How our SEO tactics improved our E-commerce client's online presence and increased traffic by 242%

Britannia Cues

How our search engine optimisation tactics improved our E-commerce client’s online presence and increased traffic by 242%. By staying updated on SEO best practices, adapting to current SEO trends, and monitoring search engine rankings, we were able to highlight the essential SEO ranking factors for achieving online visibility and success.

Britannia Cues sells pool and snooker cues online in the UK and has a showroom in Coventry.

“As a business, we recognised that we had one of the best products on the market regarding professional pool cues, the woods used, quality of manufacturing, precision engineering. When the cues went into the hands of professionals, they were astounded by the quality (and the price). Unfortunately, the pool cue market is dominated by mass producers of high volume, cheap cues, we wanted to differentiate ourselves but also feature higher organically for our products, for those who are searching for professional-quality cues,” said Matthew Drage, Director, GD Sports and Leisure Ltd. (parent company of Britannia Cues).

BEFORE THE SEO PROJECT: Unoptimised meta titles and descriptions held back online visibility

The meta titles and descriptions were set by default by the CMS, which meant they exceeded the character limits and didn’t include any keywords. Also, nothing was enticing customers to click through on the SERP listing from a CRO standpoint. Here’s an example for a product page:

Meta Title = Falcon Champion | Britannia Cues

Meta Description: The Britannia Champion Falcon is a full-size 57” (145 cm), ¾-jointed cue made from quality seasoned North American graded ash and a hand-spliced ros…

Category pages and product pages also lacked keywords and clarity in their titles. For example:

Category Page Title = Pro Range

Product Page Title = Britannia 3/4 Break

“We wanted to organically feature on the first page of Google for key search terms, e.g., ‘professional pool cue,’ and integrate with Google Merchant Services to enable our products to be found more easily,” Matt Drage said.

AFTER THE SEO PROJECT: Strategic keyword research and integration and enhanced meta descriptions improved search rankings

We added keywords to the meta titles and descriptions and reduced the length of the meta description. We wanted keywords that helped clarify what type of cues each category and product was so users could better navigate those options. And, of course, those keywords would also help attract more traffic.

For the above example, we added the keywords ‘Snooker Cue’ to the meta title and description. We reduced the length to less than 150 characters, added the brand name and made it easier to read. Here’s the new meta title and description:

Meta Title: Falcon Champion Snooker Cue

Meta Description: The Falcon Champion Snooker Cue, North American graded ash, and a hand-spliced rosewood butt from Britannia Cues.

Here’s how that looked on the search engine results page – 

We also added keywords to category and product page titles to clarify what the cues in that range are made for. The above examples were changed to:

Category Page After = Pro Range English Pool

Product after = Britannia ¾ Break English Pool Cue

The meta description was one way we tried to improve the perceived value of their products. We removed the number metrics from the previous meta description (e.g., ‘145cm’). We focused more on details which bring a joyful, luxurious experience while using the cue, the premium materials and the beautiful detail of a hand-spliced cue butt.

“We tried to focus on ‘the sizzle, not the steak’, as Simon Squibb would say,” remarked Mike McDonnell, Director of Glide Marketing.

“Instead of stating specific product information, we wanted to focus on the experience. This is drawing inspiration from one of Apple’s marketing techniques I like. When they launched the first iPod in 2001, rather than Steve Jobs saying, ‘It has a 5 GB Hard Drive,’ he highlighted its ability to store 1,000 songs in your pocket. “

MORE SEO TACTICS

• Set up Google Analytics
• Set up Google Search Console
• Connected Google Analytics to Google Search Console
• Added ‘trust’ pages (About Us, Contact, Privacy Policy, Returns/Refund Policy, and TOS).
• Obtained a list of 40-50 relevant keywords to target for improved SEO performance.
• Conducted keyword research for Britannia products to understand monthly search volume.
• Researched ranking difficulties for those keywords using Mangools and targeted the easiest first for quick wins
• Picked a focus keyword for each page and added this in WordPress, then targeted the content to that focus keyword
• Aligned content with search intent to better meet user needs and improve rankings.
• Added links to any categories the product exists in
• Implemented technical SEO best practices to improve website speed and performance.
• Used alt text for all the images to help with accessibility (alt text wasn’t on any images)
• Ensured the website was optimized for mobile devices to capture growing traffic.
• Created an XML sitemap and submitted it to Google Search Console (GSC) to ensure proper indexing by search engines.
• Created a robots.txt file
• Set up Google Merchant Center and connected it to Google Shopping using API.
• Added the website to these directories:
  • Bing Places for Business (bingplaces.com)
  • Apple Maps Business Connect (businessconnect.apple.com)
  • Web Wiki UK (WebWiki.co.uk)
  • Web Wiki US (WebWiki.com)
  • Foursquare (foursquare.com)
  • MapQuest (mapquest.com)
  • Hotfrog (hotfrog.co.uk)
  • Cylex (cylex-uk.co.uk)
  • Brownbook (brownbook.net)
  • ShowMeLocal (uk.showmelocal.com)

RESULTS: Organic traffic surged by 242%, leading to a 30% increase in direct sales

The SEO project led to a 242% surge in organic traffic, resulting in a 30% increase in direct sales.

• ‘pro pool cue’, the site moved up two positions in search engine rankings to #1
• ‘small tipped cue’, moved up two positions to #3
• ‘professional pool cue’, moved up 32 to #3
• ‘English pool cue’, moved up 50 positions to #4
• ‘British pool cues’, moved up 34 positions to #4
• ‘English pool cues’, moved up 48 positions to #6
• ‘pro snooker cue’, moved up 91 positions to #10

We started this project on February 21, 2024. Up to that point, the niche site had received 221 visits. Thanks to the SEO improvements, the website now receives 1,101 visits, a 242% increase. This has led to a 30% increase in direct website sales.

“Our customers are finding us online much easier. We have seen an increase in web traffic and a 30% increase in direct web sales. Also, we’ve seen an increase in footfall in our Coventry showroom, which is pleasing and has increased the accessibility of our customers.” Drage said.

“We will be applying what we learn to other related websites within the GD Sports and Leisure family, for example, SAM Leisure, which is currently undergoing a complete overhaul.”