SEO Case Study: +85% Traffic in 8 Months

Client: Theharvardshop.com
Industry: Collegiate Apparel & Accessories
Platform: Shopify
Services: SEO Audit, Technical Fixes, Keyword Strategy, Content Optimization

 

 

The Backstory

 

TheHarvardShop.com is a student-run online store that sells official Harvard University merchandise. From hoodies and hats to dorm essentials and alumni gifts, their products are both stylish and meaningful for anyone connected to the Harvard community.

Even though the brand had a loyal customer base and strong name recognition, most of their website traffic came from people already searching for “Harvard” products—like “Harvard sweatshirt” or “Harvard hat.” They weren’t showing up when people searched for more general but highly searched phrases like “college hoodies” or “graduation gifts.” That meant they were missing out on a huge number of potential customers who didn’t know about the store yet.

The Harvard Shop team wanted to grow their organic traffic, reach new audiences, and improve how they ranked on Google—not just for branded terms, but for broader, high-intent searches as well.

 


What We Did (And Why It Worked)



1. Understanding the Problem

 

We started with a deep SEO audit of the site. We found that many of their key collection pages (like "Sweatshirts" or "Harvard Accessories") had very little content—just a product grid and maybe a heading. Google didn’t have enough to understand what each page was about, and that meant it wasn’t ranking well.

We also noticed that their product descriptions were sometimes too short or didn’t use the kinds of keywords people actually search for. On the technical side, there were broken links, duplicate content issues (a common problem with Shopify filters), and some slow-loading pages that were hurting their performance.

 


2. Fixing the Foundation

Before diving into content, we tackled the technical issues first. We:

  • Fixed Product descriptions
  • Cleaned up broken internal links
  • Optimized page speed by compressing images and adding lazy loading
  • Fixed crawl and indexing issues by using canonical tags and noindexing low-value pages
  • Added structured data (like product schema) to help search engines understand the site better

This gave the website a clean slate and made it easier for Google to properly index and rank key pages.

 


3. Rewriting Product Descriptions for Better SEO and Conversion

One of the biggest missed opportunities on the site was the product descriptions. Many of them were short, generic, or lacked the kind of detail that both search engines and customers look for.

We rewrote dozens of product pages with clear, keyword-rich copy that felt natural and helpful—focusing on material, sizing, care instructions, and use cases like gifting or everyday wear.

 


4. Creating Content That People Actually Search For

 

To help bring in new traffic, we launched a small blog with helpful articles. Some examples:

  • “10 Graduation Gift Ideas for Harvard Students”
  • “How to Style Your College Hoodie Year-Round”
  • “What to Pack for Your First Year at Harvard”

These blog posts were based on real search terms people use and gave the site a better chance of showing up in Google for more than just branded keywords.

 


5. Building Trust Through Backlinks

 

We also ran a digital PR campaign to get quality backlinks from trusted sources like student blogs, gift guide sites, and college lifestyle publications. These links helped improve the site’s authority and search rankings, especially for competitive keywords.

 


The Results (In Just 8 Months)

The results were impressive and steady:

  • 85% increase in organic traffic, mostly from new, non-branded keywords
  • Over 150 new keywords ranked in the top 10 of Google (terms like “college sweatshirts” and “alumni gifts”)
  • 3x more impressions in Google Search Console
  • Bounce rate dropped by 25%, meaning more people stuck around and explored the site
  • 20% increase in conversion rate from organic traffic
  • Crawl errors dropped by 88%, which helped Google index more important pages

 


Final Thoughts

The Harvard Shop already had a strong brand, but by focusing on SEO fundamentals—cleaning up the site, improving content, and expanding their keyword reach—they unlocked a whole new level of visibility.

This project showed how powerful SEO can be, even for well-known brands. It’s not just about ranking for your name—it’s about showing up when people don’t even know you yet, but are looking for exactly what you offer.

If you’re running an eCommerce site and feel like you’re stuck relying on paid ads or word of mouth, SEO could be the game-changer you’ve been missing.