyer about 2 years to earn back their investment and break even, assuming the store continues to perform the same.
Keep in mind, buyers are thinking: "How quickly can I make my money back?" They are risk-averse, so it's important to keep that in mind when selling.
My Shopify Store: $0 - $710,000 in Total Sales WITHOUT ADS
I took my Shopify store from $0 to $710,000 in total sales using only organic traffic sources (mostly Google search) over the span of 3 years by applying everything I’ve mentioned in this post (On-Site SEO, Backlinks, Conversion Rate Optimization).
After burning out on the store, I decided it was time to move on...
I reached out to a few potential buyers...
I got a couple of them to compete against each other...
Then I picked the best offer and sold the store myself, without paying a 15% fee to a business broker.
I received the payment directly into my bank account, and the buyer got a solid, well-established brand to add to their portfolio and take even further than I did.
Align What You Do Now With What Buyers Want Later
Am I sharing life-changing secrets? Not really.
I’m just telling you what I did and what I’ve learned after selling two of my businesses. These tips will help you get your store ready for a future sale, whether that happens next month, next year, or in a few years.
Selling a Shopify store (or any online business) is a big process, and this post only covers a small part of it. But hopefully, it gives you some ideas to work with.
While I’m suggesting a lot of different things, when you build a solid foundation for your store like this, it will practically sell itself, and BUYERS WILL FIGHT OVER IT once you present it to them.
That means when you're ready to move on, you could walk away with a nice payday instead of constantly dealing with issues from platforms like Facebook, Google, or TikTok.
The time to start getting your store ready to sell is BEFORE you even think about selling.
I hope this gives you a few pointers on how to start aligning the work you’re doing now with what buyers will want later, so you can set yourself up for a successful exit.
Start preparing your Shopify store for sale TODAY and let me know how it goes!
Good luck!
~ Mike
If the idea of selling your Shopify store seems crazy to you right now, then you definitely need to read this entire post.
So, why even think about selling your Shopify store, you ask?
Well, the truth is, none of us live forever, right?
Are you really planning to take that quirky online store with you when you’re gone?
I didn’t think so.
Even though it may seem overwhelming or not something you're ready to deal with, it’s super important to think ahead. You should make sure the work you’re doing now sets you up for an easy and successful sale later.
That way, when you’re finally ready to sell, you won’t have a ton of extra work to do because you were smart enough to make sure your priorities match what buyers are looking for when they want to buy a business.
Because, deep down, you do plan to sell your store one day, right?
Not Doing SEO? Why Relying on Paid Ads Alone is a Risk
I get it. Ads can bring quick results if you know what you're doing. But if your entire business depends on paid ads, you’re sitting on a ticking time bomb with nothing to back you up.
How so?
Because your whole store depends on whether platforms like Facebook, Google, or TikTok decide to limit or ban you based on their changing algorithms. When that happens, your sales can come to a halt. Then you’re stuck begging for help from their support teams, hoping they’ll give you a break.
I don’t need to explain how often this occurs—it happens to a lot of people, and I’ve been there too.
When you only rely on paid ads, you’re stuck playing a never-ending game with the big tech companies just to get people to visit your store, hoping you can make some sales on that niche product you’ve spent so much time on.
Paid ads as your only source of traffic don’t build a well-rounded foundation for your store, which is exactly what potential buyers want.
Your store needs more than just ads; it needs REAL VALUE that doesn’t come from paid traffic alone, because ads are all about quick gains, not lasting growth.
I'm not here to bash paid ads because, honestly, they can work and make you a lot of money fast if you know what you're doing. If your ads are working, keep them going. But, it’s time to think bigger...
After looking at a lot of online businesses for sale, I noticed something important: they all have traffic coming from different places (at least 2-3), and often a big chunk of that traffic comes from organic sources like Google.
What does that mean? It means buyers want businesses that can stand on their own, not ones that could be shut down if a platform like Facebook decides to cut you off while sipping on their fancy drink in a café somewhere.
