Promotion of the Bosch and Siemens home appliances website to the top 3

Author: Andrey Korchik

Optimizer

Reviewer: Oleg Gavryliuk

Head of SEO

2022-03-21

For the teaser image:

• 42% of searches in the top 3 Google
• 11+ semantic categories in progress
• 74% of requests in the top 10

Customer

An online store specializing in the sale of certified Bosch and Siemens household appliances in Ukraine. One of the largest dealers of these manufacturers, with about 1000 products in more than 50 categories.

Our task

Growth of targeted search traffic in priority areas: refrigerators, ovens, dishwashers, and others.

Initial data, project features

• Region: Ukraine, Kyiv
• Priority search engine: Google
• Online store platform: 1C-Bitrix
• Start of work: July 8, 2019

For some categories of goods, the seasonal factor is important: for example, refrigerators are bought much less frequently in winter.

Previously, two similar client domains with a similar range of products were incorrectly “glued” to the site, which caused problems with page relevance

Niche and competitor analysis

At the top of Google search results, different types of sites are ranked:

1. Online stores selling Bosch and Siemens equipment;
2. Top online stores with a huge range of products, including Bosch and Siemens household appliances: Rozetka, Comfy, Foxtrot, Eldorado, and others;
3. price aggregators working for price comparison: hotline.ua, ek.ua, price.ua;
4. other trading platforms: Prom.ua, Olx.ua, etc.

It makes no sense to compete with top online stores or price comparison sites. The main task is to be better than those sites that belong to the first type, that is, those that sell only Bosch and Siemens equipment.

Below is comparative data on the analysis of competitors. To compare the indicators, we nevertheless included several top online stores in the tables so that you can see the huge difference between different types of sites. One of the competitors at the top is the official website of Bosch household appliances in Ukraine.

Comparison of competitors according to Serpstat

Competitor Comparison According to Ahrefs

For the main competitors, we analyzed the main types of landing pages, identifying pages that can be entry points to the site.

Semantic core and content plan

At the start of the work, our specialists collected a semantic core of 290 key queries for 10 main groups, after which they made a content plan for writing texts for priority pages.

In the future, we expanded the semantic core for filtering pages, having worked through 200 filtering groups.

Internal optimization

After accepting the project for work, our specialists conducted an audit of the site and drew up technical specifications for the implementation of changes.

As part of the tasks of internal optimization, we carried out the following work:

• Implemented title and description meta tag templates for various types of pages: categories, filtering, products;
• Optimized title and description meta tags, titles for priority pages;
• Eliminated the formation of duplicates, where necessary — set up 301 redirects. The main page was previously available at different addresses. Filter pages like:*/filter/clear/apply/ formed duplicate category pages. Product cards were generated incorrectly — the same product had different URLs;
• Stopped indexing pages with GET parameters (example: /blendery-bosch/?SHOWALL_1=0&action=ADD2BASKET&id=), pagination (example: /blendery-bosch/?PAGEN_2=2&action=SUBSCRIBE_PRODUCT&id=585) to avoid indexing junk pages;
• Fixed errors in robots.txt files and added necessary directives. CSS, js files were blocked in robots, because of which the Google bot could not access the files. As a result, the error “The page is not optimized for mobile devices” occurred. After the implementation of the edits, the problem disappeared;
• Created a new sitemap.xml because the old sitemap was not updated and contained outdated URLs;
• Increased site loading speed from low to medium. Programmers have postponed the loading of style files, scripts, changed the caching time of static files, reduced the size of images, etc. For higher rates, a move to a fast dedicated server was required, since TTFB rates are quite high;
• Added micro-markup for products https://schema.org/Product, for categories implemented https://schema.org/FAQPage, which resulted in an attractive snippet in Google search results;
• Implemented layout changes in the mobile version: in particular, the Facebook Messenger button previously interfered with further ordering — category names were incorrectly superimposed on images, and content wider than the screen was published on several pages;
• Installed and configured a new module for filtering pages: earlier filtering pages were generated using JavaScript and it was not possible to set a unique CNC, URL, H1, Title, Description, text. And the elaboration of filtering gave an additional point of traffic growth for the online store;
• At the same time, we worked on the Ukrainian version of the site, which was initially closed from indexing. After translating all content into Ukrainian, we added hreflang attributes for all pages to correctly indicate several versions of pages in different languages, and then opened the Ukrainian version of the site for indexing.

