Service and project type

 SEO | Website migration | Search experience optimisation

Relationship

CMO Group, the UK’s largest online-only retailer of building materials, approached us for search expertise, inspired by our successful collaborations with retail giants like LUSH, Sainsbury’s Recipes, and Decathlon.

Problem

Facing the challenge of migrating their JTM Plumbing website to Plumbing Superstore, involving a domain name change, CMO Group strategically aimed to boost search engine rankings and solidify their online presence. The objective was clear: gain more weight and authority while ensuring a seamless website migration without compromising SEO performance.

Solution

On June 27, 2023, we executed the migration, redirecting 20,950 URLs. The success of this migration lay in our strategic approach:

• We used 301 redirects to communicate our intent to search engines, ensuring a seamless migration process that preserves SEO rankings.
• We maintained a 95% redirect accuracy on crucial landing pages, catering to both paid and organic traffic.
• We employed Google’s ‘Change of Address’ tool, a pivotal step to confirm our migration intent and signal the domain name change to search engines.
• We provided recommendations to improve the user experience and ensure pages were streamlined and effective to satisfy Core Web Vitals and not frustrate users.

Results

As expected, our search experience optimisation approach significantly bolstered their rankings. 

• Big increase in branded search: In the six weeks post-migration (starting June 27), JTM-branded queries garnered 3,617 impressions for Plumbing Superstore. With an impressive average CTR of 6.2%, this resulted in 225 clicks, highlighting the effectiveness of our SEO website migration strategy.
• Enhanced traffic thanks to new keyword performance: The incorporation of new keywords exposed Plumbing Superstore to approximately 7,700 potential customers monthly, broadening their visibility in search results.
• Surge in Organic Revenue: The month following the migration experienced a notable 65% increase in organic revenue, with users, sessions, and conversions more than doubling.
• URL Go-Live Success Rate: The launch achieved an exceptional 99.01% success rate for URLs going live, indicating the seamless execution of the migration.

In a direct comparison, the results were outstanding: a 126% increase in clicks, a 60% boost in impressions, and a 0.3pp Average CTR. These metrics indicate a significant improvement in user engagement and search visibility following the migration.