Building a Strong SEO Strategy Through Brand Awareness

Key Takeaways

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Arc’teryx has achieved an increase in search traffic to the site (+16%) YoY and a low bounce rate (-22%) YoY from Q1 2020 to Q1 2021. Some factors that have enabled this growth are: 

1. Organic Ranking Tactic — Providing Information & Imagery for SERP Features: Arc’teryx made space for their brand by building awareness around their name. This lead to the majority of their organic keywords using either their brand name or their product names. By creating unique product names and classifications, they were able to build popularity amongst their categories so that more people directly search and land on their site. In addition to this foundation, plenty of content is available on their site to be indexed and understood by Google, including images. Product page descriptions range at an average of 74 words with two or more additional technology facts about the garments. This enables Arc’teryx searches to present SERP features that give searchers more insight into the landing pages before clicking through, which in turn decreases bounce rates. 
   

2. Site Structure Tactic — Making Your Site a One Stop Shop: Arc’teryx anticipated and learned what their customer base may be looking for to create content to suffice any inquiries. From building a Used Gear shop to a full FAQ section answering useful questions, content on their domain encompasses all possibilities. This gives users a clear direction and trusted source to refer to when inquiring or wanting to learn more. Content on the site is clearly communicated and avoids keyword stuffing, focusing on keywords mainly in H1 titles and only a few mentions in the body copy.   
   

3. Paid Search Tactic — Use Your Paid Strategy to Compliment Organic Content: Both Arc’teryx’s paid search ad and organic strategy satisfies users in all areas of search intent including navigational, informational and transactional. Their main paid content buckets include product categories, sale and outlet promotion and product knowledge. Their keyword strategy features more long-tail keywords than seen in organic which allows Arc’teryx to experiment and be more specific with the audiences they are trying to reach.

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Arc’teryx, an outdoor apparel designer and manufacturer, has built a strong brand presence and recognition in the United States and globally. Their brand and unique product names make up the majority of their organic discovery amongst their audience.  

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In Q1 2021, Direct (33%) and Organic Search (38%) accounted for 71% of all traffic to the site. These channels have seen a +33% and +16% increase YoY respectively.

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Arc’teryx’s organic traffic has also seen a steady decrease (-22%) in bounce rate from May 2020 (34%) to March 2021 (27%). The average bounce rate for the e-commerce industry is 45%.

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The majority of Arc’teryx’s keywords are branded (62%) compared to non-branded (38%). 85% of Arc’teryx’s top keywords have SERP features which can lower bounce rates as they give viewers a strong idea of the landing page content before they enter the site. 

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Arc’teryx SERP Feature Examples:

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In Q1 2021, the top 10 organic keywords for Arc’teryx saw an increase of +7% in SERP features displayed. Q1 2020 saw more variety in the way SERP features were displayed whereas Q1 2021 saw more consistency in the amount of SERP features keywords ranked for. Images are the top SERP feature seen across 90% of keywords in 2021 where no image features were ranked for in 2020.

On average, Arc’teryx ranks for 1.6K organic keywords per month on their site. They have maintained 71% of their rankings in the top 3 position into Q1 2021. This is possible because of the level of brand focus in the search words bringing traffic to the site. As seen in Arc’teryx’s top 10 branded and non-branded keywords, searches are always being triggered for the Arc’teryx brand name or product-based queries. 

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Ranking keywords and landing pages fall into three main searches across product categories, product knowledge and product opportunity. 

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Keywords in the product category section focus on people searching for the brand itself as well as specific products in the Arc’teryx line. 

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Custom content is generated to give viewers the opportunity to discover more products based on different use-cases.

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Product pages are well organized with only relevant information listed in a manner that supports and adds to the other text on the page to avoid repetition.

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Keywords in the product knowledge section focus on people searching for specific details regarding Arc’teryx, size guides and general information.

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Arc’teryx hosts a subdomain to help promote sustainable usage with their products by giving customers the chance to trade in or buy used clothing. 

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Arc’teryx offers an FAQ section to help rank for various questions users tend to ask often. Important information is condensed into a few key pages. 

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Keywords in the product opportunities section focus on people searching for different ways they can acquire their Arc’teryx products.

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A professional program page was created to capture those seeking discounts for an elevated or professional commitment to the sports Arc’teryx is founded upon.

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A corporate branding page was developed to reach business teams seeking top quality for team branded apparel. 

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In Q1 2021, paid search saw an increase in traffic generation of +92% YoY, now accounting for 14% of incoming web traffic. 

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Arc’teryx’s paid ad copy compliments content already created on their website. Their trigger strategy differs from their organic method by focusing on long-tail keywords featuring more descriptors beyond product names.

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