Prince Stores: The Case Study That Proves SEO Is Powerful in Branding
There is a myth that SEO can only drive traffic, making it a one-dimensional approach suitable for very specific cases.
Salty Digital’s involvement with the online men’s suit store Prince Stores proves the exact opposite. SEO is a valuable tool that can deliver spectacular results not only in traffic but also in brand awareness, user experience, the relationship between the brand and its audience, and overall sales.
✅ The Problem
The Prince Stores brand operates in formal men’s wear. It has an online shop and three physical stores in Athens. They approached us expressing disappointment with the results of previous SEO services they had received.
Organic traffic was low, the online store had few sales, and there was a strong concern about how the audience could trust the brand and purchase such a challenging garment as a suit online.
✅ The Solution
When we took over this project, we realized that a traditional SEO approach that would bring high rankings and thus more visitors was not enough.
The goal was to figure out how the brand could grow alongside its website, how it could build a relationship of loyalty with its audience, so that sales would increase both online and offline.
To achieve this challenging combination, we implemented a set of actions, creating an SEO strategy aimed at brand awareness.
At the same time, our experience in such projects told us that we should also focus on CRO to improve user experience, increase conversions, and ultimately have a combined methodology towards success.
Our holistic approach included, among others, the following:
✅ On-page SEO
No on-page strategy is conceivable without a comprehensive and thorough audit that accurately captures problems and areas for improvement.
After a detailed SEO audit of 130 important points, weaknesses and omissions that negatively affected rankings were identified.
All on-page elements were corrected, and the correct structure was created on the site to ensure it had all the tools to reach the top.
✅ SEO for Google Shopping (Free Listings)
We focused on Google free listings, applying innovative practices to achieve increased traffic without running any shopping ads.
This is a neglected area that many underestimate, but we were confident from the beginning that it could contribute to overall growth and bring significant traffic.
✅ Smart Advertorial Tactics
Off-page SEO in this case had to be combined with a branding strategy. In simple terms, effective targeting of relevant keywords that could bring sales was necessary, while simultaneously making the brand known through articles.
Moreover, the era when off-page SEO was merely a mechanical creation of backlinks has definitively passed. The goal now is useful content that offers the user what they are looking for, building value and a relationship of trust with the audience.
With this logic, emphasis was placed on articles that highlight the brand and enhance brand awareness, while simultaneously helping the site target specific, high-value keywords.
This content marketing strategy had four dimensions:
⭕ Targeting a purchasing audience searching for suits, wedding suits, and wedding accessories.
⭕ Targeting ideas for guests who want to dress beautifully at a wedding.
⭕ Targeting an audience with educational articles related to the subject of good and careful dressing.
⭕ Local SEO targeting for potential customers in the broader area.
✅ Motivating the public to buy
We focused on the public’s hesitation to buy a suit online, which was also a key reason for the low sales of the e-shop.
Although it was a project that could be based only on leads, as there are also physical stores, we saw it as a challenge to stimulate sales in the online store in a dual and effective approach.
With this logic, we created ways for the user to feel comfortable and confident, to find exactly what they are looking for and that suits them from their computer or mobile phone.
With modern methods and detailed instructions, finding the suit that is made for them became a simple and easy-to-use process that yielded the most.
✅ Monthly CRO monitoring
After so much work, one thing was clear. We should not have let the visitor who was won with so much effort and wants to buy a suit, leave without converting into a customer.
Thus, we focused on monthly monitoring through CRO tools, generating reports on user traffic, with technologies such as heatmaps, scrollmaps, video recordings, and doing A/B testing on product layouts, words, and each category separately for maximum conversion rate.
The spectacular success not only in sales but also in rankings is excellent proof that CRO can go hand in hand with SEO, helping it to perform at its best.
✅ What we achieved
Another myth that was dispelled with this particular project is that SEO has results many months later. With the right moves and the right strategy, SEO can have an impressive impact and results can be seen quite quickly.
Specifically, with our on-page actions, in one month the project’s growth was amazing and within just 3 months it was on the first page for competitive and high value keywords that brought quality traffic and sales to the store.
Now, the site has four times the traffic compared to what it had when we started!
At the same time, we achieved +35% traffic to products and +33% increase in clicks to the store on Google Shopping without running any ads at any stage.
Another proof that you just need to pay proper attention to all the possibilities you have and not miss any opportunity for growth.
Regarding brand awareness, we measured it based on brand searches on Google, where here too we have an increase of 150%!
Let’s not forget that brand searches do not just reflect how well-known a brand is, but also help with rankings in general, since the prestige of the brand increases.
In terms of rankings in specific and highly competitive keywords, we managed to be in the top three in searches of enormous value, such as groomsmen’s suits, but also men’s suits, competing with or even surpassing even the biggest brands.
To measure the results of our multifaceted approach, the metrics we monitored, in addition to clicks, impressions and organic positions, were also the traffic to the physical store via the Google business profile, how many people asked for directions, how many made phone calls and how many left reviews.
Based on these measurements, traffic to the stores increased by 700%.
We are particularly happy about the development of this project, because it required intensive work, research, experimentation and adaptation of our experience to the most modern form of SEO, which is to strengthen not only the organic presence, but the overall identity of the brand.
Seeing the enormous growth of Prince Stores both online and offline, we are justified in our passion for SEO.
Because SEO now incorporates so many tools, approaches and capabilities that it has the power to transform an unknown brand into a leader in its industry.
