We receive many inquiries from potential customers regarding the positioning of online stores depending on the platform they operate on. What results can be achieved with specific e-commerce software? What is the difference between positioning a store on a specific platform and SEO on other platforms? These and other questions will be answered by collective case studies showing the visibility of e-commerce selected by us on Bat, which we have the pleasure to position.

This material is all the more valuable as you get time, budget and domain – hardly any company on the market can boast of such transparency. All the more, we thank the three companies that have decided to share the data.

Case study watch shop

SEO case study
The company with watches has been with us since October 2019, but in this case study we will show its results from a year ago and compare them with those that are currently recorded. Why? Well, it is an interesting case because the client has migrated the website over the last year and redirected it to a new domain. The example below shows that a correctly carried out migration in cooperation with an SEO specialist does not have to have a negative impact on the SEO of the website, and the power of the old domain can be redirected to the new one. The results from last October are:
TOP3 – 134 phrases,
TOP10 – 670 phrases,
TOP50 – 2479 phrases.

In October this year, the customer’s visibility is at the level of:
TOP3 – 348 phrases,
TOP10 – 1283 phrases,
TOP50 – 4325 phrases.

This means that for 12 months the number of phrases in TOP3 increased by 160% and in TOP10 by 91%. The website achieved such results despite the migration carried out in the spring. In the chart below, you can see the time at which power from the old domain was transferred.

This customer chose the Advanced package for e-commerce for $ 3,500 per month.

Case study bed shop

SEO case study
And what do the increases look like when we position the website, starting almost from scratch? Let’s show it on the example of a bed store, a website that we are positioning from September 2020. At the beginning of the cooperation, the list of top phrases included:
TOP3 – 2 phrases,
TOP10 – 2 phrases,
TOP50 – 27 phrases.

After a year of SEO, the visibility increased as follows:
TOP3 – 14 phrases,
TOP10 – 94 phrases,
TOP50 – 620 phrases.

This means an increase of 600% in the case of TOP3 and as much as 4,600% in the case of TOP10. Such results were achieved with the Advanced package for e-commerce for $ 3,500 per month. The number of phrases in the top3 may not be impressive yet, but their number in the top10 and top50 indicates that the increase in visibility will definitely skyrocket in the next year of cooperation. This is the standard time for positioning fresh online stores on a budget of this level.

Case study of a honey shop

Case Study SEO
We signed the contract with the honey store in March 2021, so we’ve been through a little over half a year of website optimization efforts. The client chose the Standard package for e-commerce for $ 2,000. When we started our cooperation, the visibility of the site was as follows:
TOP3 – 26 phrases,
TOP10 – 118 phrases,
TOP50 – 573 phrases.

Half a year of positioning brought valuable traffic to the website and significantly increased its visibility for phrases related to the industry. Currently (i.e. in October 2021) the client’s website is visible:
TOP3 – 63 phrases,
TOP10 – 255 phrases,
TOP50 – 945 phrases.

This is an increase of 142% in the case of TOP3 phrases and by 116% in TOP10.

SEO on Shoper and SEO on other platforms – what are the differences?

Shoper is usually installed on a server provided by the manufacturer, so there are very rarely any problems with performance, and this is an important aspect of evaluating Google algorithms. In addition, Shoper updates the software itself, so you do not have to introduce new versions yourself. Its downside is that the positioner can use a limited number of extensions and add-ons for Shoper, so not all changes can be easily implemented.

Platforms such as WooCommerce or PrestaShop can be freely modified. Especially WooCommerce has a huge number of functionalities, which gives a lot of room for modification. On the other hand, if we use this WordPress plugin, we have many built-in functions, some of which may be completely redundant. This slows down the performance of the page, so a lot of work needs to be done to optimize the site well and improve the page load time. PrestaShop, on the other hand, works faster and offers great configuration options. When deciding on it, however, you must remember that most of the plugins for this software are additionally paid. However, as our experience in positioning online stores shows, all these platforms – both Shoper and Woo or Presta – are well suited for SEO activities and allow you to obtain satisfactory results.

