ECOMMERCE SEO CASE STUDY
We where approached by the owner of a new ecommerce to carry out a full SEO campaign with a view to increasing the websites traffic levels and generate sales.
The website was brand new and had no previous SEO work carried out on it.
THE EXISTING WEBSITE
When the client approached us he had a new website which had been constructed by another party based on the popular ecommerce platform OsCommerce. At the original point of our involvement the website had around 500 products for sale separated into around 12 categories.
From a search engine optimisation point of view the site was basic and it was quickly ascertained that some upfront site modifications would be needed.
The client was fully briefed on what was required and handed us free reign to work on the site as we saw fit.
CHANGES MADE TO THE SITE
After a full site review we carried out many changes to the website including:
- Full URL ReWrite (Changing all page urls to include keywords)
- Modified OsCommerce code to create unique page titles and meta descriptions for all pages
- Worked on the category pages to enhance their content and ensure product links where 'SEO friendly'
- Rebuilt the main homepage to enhance site structure and target specific key phrases
We also carried out some other OsCommerce modifications to help with site usability issues however these changes fall slightly outside of the remit of SEO.
OFF-SITE LINK BUILDING STRATEGY
We also devised and carried out a full link building strategy to help with pushing the website in the search engines which involved amongst other things:
- High quality directory submissions
- General link acquiring
- Seeking out highly relevant link partners
This stage of the SEO campaign was ongoing over a period of 10 - 12 months in total.
RESULTS ACHIEVED
Within the first 6 months of the campaign we took the website from having little natural search engine visitors to around 750 - 1200 per month. This was a fairly slow gain which is fully attributed to the young age of the website.
After 6 - 7 months website traffic levels from purely natural SEO sources (no paid PPC visitors included) the traffic levels began to climb significantly:
At the end of a full 12 month period the organic search engine traffic was over 15,000 visitors per month and climbing.
In terms of sales, the organic work was creating more monthly sales than a PPC campaign which incurred costs of around £2,000 per month. The sales would continue at this level well into the future without any extra outlay.
Campaign Costs
The total cost for this campaign including any paid listings came to less than £3,500. Compared to the £2,000 per month outlay on Google AdWords (not managed by us!) the SEO traffic cost just a tiny fraction of the overall marketing budget.