How to Get Google to Sell for You

(While you sleep)

Author

Kent Wilson
February 20, 2025

Hey, it's Kent again.

Let me tell you about the least sexy way we built SnapPad into a seven-figure (maybe 8 this year?) business - SEO.

When we started in 2015, we couldn't afford fancy creative or even any ad paid spend. 

But we did have one thing going for us - time to play the long game with SEO. Today, Google is still sending us high-intent buyers for free, even when we're sleeping.

Here’s how we made that happen.

This week:

🧠 Create a Category of One - How we dominate our SEO niche 

🛠️ The Technical Stuff - The settings that actually matter 

🔧 Tools to Up Your SEO Game - What you really need 

🔮 What's Next in SEO - Trends to watch

Create a Category of One

You have to be different, even just slightly.

When we launched SnapPad, we made what seemed like a tiny decision that ended up being huge. Instead of calling ourselves "RV leveling pads" like everyone else, we branded ourselves as "the world's only permanent jack pad."

Nobody was searching for "permanent jack pads" (yet.) But once RVers learned about the concept, guess who owned that search in Google's eyes? Think Kleenex or Xerox - where the brand becomes the category.

“But my product isn’t a whole new category.” I get it. But this is as much about branding as it is about product dev. 

Think about ways you can differentiate your positioning, even if you aren’t Steve Jobs launching the iPhone. Liquid Death may just sell water (the most commoditized product on earth), but they’re the only ones selling DEATH METAL WATER.  

Here’s what their Google Listing looks like: 

Maybe your category is too competitive or too broad to “own”. Well, see if you can fashion a new corner of it around your brand instead.

The Technical Stuff That Matters

Boring (but completely necessary) stuff.

1. Store Structure

  • Keep URLs clean and logical (/collections/rv-pads not /store-xyz123)

  • Enable breadcrumb navigation

  • Important pages within 2-3 clicks of homepage

💡 Real Talk: RVers often browse on spotty campground WiFi. Simple navigation isn't just good for Google - it's crucial for customers trying to buy on weak connections. And most buyer journeys start as mobile traffic these days.

2. On-Page Optimization

  • Write unique product descriptions (no duplication, carbon copies, or manufacturer tech sheets)

  • Keep titles under 60 characters with keywords

  • Add collection page descriptions

This is fundamental. 

We spend a lot of time and energy writing every product description to include terms RVers actually use. We know the difference between a Motorhome, Fifth Wheel, Toy Hauler, and Travel Trailer. 

We don’t talk about the size of rubber crumb we use to make our product, but we do talk about “durable rubber construction crafted from recycled truck tires.”

3. Speed & Mobile

  • Use a fast-loading theme

  • Compress all images 

  • Enable lazy loading

  • Test using Google PageSpeed Insights

💡 Quick win: Remove any Shopify apps you haven't used in 30 days. They slow down your site and every second counts for both Google and customers. 

Trust me, it’s insanely easy to forget about old demos or subscriptions your cancelled. Audit your back-end at least once per quarter for this stuff.

4. Content Strategy

  • Blog posts targeting long-tail keywords

  • Answer common questions (we found ours in RV forums)

  • Link to relevant products naturally

  • Optimize titles and meta descriptions

Our best-performing blog post that still pulls traffic for us? "How to Pick the right SnapPads for your rig". We wrote it in 2018 and it still brings in traffic years later because it answers a real question people have before buying.

5. Long-Tail Keywords That Convert 

We learned early on that ranking for "RV accessories" was going to be difficult. But "jack pads for Lippert leveling system"? That we could own. 

These specific, longer search terms might get less traffic, but the people using them are usually high intent and ready to buy. The competition is lower too.

6. Technical SEO

(Sorry. I warned you this was technical.)

Tools You’ll Need 🧰

Most are free to start.

If I was starting a new Shopify store today, here's what I'd use → 

The Basics:

  • JSON-LD for SEO - Adds product schema to help Google understand your listings

  • Crush.pics - Image compression that actually works 

Semrush Tools To Up Your Game:

  • Site Audit - You can crawl your site like Google does and catch technical problems before they hurt your rankings.

  • On Page SEO Checker - Shows you exactly what to fix on specific pages. Use this when optimizing product listings to improve their search position.

  • ECommerce Booster - Purposely built to audit and checklist improvements for Shopify stores. 

  • Keyword Magic Tool - Perfect for finding long-tail keywords for product description (tutorial), blog content and even influencer content. 

  • Keyword Gap - If a competitor of yours is killing it, steal their best keyword ideas (focus on low competition ones)

  • Position Tracking - You can monitor where you rank for important keywords and see if your SEO work is actually moving the needle.

  • SEO Content Template - Lets you enter your keywords and gives you a whole content game plan. Use this to build great blogs pages.  

You obviously don't need all these tools on day one. Start with the essentials and move up from there.

Bonus: if you’re thinking about using Semrush tools, we’ve got a special double duration free trial for our readers. Get yours here →

What’s Next in SEO

A few trends we're watching.

Voice Search

More people are using Siri and Alexa to search. We're testing question-based content like "How do I level my RV?" to capture these queries. Semrush has a great article on how to catch these. 

Social SEO

Google is starting to rank YouTube videos and TikToks in search results. We're making sure to seed an influencer army so we’re top of mind and top of search.

AI Search

Optimizing for AI tools like ChatGPT and Perplexity.ai are a whole new ballgame. Semrush actually dropped the best piece of research on the topic to date, which you can check out here. 

The Takeaway

SEO is fairly technical and it requires patience. We were nobodies when we launched our brand and we’re still small potatoes compared to many of the established companies in RVing.

But - we’ve consistently ranked on Google for years because we built it into our business from Day 1. 

Focus on: 

✅ Creating a category or key differentiation

✅ Getting the technical foundation right (clean URLs, fast loading, mobile-friendly) 

✅ Targeting long-tail keywords (specific searches = better buyers) 

✅ Writing content that solves real problems (answer actual customer questions) 

✅ Staying patient (SEO is a long game, but it compounds over time)

✅ Keeping an eye on the future (SEO evolves with the internet)

Need more help? I made you a detailed Shopify SEO checklist so you can skip the guesswork.

I hope this helps, 

Kent 

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