CASE STUDY · SEO GROWTH

Taking Unranked Category Keywords to Page One for a D2C Brand

A D2C home-fragrance brand in India moved two previously unranked category keywords onto page one, at positions 5 and 8, and lifted another from 19th to 5th. The work was targeted on-page SEO: meta tags, headers, keyword placement and structured data.

Client
A D2C home-fragrance brand in India
Industry
D2C home fragrance
Market
India
Project
SEO growth
My role
Led the SEO strategy; delivered with my team at the time

OUTCOMES

The results

Direct commercial and organic search impact delivered during the engagement.

19 → 5

Ranking for 'glass candles'.

Unranked → 5

Ranking for 'room sprays', previously not ranking.

Unranked → 8

Ranking for 'reed diffusers', previously not ranking.

Unranked → 21

Ranking for 'candle glass', previously not ranking.

DATA

The numbers

Ranking position for 'glass candles'
BeforeAfter

Google position; lower is better

BACKGROUND

The challenge

I led this work in a previous agency leadership role. Several of the brand's key product-category keywords ranked poorly or not at all, which limited how shoppers could find its category pages.

The brief was focused: improve those category rankings through on-page SEO rather than a large content or link programme.

Client and agency not named for confidentiality. I led the strategy; the work was delivered with my team at the time.

EXECUTION

What we did

01

On-page audit

Ran a detailed website audit to find on-page optimisation opportunities.

02

Meta tags, headers and keyword placement

Recommended and implemented SEO-friendly meta tags, headers and keyword placement.

03

Structured data

Improved meta descriptions and structured data on key pages.

04

Tracking and iteration

Monitored keyword performance regularly and adapted the approach based on what moved.

STRATEGIC LESSON

The takeaway

Category pages often underperform because their on-page signals don't clearly match the category query — fixing that is the cheapest ranking gain in e-commerce SEO.

Facing a similar problem?

Tell me where you're stuck. On a 30-minute intro call I'll tell you where I think the constraint is and what I'd look at first — whether or not we end up working together.