What is the bounce rate?

The bounce rate also known as bounce rate tells you what actions and behaviors Internet users take on a given page (www subpage). Bounce rate is primarily interested in what percentage of users leave the subpage without performing any action, e.g. switching to a product card, blog, to the next article. The bounce rate is calculated for both the entire site and its individual subpages. Users’ actions that are included in the bounce rate are:

– Closing the card / page / subpage as soon as you enter it,
– Clicking the back button, i.e. back to the previous page,
– Clicking on the outgoing link,
– Entering a new URL after leaving the page,
– No activity on the site for 30 minutes after turning it on.

Where to check the page bounce rate?

The bounce rate is calculated using the formula. Self-calculation is not the best of ideas, however. To get to know him, it’s best to enter Google Analytics. It will show the bounce rate in different shots, e.g. traffic sources, paid campaigns, country or Internet device type. In Google Analytics, you can check the bounce rate for the entire site, as well as the most popular landing pages.

What should the bounce rate be?

The amount of bounce rate spends sleep on both website owners and SEO specialists. One of the most common questions is when the rate is too high, how much should it be, and is the bounce rate a situation that requires intervention?

Certainly the high bounce rate is not interesting for the site. It shows that the website or subpage is not interesting, encouraging for Internet users, and most importantly, it does not find the content they were looking for. A high bounce rate is a signal that you need to look at the website and make changes to it. What bounce rate should alarm and encourage corrective action? You definitely need to work on a page if your bounce rate is 80-90% for all sites or key subpages.

So what should be the correct bounce rate? There is no universal answer here. A different result will be a success for each site. Help in determining whether it falls in the “range”: may be the results published by Google, and telling about the average value of bounce rate for individual industries.

However, it is worth remembering that the bounce rate cannot be minimized to zero (if the bounce rate is actually around 0%, it is worth checking if the Google Analytics installation is not incorrect). Even in the case of the best websites, it has a level of 30-40%. It should also be borne in mind that a worthless visit to the website is not always included in the bounce rate. When measuring bounce rate, you always need to consider when you left the site. If, for example, an Internet user left the page after reading the blog article, then, as a rule, it should not be included in the bounce rate, even if then he did not make any other move. It is a desirable and expected action. Therefore, bloggers, news and current affairs websites may have a high bounce rate, despite the content they are interested in.

Therefore, measuring the ratio should be approached with great care. The recommended solution is to set the time in Google Analytics after which BR will turn on after e.g. 30 seconds.

In summary, bounce rate is an important parameter, but it is not the only determinant of page value. Analyzing it, it is also worth looking at other parameters, e.g. dwell time and on the basis of complete data giving possible corrective actions.

How do you reduce the bounce rate?

To reduce your bounce rate, you can do a number of things. Before you start, however, you must do an analysis of your site. At the beginning it is worth to select subpages that actually have a high bounce rate and analyze why a low bounce rate is recorded. This can be due to various reasons for specific subpages, e.g. home page – too low frequency of adding new content; product card – non-intuitive purchase process, contact subpage – no further way forward.

Knowing what causes a high bounce rate, you can plan and implement specific actions to counteract it. There are many possibilities here and you must always adapt them to the individual situation of the site.

The 3 most important things that reduce bounce rates

If you want to fight a high bounce rate, first of all you have to bet on 3 things. They significantly affect whether the site is friendly and attractive to the recipient.

– The first is good content, i.e. content placed on your website or blog.
– Another is to respond to users needs.
– The last is navigation intuitiveness.

If the first two points pose a problem with high bounce rates, then you need to correct the content and ensure better content. If the third point is a problem, then your site’s technical facilities will need to “fix”.

