He left home at 16 with two black bags of clothes. At 52, he runs an SEO agency and tanning shops, races motorcycles, and scuba dives. 🏍️
At the Chiang Mai SEO conference, I sat down with David Johnson from Doncaster, England, who does Shopify SEO at Loud Crowd. 🎙️
We talked about simple Shopify wins, why WhatsApp beats email, his regrets, and why you should never stay in a relationship “for the sake of the children.” 💬
📊 In this episode, we unpacked:
- 🔧 From generators to SEO
- 🛒 Simple Shopify SEO wins
- 🌍 Why conferences are worth the money
- 💸 WhatsApp Black Friday and reinvesting
- 💔 Regrets and redemption
- 🧘 Staying calm, fit and kind
🎥 Watch the full episode:
🔧 From Generators to SEO
David left home at 16. His dad’s advice was “get a trade,” so he did a four-year mechanic apprenticeship, then became an electrical and mechanical engineer repairing big three-phase generators. 🔧
He loved IT, but CompTIA A+ support work wasn’t challenging enough. “Once you hit SEO, it’s challenging enough.” He’s been doing it about 10 years. 💻
He started with Chris Walker’s courses, then his good friend Craig Campbell “took it to another level.” Read Craig Campbell’s top SEO strategies. 🔗
🛒 Simple Shopify SEO Wins
The simplest changes make the biggest impact:
- ✍️ Never copy the manufacturer’s description. Reword it so Google sees it as unique. He uses AI to reword descriptions while keeping the meaning
- 🏷️ Put your brand name in front of the product. You’ll struggle to rank for “energy drink,” but brand + product builds authority for that wording over time
- 📂 Focus on categories, which seem to do better
- 🔍 Rank for the funnel, not just the product: searches like “best energy drink for working out” come before the product page
He finds that doing it this way also gets products into LLM and ChatGPT descriptions “without having to do any crazy hacks.” For more e-commerce growth, read Roi Sorezki of Twik. 🔗
🌍 Why Conferences Are Worth the Money
He has attended Matt Diggity’s Saigon event (“on level with this one”), SEO Estonia, a Manchester mastermind, and several Chiang Mai SEO conferences. 🎪
“You’ll never learn if you’re not willing to spend some money and educate yourself.” Experts have spent thousands figuring out what works, so try their courses. 📚
Go to the events related to what you want to learn. He makes “list after list” of takeaways. “Your network is your net worth.” 🤝
💸 WhatsApp Black Friday and Reinvesting
David also runs tanning shops in the UK. His best months are always Black Friday. 🛍️
- 📋 Collect customer data: names, birthdays and WhatsApp numbers
- 📵 “Email open rate is rubbish.” WhatsApp “is your winner all the time”
- 💷 Small local shops can do £4,000–6,000 a day, over about four days of deals, per shop
His money advice: reinvest, don’t spend on rubbish, and don’t rely only on SEO. Put money into assets like silver, gold, property or bricks-and-mortar businesses. He mostly invests in local businesses. His daughter runs one, which will be something she has after he’s gone. 🧱
He doesn’t buy luxury brands. He’d rather spend on experiences, like taking his wife on holiday to Mexico. 🏖️
💔 Regrets and Redemption
His biggest regret: not doing this sooner and not learning sooner. The same goes for motorcycle racing, which he started three years ago: “If I’d started that 30 years ago… I won’t crash as much.” 🏍️
He hasn’t seen his mom in 30 years. If he could bring someone back, it would be his dad, who died at 55. They shared a passion for World War II history, and David has the tattoos to prove it. 🎖️
From past bad relationships: “Never stay with somebody because of children.” He stayed in a toxic relationship for his kids’ sake, and it was as bad for them as for him. 💔
His biggest failure was missing time with his children, who usually stayed with their mother. Now they’re grown and he spends more time with them, because they want to learn about life. 👨👧
He’s been happily married for 10 years and says they don’t argue: “She looks after me very well. I look after her.” 💛
🧘 Staying Calm, Fit and Kind
“You’ll never be rich if you work for somebody else.” Working for yourself means you set your level and learn faster from people who want to help. 🚀
To reset his mindset, he finds something totally different from work: motorcycle racing, deep-sea scuba diving, and the gym. “Half an hour at gym is enough. It’s good for your mind, never mind your body.” At 52, he looks seriously fit. 💪
For a better world: “There’s always somebody worse off than yourself.” The driver who annoys you might be having a bad day, so be kind. 🙏
Other answers:
- 🚀 A day with: Elon Musk, to ask how he manages focus, since David thinks they share an ADHD-like mindset that juggling several things helps
- 😄 Best advice: don’t take life too seriously
- 💰 Worst advice: that money can buy happiness. It helps, but happiness comes from the right people
- 🏝️ Where he’d live: Thailand, or the Greek Islands for their family-oriented lifestyle
Find David on LinkedIn or at loudcrowd.agency. 🔗
📝 Key Takeaways From the David Johnson Interview
- ✍️ Never copy manufacturer descriptions on Shopify
- 🏷️ Pair your brand name with product keywords
- 📲 Use WhatsApp, not email, for promotions
- 🧱 Reinvest in assets beyond SEO
- 💔 Don’t stay in a toxic relationship for the kids
- 🧘 Switch off with something totally different from work
❓ FAQs About David Johnson
Who is David Johnson?
David Johnson is a 52-year-old SEO from Doncaster, England, who does Shopify SEO through Loud Crowd and runs tanning shops in the UK. He was an engineer before moving into SEO about 10 years ago.
What are David Johnson’s top Shopify SEO tips?
Rewrite manufacturer descriptions in your own words, put your brand name before product names, focus on categories, and target the search funnel before the product.
Why does David prefer WhatsApp over email?
He says email open rates are poor. Collecting WhatsApp numbers and sending Black Friday offers there works much better for his shops.
What is David Johnson’s biggest regret?
Not getting into SEO and learning sooner, and missing time with his children.
🎙️ More Inside A Hustler’s Brain Interviews You’ll Love
- How Craig Campbell’s Made $100k Last Month From SEO
- Jay Yap’s Guide to SEO Success and Wealth Building 🔥
- Niels Zee On Building a 7-Figure Affiliate Business with Google Ads 🤑
- Annie Ma On Overcoming Loss, Regrets, & Finding Success In SEO 🤑
What would you tell your younger self to start sooner? Share this with someone who thinks it’s too late to begin. 💬
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Jitendra Vaswani is a well-known expert in SEO and AI-driven digital marketing. He has spoken at international events and founded Digiexe, a digital marketing agency, and AffiliateBooster, WordPress plugin designed specifically for affiliate marketers. With over 10 years of experience, Jitendra has helped many businesses succeed online. His bestselling book, Inside A Hustler’s Brain: In Pursuit of Financial Freedom, with over 20,000 copies sold globally, underscores his influence and commitment to empowering digital marketers.