Wordans

Homepage optimization

We started the whole process as we usually do – with an SEO audit that revealed areas for improvement on the Wordans’ homepage.

Why we did it

The homepage is usually the first page that both users and Google crawlers see when entering a website. Therefore, it’s essential to optimize it properly in terms of both SEO elements and UX design to make a good first impression.

How we did it

Our team was responsible for two language versions of Wordans’ websites – German and Dutch. After analyzing the homepages for these two markets, we discovered a few areas that required our attention. We decided to implement the changes right away. This is because the sooner the homepage is SEO-optimized, the better the chance for growth.

With that in mind, we optimized H1 and H2 titles within the page, making them more keyword oriented. The same rule applied to all alt texts and bold/strong tags implemented in the page content.

An example of changes implemented in the DE website title:

From:

Großhandel: T-shirts, Bekleidung und Accessoires | Wordans Deutschland

To:

Keyword analysis & selection of relevant phrases

First things first – there is no effective SEO strategy without choosing the right keywords to work with.

Why we did it

Keywords are crucial for directing relevant traffic to the website. There’s no use in lots of users visiting your site if the content doesn’t satisfy search intent. Choosing the right keywords to make your website visible for relevant topics allows potential customers to find what they are looking for on your site.

How we did it

Our client knew the importance of keyword phrases, which made the whole process a lot easier. They provided us with the list of business-relevant keywords they’d like to optimize the website for. At the same time, we prepared a thorough analysis of keywords – analyzing not only the market keywords but also the phrases used by the competition and ones complementary to our main keywords.

Together we created a list of keywords that would be our base for all SEO activities (content, link building, optimization, etc.). The key was to differentiate the list – we included long-tail phrases showing the business potential, brand keywords, more specific ones, and phrases that tackled our website topic.

Examples of keyword categories we included in the strategy:

Title & Meta description changes

Once we had keywords to work with – we could move on to optimizing & include the phrases in the website elements.

Why we did it

Titles and meta descriptions are often the first things that can convince users to visit your website when browsing search results. We needed to make sure those elements contained the right information, and appearance to, capture the user’s attention.

How we did it

During the audit, we discovered that a lot of meta descriptions and titles required optimization. On one hand, the titles were, in most cases, too long, didn’t include the right keywords to make the website visible to the target group, or were duplicated.

Here’s an example of a title tag displayed in search results that is too long::

We prepared new title content – that met the requirements of pixel length, keyword richness, and avoided duplication.

Meta descriptions were often duplicated and a little too long.

While they don’t have a direct impact on Google ranking, meta descriptions play a big part in website CTR. For this reason, we optimized them using previously selected keywords and focussed on making them both descriptive and attractive for potential users.

Global changes in the pages titles

Whenever possible, we aim to implement global solutions on the website to make our work more efficient.

Why we did it

Optimizing each page title is one thing, the other is maintaining the coherence of the titles within the whole domain. For this purpose, we set up global settings.

How we did it

After preparing correctly constructed titles and meta descriptions, we needed to unify the form the titles would take in search results. That’s why we globally implemented one title form. Here’s how the pattern looked in the final version:

Content Development: keyword-rich descriptions for product & category pages

After technical optimization, we moved on to create web content for product and category pages!

Why we did it

Content published on product and category pages fulfills two important roles: informs users (crawlers too) about the offer (indirectly driving conversions within the store) and makes pages more visible in search results thanks to being saturated with proper keywords.

How we did it

Wordans offers a vast range of products which makes their website rich in different categories and brand pages, not to mention the number of single product pages. Such a large number of pages provides great potential for utilizing keyword-rich content.

In reality, brands and most categories on both domains (.de and .nl) were left with no descriptions, which needed to be fixed. For each page, we recommended the implementation of 300-400 words of text & prepared fitting descriptions for our client.

In the case of product pages – the situation wasn’t that bad. On both domains, the pages did contain descriptions, but the length wasn’t satisfactory and lacked SEO optimization within the content. This time, we decided to focus on expanding existing content on the most important product (business-wise) pages. All descriptions were optimized for SEO – we took care of the correct use of h2 headings, HTML tags, and internal linking.

Content Plan Tailored To the Brand

In addition to the descriptive content, we also developed the entire content approach for Wordan’s .de and .nl sites.

Why we did it

At this point we could go with the cliche – content is king. But it goes deeper. A properly composed content strategy is crucial and can be a solid pillar of the site’s SEO if aligned with the company’s communication priorities and brand context.

How we did it

Knowing the importance of a holistic content approach, we analyzed the whole website in terms of content with an extra focus on communication language, brand’s tone of voice, its personality, and competitors’ content activity.

Based on the findings, we composed a Content Plan that, apart from the above-mentioned analysis, contained:

• Blog functionality recommendations
• Blog topic suggestions
• Blog category analysis and recommendations
• Business personas
• Action plan (scheduled for content activities )
• Copywriter recommendations

An example of a part of the Content Plan:

Page Speed & Core Web Vitals oriented improvements

Last but definitely not least – our developers took a closer look at Wordans’ website technical improvements such as page loading speed and core web vitals metrics.

Why we did it

Page speed should be constantly monitored as too slow loading may scare off users and decrease the traffic. Core Web Vitals optimization, on the other hand, is a must due to Google’s algorithm changes – the better the optimization, the greater the website ranking potential.

How we did it

Our developers analyzed both domains in terms of website loading speed and key Core Web Vitals metrics, checking desktop and mobile versions of the website and analyzing all core pages (homepages, single product, category pages, etc.)

Based on the analysis, we provided the client with recommendations for improvements they could implement internally.

Quality Link Building

The first phase was our standard procedure of strengthening our client’s domain authority. We used our pre-made list of referring domains and went through it to check if Wordans’ link profile covered all positions of those link sources. The list covered:

• NAPs,
• catalogs,
• bookmarking sites,
• social media,
• and marketplaces.

These links are easy to obtain but characterize in solid link juice to build up our domain.

Later on, we continued with our link building process – we obtained high-quality backlinks, only from strong domains that would fit Wordans’ industry topics.

During the process, we were creating 29 links per month.

So what were the results of our Off-site efforts?

Sponsored articles

Along with the regular link-building activity, we prepared sponsored content pieces. This type of activity is a perfect fit once you have keywords already ranked in TOP10 with the potential to reach higher positions.

Example of sponsored content post preparation during the process:

If you’re interested in how to effectively plan your link building strategy – our Head of SEO Gosia Tarnawska has shared a solid portion of tips on our blog. Check it out: Importance of Link Building Explained

So what were the results of our Off-site efforts?

Wordans.nl parameters and link profile before cooperation:

Wordans.nl parameters and link profile after cooperation:

Wordans.de parameters and link profile before cooperation:

Wordans.de domain parameters now:

During the 6 months’ cooperation with Wordans, we achieved significant improvements in terms of traffic and visibility.

After implementing initial optimizations, we observed a 25% increase in overall website traffic and nearly 15% growth in the number of transactions on the .de site within 2 months. Similarly, the .nl website experienced an 11% increase in total site visits, along with a 43% growth in transactions.

In the case of the Dutch version of Wordan’s in just 2 months, e-commerce rate increases by 26%:

Organic Traffic

Organic traffic changes on .de and .nl domain during cooperation:

Visibility

NOTE: During the cooperation, titles, and URLs were changed by a third party – the changes implemented on different markets were automatically set up on markets we were working on (.de and .nl domains).

During the brief period, it had affected the visibility results until we requested a change to the titles prepared by our team. You’ll notice that in the screenshots below: