SEO for an online store in Crimea: +91.5% of visitors and Top 1 in search, despite sanctions

How to effectively promote a grocery delivery service and a chain of stores in the face of sanctions and a changing flow of tourists? We share our experience of how marketing tasks were solved for two client sites: numbers, analytics and results + recommendations for colleagues.

About the client: one of the largest chains of grocery stores in Crimea

- 160+ retail outlets, where up to 200 thousand residents and guests of the peninsula buy daily, more than 8,000 products in stock.

- There is an option for home delivery of products, for which a second website was created. SEO work was divided into two areas:

1. Promotion of an online store website (delivery) - to increase organic traffic and attract the target audience.

2. Promotion of the main website of the network - to increase brand awareness (image goals).

For years, our team has been solving SEO problems for sites of various sizes: from construction companies to online stores. We immediately identified several typical problems:

• Lack of semantic core;
• Problems with page indexing;
• Difficulties with usability (interface for users).

After the audit, we identified all the weaknesses and drew up a work plan to improve the performance of both sites.

Direction No. 1. Search engine optimization of an online store

Starting numbers:

At the time of the start of work, the site had 10,153 search visits per month (excluding search robots). The share of new visitors from search was 84.3%.

What were you working on?

The work was carried out according to the standard algorithm:

• Errors in the site code have been fixed;
• Page indexing has been set up, the site map has been updated;
• A semantic core has been compiled;
• Optimized meta tags and titles of all pages;
• We have published unique LSI texts and continue to work on new content;
• Usability errors have been fixed - now users can navigate the site more easily.

Results for the online store:

1. After 6 months of work, site traffic from organic search results for July amounted to 18,094 unique visits per month (data excluding search bots), which is 78% more than at the start.

Organic traffic increased from 10,153 to 18,094 visits per month, which expanded the audience by 43%.

2. The share of new visitors from search was 90.1% as of July.

3. Working with semantics:

Over the past 6 months, the site’s position on requests for food delivery has improved:

• “Butter Milkman” - from 75th to 5th position;
• “Croissants with chocolate cream” - from 88th to 7th;
• “Cheese Valley of Legends Crimean” - from 19th to 8th;
• “Kubanochka Cookies” - from 17th to 8th.

Difficulties due to the political situation:

• Checking Google rankings was unavailable due to sanctions;
• It is impossible to upload product feeds to Google, so Yandex services were prioritized to assess the dynamics of site indicators.

There are other competitors in Crimea in the food delivery industry. At the start, they occupied top positions, but we decided to focus on semantics for cities where delivery is available.

We focused on mid-frequency key queries, which allowed us to bring the site to the first positions for 14+ keys, increasing visibility.

What else has been improved?

• Mobile traffic indicators increased, the number of visits from smartphones increased from 37,651 to 54,029;
• The time on site also increased slightly: from 6:40 to 6:47;
• The site's purchasing power on mobile devices increased from 1,196 to 1,646 purchases;
• The failure rate decreased from 16.4% to 14% - which is optimal for an online store.

Direction No. 2. SEO for the main website of the network

The goal was to increase brand awareness. Initial data:

At the start of work, the site had 4,833 search visits per month (excluding search robots). The share of new visitors from search was 99%, since previously there was no analytics system.

What work was done?

• Configured page indexing, SSL certificate, redirects;
• Added and configured sitemap (sitemap.xml);
• Fixed errors with codes 400 and 500;
• Technical errors in the site code have been eliminated;
• A semantic core has been compiled from current key queries;
• Optimized meta tags and titles;
• Unique LSI texts were created and posted;
• Improved site usability.

Results for the main site of the network:

1. After 6 months of operation (as of July of the year), the site received 22,550 visits per month from search (organic without bots), which is 78% more than at the start (4,833 visits).

2. The share of new visitors from search was 91.5% in July.

3. Based on the results of working with semantics, the site was placed in the top 1 for brand queries.

Regular analytics and strategy adjustments allowed us to achieve significant results. We continue to cooperate with the client and work on new goals.

Want to improve your website's performance with SEO? Write to the SEO studio "SEO COMPUTER" with any question by email info@seo.computer.

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