Shopify Themes: When To Update, Retrofit, or Start From Scratch

Shopify keeps telling you a new theme version is available, but should you actually update? Leighton and Patrick break down when to update your Shopify theme, when to switch to a new one, and when leaving it alone is the smarter (and cheaper) move.

Links Mentioned

• Shopify Theme Store: https://themes.shopify.com
• Ilana's JSON-LD for SEO (structured data app): https://apps.shopify.com/json-ld-for-seo
• Theme Updater & Backups by Out of the Sandbox: https://apps.shopify.com/theme-updater-by-out-of-the-sandbox
• Google PageSpeed Insights: https://pagespeed.web.dev

Chapters

• 0:00 Intro
• 0:29 Adjust or start over?
• 2:21 Two real client examples
• 3:59 Cost, effort & maintainability
• 6:31 Where store owners should start
• 10:29 Custom work traps
• 11:58 Speed & SEO surprises
• 13:52 Protecting your nav & links
• 16:42 What if your traffic tanks?
• 19:21 The cost of playing it safe
• 20:25 How to approach the decision
• 21:51 The Online Store 2.0 cutoff
• 24:03 Finding the right theme
• 27:22 Testing before you commit
• 29:59 To update or not to update?
• 33:18 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

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