Wetsuits & lifestyle ecommerce
A Shopify rebuild that made the catalog findable.
We rebuilt a wetsuit and surf lifestyle brand's store around how people actually shop for a suit, then gave it the search and AI visibility to be found by them.
- 12 to 31
- keywords ranking in the top 10
- 0 to 6
- AI answer mentions for the core audience
- 2,400%
- growth in monthly organic visits, from 10 to 250, within four months
The challenge
Where they started.
The brand had grown up. Its products, photography, and customers had moved well past where they started, but the store still reflected the old business.
Shoppers had to work to find the right suit. The details that decide a wetsuit purchase were hard to find and harder to compare. Search engines had little to go on, and AI tools didn't mention the brand when surfers asked for recommendations.
The brand didn't need more traffic poured into a leaky store. It needed a store that made buying easy, and a foundation that search and AI could read.
What we did
The DRIVE method, applied.
Detect
Audited the catalog, the buying journey, and organic and AI answer visibility.
Rank
Put product categorization ahead of new content, because no blog post fixes a store shoppers can't navigate.
Inform
Rebuilt the buying journey around how people actually shop for a suit, and wrote collection and product copy to match.
Validate
Launched the redesign with on-page SEO and AEO foundations in place, then tracked rankings and AI mentions from day one.
Engage
Monthly organic visits went from 10 to 250 before the inbound content program even began, and that program now builds on the new foundation.
What we built
A store built to be found.
Website refresh
Rebuilt the Shopify store to match where the brand had moved, with a cleaner path from homepage to checkout.
Product categorization
Reorganized the catalog into collections that mirror how surfers choose a suit, so shoppers narrow down fast and search engines see clear topics.
On-page SEO
Rewrote titles, descriptions, and collection pages around the terms shoppers actually search, which took top-10 rankings from 12 to 31.
AEO foundations
Structured product and collection content to answer the questions surfers ask AI tools, taking the brand from zero to six AI answer mentions.
Local optimization
Sharpened the brand's local search presence, so surfers near home find it when they're ready to buy in person or pick up.
Email marketing
Built email capture and flows that turn first-time visitors into repeat customers between sessions in the water.
Inbound content program
A content plan that extends the new foundation into the questions buyers ask before they're ready to shop.
See the work
A catalog organised the way people shop.
Screenshots are cropped to the work: the client's logo, address bar and name are not in frame, because this case study is anonymous.
Collections that mirror how surfers choose a suit, which is also what gives search engines clear topics.
A homepage that routes to product rather than explaining itself.
The outcome
Where they are now.
The brand went from 12 to 31 keywords in the top 10 and from zero to six AI answer mentions for its core audience. Within four months, monthly organic visits grew from 10 to 250, before a single blog post went live.
The store now does what the brand needed: it helps the right shopper find the right suit, and it gives search engines and AI tools a clear reason to recommend it.
More results
Other engagements.
Luxury landscaping
45%
increase in quoted prices
Premium repositioning, a website refresh, local optimization, AEO, paid media, and email. 22.5:1 ROAS.
IT staffing & AI talent
67 to 631
ranking terms in search
Website refresh, SEO, AEO, and local optimization, plus email nurture, sales sequences, and sales enablement for ten audiences.
Is your store easy to find and easy to buy from?
Start with the 30-Day Marketing Diagnostic, or spend 30 minutes with a CMO. You'll leave with a clear read on what's working, what isn't, and what we'd do first.