The client approached ITForce with a request for comprehensive SEO promotion of their website in the US market, focusing on commercial queries related to the sale of mobile kitchens for food preparation and distribution.
The main goal of the cooperation is to bring the website to the TOP of search results in key cities and states across the United States.
About the Client
Our client is a family-owned company in California that has been manufacturing custom mobile food preparation and sales trucks for over five years, adhering to high-quality standards.
Company advantages:
- 100% US manufacturing - all production is carried out in California with no subcontracting.
- Custom Fabricated Kitchens - over 8 years of metalworking experience and the ability to build a dream kitchen.
- Meticulous materials and safety:
- Special attention to electrical systems - concealed wiring and safe connections.
- Fire suppression systems are compliant with inspection standards.
- Certified materials, non-slip flooring, LED lighting, exterior outlets, etc.
- Branding - trailer wraps/stickers serving as mobile advertising.
- Documentation - prepared schematics for electrical, gas, and water systems, and dimensions to meet regulatory requirements.
- Certification for all manufactured products.
- Warranty - full warranty on the structure and equipment, plus post-sale support.
- Expert team - specialists with many years of experience, providing guidance on all matters.
- Customer-centric approach - designs tailored to client needs, ensuring comfort and a positive experience for end users.
Competitor analysis
To achieve maximum visibility at both local and regional levels, the promotion efforts began with an in-depth analysis of the niche and competitors.
The comparative competitor analysis provided insights into:
- domain ages range from 4 to 25+ years;
- competitor websites have between 69 and 30,300 indexed pages;
- monthly traffic ranges from 572 to 51,344 visits;
- competitors rank for 1,334 to 18,064 U.S. keywords;
- 77 to 2,497 keywords rank in the Google U.S. Top 10;
- CMS: most competitors use WordPress, two use custom-built solutions, and one uses Wix;
- SSL certification: all use Let’s Encrypt;
- Blogs are maintained by 6 out of 9 competitors.
General conclusions about competitors’ backlink profiles:
- Only 2 competitors have a DR above 25, which indicates relatively low overall competition in the niche.
- Two competitors have low DR and few referring domains but show positive growth dynamics. This is a good example of “smart” link building with a limited budget.
- One competitor is the strongest in terms of SEO backlinks (2,195 referring domains, 655K pages), but 90% of those links are nofollow, meaning they provide limited SEO value.
- Two competitors show weak link development: their number of domains and pages hardly changes, and their traffic is declining or unstable.
- Some rely on mass crowd-linking (low DR but 25K backlinks) and still generate good traffic, especially through the homepage.
- Only 2 competitors actively target local (geo-specific) keywords in Texas and California, which means our client has a strong opportunity to occupy additional positions across the US states.
The overall trend is that most competitors do not give sufficient attention to building a high-quality backlink profile, which opens a window of opportunity for rapid growth with a properly structured SEO strategy. It is essential to develop link building consistently, focus on authoritative domains, and implement local SEO. Following a strategy of steady backlink growth while maintaining the positive momentum already achieved is a priority that will ensure sustainable development and stronger positioning in the niche.
In addition to SEO, for comprehensive customer acquisition, we recommended continuing to use other traffic sources, such as:
- Targeted advertising on social media.
- PPC contextual advertising.
These channels would also help strengthen brand awareness and reinforce the company’s market position.
What the technical audit revealed:
- Errors in page URLs.
- Incorrect metadata specified for some pagination pages.
- Pages with 302 redirects.
- Inaccuracies in links with 301 redirects.
- Filter pages not excluded from indexing.
File and language version configuration issues:
- Incorrect directives in the robots.txt file.
- Incorrectly assigned hreflang attribute.
- General errors in language versions.
Usability elements and page structure:
- Differences in user behavior between visitors accessing the site via Safari and Chrome.
- Inconsistencies in headings and breadcrumb navigation.
The conclusions and recommendations obtained from the audit were forwarded to the client’s team for review. Addressing the technical issues identified during the audit would contribute to improved search engine performance and increased overall traffic. In other words, the site had strong potential for growth.
Semantic core
Based on the niche analysis and competitor websites, we developed a semantic collection strategy designed to effectively promote the client’s website. The key focus is on high-conversion queries and the gradual expansion of keyword coverage.
