The inaccessibility of some brands on the Ukrainian market drives users to search for these items of clothing online. Through great competition, buyers have several stores around, where they can find what they are interested in, compare prices and order shoes. Under such circumstances, an online store of brand shoes needs to optimize the website so that users can find the store through search.
Unlike contextual advertising, search engine optimization provides a constant increase in customers, increases free traffic and awareness. Unfortunately, the early experience of optimization measures often fails – it takes months to find a good contractor.
Our client found himself in just such a situation: work with the previous agency did not bring satisfactory results and he turned to us.
The Client set a task – to get targeted traffic from online. The target audience is already interested people. They are looking for products on purpose. So, we need to bring them to the client’s website.
We began to cooperate at the end of March 2020. In total, the project is being run for 6 calendar months (we work intermittently).
Read about how we managed to increase the number of unique page views by 7 times.
Fig. 1 – The situation before the start of cooperation
There is an unstable dynamics of traffic growth. Before us, the client has already cooperated with the promotion agency for 8 months. Specialists began to work out non-targeted high-frequency general queries for shoes (for example, “buy women’s shoes kharkiv” instead of “buy shoes cesare pachotti kharkiv”). Thus, they tried to compete with shoes costing from 500 UAH and higher. This is not a niche in which the Client works. All this promised long-term and costly work to promote.
The Client’s products are niche-specific and buyers of expensive shoes know exactly what brand they are looking for.
Our approach is different: since the Client cooperates with a permanent list of Italian brands, and they, in turn, are widely known in certain circles of buyers, we decided to focus on promoting brand queries (queries containing the brand name). In this way, we will achieve our goal in a short time.
1. Competitor analysis
Competitor analysis is carried out to understand the situation on the market and calculate the required volume of links for link building. The Client has provided a list of them:
- modoza.com
- veroshoes.ua
- itshoes.com.ua
- oneclub.ua
- rechi.ua
General statistics comparing competitor domains with Ahrefs:
Fig. 2 – The strongest competitor – modoza.com
We have compiled our own outreach list based on competitor link sources. These are the domains where you need to try to place a link to the Client’s website.
At the beginning of the cooperation, 34 domains referred to the Client’s website. Link building started with 20-30 links per month, of which only 2-3 can have the nofollow attribute. This volume made it possible to carry out work on building a link profile without suspicion from search engines.
2. Technical audit
Checking the website for errors allows you to develop a strategy. The Client implements the technical part. During the first audit, we identified such errors:
1. Absence of the Last-modified and If-Modified-Since headers. The former reports the time the page was last modified, and If-Modified-Since checks for changes made to the page since the last modified date. If there were no edits, then the response will be 304 Not Modified. After sending it, the server will stop transmitting data and the page will be pulled from the cache. This affects the relevance of the data provided to the user.
2. Language versions. The law on the Ukrainian language entered into force on January 16, 2021. The Ukrainian version is now required for the website. Search robots need to be told: the language of each page and the presence of other language versions of the content. Duplication of pages with the same content in the same language is not allowed.
3. Absence of texts on some pages of product categories. The presence of relevant accompanying text with unique content and optimization for the requirements of search engines will interest customers and push them to believe that the service is expert. This approach can significantly increase awareness and ranking in search engines.
4. There is no canonical attribute on pagination pages. It allows you to set the main page for pages with similar or identical content. Google doesn’t like duplicate pages for these reasons:
- the robot cannot decide which page to index (only one of two identical pages will be indexed);
- which version to use in search results on query;
- it is not clear how to distribute the link weight.
If the canonical version is not listed, then Google will decide for itself. And it’s unlikely to do you any good.
5. Optimization of filtering pages. When searching for products, the user is inclined to visit the page that fully meets his request. If the page with filters is optimized, the user will be able to see the desired page when refining the query. In this case, the likelihood of a conversion will be higher.
6. Duplicate structured data and no sitemap.
7. Lack of accompanying text in the product cards. You need to add a small but unique description of the product, which contains the features of the model.
The Client followed our recommendations and quickly corrected errors.
Next, we will tell you about how data markup and implementation of all recommendations allowed to increase organic traffic several times.
3. Micro-markup FAQ
This is a structured data schema introduced in 2019. With its help, you can provide additional information to the search engine, from which an extended snippet will be formed in the form of a question-answer block.
Fig. 3 – This is what the micro-markup FAQ looks like in the Google search results.
The micro-markup on the search results page can be located at the top, middle, and bottom of the page. Micro-markup grabs attention and is able to answer questions without having to visit the website. The user can save time + the credibility of such a website increases. Next time, the user who search for information and see the same website in the search results, is likely to click on its link.
The introduction of such markup on the Client’s website will allow him to stand out among other portals in the search results (that is, attract traffic).
Fig. 4 – This is how it looks on the customer’s website.
You must follow these requirements when writing markup text:
- format in the form of a list of questions and answers to them;
- you cannot use advertising content;
- it is forbidden to use obscene language and rude statements, calls to violence, materials of a sexual nature;
- text must be available to users on the original page.
4. Reaudit
Effective SEO promotion implies constant work on the website and periodic audit of errors. Thus, it becomes clear what needs to be improved and in which direction to move on.
We conducted a re-audit after 4 months of cooperation with the Client. During the check we found errors:
- The pagination pages, starting from the second one, contain the first page specified as canonical. In the future, this could lead to problems with indexing. We also recommended to uniqueize the title of each pagination page.
- The presence of broken pages. There are only 3 links, but even this number of broken links can force customers to look for another store with all pages working.
- The validity of the HTML code. Code validation can find all bugs and ensure that the website is displayed correctly in all browsers and improve behavioral factors.
