SEO support during the development phase of a website for branded clothing, footwear, and accessories

SEO promotion began at the same time as the online store’s development phase. Click the link to read about how we implemented the website’s technical architecture and prepared it for a quick launch.

About the Client

GKit is a Ukrainian online store specializing in branded clothing, footwear, and accessories. The project was founded to provide a transparent service for purchasing authentic goods. The company emphasizes that it works exclusively with verified suppliers and does not sell replicas or counterfeits.

The store offers products for men, women, and children:

• Footwear: sneakers, trainers, boots, sandals, and slides (popular lines: Air Jordan, Nike Dunk, New Balance 9060, and others).
• Clothing: t-shirts, hoodies, sweatshirts, pants, shorts, jackets, and vests.
• Accessories: bags, backpacks, beanies, caps, socks, and balls.

Service and terms

• Delivery: available nationwide across Ukraine.
• Payment: cash or card (Privat24, Monopay, Visa, Mastercard).
• Guarantees: exchange and return within 14 days.
• Support: size selection consultations and the ability to source items on request.

SEO for the project

As soon as the project entered development and promotion, we conducted a thorough check of the client's chosen domain (gkit.com.ua) across the following areas:

1. Registration status: verification through imena.ua and whois.domaintools.com confirmed that the domain was available and free for registration.
2. Domain history: analysis via the Wayback Machine showed no archived versions of any previous site, indicating the domain had no prior owners and carried a clean history.
3. Legal check (TM): a search of the sis.nipo.gov.ua trademark database returned no registered trademarks for "gkit," minimizing legal risks associated with using the brand name.
4. Security: a malware and malicious software scan confirmed the domain was clean.
5. Sanctions and blocks: a check against prohibited resource registries confirmed the domain is not subject to sanctions and has not been blocked by any providers.

Conclusion: the domain was fully suitable for registration and subsequent use.

Following a review of the existing mockup, we also provided recommendations for improving the site's design and functionality.

1. Brands page: structure and navigation. To improve searchability and visual appeal, we proposed updating the brands page based on market best practices (drawing on the nearest competitor's approach):

• Visual hierarchy: place a tile grid of the most popular brand logos at the top of the page. Add a subtle hover effect for interactivity.
• Alphabetical index: below, display brand blocks sorted alphabetically. Implement alphabetical navigation (anchor links) for quick section jumping.
• Content block: add a concise introductory text above the brand grid (e.g. "GKit works exclusively with verified global clothing and footwear manufacturers"). This benefits both the user experience and SEO indexation of the page.

2. Article page: typography and visual emphasis. The existing mockup required adjustments to improve readability and audience engagement:

• Layout optimization: align the text block width with the banner to eliminate the compressed text effect and balance the page composition.
• Content structuring: add a Table of Contents block at the beginning of each article with clickable items for quick navigation.
• Visual emphasis: redesign the quote block. Rather than a purely decorative element, create a contrasting block with clear labeling: "Expert Opinion" or "Stylist's Comment".
• Heading treatment: the article title must always be duplicated as text before the main image, even when it appears as part of a graphic banner.
• Related news block: visually separate this section from the main content (use a different background or switch to a more compact card format) to avoid visual monotony.
• Social features and internal linking:
  • Add icons Share on social media.
  • Implement an internal linking block with other relevant articles.
  • Consider adding a comments section (subject to moderation capacity being available).

3. Blog page: expertise and audience retention

• Authorship: display the author's name alongside the publication date on each post — this builds trust (E-E-A-T signals) and adds a personal dimension to the brand.
• Traffic recirculation: add a dynamic "Popular" or "Latest News" block below the main article feed to encourage users to stay on the site longer.

All optimization proposals were submitted to the client's team for approval. We then conducted a comprehensive niche research and detailed audit of the nearest competitors — covering their backlink profiles, content strategies, and technical solutions. This work helped us define the project's development direction and propose solutions to make the project visible to the target audience from day one.

Niche Analysis

1. Key market players. The primary direct competitors ranking in the TOP search results for commercial queries (branded clothing, branded footwear) were identified as:

• yesoriginal.com.ua - steady organic traffic growth, focused on men's sneaker categories and specific collections (e.g. Nike P6000).
• allstars.ua - strong positions for Nike and Jordan brands, though a declining trend in organic page count was observed.
• answear.ua - a major player with high domain authority (DR 59), the largest volume of traffic to the homepage, and a strong presence for the Birkenstock brand.
• prm.com - focused on the premium segment and Adidas collections (Samba, Campus), with high domain authority (DR 58).

2. Traffic sources and structure

• Priority products: competitors drive the majority of their traffic to sneaker pages, particularly for Nike and Adidas brands.
• Query types: the largest share of visits comes from branded queries (store name) and commercial keywords in the Sneakers cluster.
• Language versions: competitors' homepages are often optimized around the brand name, with Ukrainian-language versions becoming the primary traffic drivers.

3. Technical and SEO characteristics

• Filter handling: Yes, Original demonstrates the most competent approach. They use human-readable URLs (HRUs) for filters that are open to indexation and carry optimized metadata, while unnecessary filters are blocked from crawlers.
• Content: most competitors do not use extended SEO texts on category pages, limiting themselves to optimized meta tags and price blocks.
• Menu structure: some competitors (e.g. Yes, Original) have non-clickable top-level sections such as Men's and Women's, directing traffic straight to specific footwear subcategories.

4. Link building strategies

• Answear.ua serves as the benchmark: regular acquisition of quality links (DR 30+) from .ua and .com domains.
• Negative examples: some competitors (yesoriginal, allstars) employ an aggressive strategy with a high share (over 80%) of low-quality donors and nearly 100% dofollow links, delivering short-term gains but significantly increasing the risk of Google penalties.

Key recommendations based on the analysis:

1. Optimize both language versions around the site name and "branded clothing/footwear" keywords.
2. Prioritize promotion of Nike and Adidas sneaker pages.
3. Apply Yes, Original's approach to filter indexation: open only targeted filters and block technical ones.
4. Build the backlink profile through trusted Ukrainian resources (blogs, media outlets), avoiding mass acquisition of low-quality links.

Site Structure

Drawing on experience from similar projects and detailed competitor research, we conducted a mockup audit at the prototyping stage. Our specialists compiled a list of recommendations based on the value of each element for both SEO and user experience (UX), intending to minimize the customer's path to purchase.

Proposed page prototypes:

Additional recommendations:

The following pages can be added to the footer:

• Delivery and Payment
• Privacy Policy
• Returns and Exchanges
• Public Offer Agreement
• Loyalty Program
• About Us
• Reviews
• Gift Certificates
• FAQ
• Gift Certificate Terms of Use

We developed the navigation logic based on the client's priority categories: Clothing, Footwear, and Accessories. The site footer features a static Catalog block serving as the primary navigation entry point. These 3 key sections became the foundation for building SEO-friendly URLs (HRUs), enabling automated creation of optimized pages for the entire product range. In parallel, we structured the service information block (contacts, working hours, email), ensuring quick access to store communication channels and improving user trust.

Key sales triggers should be placed within the first screen to maximize impact from the first seconds:

• Interactive brand carousel: highlighting globally recognized names — the cornerstone of the promotion strategy and the primary trust signal.
• Best Sellers block: placing top-selling products in the first scroll to drive immediate click-throughs and increase product card CTR.

The development audit phase followed, after which we provided code and structure optimization recommendations to ensure full compliance with search engine requirements.

Technical Audit

1. Urgent tasks (issues critically affecting site security and correct search engine perception):

• SSL certificate and HTTPS protocol: the site must operate on a secure protocol.
• HTTP to HTTPS redirect: a 301 redirect needed to be configured for all site pages to avoid content duplication and ensure user security.

2. Important recommendations affecting rankings

• Hreflang configuration: language versions and a default version (x-default) needed to be specified for each page to prevent Google from treating translated content as duplicates.
• URL formatting rules:
  • Use hyphens (-) instead of underscores (_).
  • Avoid Cyrillic characters, spaces, and special symbols (%, &, +).
  • All URLs must follow a consistent format with a trailing slash (e.g. /choloviche-vzuttya/).
• Image optimization:
  • Use WebP format.
  • ALT and title attributes must be filled in for all images following the "Product Name" template.
  • Implement lazy loading (loading="lazy").
• Structured data (Schema.org): implementation of Product (for products), BreadcrumbList (for breadcrumbs), and Organization markup types was recommended.
• Homepage duplicate elimination: the homepage must be accessible via a single URL only. Variants such as /index.php must have a 301 redirect to the main domain.
• Canonical tags (rel="canonical"): for filter pages, the canonical URL of the parent category needed to be specified to remove parameters from the index.

