SEO promotion for selling and purchasing a luxury watch website in Ukraine

For an online business, maintaining strong visibility in search engines is critically important. More than 90% of online experiences begin with a search engine, and the top search results receive the majority of clicks. In particular, the first three positions in Google can generate up to 50-60% of all organic traffic. This means that for a business to grow, the website must be online and preferably in the top search results.

Despite having a strong offline reputation and extensive market experience, the client needed to strengthen their online presence. Today, we are reviewing a case study on SEO promotion for a website specializing in the sale and purchase of luxury watches in Ukraine.

About the Client

chasovshik - is a multibrand store and service center specializing in original Swiss LUXURY-class watches.

Since 2008, the company has been professionally providing services in:

• sales;
• purchase;
• exchange;
• repair and restoration;
• pre-sale preparation;
• service of any complexity.

More than 25% of clients return to the company, choosing reliability, expertise, and a personalized approach.

Advantages when purchasing a watch:

• Experience and reliability: 12 years on the market and an extensive partner network of stores and service centers across Europe.
• Warranty:
  • 24-month warranty on pre-owned watches.
  • Preservation of the original manufacturer’s warranty if the watch is still covered.
• Favorable conditions: competitive prices and fast delivery (7 business days).
• Convenience: a physical retail and service location in the city center.

When selling a watch:

• Experience and reliability: 12 years of market expertise.
• Highest offer: guaranteed maximum price for your watch.
• Professional evaluation: expert assessment by a professional watchmaker.
• Confidentiality: 100% confidentiality of the transaction.
• Convenient payment: cash payment directly at your home.
• Easy evaluation: online appraisal available through the website form or any messenger.
• Consignment sale: the option of selling on consignment to achieve maximum profit, leveraging the full network of European partners.

Service offerings:

• Modern equipment: the client uses Swiss equipment, ensuring precision and reliability in all types of work.
  Highly qualified specialists: specially trained and experienced masters skilled in servicing complex mechanisms and restoring watch cases.
• Years of experience: 12 years in watch servicing and repair, with more than 6,000 watches restored.
  Competitive pricing: advantageous, competitive prices for all service types
  Extended warranty: 24-month warranty on all completed work.

In December 2023, our collaboration expanded - in addition to successfully managing paid search campaigns, we began implementing SEO promotion. The key objective was to strengthen the website’s organic presence and boost search engine traffic for the core services: repair, purchase, and sale of watches.

Niche and competitor analysis

The comparative analysis of competitors provided the following insights:

• Domain age: ranges from 5 years 11 months to 12 years 2 months.
• Number of indexed pages: from 687 to 20,000 pages.
• Monthly traffic: from 665 to 39,300 visits.
• Organic monthly traffic: from 384 to 5,452 visits.
• Number of ranking keywords: from 15,996 to 144,592 keywords.
• Queries in Google Top 10: from 1.72K to 28.2K queries.
• CMS platforms: Laravel, WordPress, OpenCart.
• Language versions: all competitors offer Ukrainian and Russian versions, and some also have English.
• Blog: 3 out of 4 competitors maintain a blog.

The niche of luxury watch sales and buyback is well-established, with long-standing players in the market, as evidenced by the age of their domains. The significant differences in the number of ranking keywords indicate that market leaders possess extremely broad and well-developed semantic cores. Strengthening the website’s online presence and positions requires continuous, detailed work on semantic expansion. The variety of CMS platforms used by competitors shows that success in this niche does not depend on a specific technology stack, but rather on the quality of SEO and content. The strongest competitors have tens of thousands of keywords in Google’s Top 10. Achieving leading positions requires working with a large volume of keywords and ensuring high rankings across them.

Analysis of competitors’ backlink profiles allows us to conclude the following:

• DR of the websites: competitors’ DR ranges from 1.8 to 26. Only one competitor has a DR above 25, which may indicate moderate competition within the niche.
• Number of backlinks and referring domains:
  • Backlinks to the homepage range from 45 to 652.
    The total number of backlinks ranges between 150 and 3,033.
    The number of referring domains ranges from 46 to 491.
• Unanchored backlinks: the share of unanchored links ranges from 4.2% to 57.8%, indicating diverse link-building strategies among competitors.
• Backlinks to the homepage: from 1.9% to 53%, reflecting different priorities in how competitors distribute their backlink profiles.
• Types of backlinks (Dofollow/Nofollow/UGS):
  • The share of Dofollow links is dominant among most competitors (from 49.6% to 97.3%).
  • The share of Nofollow links ranges from 2.6% to 50%.
  • Links with the UGS attribute appear very rarely.

Conclusions and recommendations from the competitor analysis for promoting chasovshik.ua.

