From “new site, no organic” to page-1 rankings, +43% clicks, and real sales from Google.
The Client
Laughing Sisters — two actual sisters (Natalie + Steph) selling funny, feminist, feel-good gifts. Think: socks that say the quiet part out loud, candles with sass, stationery that winks. They launched with heart, humour, and a Shopify site that needed Google to… notice it existed.
“We’re a new website, so we were trying to build from scratch. We were spending a lot on adverts to make up for the lack of organic traffic.”
The Challenge
They wanted to stop relying on ads and start getting found by their people, not just one-off shoppers hunting a single product, but repeat customers who get the vibe and come back for more.
They’d dabbled in PR and the basics (meta descriptions, alt tags), but SEO felt insurmountable: busy, confusing, and honestly, with no clear plan – where do you even start?.
To them, SEO success looked like: page-1 visibility for key gift terms (teacher gifts, Secret Santa, girl power, cat/dog lovers), steady organic clicks, and sales without throwing money at ads.
So we got to work getting them there!
What We Did:
They chose 1:1 SEO Support: one of my done-with-you SEO programme‘s.
Translation: I bring the SEO strategy, frameworks and priorities; you keep control, learn as you go, and ship the work in bite size, non-scary chunks.
- Cadence: For Natalie and Steph, that looks like 2 hrs/month with me, weekly micro-tasks for them to complete.
- Visibility board: a shared task spreadsheet so everyone knows “what Aly’s doing” vs “what we’re doing” on a monthly basis.
- No techy jargon: plain English, proof-of-why, and examples they can follow.
- Coaching not lecturing: they wanted to learn, not be talked at. Big same.
- SEO specialist on tap: they have access to me on Whatsapp to ask questions and communicate outside of our monthly calls.
“Super easy. We love the task spreadsheet that shows what Aly vs we need to do. We wanted to learn, not just be told — and that’s exactly what’s happening.”
What we focused on (first 90 days)
1) Indexing hygiene (Shopify without tears)
Shopify loves multiple URLs for one product (collections, vendors, search). Google hates duplicates. We made Google focus on the clean /products/ URLs, sanity-checked the product sitemap, and reduced crawl noise from vendor/search routes. No drama, just clarity.
2) On-page quick wins where money lives
- Wrote unique titles & meta descriptions for key collections (no “Copy-Paste”).
- Added 100–200 word intros to collections so Google gets context (and customers get personality).
- Tidied image alt text on top sellers (accessibility + image search).
- Built a simple internal linking habit: blogs → collections → products, with anchors that actually match how humans search.
3) SERP-matched content (info + shopping in one)
We didn’t write cute blogs that die on page 5 or worse, don’t get indexed. We built shoppable guides that behave like category pages because that’s what Google is rewarding for gift queries:
- Think things like:“Under £10”, “Letterbox-friendly”, “Funny but office-safe”, “For cat mums/dads”, “Strong women gifts”.
- Clear sections, product tiles, prices, quick blurbs, and CTAs, all from Laughing Sisters’ range.
- Zero cannibalisation: the blog supports the collection; it doesn’t compete with it.
What Happened Next
Numbers first, because receipts:
- +43% organic clicks (vs. previous 3 months)
- +73% impressions
- Average position up +3 places
- Page-1 for target terms including “gifts for strong women”
- First sales via organic search (NOT ADS) and email list growth
- Hit #1 for a focused term we targeted the month before
“After our first month we could see changes in key metrics. We’re now ranking on the first page for ‘gifts for strong women’ and we’ve had sales from organic Google visitors.”
If You’re a Small Brand Relying on Ads
“You can ignore SEO, but you’re ignoring people literally searching for what you offer.”
Want similar results without handing everything over?
Then get onboard with my 3 month 1:1 SEO Roadmap.
“You aren’t going to be forgotten in a sea of clients. Aly genuinely wants you to succeed… and it shows.”