3. Indexation and structure recommendations

• Indexation restrictions: cart, checkout, personal account, and search results pages needed to be blocked with a noindex, follow tag.
• Pagination:
  • Pagination pages (e.g. /page-2/) must be open for indexation.
  • Each pagination page must have a rel="canonical" pointing to itself.
• Lang attribute: the Ukrainian version must use lang="uk" in the <html> tag. Using "ua" was incorrect.

4. Functional and SEO features

• Product sorting: within categories, in-stock products must be displayed first.
• Dynamic pricing: implementing price adjustment logic based on stock levels was recommended (standard price when stock exceeds 2 units, elevated price when only 1-2 units remain) to avoid creating duplicate product cards for different sizes.
• Sitemap.xml: once all fixes are implemented, an up-to-date sitemap should be generated and a robots.txt file configured with the appropriate Disallow rules.

To track project performance and collect marketing data, we initiated the installation of a core Google tools stack, preparing technical briefs and detailed integration instructions for the client covering the following services:

1. Google Search Console (GSC). A tool for monitoring indexation and the site's technical health in search results.

• Implementation method: resource verification via uploading an HTML file to the site root (the /public_html/ or /www/ directory).
• Status: the verification file and official Google instructions were provided to the client for correct Search Console activation.

2. Google Analytics 4 (GA4). Setting up a modern analytics system for tracking user behavior and conversions.

• Implementation method: integration of the data stream ID directly into the site code.
• Support: a text file containing the tracking code, along with visual instructions (screenshots), was prepared and provided to the client for accurate script placement within the page structure.

3. Google Tag Manager (GTM). Implementing a tag manager for flexible marketing script management without requiring developer involvement in the future.

• Status: a technical brief for the GTM container installation has been prepared. Once the correct installation is confirmed, full access rights to all configured resources will be delegated to the client's email address.

The Ecommerce module was fully configured, and the first test transaction data has already started appearing in GA4. The GTM container has been optimized for e-commerce, and ownership rights in GSC have been successfully verified.

Semantics

Analysis of search results and competitor strategies clearly showed that in this niche, the homepage is the most powerful ranking tool. This is why we chose to concentrate the highest-volume and most impactful clusters (branded items and branded clothing) on the homepage. Since the homepage carries the most weight in search engines' eyes, this approach gave us a real opportunity to compete for TOP positions against established market players. At the same time, internal structure was not overlooked: a separate set of metadata was prepared for the Clothing section to clearly differentiate queries and prevent keyword cannibalization. To consolidate results and send the right signals to search crawlers, detailed content briefs were developed for copywriters - each category was to receive quality content that would work both for SEO and for building buyer trust.

Metadata

Optimized metadata templates were developed and implemented to ensure the correct display of all pages in search results.

Immediately after launch, a full technical audit was conducted, confirming the stability of all configurations. The project is currently in the active catalog population stage on the client's side. However, the first results in organic search are already being observed.

Organic Traffic

Thanks to a comprehensive approach, with both SEO and technical development handled on our side, we delivered a resource that began attracting targeted traffic from day one after launch. As a result, the site demonstrated the following traffic metrics in its first month after release:

Key Organic Search metrics:

• Sessions: 85.
• Engaged sessions: 50 (engagement rate of 58.82% - a solid result for organic traffic on a new site).
• Average engagement time: 1 minute.
• Key events (conversions): 2.

The graph shows a gradual increase in activity in the second half of March, with a peak in engagement recorded during the March 23–25 period.

• Total clicks: 42. 
• Total impressions: 2,600. 
• Average CTR: 1.6%. 
• Average position: 24.3.

The impressions graph (purple line) shows a steady upward trend beginning March 18, indicating that search engines are indexing the site more actively and surfacing it for a growing number of queries. The impressions spike is accompanied by rising clicks (blue line) toward the end of the month, confirming that the content is reaching the target audience. The new site ranks on average on page 3 of search results, with many queries already approaching the TOP-10. A CTR of 1.6% is a normal result for a page-3 position, but points to significant growth potential - once key pages move into the TOP-10, click volume will increase considerably.

As the screenshots demonstrate, the developed site is already showing strong click-through performance at the launch stage. The high level of search result engagement confirms that the chosen snippet strategy (Title/Description) is working effectively and attracting the target audience. Ongoing support and further development of the resource have been handed over to the client's in-house team.