Client Ecommerce SEO Case Study: +369% Organic Revenue

𝗜𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗰𝗮𝘀𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝘂𝗱𝘆, 𝗜’𝗺 𝗴𝗼𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝘄𝗲 𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗽𝗲𝗱 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗰𝗹𝗶𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗼:

➡️𝗜𝗻𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗲 𝗼𝗿𝗴𝗮𝗻𝗶𝗰 𝘀𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗳𝗳𝗶𝗰 𝗯𝘆 𝟭𝟮𝟮.𝟮𝟳%
➡️ 𝗜𝗻𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗲 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘀𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗯𝘆 𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝟯𝟯𝟲%

…resulting in a 369% (£165,586) increase in revenue while competing against major international brand names such as Ikea!

𝗔 𝗖𝗹𝗼𝘀𝗲𝗿 𝗟𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝗔𝘁 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗖𝗮𝘀𝗲 𝗦𝘁𝘂𝗱𝘆 𝗦𝗶𝘁𝗲

The brand was well established when they contacted me, with a good offline reputation built on the quality of the furniture they designed and sold online.

They had a reasonable link profile, mostly from natural blogger reviews and PR coverage.

Their main obstacle to growth was how competitive the SERPs were for their core keywords.

The top 20 places for all but the most niche of long tail keywords were 𝗱𝗼𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗯𝘆 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗵𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝗳𝘂𝗿𝗻𝗶𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗴𝗶𝗮𝗻𝘁𝘀 such as Ikea as well as huge ecommerce brands such as Tesco, John Lewis, Argos, Debenhams and Marks and Spencers.

As a result of this competition, the brand had very little visibility on the first two pages of Google for key, traffic-driving terms and were struggling to rank for longer tail keywords.

Therefore our main campaign goals were to:

➡️𝗣𝘂𝘀𝗵 𝗰𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗸𝗲𝘆𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗱𝘀 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗼 𝗶𝗻𝗱𝗲𝘅. The brand was not ranking for broad terms, which have hundreds of thousands of combined searches each month in the UK.
➡️𝗥𝗮𝗻𝗸 𝗸𝗲𝘆𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗱𝘀 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗼𝘂𝘀𝗹𝘆 𝘂𝗻𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗸𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝗻 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁 𝟱 𝗽𝗮𝗴𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗽𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝟭. More specific terms with tens of thousands of monthly searches were currently indexed page 5 or deeper.
➡️𝗜𝗻𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗲 𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝘀𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵 𝘃𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗹𝗼𝗻𝗴𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗮𝗶𝗹, 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻-𝗳𝗼𝗰𝘂𝘀𝗲𝗱 𝗸𝗲𝘆𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗱𝘀. Long tail terms with thousands of searches a month were hovering around the 3rd page. These represented good “quick win” opportunities.
➡️𝗘𝗻𝘀𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗿𝗿𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝗼𝗻-𝘀𝗶𝘁𝗲 𝗼𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗶𝘀𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻. The site had several crucial on-site weaknesses that needed to be resolved if the brand was to grow as the client hoped. Chief amongst them was poor URL structure/content siloing and severely thin content which placed them squarely in “Panda-territory”.
The Biggest Challenges We Had to Overcome
When this client came to me, their brand was already well established with a good offline reputation built on the quality of the furniture they designed and sold online.

However, when i completed the 𝗦𝗘𝗢 𝗮𝘂𝗱𝗶𝘁, i noticed some major issues and challenges that needed to be addressed not only to increase search traffic, conversion and revenue but also to avoid a 𝗚𝗼𝗼𝗴𝗹𝗲 𝗽𝗲𝗻𝗮𝗹𝘁𝘆.

𝗦𝗼 𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗹𝗶𝘀𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗶𝗴𝗴𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗻𝗴𝗲𝘀 𝘄𝗲 𝗵𝗮𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗮𝗰𝗲:

❌The search results were dominated by huge international brands.
❌The site lacked keyword research and duplication within its title tags.
❌ The site’s link profile was rather underdeveloped.
❌Risked being hit with a Panda penalty

As a result of the above issues, the client’s site was being held back from ranking for many important 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘀𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗸𝗲𝘆𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗱𝘀 related to the products that they were selling.

So to overcome the issues mentioned, we created a solid plan of attack that I’m going to show you in the next part.
Creating The Plan Of Attack
𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗹 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝘆 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝘁𝗼:

✅ Consult in the redesign of the website, extensively auditing the test versions of the new site and offering actionable improvements to make the site as optimised as possible.
✅ Build the overall domain authority using links from high-authority relevant websites in the home improvement/interior design niche.
✅ Build the authority of key internal pages through the use of targeted links throughout the link-building campaign.

𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 #𝟭: 𝗢𝗻-𝗦𝗶𝘁𝗲 𝗢𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗶𝘀𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻
The first thing we had to take care of was to fix the on-site SEO issues that created a really bad user experience for both Google and the visitors.

Not only that but the lack of on-page SEO optimization was impacting the site’s performance negatively.

𝗨𝗥𝗟 𝗦𝘁𝗿𝘂𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲
Our top priority during the auditing process was making sure that the site would rank for as many relevant long-tail keywords as possible.

While in the long term, we were confident that we would rank the site for broad, high volume terms…

The quickest way to rapidly increase organic traffic and the number of sales through organic was to rank the site for more specific terms.

