Today we bring you a new case study we love: the Brico Dêpot SEO Case Study. An organic increase of up to 120% in 3 months after migrating and launching the new website. The challenge was huge. Brico Dêpot is a kind of online hardware store, but with many more aisles than a conventional one. We're talking about up to 1,200 categories and subcategories.
Imagine. A customer walks into your store. Let's say a traditional hardware shop, and asks the clerk.
This could be an everyday scene in any big-box store. The extra twist is that with online searches the customer often stays right there at "screws" or "garden" without specifying anything else. Also, in online shopping there's no clerk walking you through the aisles and putting you face to face with the box of screws you were looking for or the roll of artificial turf for the garden.
In online shopping that starts on Google, the user begins with a search. After that search, Google first shows a variety of options and results, ours and our competitors'. Then, inside our own store, the user also has several paths to travel before finding what they're looking for.
1. Designing and launching the new site structure
That was the first challenge. Making sure the matching between user searches and the 1,200+ categories and subcategories on the site was as precise as possible. We weren't starting from scratch, because there was already a previous site structure in place.
The mission involved several tasks:
2. Post-launch: initial performance analysis and improvements
After the first weeks following the launch of the new site, we dove into the performance data provided by Google Search Console to analyse and spot the points where we could still improve even further.
The exact form and way we do this is part of our know how and is reserved for our clients, who, after all, are the ones we owe our work to and who provide us the means to reach those goals. A word to the wise is enough.
Let's go back to the hardware-store customer.
And this way, by spotting opportunities to better help the consumers and users landing on the site, we were able to maximize growth during the weeks after launch.
Key SEO performance factors in the Brico Dêpot Case Study
The initial screenshots of the spectacular jump in organic traffic are the outcome. But what are the levers of change that got us there?
CTR and average position. These act like a two-pedal bike climbing a hill. CTR rises because average position rises. And average position rises because CTR rises. It's hard to say precisely which pedal kicks off first. Like the question "which came first, the chicken or the egg?". No matter which pedal acts first, the truth is it creates a "snowball" effect, it sets in motion a mechanism that doesn't stop unless what users find when they click is unsatisfying. Put another way, unless what users find when they click doesn't satisfy the search intent.
Co-CEO and Head of SEO at iSocialWeb, an agency specialized in SEO, SEM and CRO that manages over 350M organic visits a year with a 100% decentralized infrastructure.
Also behind Virality Media, a company of owned projects with more than 150 million active monthly visits spread across different sectors and industries.
Systems engineer by training and SEO by vocation. Tireless learner, AI fan and prompt dreamer.