- Micro-marking FAQ. We talked about it in the previous paragraph.
- Optimization of meta tags. Title and Description are used in generating snippets. The page title should be no more than 70-80 characters, unique for each page. The description of the page content should be attractive and concise. Duplicate descriptions were identified that need to be corrected, that is, place a unique description for each page.
- Gave advice for optimizing website loading speed. This is a reason to never click on a slow loading link again for most users. Compressing images and svg files, as well as moving javascript code to the end of the page code can significantly reduce the waiting period for clients, which will have a favourable effect on further traffic.
- Adding an alt tag for images. Crawlers use the text in the tag for the correct indexing of images, that is, the page may appear in the search results due to a correctly description. If the picture isn’t visible, then the alternative text will help to understand what exactly is depicted on it.
But taking into account all the errors we found above, we noted a 191% increase in page views compared to March 2020 and August 2020:
Fig. 5 – Change in the number of page views in March 2020 and August of the same year
Fig. 6 – The number of users increased gradually
In December 2020 (just 4 months later) we conducted the 3rd audit, during which we found out what else needs to be fixed:
1. Duplicates of the main site mirror. The transition to the main page of the website took place when the “/” symbol was added to the address. You can solve this problem by setting up a 301 redirect. Such pages should not be indexed to avoid a drop in search rankings.
2. CNC. The URL should be human-readable and provide an insight into where you are going.
The most striking example for comparison is the Wikipedia pages. In the browser, the link text looks readable, but when copying, we get such a canvas:
https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9E%D0%B1%D1%83%D0%B2%D1%8C_%D0%
BD%D0%B0_%D0%BF%D0%BB%D0%B0%D1%82%D1%84%D0%BE%D1%80%D0%BC%D0%B5
This link, when clicked, will lead to the article “Platform shoes”. But from these numbers-letters it is hardly possible to understand it. You need to register addresses with transliteration. They are well received by search engines, because they often contain keywords, reflect the path to the desired information and the structure of the website.
3. Incorrectly implemented filtering – there are many unnecessary details in the text of the address.
4. It is required to introduce micro-markup of product cards and the organization itself. Such data gives the search engine more understanding about the information being scanned and allows them to form an attractive snippet in the SERP like this:
Fig. 7 – Rating and reviews are displayed in SERP using micro-markup
5. Language versions. Within the Ukrainian version of the website, all text elements must be translated into the appropriate language.
6. Duplicate meta tags Title, missing and duplicate content of the Description tag on some pages.
7. Lack of H1 heading. One unique title must be specified for each page and contain the keyword.
The assessment of the results at this stage was based on the comparison of the periods of work between the two audits in August 2020 and December 2020.
Fig. 8 – Comparison of organic search metrics for April 2020-July 2020 and August 2020-November 2020
The number of users increased 1.5 times, while the bounce rate, on the contrary, fell 1.5 times.
Constant optimization and timely correction of errors on the part of the Client allows the project to raise its position on an ongoing basis.
5. Link Profile Analysis
A link building strategy is determined at the very beginning of search engine optimization. According to it, there is a gradual build-up of the link profile. 34 domains and 41 pages were referring to the Client’s website at the end of March.
Fig. 9 – Change in the number of domains containing links to the Client’s online store (analysis carried out in March)
Fig. 10 – Change in the number of pages containing links to the Client’s online store (analysis carried out in March)
The trust of the website increases over time and referral traffic begins to come from links from third-party websites.
We re-audited the link profile in December 2020. This helped to evaluate the success, got inspired by the results obtained and move on.
Fig. 11 – The dynamics of growth in the number of pages linking to the promoted website
Look, 6 months after the start of cooperation (taking into account work interruptions), the number of pages that lead to the Client’s website increased 9 times!
Link building is a time-consuming and costly process, but the result will work for many months and even years in the form of regular customers who visit the website for the first time by clicking on a link on another page or website. Moreover, search engine gives a higher priority to the website with a large number of links from other domains. Its trust rating is gradually increasing, and the website rises in search results and grows in positions.
It was the link profile building that allowed us to achieve results … but which ones? Read about it below.
6. Ease of use of the website
One of the key aspects shaping the user experience is usability. The correct arrangement of navigation elements helps to quickly find the information you need and, in general, provides a comfortable work with the website.
Usability guidelines provide advice on the placement of elements and adjustments that need to be made. Each product page must have the same number and location of elements. For the user, the entire process of searching, filtering, comparing and buying goods should be intuitive.
We have compiled a document with individual usability recommendations for the Client’s website. The result of the implementation of the recommendations will be an increased time spent on the page + an improvement in behavioral factors.
7. Results
Deliberate strategy and prompt intervention allowed a significant increase in the volume of organic queries.
Comparing the periods of cooperation between the Client and the previous contractor and us, we decided that the number of users visiting the Client’s website more than 3 times.
Fig. 11 – Organic traffic for the period December 2020 – February 2021 versus the same period a year earlier: December 2019 – February 2020
Growth in brand queries allows more targeted traffic to find the Client’s website in search:
Fig. 12 – Topvisor metrics
The metrics taken at the end of April 2020 showed that there were 47 queries in the TOP-10, and in February this figure increased almost 3 times – there were 138 queries.
Remember that promotion and bug fixing must be ongoing. Improving your website and service improves the user experience, and then customers are much more willing to buy your products and services.
Conclusion
This case confirms the long-term seo: even with interruptions, there is a steady growth in the positions of the Client’s website and the gradual entering of the website to the TOP for priority brand queries.
Now, cooperation continues and we are confidently moving to the first positions and continue to work on the implementation of optimized content. We provide recommendations and errors to fix.
The Client responds promptly, and our teamwork, as you can see, gives a noticeable result.
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