Extrapolated across their product range,

𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘀𝗲 𝗹𝗼𝗻𝗴-𝘁𝗮𝗶𝗹 𝗸𝗲𝘆𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗱𝘀 𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗱𝗿𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗲 𝗼𝗿𝗴𝗮𝗻𝗶𝗰 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗳𝗳𝗶𝗰.

Therefore, our priority was re-structuring the site so that these long tail keywords had specific category pages targeting them.

Previously the website had a very simple physical silo structure in place with one category page targeting a wide range of different keywords

𝗲𝘅𝗮𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲.𝗰𝗼𝗺/𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴-𝗳𝘂𝗿𝗻𝗶𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲/𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴-𝘁𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲𝘀

𝗣𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗦𝘁𝗿𝘂𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 & 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁

Another major issue holding back the performance of the site was page structure and content.

Title tags across the site were unoptimised, lacking keyword research and often too long/duplicated.

i overhauled not only the title tags, but also used other key HTML elements, such as the heading tags to target associated, semantically similar keywords around the main keyword, in order to build each page’s keyword relevancy.

Content, or lack thereof, was a similarly large hindrance to search performance, with category pages containing very little unique paragraph content and product pages containing almost none.

We assisted in populating all of the category and product pages with rich, unique content added in a way that did not detract from the design of the site or its ability to convert.

𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 #𝟮: 𝗟𝗶𝗻𝗸 𝗕𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴

Although the site and the brand were well-established before i began working together, their link profile was underdeveloped.

As a result of this, i had to be careful with regard to link velocity coming to the site and anchor text distribution.

As a result of this, i began the campaign by building very conservative numbers of links with naked URL, branded and generic anchor text.

Despite these links not being particularly targeted, the resulting improvement of the site’s domain authority resulted in a good deal of keyword and traffic growth.

As a good foundation of links was developed, i began to target the key category pages, using exact match anchor text sparingly yet effectively to rapidly push these pages through the SERPs for a variety of broad and long tail keywords.

While my ecommerce focused link building strategies were behind much of the improvement, i simultaneously ran a more traditional, outreach-based link-building campaign.

This helped bolster niche relevancy and the link profile as natural looking as possible.

This outreach campaign netted us over 60 links from sites such as:

✅www.examiner.com (DA 91, TF 77)
✅ www.designshuffle.com (DA 50, TF 31)
✅ www.realitysandwich.com (DA 67, TF 35)

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗥𝗲𝘀𝘂𝗹𝘁𝘀 𝗔𝗿𝗲 𝗜𝗻

With the recommendations from the audit actioned in early December and links being pointed at the key internal pages, traffic continuously grew month-on-month.

By June, organic traffic was up 122.27% compared to the previous December, with June receiving 42,635 visits compared to December’s 19,182.

Similarly, the number of new users had increased by over 115%, with 22,545 new visits in June compared to 10,469 in December.

𝗥𝗲𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗻 𝗢𝗻 𝗜𝗻𝘃𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁

For any ecommerce store, the best measure of successful SEO is traffic that converts.

-The brand saw
𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘀𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗼𝗿𝗴𝗮𝗻𝗶𝗰 𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗲 𝗯𝘆 𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝟯𝟯𝟲%
with 480 transactions made in June compared to 110 in December.

The new traffic we were bringing to the site was also highly targeted and relevant to the brand, as demonstrated by the 96.3% improvement in conversion rate. In June 1.13% of visitors bought something, compared to just 0.57% in December.

Organic traffic revenue increased 369.43%, generating £210,408 in June compared to £44,822 in December – an increase of £165,586.

Seasonality has an effect on buying habits in this niche, so a year-on-year revenue comparison gives us a more accurate idea of growth.

June saw a 187.4% increase in revenue from organic traffic, generating £210,408 compared to £73,212 in June the previous year – an increase of £137,196.

𝗞𝗲𝘆𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗱 𝗜𝗺𝗽𝗿𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀

Between December and June the follow year, the number of keywords ranking in Google.co.uk increased significantly:

✅Keywords in the top 3 places increased from 47 to 119 – an increase of 153%
✅ Keywords in the top 10 places increased from 247 to 413 – an increase of 67.2%
✅ Keywords in the top 20 places increased from 710 to 1,102 – an increase of 55.2%

𝗧𝗿𝗮𝗰𝗸𝗲𝗱 𝗞𝗲𝘆𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗱 𝗜𝗺𝗽𝗿𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀

Across the 133 core keywords that we track in-house, there was an overall increase of 755 places.

A number of high volume keywords entered the first page, and a number of highly competitive terms entered the index and continue to rapidly ascend the SERPs:

𝗪𝗿𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗜𝘁 𝗨𝗽

As I've shown in my different SEO case studies, you can always find a way to rank even when competing against big international players.

Having implemented the above strategies and overcoming the challenges laid out at the beginning of the case study, the client’s website has seen continued improvement in both organic visibility and revenue.

To recap, in this case study, i focused on:

✅Redesigning the website to improve user experience
✅Optimazing the website to make navigation easier
✅Increasing domain authority by building relevant, high-quality links
✅Building key pages authority with a targeted link-building campaign

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