Today, we are sharing a case study of the promotion of an online store that supplies equipment for HoReCa – why it became successful and what work was done to achieve it.
Basic information
- Niche: equipment for HoReCa, B2B;
- Geo: all of Ukraine;
- Cooperation period: 12 months;
- AG.Marketing services: SEO strategy development, SEO promotion, technical support.
What did the client need?
We received a request for promotion from an online store selling equipment for restaurants, cafes, hotels, and bakeries. The client contacted us with a typical problem:
- most of the sales were made through managers and offline;
- the site existed as an additional source, sold unstably, did not bring a tangible flow of leads;
- positions in search engines were at the level of 3-5 pages of results.
At the same time, the market was very competitive: large players with long-term websites and active advertising, as well as marketplaces (Prom, Rozetka) were taking almost all the demand.
Project goals
Our team set a goal: to transform the site from just an additional resource into an effective, long-term channel for attracting customers.
- Maximize organic traffic
- Bring queries in priority areas to the TOP 3-5-10
- Capture appropriate share of the market
- Increase the profitability of organic traffic for the online store
Work with such goals always begins with researching the market and its players, the state of the site, and planning work – all this includes the service of forming an SEO strategy.
Stages of work and what we did
We started with an SEO promotion strategy. It allows you to identify key commercial competitors, their activity in organic promotion, and draw up a work plan that would allow you to catch up and surpass their results.
SEO promotion strategy
The strategy includes the following elements:
- semantics for website optimization;
- structure recommendations;
- analysis of market leaders;
- competitors’ traffic;
- competitor optimization methods;
- external links and analysis of competitors’ domains;
- seasonality schedule;
- traffic forecasting (based on existing data);
- SEO audit;
- analysis of demand dynamics;
- traffic forecast for priority areas.
Based on the collected data, we move on to planning the project work. They should include internal and external work, distributed over a comprehensive monthly plan.
Work plan for project promotion
The work plan is created in such a way that the client can choose a comfortable option and budget the costs of website optimization for the future. The work plan includes:
- How many pages need to be optimized for search query groups.
- How many lost targeted queries we have that could and should bring traffic.
- How many links and what quality of links we need to get for these pages.
- What technical work needs to be done on the site.
- What work needs to be done on external promotion.
IMPORTANT!
The client got acquainted with the work strategy and chose a minimum promotion plan, which was designed for a period of more than 12 months. Therefore, achieving the desired results from the strategy required a period of at least 12 months or more.
Works with the structure and content
A logical website structure and useful, unique content are one of the basic foundations of high-quality SEO. Here’s what we did in this area for the client:
- Developed a category structure to expand priorities and other areas. Including brands and priority filters.
- We created new categories and filters according to the lost semantics and filled them with products. We optimized the content.
- We wrote unique texts for priority categories.
- We analyzed product searches, determined the frequency, and optimized the content according to priority.
- We added product tips and FAQs directly on the category pages.
- We customized the title and description templates for low-frequency priority filters and opened them to the index.
Over the course of our work, we have filled more than 60 categories of the site with content.
Technical works
The technical component of a website is important for both search engines and users. The site’s response speed, usability, accessibility for indexing, and other points are investigated and corrected without fail.
We conducted a mandatory technical audit with a prepared technical specification for the website developers. Some of the work was done independently, some was implemented with the help of the client. Subsequently, such an audit was conducted every 3 months.
Link building
External optimization helps search engines determine the credibility of a business in a niche. During our work, we have built more than 40 relevant backlinks from blogs, directories, and specialized forums. Such links provide both direct traffic and influence the website’s position for the most priority keywords.
What helped us achieve the desired result?
Competitor analysis at the strategy stage helped us find “underrated” queries with a lower level of competition. The breakdown of categories into small segments for long-tail queries was effective. The creation of title and description templates, as well as adaptive descriptions, helped to instantly get very targeted, low-competitive traffic to the site.
A well-chosen linking strategy from thematic resources helped to “show” Google that the site was trusted by partner sites in the niche. Periodic audits helped to solve problems at the initial stages.
Results after 12 months
| Indicator | Before | After |
| Organic traffic/day | ~70-80 | ~200-235 |
| Organic sales | ~14/month | ~44/month |
| Website visibility | 4% | 46% |
Organic traffic before the start of cooperation (Screenshot 1) was about 70-80 users per day in January 2023:
After the implementation of these works, as of December 2023, the average traffic from organic search engines per day was 200-235 users (Screenshot 2).
Results in the number of sales
We compare organic sales data with the data from the same period in 2022. Since Google Analytics has been updated, we use data from 2 analytics: Google Universal for the period from 01/21/2023 to 08/21/2023 (screenshot 3) and GA4 for the period from 08/22/2023 to 12/21/2023 (screenshot 4).
Was: ~14/month (01.01.2022 to 22.12.2022: 209 transactions)
Became: ~44/month (01.21.2023 to 08.21.2023: 185 transactions)
Total: from January 1, 2023 to December 22, 2023: 185+346 = 531 transactions.
The impact of SEO on turnover and average check
Comparison of data for similar periods before (Screenshot 5) and after the start of promotion
(Screenshot 6) shows a clear increase in sales and the impact of the work performed on the profitability of the online equipment store.
Number of transactions: +45% (186 compared to 128)
Turnover: +240.54% (UAH 2,829,896.00 compared to UAH 831,005.00)
Average check: UAH 15,000 compared to UAH 6,700 in 2022.
At the same time, the share of organic search turnover in 2023 increased from 10% to 15%
We can summarize all the data on average and derive the numbers:
- January 2022 to December 22, 2022: 209 transactions
- January 2023 to December 22, 2023: 185+346 = 531 transactions (GROWTH BY 2.5 TIMES)
Let’s calculate the turnover according to the average check:
- January 2022 to December 22, 2022: 209*6700 = 1,380,200 UAH.
- January 2023 to December 22, 2023: 531*15000 = 7,965,000 UAH (5.8 times increase)
Number of requests in the TOP-10 and visibility
Before starting to work on organic promotion of the online store, it had only 70 requests in the TOP-10 (Screenshot 7). During the year, 811 priority queries reached the TOP-10 (Screenshot 8).
The site’s visibility on Google increased from 4% to 46% (Screenshot 9).
Conclusions
Competing with commercial sites that have long occupied a niche and with well-known marketplaces is a serious challenge for a website. However, even in competitive niches, you can reach the top 10 in 12 months if you work systematically. Reaching high positions will lead to an increase in organic traffic. And work on the website itself and user experience will allow you to turn this traffic into real customers. Careful planning and segmentation of queries = rapid growth in traffic, conversions, and turnover.