11 ways to reduce bounce factor

A. Simple and intuitive navigation
An Internet friendly website is the one on which it will be able to navigate simply and easily. It is worth remembering that what seems to be creative navigation for the creator, for the user can be an impulse to quickly leave the site and without getting acquainted with its content. The main menu, site map (larger websites), search engine, navigation buttons, call to action and other navigation elements should be designed so that the user does not think about the next step, but performs it automatically and moves to the next subpages.

B. Service readability
Even the best content or good quality product cannot be defended if it is presented carelessly. Lack of readability means that most Internet users leave the site faster than they appeared on it. So if you want to reduce the bounce rate, you should make sure that the content on the page is readable (large blocks of text are thrown away) – divided by headers, bulleted, bolded, written in clear font. Multimedia (movies and photos) should support the message. Readability is not only content, but also visual hierarchy, so-called whitespace (free space), consistent colors, adequate contrast, the right amount of information and CTA, consistent message delivery, detailing the most important information, e.g. purchase conditions.

In terms of page readability, it’s best to follow the KISS principle and remember that if the readability of the page is bad, all the rest doesn’t matter. It is also worth remembering that readability is closely related to design. And it’s not just about making the site look nice. Designing on a website should focus mainly on emphasizing the most important content, data, information, graphics and products.

C. Fast website loading
Today, nobody likes to wait – Internet users open their websites even more. You can check the page loading speed using Page Speed Insights. You should strive to make the tag as fast as possible, especially for mobile devices. If the tool shows that the speed of the site is unsatisfactory, then you will need, among others image compression, reducing the number of scripts or using the browser cache.

D. Compliance of website content with promises
Do you promise the client that he will go to the site, where he will find his dream vacation in France, and when he enters the site, he gets a vacation in Bali? Most likely, this means that it will leave the website quickly and thus be included in the bounce rate. To avoid this, you should work on matching your landing pages to search engine and keyword search queries. It is also worth suggesting immediately alternative articles / products on similar subjects and give the user a chance to make the next move, not to leave the site immediately.

It is worth mentioning here that in the title and meta description of a subpage, content should not use phrases that are readily searched, but have little in common with the content on the subpage. Even if a customer enticed by finding out something that interests him, enters such a subpage, it is almost a 100% guarantee that he will leave it quickly.

E. A large amount of practical information
Very often the reason for leaving the website quickly, if it lacks the most important information for the user. To help him find them, it’s worth including
– create a FAQ subpage,
– make sure the product card contains current and most important product information; the use of generalities is not recommended;
– is the website lacking information on how to order a service / product, price list, directions.

F. CTA leading to subsequent events
The CTA buttons are intended to persuade the Internet user to perform further actions on the website and move to its next parts. They should be designed and arranged so as to create a clear and legible path, e.g. for product purchase, contact form, quote. Call to action on the site can appear in the form of buttons, banners or external links. It’s best to mark them with a different font color that will stand out from the rest of the texts. On a site without CTA, the user will have to look for subpages to which he must go in a given order. This lack of help may result in you leaving the site quickly.

G. Social evidence
One of the conditions for staying on the website by the Internet user is its credibility. If he finds that the site does not inspire trust, he will deny the content on it in advance and leave it quickly. To avoid a high bounce rate, it’s a good idea to social evidence. Thanks to this, users will be shown from a good side. References, opinions, reviews, customer photos are considered social evidence.

H. Lack of intrusive advertising and pop-ups
Pop-ups, video gadgets and consent messages can effectively discourage you from staying on the site for a long time. If at the very beginning the user is attacked by various messages and cannot reach the information he is looking for, he will quickly leave the page.

I. Responsive website
It would seem that today you do not need to talk or remind anyone about responsiveness. However, it turns out that still many sites are not adapted for mobile devices. Meanwhile, much of the traffic comes from them – on average 70%. The user who browses the pages on the phone will almost certainly leave those that display incorrectly.

