Force Fitness SEO
Welcome to chapter 2 of our Force Fitness case study, where we show how getting SEO right for a new online brand is key so it can gain traction and get in front of potential customers.
Hitting The Ground Running
Starting a brand new site with strong SEO foundations in place is imperative, so we started by ensuring all on-site and technical SEO was in order on the new Shopify site prior to launch. This gave us solid ground for implementing our ongoing SEO strategy post-launch.
For example, using structured data on the site we ensured that we gave Google all of the ‘clues’ about the meaning of the pages to enable it to classify the information, making it more likely to be presented to people searching for the type of content or products that Force can offer.
As the Force Fitness site is relatively small in terms of pages, we knew it would be important to create high-quality, industry-relevant content to help with SEO ranking and ensure the meta-data and on-site optimisation was complete before launch. In addition to this, our research showed that many of the major search terms in the weighted vest space were dominated in the search engine results pages (SERPs) by informational content, as opposed to ecommerce content.
A key strand to the SEO strategy was that we began to acquire backlinks to the site as quickly as possible. Google measures authority of sites and pages using many metrics, one of which is backlinks. The rationale Google uses is that websites with lots of relevant, quality backlinks are probably important and popular which leads Google to place more trust in their content and ultimately rank them more highly.
Through market research and competitor analysis, we were able to understand the kind of sites and contacts it made sense to establish relationships with. This, combined with extensive keyword research, informed the creation of content that would perform well and earn links for the brand (such as workout guides, product round-ups, reviews, listicles).
The acquisition of backlinks for Force Fitness is ongoing, but we would attribute the site’s SEO growth and performance to date to the links acquired, as well as the high quality keyword-based content that has been published onsite.
Content Seeding enabled Force to reach and get in front of new audiences. This is the process of distributing brand content across various platforms, for example by partnering with influencers to gain access to their followers. We successfully used this tactic to nurture relationships with other parties and help grow awareness of the new brand.
SEO Performance And Results So Far
This Google Search Console graph shows the organic impressions for the site. (An impression represents a site being seen by a user in the search engines results.) As the site began to rank and become more visible in the organic space, the number of impressions has steadily increased.
This Google Analytics graph shows the organic sessions to the Force website since the site launched. There has been a steady increase in traffic, an encouraging trend which has continued as the site gathers pace in gaining authority.
The brand term ‘Force Fitness’ now ranks position 1 organically which is a great achievement for such a new company.
Other SEO Activity
There are many onsite and offsite elements that form the pillars of Force’s SEO strategy and contribute to its success. Here are some of the other tactics we deployed for Force Fitness to ensure continued SEO growth:
The use of tracking tools including Google Analytics and Search Console, plus keyword tracking tools such as Semrush and Ahrefs. This enables us to report back on the success of the activity as well as helping to define next steps.
The creation of the ‘Google My Business’ listing for Force was key for increasing visibility. It has the double benefit of claiming more real estate on the results pages, as well as gaining insights into how customers search for the business, and where those customers are coming from.
Read more about how our ecommerce services helped Force Fitness make gains in the market before the brand even launched:
Chapter 1: Branding and Creative
Chapter 2: SEO Strategy
Chapter 3: Pay Per Click Advertising
Chapter 4: Organic Social Media Management
Chapter 5: Paid Social Media Management
Chapter 6: Email Marketing