While gathering the semantics, we adhered to a strategy of promoting the site through the most relevant primary keywords, grouped into a priority cluster that covers the core of our target audience. The previously collected semantics for another cluster were optimized for a dedicated informational page to attract additional traffic. Special attention was given to commercial queries such as “...for sale”. These queries indicate a strong purchase intent, making them a top priority for traffic acquisition.
Given that all major competitors focus exclusively on commercial queries and ignore informational ones, we concluded that informational traffic is not a priority in this niche. Therefore, it is not necessary to invest time in active blog development or producing large volumes of informational content at the early stages. Our efforts are concentrated on engaging “hot” clients.
A key feature of this project is the extensive geo-based segmentation of the semantic core. Since promotion covers a large number of locations across the United States, we collaborated with the client’s team to identify and analyze the TOP 50 most populated cities in California to determine priority geos. Work is currently ongoing to develop semantics for additional states (Oregon, Washington, etc.).
For each of these major cities, a more detailed and targeted semantic collection process is carried out. This means that in addition to general queries, the team accounts for specific local needs and characteristics, which allows us to:
- Engage highly targeted traffic: users searching for “for sale in [city name]” show strong purchase intent and clear motivation.
- Increase content relevance: optimizing for local queries enables the creation of content that closely aligns with the needs of users in a specific region.
- Compete more effectively: in many cities, competition for general queries is very high. Localizing the semantic core allows us to identify less saturated but highly valuable niches.
This approach ensures systematic market coverage and maximizes the potential to attract organic traffic from various regions across the United States.
To further strengthen market presence and more effectively capture regional traffic, the client’s team and ITForce specialists developed and implemented dedicated landing pages. The work included coordinating URLs, page blocks, and the LP template. These pages are tailored to specific U.S. states and major cities. The template is designed to closely match the needs and search intent of users from each region and to effectively convert them into customers.
All optimization decisions are implemented only after client approval and in accordance with the project’s SEO priorities.
General website performance data before the start of SEO activities
Traffic
At the beginning of the period (March 2024), the average daily organic traffic ranged between 250 and 350 visitors. In April, we observed gradual growth with occasional spikes. In May, traffic fluctuated, but a clear upward trend became visible: the month ended with an increase to 453 visits. SEO activities began in May, and already within the first month, the website showed early results in the form of steady growth and new peaks that had not been observed before. After the start of SEO efforts, the website began demonstrating signs of improved visibility in organic search.
Positions – for the initial set of keywords added to the rank-tracking tool:
Before optimization began, most of the client’s target keywords were outside the visible range of search engine results:
- No keywords ranked in the TOP 1.
- Fewer than 10 keywords appeared in the TOP 100, and none ranked in the TOP 10.
- More than 200 keywords were not ranking within the first 100 results (“No data” in the SW-0 column), presenting significant opportunities for capturing new organic traffic. This allowed us to focus our optimization efforts on these keywords.
Backlink profile
For nearly a year, the number of referring domains remained relatively stable and very low. The graph shows an almost horizontal line fluctuating within the range of 5–10 referring domains pointing to the client’s website. This indicates the absence of an active link-building strategy. The existing backlinks were likely acquired naturally or through minimal effort. Such a profile reflected low backlink authority in the eyes of search engines, making it difficult for the site to rank organically for competitive queries. This situation highlighted a significant untapped growth opportunity in link building, as consistent and targeted acquisition of high-quality backlinks can substantially improve the site’s rankings and visibility.
SEO results
The target market for our client’s product in the United States is highly dynamic, with the constant emergence of new competitors, shifts in consumer preferences, and evolving regulatory requirements. We continuously monitor performance indicators, analyze changes in search algorithms, and incorporate new inputs from the client. For example, when demand increased for specific types of mobile food preparation/sales units (such as BBQ or ice cream trucks), we revised the content strategy and optimized the corresponding keywords. This adaptive approach supports ongoing growth in traffic and conversions. Currently, our primary focus is on optimizing city-specific pages.
The period under review covers May 2024 to May 2025.
