Yoast SEO ‑ Store optimization

UPDATE March 27th: For clarity to anyone reading along, we wanted to provide some additional context. We previously reached out with a detailed explanation and offered a call to fully address any concerns. We understand that scheduling a call may not always be convenient, and we're always happy to assist further if needed.

To reassure others reading, we’d like to clarify the following, which was shared in our original response:

- When you uninstall our app, the optimizations you've made will remain intact, except for features unique to our app (as there is no fallback to Shopify) or elements added solely through our app and not Shopify.

- Our app also includes an option to export SEO details, which can be imported into another app after making any necessary adjustments.

We hope this provides helpful context for anyone considering the app. Thank you for taking the time to read.

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Thank you for sharing your feedback with us. We’re sorry to hear about the experience you're having. We understand there may be some confusion regarding our app and how to retain your work after uninstalling it, so we’d like to clarify things.

When you uninstall our app, you can keep any optimizations you've made, except for details that are unique to our app (since for those there's no fallback to Shopify). In our previous communication, we provided instructions on how to preserve your work, but it seems those may not have been entirely clear. Therefore, our team will reach out to you via email to provide further clarification and guidance on retaining your optimizations.

Additionally, if you're considering switching to another app, our app offers an option to export SEO details as previously shared, which you can then import into another app after making any necessary adjustments. Our team will include additional clarifications in their email as well.

Lastly, we’d like to clarify that we did not respond sooner to your review, as Shopify reviews are typically visible within two days of being submitted.

We appreciate your understanding and are here to assist further.

Thank you for sharing your review. We take all feedback seriously and see it as an opportunity to both improve and clarify things.

First, we want to address a fundamental misunderstanding:
Though our app offers some improvements out of the box and without needing to take manual actions on these, the most important parameters for improving your SEO are by optimizing content on a regular basis and performing careful keyword research. Without perseverance in SEO efforts and proper optimizations, it is not likely to achieve substantial SEO results.

Regarding installation and charges, we'd like to make absolutely clear that an app installation through the Shopify app store cannot take place without the merchant's permission or specific code authorization. This is how the Shopify system works:

https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/apps/installing-apps#install-through-the-shopify-app-store

When an app is installed, and as long it remains installed, Shopify's billing system will generate charges for it until the app is uninstalled:

https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/your-account/manage-billing/your-invoice/apps#subscriptions

This applies to all subscription-based apps available in the Shopify App Store, as Shopify determines its billing system at its own discretion. More information about Shopify app charges can also be found in this Shopify help article:

https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/your-account/manage-billing/your-invoice/apps

In addition, the reference to other reviews about charges, also have to do with the way the Shopify billing system works and how app charges are generated by the Shopify system, as clarified in the responses we provided in those reviews, and the Shopify resource shared above.

In conclusion, there is nothing suspicious about the installation or charges, as our app abides by Shopify's system. If you are concerned about an installation that was not performed by you, please, reach out to Shopify's support for clarifications about your store's activity logs.

Lastly, we'd like to clarify that we did not respond earlier to your review, as systemically, Shopify reviews are visible within two days after being submitted.

Thank you for sharing your review. We take all feedback seriously and see it as an opportunity to both improve and clarify things.

We can definitely imagine how it feels when your efforts do not bring the expected results. However, we want to address a fundamental misunderstanding:
while the Yoast SEO for Shopify app is a tool that can help optimize your store for several SEO factors, it's important to remember that a green SEO score doesn't always guarantee top rankings or increased traffic. Even if everything is perfectly optimized, if that has been done for not the proper focus keywords or too competitive ones, the results can be underwhelming, and that is not related to our app's efficiency.

In addition, there are several ranking factors, both on and off your website, that can impact your store's visibility and performance in search results, especially in a very competitive industry like the one you are in.

A couple of these factors that are not related or affected by our app, is mobile performance and accessibility, where we noticed your store has significant room for improvement. When these factors are not optimized with related tools, then ranking and traffic can be affected, as best SEO results require a holistic approach.

We have an article that dives deeper into this subject, but there are many other resources on SEO you may also refer: https://yoast.com/reasons-optimized-content-doesnt-rank/#utm_source=helpscout&utm_medium=email&utm_term=&utm_content=hs-l1&utm_campaign=support

Regarding the results you are getting on a different platform using a free product, also in those cases there are more factors that play role, for example, the longevity (e.g. experience, expertise, authority and trustworthiness) of that site and accumulated SEO value during its existence: https://yoast.com/what-is-e-e-a-t/

In all cases, our team will reach out to you via email and see how they can offer help and clarifications on your concerns, even on subjects that are not related to our app.

Lastly, we'd like to clarify that we did not respond earlier to your review, as systemically, Shopify reviews are visible within two days after being submitted.

Hi there and thanks for your review.

We would like to clarify that our app does support star rating in product schema, as shared in our latest email to you.

Since you are using a compatible reviews app, our app will automatically pick the related schema details from there and add them to the Product schema for rich search results, as long as there is at least one review left for that product, and the right settings in the reviews app have been set.