J. Accompanying events
There are subpages that naturally don’t generate any further activity. These include, for example, a subpage with a blog article or contact tabs. The user, finishing reading the article or checking the phone number, closes the subpage and leaves the website. However, there are ways to extend his presence on the site and encourage these activities. How to do it? It is enough to attach accompanying events to a given subpage. Behind this concept is, e.g. subscribing to the newsletter, completing the form / survey, clicking on the phone number or reading the product cards.

K. Regularity of content
If you run a blog, regular delivery of new content will affect your bounce rate. Most readers follow social media entries and reach their destination from there. Permanently sharing and redirecting to one and the same article means that the reader will quickly leave the text he has already read. Providing up-to-date content is not just important on a blog. If, for example, the data from the 2000 landing page is given, the customer may be discouraged and look for fresh information.

Summary

Many bounce rates are awake at night. Taming him is often not as difficult as it seems. The ground is a good analysis of the reasons for high bounce rate. In some cases it may turn out that it is not a bad thing. However, when the bounce rate is high, it’s worth starting to act. And then verify if the actions bring results. This is best done using A / B testing. They consist of saving the bounce rate for a given page, then implementing change (one) and verifying whether the bounce rate has decreased.

Marketing indicators – what for?

Why measure at all? The answer seems obvious. Thanks to the analysis of key performance indicators (KPI), among others:
– you get measurable results of your marketing activities,
– you see which of the published content worked better and which worse
– you can accurately calculate the translation of the costs of marketing activities into profits from finalized transactions,
– it’s easier for you to plan your next promotional campaigns – so as to better tailor them to market requirements.

The problem, however, is that with the development of tracking and analytical tools, the number of indicators has also increased significantly. Of course, each of them matters. Sometimes, however, it is difficult to break through the thicket of numbers and percentages. So it’s worth knowing which indicators – available e.g. in Google Analytics, on the FB fanpage’s administrative page or in CRMs – have a really great impact on the assessment of the effects of marketing activities. So we discuss the most important ones.

Different marketing indicators for each type of message

Remember that when it comes to indicators that are important from the marketer’s point of view, there is no single, universal combination of the key ones. There are no indicators that will be relevant in every situation. All because the interactions with the recipient of each type of content released to the web are slightly different. For example, on the landing page you will observe data related to the acquisition of leads, but already in organic activities in social media – rather those related to the involvement of users under your posts. So choose the meters for each type of marketing message that you release into the world. The indicators depend on the purpose of the campaign.

What to measure by analyzing the effectiveness of the website?

When looking at website traffic, it’s worth paying attention to:

– traffic on the site – the number of page views, the number of unique website users and the percentage of those returning to the website are important,
– average time spent on the website and Bounce Ratio – this will show you whether the prepared content engages users so much that they want to get to know the information closer, or reject them immediately,
– traffic sources – so how did the users get to your site: by entering its address in the browser, via the search engine, or maybe from social media or thanks to other external links? This will help you spread out your accents well when it comes to promoting your site on individual channels,
– conversion rate – how many visitors to your site took the action that you expected. For example, on a landing page it is leaving a lead;
– the proportion of leads to conversions – so how many of the people who initially expressed interest in your offer went through the entire marketing funnel,
– cost of acquiring a lead / client – i.e. the proportion between the amount of expenditure on the promotional campaign and the results obtained.

It is also worth making a “heat map”, so check which areas of the website were of particular interest to readers – so as to make any corrections to the layout and increase the range and conversion rate.

Analysis of marketing indicators in social media

Slightly different indicators count in social media. It is also an important marketing communication channel that strengthens the brand image and acquires sales leads. But what indicates that your actions on the fanpage bring results? The indicators that should pay your special attention are:

– number of views (reach) – of course, organic reach is the key, i.e. the one achieved without reaching for a paid promotion,
– the number of clicks on the post – will show how much information you presented on FB or Instagram was of interest to the recipient. Each click is evidence of initial interest in communication and that the post attracted attention but was not scrolled,
– leads obtained through posts in social media – i.e., e.g. contact details left on the landing page to which they directed messages on FB or from lead ads,
– engagement rates – it’s about the number of: likes / reactions, comments and interactions – the more, the higher the effectiveness of your actions,
– user generated content – i.e. posts / materials related to your fan page by users, e.g. those in which your profile has been tagged. This type of traffic can be obtained, for example, by working with influencers, or by organizing competitions in which the task is to perform just such an action.

