Discount online retailer Overstock is no stranger to search struggles. It was one of the larger sites to be hit by a link penalty back in 2011. And in 2015, the company blamed Google for its 18% stock price drop after experiencing a ranking decline following a Google algorithm update. In 2017 and into early 2018, Overstock also saw significant declines in its Google search rankings.
During Overstock’s first-quarter earnings call in March, the executive team shared a slide from SEMRush data that highlighted how the traffic in the home and garden category had been struggling but also showed a major turnaround in late 2018.
Over the past year, Overstock’s Google organic rankings have increased by 97% year-over-year. Speaking with Seth Moore, chief strategy officer of Overstock, and Nate Auwerda, the company’s chief technology officer, they credited technical changes, user experience improvements, and the refreshing and consolidation of much of the 20-year-old site’s content for this reversal.
### Winning Elements: UX and Content
Moore and Auwerda pointed out that improvements in the user experience and content were crucial. The company had already addressed many technical crawl issues, enabling them to build a solid SEO foundation, achieving quick gains by implementing necessary technical fixes.
On the UX side, Overstock focused on speed, site architecture, and overall usability. For example, the company reengineered its personalization machine learning models to ensure that images tailored to users were more personalized. This optimization led not only to a better user experience but also improved page speed, both on desktop and mobile.
On the content side, the company invested time in refreshing older content throughout the site. This included not just consolidating outdated pages but also reworking older content. Overstock, being around 25 years old, had legacy content that was outdated, such as articles on mattress technology. They rewrote this content from the ground up to provide more authoritative, accurate, and trusted information.
### Getting a Boost from the Algorithm
According to SEMRush data confirmed by Overstock, the company saw a significant increase in organic keyword rankings in Google after the June 2019 core update on June 3. This update provided a notable boost to Overstock’s rankings.
Seth Moore remarked that the June 2019 core update was “very positive” for Overstock. He added that there is still “more room for growth” based on their 2016 and 2017 keyword data.
While previous core updates, such as the one in March, also helped Overstock, they did lose 41% of their top 3 keyword placements during that update. However, the diversity update rolled out by Google during the June core update period benefited Overstock because the company did not have many duplicative listings in Google search.
Moore stated that the company has experienced a 51% increase in organic traffic year-to-date and a 97% increase year-over-year. This growth allowed Overstock to reduce spending on some paid ads, including search ads, while still driving higher converting traffic to its site through organic search.
Auwerda emphasized that Overstock now focuses on continually improving the website for the end user, moving away from reacting to Google algorithm changes. The company aims to create an exceptional user experience rather than “chasing the algorithm.” Based on the past year’s results, this strategy appears to be paying off handsomely.