Do you think a buyer wants to hand over a big check for a store that could get shut down the day after the deal, leaving them with nothing but a ruined business while you happily cash your check?
No way, my friend. That’s not how it works...
Unless you plan on running your online store forever, at some point, you're going to want to sell for one of these common reasons...
Burnout or getting bored with the business
Need funds for a new project
Margins are too tight, costs are rising, or competition is increasing
Need money for personal reasons (buy a house, start a family, pay for medical bills, adopt a pet giraffe... you get the idea)
A store that depends only on ads is going to be harder to sell because the buyer will see it as too risky.
You might wonder why no one is interested in buying your store. Well, I’m here to explain why that’s probably happening—I've been through two of these sales myself and had lots of talks with buyers that turned into actual payments.
The big thing buyers care about is: "How soon can I make my money back with the least amount of risk?"
So, how can you turn your Shopify store into an asset that buyers will be excited to grab?
Here’s what buyers want and how you can make your store so attractive that they’ll actually compete to buy it (just like they did for my last store)...
Traffic from multiple sources with sales going UP
Your sales should be going in the "up and to the right" direction. While it’s still possible to sell your store when sales are going down, it's easier to sell when the sales are strong, with room for the buyer to keep growing it.
One of the fastest ways to boost sales without doing too much work is to...
Make your current traffic convert better
It's not always about getting more visitors; it’s about making the visitors you already have buy more. If you’re bad at converting your current visitors, why would you want even more people coming to your store?
Throwing a blurry logo on a stock theme and calling it good is lazy, and honestly, it’s not going to cut it.
Shoppers are smart.
This isn’t 2007. Consumers today are way more savvy than they were 5, 10, or 15 years ago, and they can spot poor-quality websites from a mile away.
If your design is confusing, you only have one product, you don’t have clear policies or a support email in the footer, there’s no live chat, your product options are hard to understand, your pictures look bad, or your domain name doesn’t make sense, they’re going to leave and find a competitor who actually cares about their website and brand.
Everything comes down to TRUST. Why should customers trust you?
Quick tip: Adding live chat to your store can really boost trust.
And yes, that means you need to actually respond to the live chats yourself. Don’t just rely on AI or chatbots — people can tell when it’s fake.
When I was running my store, I would answer live chats and make sales at 2am on my phone, one eye barely open. It was me, not a bot, handling those chats.
Sell More to People Who Just Bought
One of the quickest ways to boost sales is to sell more to people who have already made a purchase.
For example: "Cha-ching!"
You: "Sweet! Time to grab some tacos to celebrate my big $29.15 sale!"
Nope.
Instead, sell to them AGAIN in the order confirmation and shipping emails (offer related products). There are apps that can help you do this.
Here’s why...
After they buy from you, you have at least 2 more chances to get their attention (in the confirmation and shipping emails). If you don’t use those chances to offer something else, you’re missing out on easy sales.
Next, we need to mix up your traffic sources so you're not just relying on paid ads.
Here’s where we start...
Shopify SEO
Even though I have some experience with paid traffic, my background is in SEO, and I’ve always preferred building organic traffic that keeps growing over time...
Is it more work? Yes.
Does it take longer? Yes.
Is it more sustainable? Yes.
Is it more SELLABLE? YES.
On-Site Shopify SEO
On-site SEO is something you control fully, and it provides a great long-term return on your effort.
This means doing thorough keyword research for each of your products (use tools like Ahrefs, Google Keyword Planner, or even Amazon's search suggestions). Make sure to include those keywords in your title tags, description tags, URLs, and product page descriptions.
Don’t be lazy with this — writing good title and description tags is an art. When done right, they get more clicks, which increases your CTR (click-through rate) and helps improve your rankings. The product URLs, in particular, are crucial for long-lasting SEO results.
Example:
Product: Armenian underwear
URL: /armenian-underwear
Title tag: Stylish Armenian Underwear | Your Brand Name
Meta description tag: Premium Armenian underwear to make a lasting impression. Vibrant colors. Free shipping and returns (we promise, no hassle)...