If you reach for paid promotion tools – conversion rates are also important, i.e. the cost of a single post view, click and conversion.

What about sales-related indicators? When analyzing activities in social media, it is usually difficult to obtain unambiguous and error-free data. However, the cost of activities carried out here should be included when calculating ROI, and thus the overall return on investment in promotion compared to the outlays made.

How to find yourself in the ocean of data?

As you can see, there are still quite a few marketing indicators that matter, and the ones above are just the tip of the iceberg. For example, CSR actions (related to corporate social responsibility) may have completely different performance evaluation indicators, and nevertheless enter into marketing areas (e.g. from the purchase of each product X we allocate the amount of Y to the organization Z).

If you have the impression that it is difficult for you to be among the indicators, you can always go to specialists. They will look at all the data and indicators that have been generated, analyze their relevance and draw conclusions. As a result of their work, you will receive a transparent report that will show you clearly how your marketing activities translated into achieving your goals. It will also be a source of tips for the future – you will learn from it how to improve your work so that its results are even better. Marketing indicators – and more precisely their design in the context of a given action and goal – is one of the most important challenges for a marketer. However, the correct architecture will also make them an unparalleled ally in operations and reporting.

SEO migration is possible?

Let’s keep uncertainty and start by answering. Yes, it is possible to change the website or completely rebuild it during the positioning contract. Sometimes, it is also strongly recommended or simply necessary to be able to effectively position such a website. The last case does not mean surprises for the customer. We inform you at the stage of inspecting the website before signing the positioning contract that you need to change the website. In individual cases, such a recommendation regarding the site only appeared after signing the contract and transferring access to the site. At that time, the analysis of the website’s construction, possible thanks to the access received, showed that even basic optimization or removal of errors in the website’s construction was not possible (most often it concerned websites built on wizards or proprietary CMS). In our opinion, there was only one fair solution – informing the client about the condition of his website, indicating what can help the website and how it should look new (what should include a good site adapted for positioning), as well as enabling the client to decide whether we are finishing positioning agreement (without contractual penalties, notice periods, etc.) or are we trying to act with current focus, e.g. on external works, hoping that this will bring an effect.

What does website change mean for results?

In this case, a lot depends on what stage of the positioning process we are in and what positions the website to be changed. Here we will present several situations and discuss them in more detail in terms of what the change involves and how it affects the work of a positioning specialist.

The site is high in the results – presence in the top 10 or close – will SEO migration hurt?

This is a situation in which the customer will be particularly interested in whether the change of the website and SEO migration will not cause permanent decreases in position. Unfortunately, no one can guarantee that this undesirable process will not occur. A lot will depend on how Google evaluates the new website. Therefore, we are happy to advise you already at the stage of building a website and indicate what is worth making sure that this “shock” associated with the change is as low as possible. The risk of falls always occurs, it is important that this period of decline is as short as possible, and the site jumps as quickly as possible to the positions occupied by its predecessor (and of course improved its achievements) – this is the task of the positioner. Changing the website each time means the likelihood of a decrease in its visibility and traffic.

It is worth noting here that we are talking about a website that will be available at the same address as the previous version of the website. The new domain – even with a properly made redirect from the previous one, which is high in the search engine results – will not inherit its visibility.

