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Hi there, hope you're having a great Friday!
This is Colm and Simon from CommerceGurus, with a handpicked weekly roundup of eCommerce articles.
We're excited to officially introduce CommerceGurus Turbo, our new performance plugin built exclusively for WooCommerce stores!
Rather than being another generic caching plugin, this combines page caching, Cloudflare edge caching, CSS optimization, JavaScript optimization, lazy loading, image optimization, and resource preloading into a single WooCommerce-focused solution with safe defaults that work out of the box.
The goal was simple: take everything we've learned from supporting more than 60,000 Shoptimizer customers and package it into a performance plugin designed specifically for the challenges of eCommerce.
Cart, checkout, and account pages are automatically protected from caching issues, while optimization settings are tuned for real WooCommerce stores rather than blogs or brochure sites.
If you've ever found yourself juggling multiple performance plugins, conflicting settings, and endless optimization guides, CommerceGurus Turbo is our attempt to simplify the process.
One plugin, one dashboard, one support team, and one-click performance improvements for WooCommerce.
What Makes CommerceGurus Turbo Unique
🎉 CommerceGurus Turbo is now available!
One plugin. One click. CommerceGurus Turbo is the only performance plugin built purely for WooCommerce stores.
Includes page and edge caching, CSS and JS optimization, lazy loading, Cloudflare image optimization, and preloading — all with safe defaults that work immediately.
Discover CommerceGurus Turbo
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Colm and I attended WordCamp Europe 2026 and I especially enjoyed this presentation from Anne-Mieke Bovelett.
She made the case that accessibility isn't just about compliance - it's one of the most overlooked SEO opportunities available today.
Drawing on research showing that around 70% of websites fail basic accessibility standards, she highlighted how accessible sites tend to perform better in search, with some studies showing a 23% increase in organic traffic and 27% more ranked keywords.
When websites are easier for people to navigate and understand, they're also easier for search engines and AI systems to interpret.
Anne explained how poor usability leads to higher bounce rates and "pogo-sticking" - where users quickly return to search results after landing on a page - a signal Google pays close attention to.
Her advice was extremely practical: focus on clear page structure, meaningful headings, descriptive buttons, quality alt text, and regular accessibility audits. As AI-driven search continues to grow, accessibility is increasingly becoming a discoverability advantage.
Watch Accessibility as an SEO Strategy
Maarten from Wombat Plugins analysed 5,000 WooCommerce stores and more than 13,000 active plugins to uncover what a typical WooCommerce setup looks like today.
One standout finding is that the average store runs 30 active plugins - made up of 21 free plugins, 7 paid plugins, and 2 companion plugins.
Only a tiny percentage of stores run fewer than 10 plugins, showing just how plugin-heavy the average WooCommerce site has become.
The report also reveals some interesting trends. Elementor remains the dominant page builder, running on nearly half of all stores, while Yoast SEO, WP Mail SMTP, Code Snippets, and Advanced Custom Fields round out the most commonly installed plugins.
Perhaps the most surprising statistic is that more than 20% of stores were found to be using at least one plugin that has been closed on WordPress.org, often due to security concerns.
Check out WooCommerce Plugin Insights 2026
Kinsta has launched a new Bot Protection feature, included for free on all hosting plans, giving site owners more control over the growing volume of automated traffic hitting their websites.
The tool lets users choose from different protection levels, monitor bot activity, challenge suspicious traffic, and even block AI crawlers with a single click from the MyKinsta dashboard.
This is particularly relevant for eCommerce stores, where bots often target uncached pages such as search results, product filters, carts, and checkout pages.
Kinsta notes that bot traffic now accounts for more than half of all web traffic, with AI crawler activity growing rapidly. Their new tools are designed to reduce server load, improve analytics accuracy, and help prevent unnecessary hosting overages caused by aggressive crawlers and automated requests.
One nice touch is that verified search engine crawlers such as Googlebot are automatically allowed, so stores can reduce unwanted bot traffic without impacting SEO.
Discover Kinsta's New Bot Protection Feature
Neeto Record is a lightweight screen and webcam recording tool positioned as an affordable alternative to Loom.
The idea is is to replace unnecessary meetings with quick recorded videos for demos, feedback, tutorials, presentations, and updates.
The free plan gives a generous 200 videos per month, and each video can be up to 15 minutes long.
Take a look at Neeto Record
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Have a great week and best of luck with your projects!
Simon and Colm from CommerceGurus
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