Can an e-commerce web site release in 2019 and receive organic search visitors without inbound links? Most search optimizers consider it’s not viable. I used to think the identical. But I keep seeing proof to the contrary.
Google lately launched “search engine marketing Mythbusting,” a YouTube collection. In the first two installments, Google employees downplayed the importance of constructing hyperlinks to a site. However, web sites that perform properly in search generally have robust back link profiles. So how does a brand new business compete?
I even have some appropriate news.
Last yr, in “search engine marketing: How to Win against Giant Competitors,” I shared the captivating tale of Fashion Nova, a retailer for girls that launched its e-commerce website in 2013. By 2018, it had higher organic search rankings than many well-known manufacturers, no matter a miles weaker oneway link profile. What it did have, however, was a robust demand for its brand name, as evidenced with the aid of Google Trends. I cautioned within the piece that emblem searches will be a high-quality proxy for the recognition of the website online.
I wrote, “Put your self in Google’s function. Imagine seeing a large search demand for a domain with far fewer hyperlinks than further searched competition. It makes feel to rank the consequences to fulfill searchers’ expectations in preference to relying on ancient one-way links.”
In this submit, I’ll describe Shapermint, another new, pretty-ranked e-commerce company with few oneway links. The business enterprise, which sells woman shapewear, launched in 2018. According to a submit on Reuters, the company recorded $50 million in sales in only 9 months!
Traffic Sources
I commonly use SimilarWeb to apprehend what channels force traffic to a website.
For Shapermint, the primary site visitors drivers are social media websites, followed with the aid of direct visits, after which search. Within the social channel, Facebook accounts for most visitors; YouTube is second.
The bulk of natural search visitors is from queries on the emblem name, Shapermint. This is steady with the Google Trends chart.
So, it seems Shapermint is efficiently branding its site on Facebook, which is outwardly driving a big quantity of searches for the agency name on Google. But, what type of content drives branding and viral growth? Let’s take a look at the website and social media debts.
Compelling Content
Shapermint constructed a network of more than 1 thousands and thousands of customers in much less than a year and also secured write-u.S.With pinnacle publications. The organization has a compelling advertising and marketing message and coordinated public family members.
On Instagram, Shapermint released a viral campaign under the hashtag #ThisIsMyTruth, which resonated with many ladies. Instead of showcasing pics of beautiful fashions, Shapermint encourages its target market to share pics with out the use of shapewear.
The company’s message — there shouldn’t be a need for our products — is unique and is sincerely running.
Shapermint’s ads on Facebook and Instagram use the identical #ThisIsMyTruth hashtag. And the commercials use actual human beings — no longer models. Thus the organization encourages ladies to accept their our bodies at the same time as implicitly encouraging them to purchase shapewear.
Fashion Nova and Shapermint share two major marketing tactics. First, they attention on a slim ignored demographic. Second, they depend on social media to unfold the message.
How does it translate to organic seek rankings? According to Ahrefs, Shapermint has just 371 linking domain names. But it ranks for an impressive 17,600 keywords — in much less than 365 days.
