Case Study: SEO Promotion for a Furniture Online Store in the USA

Our SEO specialists determined that it was strategically important to check for technical errors on the websites and focus on both internal and external promotion. Based on this, the following tactical tasks were set.

In the first weeks of working on the project, a thorough site audit was conducted, including:

• Marketing audit of the website;
• Technical audit of the website;
• Analysis of the website’s internal SEO characteristics;
• Analysis of the website’s external backlink profile and authority;

A number of technical issues were found on the site:

• Site categories were duplicated under different URLs;
• Many page titles and meta descriptions were over-optimized and not unique, being duplicated both within the site and online;
• The header structure was also not optimized;
• One-third of product pages and most categories lacked text descriptions.

The initial structure of the site was quite basic for effective SEO. Over 20 new product subcategories were added to the existing categories on the site.

To achieve this, the structure of the top and side menus had to be changed and optimized, making it more user-friendly for both customers and search engines.

Based on the analysis of search queries for the products listed on the site, the product category hierarchy was reworked, and the most popular categories were further visualized and optimized.

We understood that a clear and logical structure of the resources would later become the foundation for its promotion online.

This depends on:

• Whether a potential buyer can find the product they need on your website, rather than with a competitor;
• How the resource will be indexed by search engines.

A technical audit in general helps identify errors that prevent search engines from “seeing” the site.

Initial optimization of the online store and competitor analysis

Promoting a furniture store in the U.S. market presented our company with a challenging task. Firstly, in this niche, there were several websites representing products from well-known brands, so relying solely on high-traffic keywords was ineffective.

Secondly, positions for medium- and low-traffic keywords were also occupied by niche projects.

Analyzing competitors’ websites helped us understand why users choose these resources, what attracts them, and what keeps them engaged.

The competitor analysis also allowed us to identify which SEO aspects should be prioritized in the initial stages.

Additionally, compiling the most relevant semantic core for the site and later expanding it significantly increased the number of visitors.

Audit and Link Building Strategy

This area of work remains relevant for websites that are over two years old.

Typically, work is carried out in several directions:

• The quality of websites for placing backlinks is assessed. Key parameters include traffic, relevance to the target audience and project niche, and region;
• Target pages are selected;
• A list of natural anchors is created.

The link audit of the site performed by us allowed us to determine the next steps in finding relevant websites and to select priority pages for building the backlink profile.

Usability Audit of the Online Store in the USA

Studying user behavior on our resources and comparing it with behavior on similar websites allowed us to identify what prevents potential buyers from making a purchase. It was important for us to find the barriers that reduce conversion rates and distinguish us from competitors.

Our previous experience showed that if a user encounters any inconvenience while browsing the site, they are unlikely to return. Additionally, it is crucial to understand the main traffic channels, the devices potential buyers use, and which pages they are most interested in.

Identified Problems and Weaknesses of the Client’s Website

Our audit of the site’s condition revealed that although the content on the main landing pages was of high quality, it was insufficient. Many pages lacked descriptions, and not all significant categories were clearly developed. The blog section was not maintained.

As a result, the site was losing a significant amount of traffic.

Technical Issues

A long list of problems was compiled that needed to be addressed immediately; otherwise, all future work could become ineffective.

Among these issues were:

• Missing directives in robots.txt;
• Numerous unnecessary redirects;
• Double slashes;
• 404 errors;
• Missing Alt tags for images;
• Multiple pages with duplicate headings;
• A large number of pages with duplicate descriptions;
• Many pages without H1 tags;
• Several errors in header structure;
• Low website loading speed;
• Missing many microdata elements.

All these shortcomings hindered search engines from indexing the resources and correctly displaying their content.

Almost No Growth in Backlinks

The analysis of all incoming backlinks to the site revealed almost no dynamic growth in this area. For search engine algorithms, this is a negative indicator that adversely affects the site’s ranking.

Additionally, it was discovered that key landing pages were showing very weak results compared to their competitors.

