Daniken sells sports equipment, including martial art accessories for amateurs and professionals. Their website was new, and required some major SEO improvements simply because it didn’t drive much free traffic. In August 2018 – a month before we started working on Daniken online store – there were 2,031 visitors coming from organic search.
Researching and selecting the right keywords to later use them on the website proved to be the key to success – again! All the elements the SEO strategy for Daniken was composed of clicked perfectly: it took us just 3 months to drive more free traffic to the client’s website.
Milena Fietko
SEO Strategy Manager
On-Site Strategy
Modifying URLs
We started implementing our customized strategy for Daniken in September. First, we focused on the addresses.
Why we did it
The structure of URLs should be made readable for the users and Google bots. This can be done by removing insignificant numbers and other irrelevant characters from the string.
It was easy to see that the URLs were generated automatically. They were far from being SEO-friendly as they featured capital letters – a big NO from Google – and some irrelevant numbers – these were probably product identifiers. Additionally, since none of the addresses had keywords, they failed to fulfill one of their primary roles – indicating the main topic of a particular page. On top of that, some URLs featured special characters – another big NO from Google. We had to fix all of that.
Here is a list of 8 exemplary URLs before introducing changes:
Later, we set 301 redirects to all of the new URLs. This way we made sure each internet user and Google bot would be pointed to the right page.
Fixing Title Tags & Meta Descriptions
It’s tough to increase the click-through rate with non-optimized meta descriptions and title tags. That’s why we decided to work on those two elements next.
Why we did it
Titles and meta descriptions are usually the very first two elements that internet users come across when looking for a particular product or service on the net. When well-written and enticing, these two elements have the power to attract more customers to the website, and shoot up the click-through rate.
Page titles appeared to be another element generated automatically by Shoper. To create them, the CMS used the product names. As a result, the page titles not only included capital letters but also they weren’t enticing for the searchers. On top of that, meta descriptions were also generated by the CMS, meaning their traffic-increasing potential wasn’t exploited.
We divided this task, which is fixing the meta descriptions and title tags, into two stages.
FIRST STAGE: Using Global Settings for Metadata
Since Daniken’s website was pretty large, we handled the issue of non-optimized title tags and meta descriptions by implementing global settings.
This is how the results used to be displayed on Google:
This is how the results were displayed on Google after introducing the global settings:
We didn’t wait long to notice the positive outcomes. Changing the URLs and metadata made many keyword positions stronger. Take the phrase adidas adi kick as an example – this keyword made it to the top 1. It gets even more impressive after realizing that this phrase was out of the index at the time we started working on Daniken’s website.
Here is yet another example – nike hyper ko. This keyword moved from the 8th to 3rd position
SECOND STAGE: Modifying Metadata Manually
Although most of the title tags and meta descriptions looked okay, some of them had to be modified manually to use their full potential.
The analytical data shown in Google Search Console helped us identify the intents of Daniken’s customers. We used that insight to tweak some of the title tags and meta descriptions in order to make them more enticing for the searchers.
Here is an exemplary modification:
#1
Before
Title tag: KARATE-GI | Daniken sports store
Mata description: We present the list of products from the KARATE-GI / KIMONOS / CLOTHING category. Feel invited to shop online and visit the Daniken store in Kraków.
After
Title tag: Karate-gi: Durable outfits for different styles of karate | Daniken sports store
Meta description: High-quality fabric extends the wearability and relishes freedom of movement. Karate-gi that will easily suit your body.
As a result, the phrase karate-gi crawled up from the 22nd to 5th position
#2
Before
Title tag: GEL GLOVES | Daniken sports store
Mata description: We present the list of products from the GEL GLOVES / BANDAGE /ACCESSORIES category. Feel invited to shop online and visit the Daniken store in Kraków.
After
Title tag: Gel gloves: Adaptable, hand-fitting | Daniken sports store
Meta description: Martial arts protection. Gel gloves for boxing and other contact sports. A great alternative for tapes and bandages for secured wrists.
As a result, the phrase gel gloves moved up from the 22nd to 8th position
Optimizing the Homepage
When the metadata was handled, we moved on to the next stage of our SEO strategy – the main page optimization. From what we noticed, this process had to be divided into several steps.
Why we did it
The better optimized the homepage is, the more conversion it’s able to generate. Additionally, its rank affects the scoring given by Google bots to the remaining pages.
Working on the main page appeared to be a multi-step process. Here is a brief summary of the changes we implemented to help the client’s website improve its ranks:
STEP 1Publish more content on the homepage. Our copywriting team created more content for Daniken, saturating it with the target keywords. Later, when the texts were added to the homepage, we used them to improve internal linking. We did it by inserting anchor links that took the viewers to the best-selling products.
Here is a fragment of the content created and published on Daniken homepage:
STEP 2Create heading hierarchy. By adding H1 and H2 headers, we established a relationship between various pieces of information published on the homepage.
STEP 3Add nofollow links to the external pages. We used this attribute both for social media and Instagram feed. This way the links on Daniken didn’t pass equity to other websites.
STEP 4Remove 404 Not Found errors. Banners led to non-existent pages, thus displaying 404 errors whenever a user clicked on those elements. We replaced the broken links with URLs pointing to working pages.
STEP 5Add alt text to the logo on the homepage. This element is indexed by crawlers, so instead of leaving it empty, we filled it with: DANIKEN – martial arts equipment store.
STEP 6Change the unfriendly URLs. The brand logos led to non-optimized addresses. We made them more SEO-friendly.
STEP 7Add alt attribute to the brand logos. We provided the text equivalent for the logos of brands selling their products via our client’s website.
Did all the effort pay off? Sure, it did! Many target and branded keywords leading to the client’s homepage strengthened their positions.
For example, martial arts store got to the top 1 in search results
Another keyword – karate store – made it from the 8th to 2nd position
Adding Headings & Creating More Content for Category Pages
When the homepage was optimized for search engines, we could move on and work on the category pages.
Why we did it
Apart from improving UX, category pages have the potential to drive organic traffic to a website. Since most internet users don’t search for specific product names or identifiers, the content published on category pages should be relatively broad, yet concise, to match the broader searchers.
Our audit revealed that the texts published on category pages didn’t feature basic keywords. We saw it as a wasted potential, and therefore we created more keyword-rich content to attract more visitors. This way, we increased the chances that people looking for unspecified martial art equipment would visit the Daniken website.
Together with the informative content, we added headings for better readability. Below an example of the category page content added for increased organic traffic and better UX:
Adding keyword-rich content to the category pages had another advantage – stronger keyword positions. Here are three examples of that:
Keyword #1 punch ball moved from the 65th to 10th position
Keyword #2 groin protectors moved from the 49th to 6th position
Keyword #3 boxing helmets moved from the 52th to 11th position
Using Broad Match for Product Pages
As we were implementing the above changes, we were also running a broad keyword match process for product pages.
Why we did it
A broad keyword match depends on displaying the ads for queries that revolve around a particular phrase. As keywords used for the broad match aren’t very targeted, using this approach helps reach a wide audience.
We were optimizing the product pages using both the data shown in Google Search Console and the results of our thorough keyword analysis. When fully-optimized, we strengthened the product pages’ ranks by the off-site process.
Again, our strategy proved to be effective – and it took us only two days to make target keywords move up in SERP. Below two examples:
Keyword #1 yokkao fight team moved from the 24th to 7th position
Keyword #2 men nylon tracksuit moved from the 45th to the 22nd position
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