1. Work with the semantic core and website structure.

• Priority on category optimization: we focus on optimizing category pages, as they serve as the primary source for attracting high-frequency traffic.
• Creation of a relevant structure: we build a logical and user-friendly website structure that clearly reflects the collected semantic core and is easily understood by both users and search engines.

2. Expanding language versions to maximize audience reach

• The Russian-language version (/ua) is the dominant source of organic traffic among competitors. Therefore, we recommend the following:
• Implementation of a Russian-language version: develop a fully functional Russian version of the website (/ru).
• Bilingual optimization: optimization of category pages for both language versions (UA/RU) to capture the maximum number of search queries in both languages.

3. A two-stage strategy for working with the semantic core.

• Focus on commercial semantics: in the first stage, we concentrate on collecting and implementing commercial queries that directly target potential customers and drive sales.
• Development of informational content: in the next stage, we expand informational semantics by creating thematic blog articles. This will allow the website to attract broader informational traffic, build brand expertise, and cultivate audience interest.

4. A gradual strategy for building the backlink profile.

• Competitor analysis: we will conduct a detailed analysis of competitors’ backlink profiles to identify effective sources and strategies.
• Link-building: we will develop a proper link-building strategy to ensure steady and natural growth of the backlink profile.
• Donor quality and diversity: particular attention will be given to the quality of donor websites and maintaining an optimal balance of different backlink types.

5. Comprehensive traffic acquisition. In addition to SEO, we recommend using other channels to maximize audience reach:

• Social media activity: competitor analysis showed that active engagement on social media serves as an effective source of additional traffic.
• Paid search advertising: we will continue using advertising tools to quickly attract the target audience and enhance visibility.

Technical audit of the website

1. Indexation issues and duplicate pages.

• Absence of the robots.txt file.
• Indexation of sorting, filter, and search pages.
• Lack of canonical settings across all pages.
• No redirect configured for URLs with or without a trailing slash.
• No automatic redirect configured for URLs ending with multiple ///.
• Indexation errors on pagination pages.
• Errors in cyclic links.

2. Issues with content and metadata.

• Links are returning a 404 response.
• Broken images on product pages.
• Incorrectly implemented external links are causing 301 redirects.
• Presence of the filled meta name="keywords" tag.
• Pages with identical Description metadata.
• Missing alt attributes on some images.

3. Performance and technical validity issues.

• Large image sizes (over 100 KB for many images).
• Some images are loaded using URLs that include www.
• Fatal Error detected in the site’s code validity.
• Low page load speed across the entire website.

4. Issues with 404 pages.

• Errors in 404 page URLs
• 404 pages return a 200 OK server response instead of 404 Not Found

5. Missing structured data markup.

• Product and breadcrumb schema.org markup have not been implemented.

Usability audit:

• Inactive (non-clickable) phone numbers in the footer are affecting overall user convenience.
  Incorrect content display in the “Favorites” section.
  Issues with displaying product images in full size.
• Functional issues on filter pages.

All audit results, including detailed conclusions and recommendations, were provided to the client’s team for thorough review and further implementation.

Website structure and semantic core

• Creation of new landing pages for brands based on the collected semantic core (monthly updates according to the SEO work plan).
• Ability to add unique metadata and text to these pages.
• Adding links to new pages within the brand block to improve navigation and strengthen internal linking.
• Collection of the semantic core for priority directions.

Work with metatags:

• Creation of individual metatags based on the collected semantics.

Work with content:

• Preparation of tasks for website texts based on the collected semantic core.
• Development of a content plan for the blog.
• Collection of semantics for blog articles.
• Preparation of technical specifications for blog texts and their subsequent review.
• Creation of metatags for the blog and publication of articles.

SEO tools

To conduct a comprehensive audit and develop an effective promotion strategy, we used the following SEO tools:

• Serpstat was used to collect the semantic core, allowing us to identify relevant search queries and expand the reach of the target audience. Serpstat was also applied for detailed competitor page analysis, providing insights into their content strategies and ranking performance.
• Ahrefs provided an extended semantic core, complementing the data obtained from Serpstat. Additionally, Ahrefs enabled deep competitor page analysis, revealing their strengths and weaknesses. A key advantage of the service was its comprehensive backlink analysis and in-depth evaluation of referring domains, which helped develop an effective link-building strategy.
• Google Search Console was used to gather additional keywords for the semantic core directly from search queries of users who have already interacted with the website. GSC made it possible to uncover hidden opportunities for expanding the semantic core and optimizing existing content based on real user demand.

Results

Throughout the collaboration, there were temporary pauses in the workflow, so we will primarily focus on the period from October 2024 to January 2025. 