To increase the clickability of a page snippet in Google search results, our specialists periodically work to improve meta tags by adding emoji and special characters to the Title and Description, as well as introducing other improvements.

We also constantly monitor errors in the Search Console and implement changes if necessary.

Since the client’s site competes in search results with top online stores, we needed to work on internal optimization as much as possible to at least not be worse than competitors.

Our optimizers reviewed the client’s site according to an internal checklist compiled after analyzing the instructions for Google assessors, creating the appropriate terms of reference so that the site meets all the requirements of a quality site as much as possible. Since the online store falls under the concepts of Google YMYL and E‑AT, the list of edits turned out to be quite extensive.

Our managers agreed with the client on a detailed study of product and category cards, as well as important pages “About the company”, “Contacts”, price tracking functionality, and adding a page with reviews about the company.

Works on external optimization

The project had unnatural dynamics in the number of referring domains. So, in late 2018 — early 2019, the site received a link explosion. Our optimizers reviewed all links and rejected low-quality donors through the Disavow service.

After analyzing external links, we found some links that looked like rental links from Sape. After several attempts to find out how such links appeared, it turned out that one of the company’s employees additionally purchased links automatically through SeoHammer (the same Sape). At the request of our specialists, the client’s employee stopped using this tool (we can see a drop in the chart).

For broken external links, we set up 301 redirects to the most relevant pages.

Recall that due to incorrect domain gluing, there were problems with the relevance of pages, so we compiled a new redirect map for links from two previously “glued” domains, after which, after some time, the correct landing pages began to rank in Google according to our priority queries.

Our specialists are constantly working to obtain new high-quality links to the site:

• Posting on forums;
• Purchasing links from articles;
• Posting press releases to increase company visibility, primarily on trust news sites.

PS The actual number of referring donors differs markedly from that shown by Ahrefs.

Working with Google. My business"

(example of statistics for one of the GMB cards)

Our optimizers have carried out work on optimizing cards for more than 10 addresses in Google. My business":

• Optimized card names;
• Added the necessary information in different sections;
• Uploaded photos;
• Purchased reviews;
• Posted thematically.

Results achieved

In less than 1 year, we have deduced:

• In the top 10 — 74% of requests;
• Top 5 — 62% of requests;
• Top 3 — 42% of requests.

Having reached the top positions, we managed to increase targeted traffic to priority pages, according to the goals of the project.

Graph of the growth in the percentage of the output of key queries in the top Google:

Below we give several examples of the dynamics of positions by groups of requests throughout the entire period of work on the project:

According to the serpstat.com service, the visibility of the project over the past year has increased from 4.74 to 5.58 (the maximum values ​​of 6.43 were shown in December 2019 — January 2020, after which the visibility decreased slightly):

The total number of keywords ranked in the top 100 of Google has increased significantly over the past year — from 52342 to 104808 (it has become 2 times more). The maximum value of CF was recorded on January 20, 2020 — 113550:

What’s next?

• We are planning further approval and implementation of amendments based on the instructions for Google assessors;
• Our optimizers continue to work on the semantic core for filtering pages with subsequent optimization of landing pages. As requests from priority areas reach the top, it is possible to review priorities with the client and accept new areas for promotion;
• We do not stop working on getting quality links to the pages of the site.

Customer Feedback:

— Only positive emotions from cooperation — both from the results and from the work. Katya is a great fellow, very loyal to the client, and always keeps her finger on the pulse. Aweb, as a company, and Katya, as the face of the company for the client, are the best of those with whom we have worked.

Project participants:

• Project Manager: Ekaterina Timoshenko
• Optimizer: Andrey Korchik
• Reference: Evgeny Fedchenko
• Programmer: Vladislav Zagumenny
• Content manager: Evgeny Karpenko