Case Study: Boosting Bags in Bulk’s Online Visibility with SEO
How BlueSwitch Elevated Bags in Bulk’s Search Performance with a Targeted SEO Strategy
The Challenge
Bags in Bulk is a NYC-based eCommerce brand that sells wholesale merchandise in a D2C storefront environment. Specializing in wholesale backpacks, school supplies, and apparel, Bags in Bulk markets their products mainly to nonprofits, churches, and charities, as well as school districts, teachers, and community organizations. Unlike traditional B2B businesses, Bags in Bulk’s wholesale product offerings are available to the general public, priced by wholesale case, with volume discounts applied at checkout.
Despite their broad product range and competitive pricing, Bags in Bulk had never leveraged SEO services before, and so they faced several ‘hidden’ SEO challenges that limited their visibility in organic search. Using our SEO audit as a starting block, we addressed critical content and technical issues that were impacting SEO performance and blocking search engine success.
But solving the site audit issues would only get BiB to baseline visibility. To achieve optimal organic presence, we would have to develop a comprehensive SEO strategy that includes long term content strategy, on-page optimizations, monthly keyword research to monitor trends, blogging and content creation, product optimization, audience-targeted collections, link building and off page SEO, and much more.
Our Approach
BlueSwitch launched the Bags in Bulk SEO campaign with an in-depth site audit to identify and address the most critical SEO barriers. We discovered multiple issues affecting the website’s technical structure, including duplicate metadata and improperly configured HREFLANG tags, which hindered search engines from effectively indexing the site. Internal linking and Structured Data markup were both lacking, which further decreased the site’s organic presence. We approached the initial Site Audit issue rendering as a one-month sprint in order to make the most progress in the least amount of time, with weekly scheduled Site Audits to knock out new issues as they arose.
Once the foundational issues were addressed, we conducted extensive keyword research and audience research to pinpoint high-potential keywords & audience targets. Our keyword strategy centered on “bulk” and “wholesale” terms relevant to the brand, as well as LSI (Latent Semantic Indexing) keywords related to Bags in Bulk’s core audience. We also looked at “non-wholesale, wholesale keywords” like classroom supplies, backpacks for donating, and homeless care kits, to target potential customers that weren’t searching for wholesale products, but would still benefit from BiB’s bulk offerings. These keywords formed the basis of a comprehensive content strategy designed to improve visibility and ranking in search engines.
Content Strategy and Execution
To better reach Bags in Bulk’s target audiences—homeless shelters, outreach organizations, nonprofits, charities, churches, community events, and donation drives—BlueSwitch introduced new content types tailored to these user groups. We created shoppable “Industry Pages” that specifically addressed the needs and challenges of different sectors within the Bags in Bulk community, such as Nonprofits, Charity & Churches, Schools, Teachers & Educators, Winter Clothing & Coat Drives, and many more.
Additionally, our team developed a content calendar and content creation schedule to deliver a mountain of audience-targeted blog posts and optimized landing pages, along with new product collections, and on-page content optimizations to provide value and relevance to potential customers searching for bulk and wholesale products. Other strategies employed:
Increase rankings for wholesale keywords, while avoiding higher-volume, non-wholesale keywords through careful application of keywords in content creation/optimization
Apply structured data markup to increase visibility in SERP features like People Also Ask, Google AI-Summary results, Organic Shopping Results (Google Merchant Center), and ChatGPT and other AI platforms
Introduce more detailed segmentation in products and collections to help increase organic traffic, engagement, revenue and average order value
Rank for more keywords at a greater frequency to broaden campaign reach and create more specific/targeted collections that appeal to a wider variety of new users
Strategic content topic ideation armed with detailed keyword and audience research to identify content that would product the most traffic and engagement
The Results
In the first year since the SEO campaign began in 2021, Bags in Bulk has seen significant improvements in its organic search metrics:
Organic Revenue increased by 1,577% YoY
Organic Transactions grew by 786% YoY
Organic Users increased by 340% YoY
Organic Sessions increased by 404% YoY
Keywords in the Top 3 positions: 172
Keywords in the Top 10 positions: 159
This surge in organic growth highlights the impact of a strategic, data-driven approach to SEO. By addressing technical issues and aligning content with user intent, BlueSwitch transformed Bags in Bulk’s online presence, ultimately driving more targeted traffic and conversions.
Conclusion
This case study illustrates how BlueSwitch’s methodical approach to SEO helped Bags in Bulk overcome complex SEO challenges and achieve exponential growth in organic performance. By addressing technical obstacles, targeting high-potential keywords, and delivering valuable content tailored to core audience needs, we were able to elevate Bags in Bulk’s search visibility and conversion potential significantly.
If your brand faces similar challenges and wants to improve organic performance, contact BlueSwitch to learn how our Shopify Plus SEO Services can make a difference.