Link building
When developing the backlink profile, the team encountered several specific characteristics and challenges related to acquiring and growing high-quality backlinks:
1. A limited number of high-quality and niche-relevant donors (the food-truck niche is highly specialized, resulting in a relatively small pool of authoritative, trustworthy, and topic-relevant referring domains. Finding websites that are both reputable and closely related to the manufacturing/sale of mobile food units is challenging. We also face competition for these limited resources, which requires a more creative and persistent approach to outreach).
2. Strategy for finding high-quality donors (to overcome this challenge, we actively use various link-exchange platforms and employ a combination of methods for identifying high-quality referring domains). This includes:
- Analysis of competitors’ backlink profiles: identifying donors already linking to successful market players.
- Searching for niche blogs and news portals: resources covering business, the food industry, small business, and entrepreneurship that may include relevant sections.
- Outreach: direct communication with website owners, bloggers, and journalists to propose content placements with backlinks (guest posts, expert commentary, etc.).
Our goal is to maintain a stable, positive growth trend in backlink acquisition, focusing on quality rather than quantity - a key foundation for long-term SEO success.
According to Ahrefs, the backlink increase over one year of work was: from 8 to 104 (+96).
During this time, we placed 30 editorial backlinks on carefully selected high-quality donor domains. In parallel, we carried out crowd-linking and submissions.
From the start of SEO work, we have observed a sharp and steady upward trend in the number of referring domains: from approximately 10 domains at the beginning of the SEO period, the number has grown to more than 110 by June 2025, which indicates an intensive and successful link-building strategy. Such significant growth in the number of high-quality donor domains is a very positive signal for search engines, as it demonstrates increasing authority and trust in the site, which is one of the most important factors for improving organic rankings and overall visibility. The smooth yet consistent rise of the curve indicates continuity and systematic effort in link building, rather than one-time spikes, which represent the best practice for long-term SEO success.
Search traffic
General data for the period:
The Organic Search channel shows a steady increase in traffic volumes throughout the entire period. At the beginning of SEO activities (late May - June 2024), the average weekly traffic was around 500 visitors. By the end of the period (late April - May 2025), it reached 2100 visitors. This indicates a threefold increase in organic traffic over the year.
Let’s compare search traffic for May 2024 and May 2025.
We observe a significant increase in organic traffic (over 350%) compared to the initial stage of the cooperation. This is clear evidence of the success of SEO activities in attracting a significantly larger organic audience. In other words, the website is fulfilling its purpose, addressing user intent and encouraging further engagement on the resource.
Keyword rankings
From the start of the work, a small group of keywords was added to the rank tracking. Below is an example of ranking growth between the first snapshot on 03.06.2024 and the latest one on 14.05.2025 for a specific state.
Many high-search-volume keywords have moved into the TOP-10 or TOP-20. Several key phrases shifted from lower positions (e.g., 14, 9, etc.) to strong positions within the TOP 10 (6, 7, etc.).
Queries that previously had no ranking now show newly assigned positions, even if they have not yet entered the TOP 10. A portion of high-volume commercial queries now belongs to the TOP 10 search results, which is a direct outcome of effective SEO and link-building efforts. Many other keywords that were not ranking at all or were beyond the TOP 100 are now found within the TOP 20 and TOP 50. This indicates a substantial expansion of organic visibility and the attraction of a broad range of target queries.
For example, in the state of California, there are 24 keywords in the TOP 1 and a total of 188 keywords in the TOP 10. The ranking results over the year of promotion demonstrate steady progress. A significant number of keywords for this geo now belong to the TOP-10 and TOP-5, which reflects effective work on improving visibility and capturing targeted traffic. The positive dynamics for keywords previously outside the TOP-100 indicate a systematic promotion approach and strong potential for further growth.
Overall, the website currently holds TOP-1/3 positions across a large number of cities, for both general and local queries (as illustrated by the pages created during the cooperation):
The number of optimized cities currently totals 72. Most of them demonstrate positive dynamics in organic traffic growth. Overall progress in ranking for the majority of targeted keywords is favorable, with keywords appearing in the TOP-10 of both general and local search results. However, local optimization is a longer-term process.
The client’s objective is to occupy the TOP positions in Google search results across major cities and states in the USA for key commercial queries. This process is continuous, and we are currently in the active phase of its implementation, which includes both optimization for general commercial search terms and targeted work with local keywords for each specific region.