Product page copy: At least 200 words with relevant keywords.
Do this for all your products, then run a forced crawl in Google Search Console to get your changes indexed faster. This can save you several days or even weeks in indexing delays.
Building Backlinks:
A strong backlink profile = better rankings = more organic traffic = REAL VALUE.
Here’s how you should prioritize backlink building:
Product pages
Homepage
Collections (these are harder to get, but almost worth ignoring)
There are many ways to get backlinks, but for Shopify stores, I highly recommend doing product review outreach campaigns to get natural, relevant links. It takes time to set up, but once you're in a routine, you’ll start seeing great results.
Pro tip: Since competition for long-tail product searches is much lower, you can sometimes rank a product on the first page with just one solid backlink or even none — but only if you have great on-page SEO, like I’ve shown above.
FOCUS ON YOUR TOP PRODUCTS FOR MAXIMUM RETURN <<<
Even without backlinks, you can still attract long-tail traffic to your product pages using basic SEO strategies I mentioned earlier. Over time, you'll start seeing that traffic come in and convert into sales.
When is the right time to sell your Shopify store?
The best time to sell is when your store has multiple traffic sources, sales are going up, and there’s still plenty of room for growth for a new buyer. That's when you’ll want to start thinking about selling, because you're in the best position to negotiate and get the highest price. Knowing this now will help you recognize when the right time comes so you don’t miss that sweet spot.
Pricing Your Shopify Store
No buyer will take you seriously if you don't know how to price your store.
Sure, you could use a broker who’ll give you an estimate, but if you want to save around 15% in fees, you can handle it yourself — especially now that the Shopify Exchange is gone.
In general, the value of your store is based on your TTM profit (trailing twelve months' net profit) multiplied by a multiple. For online businesses, this multiple usually ranges from 1-3, depending on various factors. You can also do valuations based on a monthly multiple.
For example, if your store made $50,000 in net profit in the past year and you use a multiple of 2, your store’s value is around $100,000, and you should expect to negotiate in that range.
This means it would take the buyer about 2 years to earn back their investment and break even, assuming the store continues to perform the same.
Keep in mind, buyers are thinking: "How quickly can I make my money back?" They are risk-averse, so it's important to keep that in mind when selling.
My Shopify Store: $0 - $710,000 in Total Sales WITHOUT ADS
I took my Shopify store from $0 to $710,000 in total sales using only organic traffic sources (mostly Google search) over the span of 3 years by applying everything I’ve mentioned in this post (On-Site SEO, Backlinks, Conversion Rate Optimization).
After burning out on the store, I decided it was time to move on...
I reached out to a few potential buyers...
I got a couple of them to compete against each other...
Then I picked the best offer and sold the store myself, without paying a 15% fee to a business broker.
I received the payment directly into my bank account, and the buyer got a solid, well-established brand to add to their portfolio and take even further than I did.
Align What You Do Now With What Buyers Want Later
Am I sharing life-changing secrets? Not really.
I’m just telling you what I did and what I’ve learned after selling two of my businesses. These tips will help you get your store ready for a future sale, whether that happens next month, next year, or in a few years.
Selling a Shopify store (or any online business) is a big process, and this post only covers a small part of it. But hopefully, it gives you some ideas to work with.
While I’m suggesting a lot of different things, when you build a solid foundation for your store like this, it will practically sell itself, and BUYERS WILL FIGHT OVER IT once you present it to them.
That means when you're ready to move on, you could walk away with a nice payday instead of constantly dealing with issues from platforms like Facebook, Google, or TikTok.
The time to start getting your store ready to sell is BEFORE you even think about selling.
I hope this gives you a few pointers on how to start aligning the work you’re doing now with what buyers will want later, so you can set yourself up for a successful exit.
Start preparing your Shopify store for sale TODAY and let me know how it goes!
Good luck!
~ Mike
