This eCommerce SEO case study follows a Chicago organic food store that went from zero organic clicks and about 700 impressions to 2,740 clicks and 156,000 impressions in a 28-day window within five months.
Before SEO, the store relied entirely on paid ads. Now organic search brings orders too.
I’m Nazirul Islam Nakib, an SEO specialist. Here is how it happened.
Project snapshot
- Industry: organic food eCommerce
- Location: Chicago, USA
- Platform: Shopify
- Website age: about 1.5 years
- Previous traffic source: paid ads only
- SEO timeline: 5 months
The starting point
- Organic clicks: 0
- Total impressions: about 700
- Sales channel: paid ads only
This is common. Many stores launch, run ads and never build the SEO foundation that creates a free traffic channel.
What I did, month by month
Months 1 to 2: fix the foundation
I fixed crawl errors, site speed and indexing problems. I added schema markup to product and category pages. I also improved titles, descriptions, headings and internal links.
There was no visible growth yet. This is where many store owners give up.
Month 3: start link building
I began building backlinks while continuing on-page work. By the end of month 3, impressions and early clicks started to climb.
Months 4 to 5: organic becomes a sales channel
I kept adding content, links and technical refinements. By month five the site was getting organic orders, not just visits.
Search Console results (last 28 days vs previous 28 days)
| Metric | Previous 28 days | Last 28 days | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total clicks | 891 | 2,740 | +207% |
| Total impressions | 35,900 | 156,000 | +334% |
| Average CTR | 2.5% | 1.8% | – |
| Average position | 9.4 | 7.9 | +1.5 positions |
The average position moving from 9.4 to 7.9 means more product and category pages reached page one.
Traffic and revenue (last 30 days)
| Metric | Result |
|---|---|
| Total sessions | 17,943 |
| Organic Search sessions | 3,500 |
| Google Organic revenue | €2,062.58 |
| Google Organic orders | 47 |
| Organic conversion rate | 4.03% |
Global reach
The store targeted the US through ads. Organic search also brought demand from other countries.
| Country | Active users | Growth |
|---|---|---|
| United States | 1,200 | +28.6% |
| United Kingdom | 677 | +7.8% |
| Singapore | 215 | +69.3% |
| Hong Kong | 157 | +35.3% |
| Germany | 146 | +29.2% |
| Brazil | 135 | +462% |
| Indonesia | 124 | +27.8% |
What I learned
- The first two months show little, but that is when the groundwork happens.
- Organic gives the store a second sales channel that does not charge per click.
- Pages already ranking abroad deserve their own optimisation next.
These results are from one store. Other stores will differ, so treat them as an example, not a promise.
Frequently asked questions
Can SEO work for a store that only used ads?
Yes. This store had never been optimised for search and still grew within five months.
Why did CTR fall while clicks rose?
New queries add many impressions at lower positions, which can lower average CTR.
Is organic traffic cheaper than ads?
Over time it often is, because you do not pay for each click.
See my eCommerce SEO service and the case study library. You can also contact me or visit the home page.
