Original Penguin
Project Details
Platform: Shopify
Services Provided: ADA Compliance, Content Writing, Local SEO, SEO
Focus: Ecommerce
Business Type: B2C business-to-consumer
View ProjectProject Description
Project Overview
Original Penguin runs a multi-location apparel presence across South Florida on Shopify. The goal was simple: help nearby shoppers find the closest store, see what’s in stock, and take action—calls, direction requests, and visits. We focused on Local SEO across Miami neighborhoods while also tightening sitewide SEO, improving content quality, and meeting ADA needs.
Over a 6-month sprint, store location page traffic climbed from 9,200 to 21,000 sessions, Google Business Profile (GBP) actions across Miami stores rose from 1,100 to 2,300 per month, and brand + “near me” apparel impressions in Google Search Console grew from 180,000 to 360,000. The work below explains how we got there.
The Challenge
The site had thin, look-alike store pages with generic copy and no local flavor. GBPs weren’t fully set up—limited products, few attributes, old photos—and NAP details drifted across directories. Search demand was strong, but keyword targeting ignored neighborhood and landmark terms shoppers actually use. On the tech side, mobile speed held back discovery: TTFB sat around 650 ms and LCP hovered near 3.1 s. Shopify theme bloat, heavy hero images, and parameter URLs also hurt crawl efficiency.
We needed unique store pages with real local signals, cleaner tracking, focused keywords, better GBP execution, consistent citations, and faster mobile performance—without changing the brand’s look and feel.
Strategy & Solution
Local SEO
Built unique store-level landing pages (Miami Beach, Wynwood, Design District, Coral Gables) with localized inventory highlights, parking and hours, tap-to-call, and embedded map links. Standardized NAP across top directories and retail listings. Earned local press mentions and event links in Wynwood and the Design District to add neighborhood relevance. Each GBP was refreshed with products, attributes, weekly posts, Q&A, and fresh photos.
Result: location page organic sessions rose from 9,200 to 21,000 in 6 months (+128%), and GBP actions across Miami area stores jumped from 1,100 to 2,300 per month (+109%).
SEO
Cleaned up parameter and filter URLs with canonicals, tightened internal links to store pages, and added structured data (LocalBusiness + Product where relevant). Rewrote titles and metas to include geo terms and apparel categories shoppers actually search (e.g., “polo shirts Miami Beach,” “men’s swim trunks near Design District”). Pushed a dedicated XML sitemap for store pages and fixed soft 404s that diluted crawl.
Result: brand + “near me” apparel impressions in GSC doubled from 180,000 to 360,000 (+100%), lifting discovery searches across the metro.
Content Writing
Replaced boilerplate text with 300–500 words per store page: nearby landmarks, style notes for South Florida weather, staff picks, size/fit guidance, and “what’s trending this week” snippets. Added concise FAQs (returns, pickup, tailoring availability) and event recaps to earn local links and keep pages fresh.
Result: longer visits on store pages and higher CTR from SERP snippets, supporting the session growth noted above.
ADA Compliance
Labeled all store images with descriptive alt text, clarified link names (e.g., “Call Miami Beach store”), added visible focus states, improved color contrast on location CTAs, and provided keyboard-friendly menus and skip links. Store locator map links include accessible fallbacks.
Result: smoother access on mobile and desktop for all shoppers, fewer support requests about finding store info.
Performance Wins (Shopify)
We trimmed unused theme scripts, lazy-loaded below-the-fold images, shipped WebP where supported, and preloaded key fonts. That moved TTFB from 650 ms to 420 ms and LCP from 3.1 s to 2.4 s—a noticeable lift for shoppers on cellular.
Results
• Store location page organic sessions: 9,200 → 21,000 in 6 months (+128%).
• GBP actions across Miami stores: 1,100 → 2,300 per month (+109%).
• GSC impressions (brand + near me apparel): 180,000 → 360,000 (+100%).
• TTFB: 650 ms → 420 ms (−230 ms, about 35% faster).
• LCP: 3.1 s → 2.4 s (−0.7 s, about 23% faster).
Data sources: GA4, GSC, GBP Insights.
9,200 → 21,000
Store Page Sessions (+128%)
1,100 → 2,300
GBP Actions / Mo (+109%)
180k → 360k
GSC Impressions (+100%)
650 → 420 ms
TTFB (−230 ms)
3.1 → 2.4 s
LCP (−0.7 s)