Kindly reply to the email our support team sent, and we'd be happy to help or clarify further.

Thank you for sharing your review. We sincerely appreciate your feedback, though we are sorry to hear that our app does not meet all your expectations.

While we understand you would like to have more options available in our app, we'd also like to address the points you raised specifically:

1. When it comes to the features available in our Shopify app and those in our WordPress plugins, we want to clarify that is it not a matter of platform focus. As WordPress is an open platform and Shopify is a closed one, there are certain restrictions/limitations when developing features, as we can work with what is offered by Shopify's API. We do understand editing alt text in bulk (besides the bulk edit options we currently offer) would be a useful option, which is why we have a feature request for this to be developed as a feature or an integration.

2. In regards to what our app offers to merchants as well as automated improvements, we understand our app may not match all merchant profiles and needs, so we want to clarify some of the main features our app offers.
- Our app lets you optimize your content for your desired keywords (Focus keyphrase field).
- The app will output product-specific structured data in the source code of your product pages. This helps your products get rich results in search engines, improving your clickthrough rate (stitched automated schema output).
- The app automatically takes care of the technical SEO details (according to best holistic and content SEO practices and search engine guidelines in order to be less vulnerable to core search engine updates).
- You can control and optimize how your search results look by letting you set your titles and meta descriptions and influence the search engine results.
- You can also control how your products will look on social media when they are shared (Social appearance control).
- Access to Yoast Academy premium online courses for you or your staff.

Rest assured our team is doing everything possible in order to provide more features (including certain A.I. automations) and value in the near future, so you can get the most out of your existing subscription.

Thank you again for sharing your feedback. We appreciate it greatly, as it will help us improve our app and better serve all our app users.

Thank you for sharing your feedback. We are sorry to hear about your experience with our app, and we appreciate you bringing your concerns to our attention.

We take all feedback seriously and are constantly striving to improve our app.

While we understand your frustration, we'd also like to address two points you raised:

1. When it comes to the perceived lack of effectiveness in increasing Google rankings, we acknowledge that search engine algorithms are constantly evolving, and what worked in the past may not yield the same results today. However, our team is dedicated to staying up-do-date on these changes and adapting the Yoast SEO app to deliver the best possible outcomes for merchants.

2. In regard to your concerns about the relevance and timeliness of our app, we want to assure you that we are 100% committed to ongoing updates and improvements. We invest significant resources into research and development to ensure that our app remains current and effective in helping merchants achieve their goals.

That being said, we would be grateful for the opportunity to regain your trust and confidence. If you're open to it, we are open to connecting with you directly to discuss your specific concerns in more detail and explore how we can help.

Our records show that the last conversation we had with you was about 5 months ago, so please do feel welcome to reach out to us at support@yoast.com. We are happy to help.

Once again, thank you for your feedback. We genuinely appreciate your input and remain committed to delivering optimal results for merchants.

Update June 6: we are adding this update in an attempt to notify you of our follow-ups, through the Shopify review system and for visibility purposes, as we have not received an email reply from you.

If you do see this update, please respond to any of our emails so we can help you the soonest possible with your store.

May 30 reply: Thank you for sharing your feedback with us, though we're sorry to read about the experience you had.

It seems that you left your review before you reached out to our team for support, so we sent an additional email to address your concerns and clarify the points you mentioned here.

In addition, for anyone reading along, we'd like to clarify that the charging matter specifically, was caused due to a technicality of Shopify's billing system https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/your-account/manage-billing/your-invoice/apps (billing cycles in Shopify initiate even if one minute has passed after the exact end time of the trial period) and it has been resolved by our team after communication with the merchant.

Lastly, we'd like to clarify that we have not responded earlier to your review, as systemically, Shopify reviews are visible within two days after being submitted.

Thank you for your feedback though we're sorry to read about the experience you are having.

We understand there was some sort of a conflict after a theme update that led you to decide to remove our app, but code was left behind. Leftover code usually remains if the app is uninstalled without completing the two-step process, which requires first deactivation of the app to remove theme modifications and then deletion of the app. Or if another (usually SEO-related) app interfered with the removal process.

This can be easily fixed with a simple reinstallation and uninstallation process (besides the following suggested steps, our support team will soon reach out to you via email in order to solve this as soon as possible). If you haven't already, please reference our page with Yoast SEO app uninstall instructions: https://yoast.com/help/remove-yoast-code-from-theme-in-shopify/

Here are the next troubleshooting steps to take:
1. Re-install the Yoast SEO app on your site.
2. Instead of "Get a subscription," click on "Remove theme modifications.". Please wait until the process is finished.
3. Click on Go back to Apps and then Remove the app again.

Once you've done this, the Yoast SEO code should be completely removed from your theme files.

In case you have another SEO app installed, it would be best to remove that first before proceeding with the steps above, as other SEO apps may interfere with the proper uninstallation process of Yoast SEO.

