About Joey Escopel
About Joey Escopel, Shopify SEO specialist
Joey Escopel is a Shopify SEO specialist based in Sultan Kudarat, Philippines. He has worked in SEO since 2010, ran his own Shopify store from 2016 to 2023, and now does technical SEO, AI search visibility, content and multi-location local SEO for Australian and US brands.
Send your URL and what you sell. I’ll reply with the first fix I’d make and whether I’m the right person.
Joey Escopel
Background
Builder first, then store owner, then client work
Why someone who ran his own Shopify store reads SEO problems in terms of sales, not scores.
Joey Escopel started as a web developer in 2010, building sites end to end for niche clients, including legal and dental services. Hosting, the CMS, the content and the SEO were all one job, so I learned early that rankings depend on how a site is built, not just what is written on it.
In 2016 I built my own Shopify store, Poshycat, and ran it until 2023. That’s the owner’s side of Shopify SEO: theme limits, collections organised around what people search, and whether a change ever shows up in sales.
“The person you email is the person who audits the site, edits the Liquid theme and writes the report. No account manager, no handoff to a junior.”
I also ran my own affiliate sites, testing changes with my own money and reading the data instead of trusting a tool’s score.
Since 2023 the work has been for clients: agency work on multi-location Australian businesses at Reviewly, then freelance Shopify and local SEO for Australian and US brands.
AI search made the build matter even more. GPTBot, ClaudeBot and PerplexityBot don’t run JavaScript, so a store that injects headings or product copy client-side is invisible to them. Server-rendered Liquid fixes that.
Every ranking or traffic figure I publish carries the dates it was measured and the tool it came from. Rankings move after a handover, so the honest version shows what happened during the work.
Hours and time zones
How working with someone in the Philippines fits your day
I set my hours around Australian and US business hours. Here is your 9am to 5pm on my clock in November; it shifts by an hour when daylight saving changes.
| Your city | Your hours | My time (UTC+8) | How it lines up |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sydney, Melbourne (AEDT) | 9am to 5pm | 6am to 2pm | My morning and early afternoon |
| Brisbane (AEST) | 9am to 5pm | 7am to 3pm | My morning and early afternoon |
| Perth (AWST) | 9am to 5pm | 9am to 5pm | Same time zone |
| New York (EST) | 9am to 5pm | 10pm to 6am | My night shift |
| Los Angeles (PST) | 9am to 5pm | 1am to 9am | My late night and morning |
Experience
16 years of SEO and web work, in order
Joey Escopel’s experience, newest first. Some roles overlap because client work and my own sites ran side by side.
2026 to now, freelance
Freelance Shopify SEO specialist
Shopify and local SEO for Australian and US clients, including We Got You Covered Australia from April 2026 (about 20 hours a week) and Distillery King Australia, a 2,000+ SKU Shopify store.
Sep 2025 to Mar 2026, Reviewly
SEO strategist and technical SEO
Agency work on multi-location Australian businesses in trades, real estate and caravans, including Steeline Sheds, Steeline Roofing Centre and Choice Real Estate. Technical audits, site speed, crawl fixes and schema.
Apr to Aug 2025, SEO Experts Philippines
SEO specialist
Technical SEO campaigns run on SEONeo and Search Atlas, focused on crawling and indexing.
Dec 2023 to Mar 2025
My own affiliate site
Built and ran a responsive affiliate site end to end: keyword clustering, schema, internal linking and conversion testing on my own money.
May to Aug 2024
Local SEO for a US dental practice
Keyword research, Google Business Profile optimisation, citation building for consistent business details, and monthly technical audits.
Sep 2023 to Mar 2024, Jeanius Hub
SEO specialist and trainer
Ran client SEO from audits to link building, and trained new SEOs in the fundamentals and topical authority mapping.
2016 to 2023, Poshycat
My own Shopify store
Built and grew a Shopify store from nothing: theme customisation, collections organised around high-volume searches, and the day-to-day of running a store.
2010 to 2018
Independent web developer and SEO
Built full sites for niche clients, including legal and dental services: hosting, CMS, content, XML sitemaps, crawl control and mobile-first layouts.
2000, STI Tacurong
Diploma in Computer Studies
Honest expectations
Who Joey Escopel is and isn’t the right fit for
Better to say this now than after you’ve hired me.
Where I am the right fit
- Shopify stores with crawling or indexing problems caused by JavaScript theme apps or heavy code.
- Brands that want to be cited in Google AI Overviews, ChatGPT and Perplexity.
- Large catalogues that need collection architecture and canonical clean-up.
- Australian or US businesses with several locations that need each one to rank.
- Founders who want to talk to the person doing the work.
- Employers hiring a full-time remote SEO on their hours.
Where I am not the right fit
- Complex automation builds in Zapier or Make. I’ve only built simple workflows.
- Anyone who wants guaranteed rankings or AI citations. Nobody can promise those honestly.
Tools
Tools and platforms I work in every day
Everything I report can be checked in your own accounts.
Google Search Console and GA4
Crawl and index data, clicks, impressions and conversion tracking.
Shopify Admin and Liquid
Hands-on theme edits, app clean-up and server-rendered markup.
Screaming Frog
Technical crawls, raw HTML against rendered pages, and redirect maps.
DataForSEO and Claude
Live SERP data and AI answer checks across ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Google AI Mode.
Schema.org JSON-LD
Entity graphs with Wikidata references, validated before release.
Ahrefs and Semrush
Keyword research, competitor gaps and backlink reviews.
Search Atlas and SEONeo
Agency-side audits, topical maps and on-page deployment.
WordPress
Rank Math and Kadence builds for local and service businesses.
“His breakdown of our organic traffic trends was clearer than analysis I’ve had from anyone else. His content work earned citations in Google’s AI Overviews within days of publishing. He’s organised, communicates well, and his handover documentation was detailed and well structured.”
+156%
Organic search sessions, We Got You Covered Australia, GA4, April to August 2026
8+ queries
Citing the store in Google AI Overviews by July 2026
16 years
In SEO and web work since 2010
Clear answers
Questions about Joey Escopel
Who is Joey Escopel?
Joey Escopel is a Shopify SEO specialist based in Sultan Kudarat, Philippines. He has worked in SEO since 2010, ran his own Shopify store from 2016 to 2023, and now does technical SEO, AI search visibility, content and multi-location local SEO for Australian and US brands.
Is Joey Escopel a freelancer or an agency?
Joey Escopel works on his own. The person who replies to your email is the person who audits the site, makes the changes and writes the report. He takes freelance contracts and full-time remote roles.
What hours does Joey Escopel work?
Joey Escopel works from the Philippines (UTC+8) and sets his hours around the client’s. Sydney and Melbourne business hours fall in his morning and early afternoon, Perth hours match his own, and US Eastern business hours fall in his night shift.
How do overseas clients pay Joey Escopel?
Joey Escopel takes payment through Wise, which handles Australian and US dollar transfers to the Philippines.
Start with one fix
Send me your store URL
Tell me what you sell and who you sell to. I’ll reply with the first fix I’d make and whether I’m the right person for the job.
Freelance or full-time remote. Australian and US hours.