Link-building

At the start of the work (December 2023), the number of referring domains pointing to the client’s website was 9. After SEO activities began, we observed steady, gradual growth in the number of referring domains during the first few months.

From December 2024 through the end of April 2025, referring domain growth accelerated. This indicates that the link-building strategy has reached a high level of effectiveness, and the website has begun actively receiving new high-quality backlinks. By the end of the period, the number of referring domains exceeded 105, a significant increase compared to the starting point.

The overall dynamics of the graph clearly demonstrate the effectiveness of the chosen link-building strategy for a luxury watch sales website in Ukraine. After the initial ramp-up period, there is steady and substantial growth in the number of referring domains. The graph shows no sudden spikes or drops, indicating a consistent and methodical approach to building the backlink profile. This is essential for long-term SEO success and for avoiding search engine penalties.

Key queries

Branded queries have shown substantial improvement in ranking positions: some groups rising from positions 97 or 74 to 65 and 43, respectively. High-frequency service-related queries improved from positions 8 and 4 to 5 and 2.

We see significant success in promoting general and commercial queries: nearly all service-related keywords improved their rankings, with some reaching the Top 2.

Several branded keywords have also entered the Top 10. The data above shows a predominantly positive and stable trend for commercial queries related to the purchase and sale of Swiss watches. A large portion of the tracked queries are already ranking in the Top 2 or Top 3. In one query group, for example, approximately 70% of tracked keywords improved their positions. Growth is observed across nearly all queries that were previously not in the top range or had lower rankings.

The overall dynamics of keyword ranking growth are largely positive, especially for general commercial queries and certain high-frequency branded queries (such as Rolex, Breguet, Tudor). This indicates effective work on SEO and content.

• 3,614 - total number of tracked keywords, meaning the client’s semantic core is quite extensive due to the presence of two language versions on the website.
• 103 queries in the Top 1 receive the majority of clicks.
• 24% of queries (853) are ranked in the Top 10.
• 528 queries rank in the Top 5, ensuring high visibility.
• A total of 853 queries appear on the first page of Google.

The presence of 853 queries in Google’s Top 10 indicates that hundreds of keywords that previously ranked on the second or third pages have now moved to the first page. The number of keywords in the Top 3 and Top 5 reflects the website’s high relevance for key commercial queries, thereby increasing the volume of targeted traffic.

Overall, we observe significant and stable growth in the number of keywords ranking in the Top 10, Top 3, and Top 1. This demonstrates a successful promotional strategy that improves the website’s visibility across a wide range of search terms. The website is performing well, securing positions for a substantial number of keywords in the highly competitive luxury goods niche.

Traffic

For the analysis, we focus on the period after the summer pause: from September 1, 2024 to January 31, 2025.

• 12,651 (76.5%) total users;
• 12,471 (76.99%) new users;
• 1,528 returning users;
• 1 min 15 sec average engagement time;
• 0,81 engaged sessions per user;
• 110,134 total events.

Organic is the primary traffic-generating channel. Moreover, the share of new users (76.99%) almost matches the overall share of organic traffic (76.5%), indicating that the website is successfully expanding its audience specifically through search optimization.
The presence of 1,528 returning users shows that organic traffic not only brings new visitors but also fosters loyalty and encourages repeat visits.

• The average engagement time (1 minute 15 seconds) indicates that users do more than simply open a page; they actively interact with the content.
• The number of engaged sessions per user (0,81) also shows that most sessions are productive and are not “bounces”, confirming the website’s strong relevance to users’ search queries.
• The substantial number of events (110,134) reflects active user interaction with site elements (clicks, navigation, form submissions, etc.), demonstrating strong engagement and the achievement of key on-site actions.

The continuous growth of overall traffic and the dominant share of organic search directly confirm the success of the implemented SEO strategy and optimization efforts. Organic search is an exceptionally effective channel for attracting new, high-quality, and highly interested users to the website.

• 46.49% overall increase in total users;
• 45.55% increase in new users;
• 38.44% growth in the number of returning users;
• -8.04% decrease in average engagement time;
• -0.69% decrease in engaged sessions per user;
• 34.42% increase in key events.

The data confirms that the SEO strategy is effectively attracting a targeted audience that actively engages with the website’s content. The content encourages visitors to return, as shown by the increase in returning users. The number of engaged sessions per active user has remained nearly unchanged (-0.69%), meaning most users continue to perform key actions or interact meaningfully with the website. The decrease in 8.04% average engagement time is not critical; it may indicate that part of the new audience is finding the necessary information more quickly, or that some new queries are leading users to pages that require less in-depth interaction. Overall, this provides a solid foundation for further growth and business development.

The total increase in search traffic reached 46.49%, which was the client’s primary goal when requesting SEO services.