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Headless SEO Agency

Headless websites can give you so much in terms of speed and flexibility. But they can also take away things you may have taken for granted with your old platform from an SEO perspective.

We make sure your headless website is built to rank, whether you're planning to go headless or have an existing store that is struggling.

API BACK END FRONT END

SEO doesn't come built in with headless

With a traditional ecommerce platform such as Shopify, much of the SEO is built in. You may have to add meta titles and meta descriptions, but things like rendering, canonical tags, sitemaps and schema can quietly fail on headless builds unless you are experienced with SEO.

A developer may be able to build a great website and the functionality may be fantastic, but you need a pair of SEO eyes on a headless website.

We’re an ecommerce SEO agency that also builds headless stores, so we know where the gaps are and we can close them in the code, not just in a report.

Headless SEO audit

Can search engines actually see your store?

A headless site can look perfect to your customers and almost empty to Google and AI crawlers. We'll show you exactly what they see on yours.

What your customers see

What crawlers see

Book a headless SEO audit

We'll show you what crawlers see on your site

What Happens When You Go Headless?

When you detach your website’s front end (using frameworks like Next.js, Nuxt, Hydrogen or Vue Storefront) from the back end (Shopify, Contentful, WordPress or Magento), the front end is basically a blank canvas.

The back-end platform only provides raw data through APIs (JSON endpoints). It’s up to your front-end developers to build everything else and connect the dots.

SEO often isn’t top of a developer’s list, and this is where it can rear its ugly head. This is why any headless build must prioritise SEO from the start, with development and SEO working together before it becomes an issue.

Case Studies

Real Results. Local Businesses.

Ecommerce brands we've helped grow through connected SEO, PPC, development, and automation.

What we do

Our headless SEO services

Headless SEO audits

We review what search engines actually see, not what your browser shows. Rendered HTML, indexing, crawl paths and technical gaps, with a prioritised fix list at the end.

Rendering and indexing

If your front end relies on JavaScript, search engines and most AI crawlers can struggle to read it. We make sure key content is in the HTML they see.

Metadata, canonicals and sitemaps

We make sure title tags, meta descriptions, canonical tags, robots directives and XML sitemaps are generated properly from your CMS and output correctly on every page type.

Structured data

Product, review, breadcrumb and organisation schema built into your templates, so Google and other search engines can easily access your schema markup.

Core Web Vitals

Headless websites should be fast, but heavy JavaScript can hurt user interaction and page speed scores. We find what's slowing things down and fix it.

Faceted navigation and crawl control

Filters and sorting can create thousands of low-value URLs. We control what gets crawled and indexed so Google spends its time on the pages that make you money.

Headless migration SEO

Moving from Magento, Shopify or WooCommerce to headless? We map redirects, protect your rankings and check everything before and after launch.

CMS setup for SEO

We add the SEO fields your team needs to your content model, so editors can manage titles, descriptions and indexing without constant development support.

Why Frankenstein Digital

We build headless websites as well as optimise them. Most SEO agencies hand over an audit and leave your developers to work it out. We can implement the fixes ourselves.

As an ecommerce SEO agency, we built our first headless store in 2019. This was a Vue front end with a Magento 2 back end and a WordPress blog. Since then we have been involved in multiple headless website builds.

We have built headless websites for large ecommerce companies, but also for brochure sites and B2B companies.

Every part connected. SEO, development, PPC and automation from one team, so fixes don’t get lost between suppliers.

Planning to go headless?

Most headless SEO problems aren’t hard to fix. They just get missed because nobody was thinking about SEO while the site was being built.

We are aware that some websites have lost a lot of traffic post launch of a new headless website when they have not prepared properly. You don’t want your site to be live when you discover these issues, they need to be corrected in the build and testing stages.

Bringing SEO in at earlier stage can cost you a fraction compared to lost revenue if your site takes an organic nose dive.

Tech we know

Platforms and frameworks we work with

HYFramework

Shopify Hydrogen

Shopify's headless framework. We make sure the SEO basics Shopify gives you for free, like sitemaps, canonicals and product schema, survive the move to headless.

VUEFront end

Vue Storefront

Our first headless build in 2019 used a Vue front end on Magento 2. We know how Vue storefronts render and where SEO tends to break.

M2Back end

Magento 2 / Adobe Commerce

Working with Magento since 2013, both as a traditional platform and as a headless back end feeding a separate front end.

CFCMS

Contentful

SEO fields built into your content model, so your team can manage titles, descriptions and indexing without a developer.

WPCMS

Headless WordPress

WordPress as a CMS or blog behind your storefront, with SEO fields carried through to the front end properly.

REFront end

React

React front ends set up so content and links are in the HTML search engines receive, not just rendered in the browser.

NXFramework

Next.js

Server-side and static rendering done properly, with metadata, sitemaps and schema built into the templates.

Using something else?

If your stack serves HTML, we can make it rank. Tell us what you're running and we'll take a look.

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The Services
Ecommerce SEO
Technical SEO
Google Ads
Custom Modules
API Integrations
App Development
Content Strategy
Website Development
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Frequently Asked

Common questions about headless SEO.

No, but it isn't SEO-friendly by default either. A headless site can rank very well when rendering, metadata and the technical setup are handled properly. Most problems come from things being missed during the build, not from headless itself.

Yes. We start by comparing what Google sees now with what it saw before the move, looking at missing pages, broken redirects, rendering issues and lost metadata. Most traffic drops come down to a handful of fixable problems, and we can fix them in the code ourselves.

Not always. Most AI crawlers, like the ones behind ChatGPT and Perplexity, don't currently run JavaScript. If your content only appears once JavaScript loads, they may see an empty page. We make sure your key content is in the HTML so AI tools can read and recommend your products.

Server-side or static rendering for your important pages is usually the safest option, with client-side rendering kept for interactive parts like filters and the basket. The right mix depends on your stack and how often your content changes.

Not always. For many stores, a well-built Shopify or Magento site is the better choice. Headless makes sense when you need more speed, flexibility or multiple front ends. We'll give you an honest view based on your size, team and goals.

Yes. We can give your team clear, prioritised tickets and check the changes once they're live, or we can do the implementation ourselves. Whichever works best for you.

From the start. Bringing SEO in at the planning stage means rendering, CMS fields and redirects are built in rather than bolted on later. It costs a fraction of fixing problems after launch.

It depends on the size of your site and whether you need us to implement the fixes. Most projects start with an audit, so you know exactly what needs doing and what it will cost before committing to anything more.