As aforementioned, in any case, our support team will soon reach out and provide any further assistance you may need to resolve this.

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Vielen Dank für Ihr Feedback, obwohl es uns leid tut, von Ihren Erfahrungen zu lesen.

Uns ist bekannt, dass es nach einem Design-Update zu einem Konflikt gekommen ist, der dazu geführt hat, dass Sie sich entschieden haben, unsere App zu entfernen, aber Code zurückgelassen wurde. Restcode verbleibt normalerweise, wenn die App deinstalliert wird, ohne den zweistufigen Prozess abzuschließen, der zuerst die Deaktivierung der App erfordert, um Designänderungen zu entfernen, und dann die Löschung der App. Oder wenn eine andere (normalerweise SEO-bezogene) App den Entfernungsprozess stört.

Dies kann leicht durch einen einfachen Neuinstallations- und Deinstallationsprozess behoben werden (neben den folgenden vorgeschlagenen Schritten wird sich unser Support-Team in Kürze per E-Mail mit Ihnen in Verbindung setzen, um das Problem so schnell wie möglich zu lösen). Wenn Sie es noch nicht getan haben, verweisen Sie bitte auf unsere Seite mit Anweisungen zur Deinstallation der Yoast SEO-App: https://yoast.com/help/remove-yoast-code-from-theme-in-shopify/

Hier sind die nächsten Schritte zur Fehlerbehebung:
1. Installieren Sie die Yoast SEO-App erneut auf Ihrer Website.
2. Klicken Sie statt auf „Abonnement anfordern“ auf „Theme-Änderungen entfernen“. Bitte warten Sie, bis der Vorgang abgeschlossen ist.
3. Klicken Sie auf Zurück zu Apps und entfernen Sie die App erneut.

Sobald Sie dies getan haben, sollte der Yoast-SEO-Code vollständig aus Ihren Designdateien entfernt werden.

Falls Sie eine andere SEO-App installiert haben, ist es am besten, diese zuerst zu entfernen, bevor Sie mit den obigen Schritten fortfahren, da andere SEO-Apps den ordnungsgemäßen Deinstallationsprozess von Yoast SEO beeinträchtigen können.

Wie bereits erwähnt, wird sich unser Support-Team in jedem Fall bald mit Ihnen in Verbindung setzen und Ihnen weitere Hilfe leisten, die Sie möglicherweise zur Lösung dieses Problems benötigen.

April 4 update: we are adding this update in a last attempt to notify you of our follow-ups, through the Shopify review system and for visibility purposes.

If you need any further assistance or can share more details, kindly let us know via email. Our support team remains at your disposal and would be happy to help in any way possible.

March 31 update: Thank you for your update review though we're sorry to hear that you still have an unpleasant experience. We can understand how this can be troublesome so we would like to see how we can clarify things and assist you.

Firstly, we would like to clarify Yoast SEO is in constant and direct communication with all search engines in order for our app to be always up to date and follow the best SEO practices and standards.

However, we do take your update into heart and we look forward to your detailed feedback in our email so we can see how we can potentially make improvements.

Regarding the code, we can see that there is no longer output coming from our app in your store's source code, but if you followed our process and you still see leftover code in your theme files, this may be due to an interruption of the process by another app possibly or theme structure.

In all cases, we will soon reach out to you with an additional follow-up email and provide additional assistance. As soon as we receive a response and store access from you, we can have a direct look at your setup and fix any related issues.

We're looking forward to your response and helping you as soon as possible.

March 28 reply: Thank you for sharing your review, though we are sorry to hear about the experience you had.

Based on your feedback, we would like to know more about what exactly happened with your site and why, so our team will soon reach out to you via email and address your concerns directly.

Lastly, we'd like to clarify that we have not responded earlier to your review, as systemically, Shopify reviews are visible two days after being submitted.

We're looking forward to hearing from you and helping as best we can.

UPDATE November 30, 2023: Despite our efforts to communicate so far via email with you in order to assist you with the matter, we have not yet received a response. So, we are adding this update in an attempt to be notified through the Shopify review system. If you do see this update, please respond to our email so we can help you the soonest possible.

Response sent on November 24, 2023: Thank you for sharing your feedback with us, though we're sorry to hear about your experience.

Unfortunately, this is not related to our app but solely relies on the Shopify charging system and terms: https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/your-account/manage-billing/your-invoice/apps#subscriptions
, which apply to all subscription-based apps available in the Shopify App Store. More information about Shopify app charges can also be found in this Shopify help article: https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/your-account/manage-billing/your-invoice/apps

As you uninstalled our app just a day after the beginning of a new billing cycle, Shopify included a charge for it in their invoice, as it identified the app as still in use for an additional monthly subscription.

We understand this is simply a confusion related to the billing dates, so our team will soon reach out to you in order to clarify things and help you with this matter. Please make sure to check your inbox and respond in order to resolve this the soonest possible.

Lastly, we'd like to clarify that we did not respond earlier to your review, as systemically, Shopify reviews are visible within two days after being submitted.