Ecommerce teams will wish they started doing this earlier

Summary

Voices of Search Podcast – Episode Summary
Episode: Ecommerce teams will wish they started doing this earlier
Date: August 8, 2026
Host: Tyson Stockton
Guest: Joe Dorian, Chief Product Officer at Bodify

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Overview

This episode zeros in on a crucial, often overlooked aspect of ecommerce SEO: understanding how various marketing channels contribute to outcomes via effective attribution. Tyson Stockton and guest Joe Dorian discuss why ecommerce teams need to rethink attribution models now—and the pitfalls of relying on outdated approaches, especially as customer journeys grow increasingly fragmented.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Question of the Future: What Will Ecommerce Teams Wish They’d Done?

• Joe Dorian’s Immediate Response (00:59):

  • Attribution. The practice of understanding and quantifying the impact of each marketing channel on desired outcomes, particularly purchases.

  "Attribution—how do I think about the outcome I'm trying to drive and the contribution of each of my channels to that outcome?"
  —Joe Dorian (01:00)

• Challenge to Old Thinking:

  • Teams should avoid relying on the past 10–20 years of single-touch or overly simplistic attribution logic.
  • Modern customer journeys are far more complex, requiring more nuanced models of direct and indirect contribution.

  "I should not leverage the past 10 to 20 years of thinking and think everything is based on a isolated session."
  —Joe Dorian (01:15)

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2. The Messiness of the Modern Customer Journey

• Multi-Device, Multi-Touch Reality (02:47):

  • Shoppers rarely travel from discovery to purchase in a straight line. They move between smartphones, desktops, chatbots, and traditional search.
  • Attribution models need to account for this messy, non-linear journey, rather than assuming a single channel or device is solely responsible for conversion.

  "I think humans are complex and messy people. I do not believe they just go to a single chatbot, make a request, and then kind of like follow through and purchase."
  —Joe Dorian (02:48)

  • The implication: Ecommerce teams must "lift their head," think more broadly, and develop systems that track and properly credit the full spectrum of pre-purchase activities.

  "I think the shopping experience is messy. I think they do some things on their phone, I think they do some things on their desktop. I think they do some things in traditional search."
  —Joe Dorian (02:55)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On What to Prioritize Now:

  "Attribution—how do I think about the outcome I'm trying to drive and the contribution of each of my channels to that outcome?"
  —Joe Dorian (01:00)

• On Rejecting Outdated Attribution Models:

  "I should not leverage the past 10 to 20 years of thinking and think everything is based on a isolated session."
  —Joe Dorian (01:15)

• On the True Nature of Today’s Shopping Experience:

  "I think humans are complex and messy people... The shopping experience is messy."
  —Joe Dorian (02:48 & 02:55)

• On Staying Anchored to Outcomes:

  "Stay anchored on the purchase and look at the contribution or the attribution of all these efforts to that purchase."
  —Joe Dorian (03:02)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• 00:59 — Joe Dorian introduces attribution as the key future concern for ecommerce teams.
• 01:15 — Warning against relying on single-session or last-touch attribution models.
• 02:47–03:10 — Discussion of the complexity of modern customer journeys and the implications for attribution.

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Takeaways

• Modern ecommerce success demands deeply integrated, sophisticated attribution modeling to truly understand what drives purchases.
• Organizations must shed old, simplistic attribution models and reflect real user behavior—multi-touch, multi-device, non-linear experiences.
• The sooner companies adapt, the more equipped they’ll be to allocate resources and optimize for actual impact across channels.

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Summary prepared for listeners and SEO professionals seeking actionable insights for future-proofing ecommerce strategies.

Transcript

[A]

The Voices of Search Podcast is a proud member of the I Hear Everything Podcast Network. Looking to launch or scale your podcast, IHeAreEverything delivers podcast production, growth and monetization solutions that transform your words into profit. Ready to give your brand a voice? Then visit iheareverything.com welcome to the Voices of Search Podcast and I Hear Everything Production. In this podcast, we'll share the news, knowledge and strategies you need to navigate the ever changing world of SEO, ready to expedite your company's organic growth efforts? Sit back, relax and get ready for your daily dose of search engine optimization wisdom. Here's today's host of the Voices of Search Podcast, Tyson Stockton My name's Tyson

[B]

and today I'm joined with Joe Dorian, Chief Product Officer at bodify. Five years from now, what will E Commerce teams wish they had started doing earlier?

[C]

Attribution how do I think about the outcome I'm trying to drive and the contribution of each of my channels to that outcome? So I'm trying to get somebody to buy a product and I should not leverage the past 10 to 20 years of thinking and think everything is based

[D]

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[C]

a isolated session I think humans are complex and messy people. I do not believe they just go to a single chatbot, make a request, and then kind of like follow through and purchase. I think the shopping experience is messy. I think they do some things on their phone, I think they do some things on their, their desktop. I think they do some things in traditional search. I think they need to lift their head and think broader, stay anchored on the purchase and look at the contribution or the attribution of all these efforts to that purchase.