Seeds Sown in Spring, Harvested in Winter: An Unseen SEO Success Story

Within the tight timeframe from August 2021 to May 2022, we worked closely with our client to weave a tailored SEO strategy aimed at enhancing their digital presence. Although our collaboration ended prematurely, the seeds of our efforts germinated, leading to a remarkable organic traffic explosion in Q4 of the same year. As SEO Strategies take time to be “acknowleged” by Google, Small Smart reaped the benefits of our work, witnessing record-breaking engagement and an eightfold increase in their seasonal Christmas-intent traffic. This case study delves into the behind-the-scenes journey of how we set the stage for this unseen SEO success story.

The Context

eCommerce Store for Children’s Products, But No Visibility on Search

Small Smart, an e-commerce platform specialising in stylish children’s products, had an eye for high-quality, trend-led goods. Born from a desire to simplify shopping for modern parents, Small Smart’s offerings appealed to the style-conscious, albeit at a premium. This aspect, while attracting a luxury-seeking audience, might have been a stretch for those mindful of budget.

Looking back, our SEO strategy for Small Smart was all about aligning their unique market position with the right audience – those who value quality, style, and a seamless online shopping experience. While the immediate recognition of these efforts was not always apparent, the subsequent success serves as a testament to the solid groundwork that was laid during our collaboration.

In this case study, we’ll shed light on the challenge of carving out a digital presence for Small Smart in an intensely competitive e-commerce landscape. You’ll learn how, despite an early end to our collaboration, the strategic groundwork laid by Straight Up Search led to an unseen organic traffic boom and a significant upturn in engagement – effectively octupling their seasonal Christmas-intent traffic, as evidenced by their record-breaking Q4 performance.

The Challenge

Enhancing Digital Visibility in a Competitive eCommerce Landscape

The primary goal of Small Smart was to bolster their digital presence, enhancing their visibility in SERPs for keywords relevant to their products. Our initial exploration revealed they were missing out on ranking for numerous product and lifestyle-oriented keywords pertinent to their offerings. Additionally, their website required a comprehensive content audit, with certain product descriptions and blog posts needing enhancement to avoid falling into the ‘thin content’ category.The ensuing SEO strategy would have to be multifaceted, addressing not only content development but also the critical pillars of SEO: technical SEO, digital PR, link building, and on-page optimisation. To summarise, the challenge was multi-layered, demanding a holistic SEO approach:

Challenge Summary

• Market Competition: client operates in the intensely competitive e-commerce sector for children’s products, dominated by established, high-budget players.
• Content Audit: A comprehensive content audit was necessary to identify and improve ‘thin content’, ensuring every page contributes positively to the overall SEO strategy.
• Technical SEO Issues: The website had several architecture issues, including a lack of internal linking and the presence of duplicate pages, that needed rectification. These were Shopify specific technical issues.
• Brand Visibility: client’s brand name was obscured in SERPs by unrelated results, necessitating focused efforts to enhance brand-specific visibility.

Here is a quick snapshot of the SEO-relevant metrics before we began working on this account.

SEO BEFORESUS

2,250

Total Keywords

399 / mth

Organic Traffic

68

Referring Domains

$216

Organic Search Value

The Solution

Content Centric Strategy Combined with Niche Keyword Research & Digital PR

Straight Up Search began by conducting a comprehensive audit of the online store, producing a keyword research and competitive analysis report that summarised:

• Organic Traction & SEO Opportunities: The site’s existing keyword rankings, and what they should be targeting
• Competitive Deep Dive: The keywords of the brand’s top competitors
• Backlink Analysis: Studying the domain’s backlink profile, and identifying link building opportunities

Link Building Strategy

Our approach to link building involved manual outreach campaigns to niche relevant placements, which led to significant increases in relevant links and heightened brand awareness among our key target demographic – mums, educational nursery bloggers, and holiday gift guides.Our outreach was well received due to its incentivised offering and cross-collaboration sentiment, leading to partnerships with shoulder niche sites in the same industry but not direct competitors.Ultimately, our link building was a white hat mixture of guest posts, link insertions, and digital PR responses (HARO). This was complemented with local citations and foundational links to ensure that we had covered off high-authority, niche relevant directories or listings.

Content Strategy

Our content strategy revolved around targeting questions that parents frequently ask in relation to their key product lines and brands sold.

While our aim was to gain traffic via these blog posts, they were also crucial for SEO internal linking purposes.We successfully ranked on the first page of Google for a variety of keywords, including

• Pushchair and Pram Usage
• Cleaning and Maintenance
• Anti-Colic Bottles
• Baby Clothes Organisation
• Night-time Concerns
• Pram vs Pushchair
• Playmat differences (Padded vs X)

By focusing on these tactics, we were able to create an SEO strategy that helped us hit our KPIs. And that’s exactly what we did.

The Results

A 220% Increase In Organic Keywords

We did this by increasing their overall keywords from 2,250 to 7,200.

This substantial increase in organic keywords and traffic resulted in a rise in online store purchases.

SEO AFTER SUS

7,200

Total Keywords

2,028 / mth

Organic Traffic

235

Referring Domains

$997

Organic Search Value

We’re absolutely thrilled with the results we’ve achieved in this case study, particularly in the areas of link building and content strategy. We’re eager to apply the insights and tactics we’ve honed to future clients. If you’re interested in how our SEO services, particularly our approach to link building and content strategy, could help your company grow online, please don’t hesitate to contact us. We would be delighted to discuss how we can tailor our successful strategies to your business’s unique needs and objectives.

PS: The same year, they had even more explosive growth than the figures represented above. Our SEO efforts took a while to kick in, but we won’t report on it.But here’s the 2 year comparison:

Case Study Results (Summary)

200% Organic Traffic Growth

The target website’s organic traffic value increased by 200%. This led to a significant increase in organic traffic and qualified leads.

Page 1 Keywords from 200 to 500+

When we started working with the client, they were ranking for 200 keywords on the first page of Google. Now, they’re ranking for over 440 keywords on the first page. 

Referring Domains Up 250%

We did this by conducting Digital PR and outreach campaigns. We reached out to websites in the education and software industry and pitched them stories about our client.

Organic Traffic Value from $216 to $1k

This increase in traffic and organic search rankings has helped the client reduce their CPA costs significantly.

Become a SUS Success Story

We’ve delivered results like these for many, many clients. Learn how Straight Up Search can help you turbo-charge your organic traffic with an SEO strategy custom-built for your particular business by visiting our SEO Services page. When you’re ready to take the next step, download our pricing proposal to learn how to get started!