We often begin our SEO work when the client already has a certain level of visibility in the search engine and a good reputation among customers, and simply wants to fully utilize the website's potential. Sometimes, however, we start from scratch, taking on newly created sites that haven't even had time to acclimate to Google bots. In these cases, our task is particularly demanding – we must quickly prove to the algorithms that the site is trustworthy. And this is no easy feat. According to a report by Senuto, only 6% of the TOP500 most visible e-commerce stores are less than five years old . However, these are challenges that, with our experience, we can overcome. Let's see this with a specific example.
The Beginnings of an SEO Contract
The client in question operates in the home and garden industry, specifically offering indoor and outdoor lighting. We signed the contract with them in May 2019, marking two years of collaboration on online store SEO . As mentioned, the store was new at the time and hadn't established a strong search engine ranking. The first pages had already been indexed and the site was appearing in search results, but these results weren't commensurate with the store's potential. So, we began working with the client to create a strong domain story that would lead to increased online visibility.
Initially, we placed the greatest emphasis on creating a clear, SEO-friendly product category structure. We developed an intuitive category tree and selected the most beneficial keywords, meta titles, and H1 headings for each page. After the client approved our plan, we began developing category descriptions that incorporated the keywords selected for SEO. Our copywriters created comprehensive descriptions of each product group, which we then implemented on the client's website. Gradually, we also began building a valuable link profile leading to the targeted website. Their quality was crucial for us, as the algorithms consider whether links originate from sites that Google has already deemed helpful and trustworthy.
Results after 2 years of cooperation
After two years of SEO work, the website began to achieve considerable online visibility. From May 2019 to May 2021, the number of keywords in the TOP3 increased from 9 to 70, meaning the client's website appeared in the top positions for many keywords strategic from a brand perspective. In terms of keywords in the TOP10, we saw an increase of over 700%, with the website appearing on the first page of search results for 771 search terms. The number of keywords in the TOP50 also increased, from 1072 to 6649.
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We also acquired valuable dofollow links for the client, links that search engine spiders take into account when evaluating a website. These links were placed primarily on back-end pages with relevant themes.
In positioning you have to anticipate
The list of factors Google's algorithm considers when determining a website's value is long and largely undisclosed. The Mountain View-based company itself is reluctant to discuss planned updates, and if it does reveal a ranking factor, it's usually long after its introduction. Therefore, SEO also involves testing solutions, observing the performance of various websites, and drawing conclusions about what matters most in the evaluation and what will likely be most important in the future. Our analyses led us to the conclusion that a large amount of valuable, unique content on a website will be crucial in the future, and we focused most on developing client websites in this direction.
Our predictions proved correct, and they didn't take long to materialize. At the turn of May and June of this year, an update was released, resulting in sites with limited content dropping in rankings, while those with SEO-optimized content saw significant increases. This was also the case with the client's website. From the beginning of May to the end of July, the number of keywords in the top positions changed as follows:
- TOP3: from 70 to 124,
- TOP10: from 771 to 1,12 thousand,
- TOP50: from 6,64 thousand to 8,27 thousand.
This shows that the direction we are taking is right, and the visibility of the client's website will most likely increase even further in the coming months.
The discussed results were achieved as part of the Advanced e-commerce package (PLN 3,500/month), which is intended for small online stores.
Summary
The above article covers the following topics:
- The starting point in cooperation with the client
- Results achieved by Verseo after 2 years of SEO activities