Usability Issues

For users in the U.S., it is crucial that the website is user-friendly. We found that many necessary categories were simply missing from the site. There was no informational section with product recommendations, brand features, etc. Modern traffic channels were not being utilized.

What was done and what results were achieved

Step 1: Technical Issues Were Resolved

The technical audit helped identify shortcomings, which we addressed systematically during the work process. Specifically, we fixed various inaccuracies in meta-tag creation and header structure, reconfigured redirects, optimized images, and clarified Alt attributes, along with other errors found.

Additionally, we recommended regularly adding microdata to the website when updating pages. Analyzing the meta-tags of the priority pages of competitors greatly assisted us.

Step 2: Internal Content Optimization

Another area of focus was increasing the amount of unique content on the site. This allowed us to improve the visibility of the resource for target keywords. We optimized content on priority pages. Next, we thoroughly analyzed the text content of our closest competitors’ websites and, based on this, expanded the semantic core. This became the foundation for creating new technical tasks (TЗ).

A deep analysis of the niche allowed us to draw conclusions about how other companies achieve high positions in the SERP. Based on this, we compiled a list of our competitive advantages for users and aimed to implement them when creating content.

Step 3: Link Profile Building Strategy Implemented

Based on data from analytics services and backlink analysis, our SEO specialist in link building developed a strategy to replace the old spammy backlink profile with a new, steady, high-authority, more niche-specific, and regional backlink profile.

Within 2 months, we completely removed low-quality backlinks while avoiding penalties from search engines and maintaining a positive growth trend in the backlink profile. We also introduced crowd marketing from popular forums and blogs to obtain quality, non-anchor “dilution” backlinks in the anchor list.

The specifics of the niche dictated the condition of using only “white” backlinks, so we selected trusted and thematic sites with good traffic dynamics. This method showed slower growth compared to others, but working only with high-quality sources allowed us to increase traffic to selected pages. We also developed suggestions for further development in this area.

Step 4: Usability Improvement

It was decided to attract additional traffic by starting to develop an informational section, creating cool, user-friendly content. We also used Pinterest as an additional promotion source during the work.

Comment from our expert:

“The main challenge we faced in this project was the fierce competition in the U.S. furniture niche. When you’re competing for top positions with giants like Walmart, it’s hard to achieve results quickly. And of course, the amount of work is enormous since the site has millions of pages.

Continuous research of the niche and competitors is essential. We tried to implement technical changes quickly, as technical SEO is one of the most important aspects of e-commerce. We used white-hat links, as almost everyone in this niche builds only white-hat backlinks.

An important factor was creating content for landing pages with categories, filters, and a Buyer’s Guide – various collections with furniture styles.”

Project Results

At the start, the client was receiving 27,186 clicks from search on one website per month and 38,857 on the other. After 9 months of promoting the online store, these numbers grew significantly, and conversion rates increased.

Monthly Dynamics:

Daily performance also became much higher. On peak days, search traffic reached about 7,000 people for one site and approximately 10,000-11,000 people for both. It should be noted that one of the sites sells seasonal products, so traffic is lower in the fall and winter compared to spring and summer.

Daily Dynamics:

As a result, we achieved a fivefold increase in traffic in the first 6 months and a tenfold increase after one year of collaboration. Proportionally to the growth in visitors from organic search, the audience from other free channels, such as referral and direct traffic, also increased.

We set low forecast targets because the U.S. market is very stable and densely populated with various offers. In part, we were “helpers” in the unfortunate situation caused by the spread of Covid-19. During this time, e-commerce projects were able to thrive. To achieve this, it was necessary to plan the strategy correctly. And we did that.

The year of collaboration was quite challenging, as we had to work under the uncertain conditions of the pandemic. However, we were able to fix many minor technical issues, continue creating unique high-quality content, and improve other processes.

As a result, the number of purchases increased in line with the growth in site visitors. Thanks to the successful work of our SEO specialists, the cost per visitor from search decreased fivefold, and the client became a leader in online furniture sales in the United States.

Now, we are on the same page with the client, but their goals have shifted. The current task is to increase traffic to half a million per month from organic search, and our team continues to work diligently on this.