In the case of websites with earned positions, it is worth paying attention to the following issues when changing pages:

– Is the new website similar to the previous one, which was successful in search results – is it similar in structure, is it similar in size or even larger (moving from an extensive website to one page is not a step in a good page in terms of SEO) or category names , subpages etc. are similar. It is worth identifying (with the help of an SEO specialist) in the old website those elements that had a positive impact on the positioning process and include them in the design of the new page. These can be category names containing keywords, including space for text on the home page, blog or news that are an integral part of the website, etc.

– Are the content of the new website containing keywords and an offer that matches the phrases to which the website is clearly visible in the search results? If not, then you can’t expect the new webpage to be clearly visible in the search results for these keywords, as was the case with its predecessor. It happens that the new website appears under the pressure of major changes in the company and its offer, in this case a lot of activities related to the website are basically work from scratch.

– Has the existing content been moved to the new website, is there more or have it been cut off for the needs of the new website, or is it missing at all? The positioners’ attachment to valuable content on the website and their suggestions to place it on the main page or in the descriptions of the categories can only be compared with the zeal of an English teacher speaking to the final grade. If the new website in terms of quantity and quality of content is similar to the previous version, then there is a growing chance that the decreases will not be so severe. Of course, if the offer, the scope of the company’s activity or other important issues have changed, even the best SEO supporting text from the previous version of the page is no longer necessary and must be replaced with something corresponding to the current state of affairs.

– Is the new website available for network robots? This includes issues related to whether the site is running (or how long it has been down), the contents of the robots.txt file, meta robots, or cannonical settings. Even the best new website, which has been sensationally prepared for SEO, will remain invisible if it is not available to Google web robots. As a curiosity, one can give the fact that sometimes (although in very rare cases) it is enough to unblock the availability of the site for network robots to enjoy being in the top 10.

– Access to the website for a positioning specialist. The new website means that the positioner will have to find time to audit it, determine which optimization actions should be implemented first and which may be introduced later. Even a website prepared in accordance with the guidelines of an SEO specialist may require work and corrections, e.g. in optimizing meta tags or redirections. the latter is important because of the links obtained so far. Links to dead pages do not support the site. If these non-working subpages are redirected to subpages that are part of the new site and are available to web robots, then these links are again gaining importance in the context of positioning. The sooner a positioning specialist receives the necessary access to the new page, the sooner he will be able to implement his changes.

The site is in distant positions in SERPs

In the event that the “old” website did not have specific results and was not in the lead, it is important to improve those issues that blocked growth in the past. It is important to identify them as early as possible and indicate what can be improved during the work on the new site (if these were issues that could not be corrected earlier for various reasons). It is also worth pointing out what was valuable in the case of the previous version of the page and ensure that this asset is also used in the new version of the website. This case is devoid of as much result pressure as the website, which is already present in the top 10. It is important here to create a new strategy that takes into account the changes that have occurred within the site.

The source of very low positions (100 positions visible in the report) may also be a penalty from Google on a given website. Changing the website does not mean automatic abolition. An exception may be a situation in which the new version of the website no longer contains an error that responded to the imposition of a penalty. Such situations are, for example, the old page was a threat to the safety of users (a site hacked) or was punished for texts (hidden text, dramatically low quality content, etc.). If the new site does not commit those sins (respectively – it is safe for people visiting it, has good quality text content, etc.), then there is a chance to remove the manual penalty. Manual punishment can be detected using even Google Search Console.

The site has been positioned for a long time

The case of a site that has been positioned for a long time and obtained a large number of links at that time is special. As we mentioned, links leading to dead pages do not support the positioning process. The way to “save” them is to make redirections correctly. This is especially important in relation to naturally obtained links, e.g. in the case of entries recommending on forums and containing a link to a subpage, the positioner cannot edit them and enter a new – correct URL. The link to the redirected subpage is less valuable than the link directly, but it is better than the link to the down page, which does not present value.

The effect of longer positioning can also be an extensive blog section (with internal linking) or a large amount of content added to the page. It’s worth moving them to a new page. If the content was used to perform internal linking, it is worth continuing to use it, but remembering about any corrections in the URLs of the links.