Background 

In mid 2025, an online beard grooming brand partnered with The HOTH to improve its domain authority, earn more organic traffic, and gain visibility across AI search platforms. 

Despite being an established brand for many years, the client’s site struggled with low domain authority due to:

• Sporadic content releases 
• Limited backlinks 
• Competition from other beard oil brands 

Before partnering with us, their Domain Rating (DR) score sat at a very low 8. 

This is too low to compete for high-intent queries that drive sales and generate leads, like ‘abyssinian seed oil.’ 

After only three months, we were able to raise their DR score by 9 points due to our holistic SEO strategy. 

We also achieved a 59% boost in top 10 keywords, including 97 in the top 3. AI platforms began to take notice, as the client picked up over 70 citations across platforms like ChatGPT and Google’s AI Overviews. 

What went into our strategy?

Continue reading to find out. 

The Challenge

All e-commerce businesses deal with intense competition online, and the beard oil space is no exception. 

There are more than 300 global players in the beard oil industry, so it can be difficult to build and retain an audience. 

Besides competitors, our client also had to deal with:

1. Shifting customer behaviors 
2. Technical SEO hurdles 
3. Informational searches ending in zero clicks 

On the technical side, e-commerce sites face steep challenges. 

It’s deceptively easy for product pages to qualify as duplicate content to search engines, leading to a myriad of ranking issues. 

Zero-click searches are another concern, as more and more consumers find what they need in generative AI Overviews and featured snippets. This makes it tough to generate traffic through the organic results, so AI visibility is now paramount for all businesses. 

Due to the scope of these challenges, we decided a holistic approach would work best. 

The Strategy 

Since our strategy was holistic, we put together a comprehensive campaign that included:

• • A detailed technical audit and implementation to catch and resolve any instances of duplicate content, crawling errors, and slow site speed (among many other factors).
• • Web copy optimization for the client’s homepage and main collection pages.
• • Publishing original blogs to build topical authority, rank for new keywords, and drive traffic.
• • Link insertions on relevant, credible websites.
• • Link outreach to generate backlinks on authoritative, topically aligned websites.

As you can see, we left no stone unturned when it came to the client’s SEO. 

We always begin our managed campaigns with a technical audit, but it’s even more important for e-commerce websites. Knocking this out at the very beginning lets us identify and resolve any issues that may negatively impact our later efforts. 

Tightening up the web copy was essential for adding crucial on-page SEO elements like keywords and metadata, as well as improving conversion rates by making product descriptions as enticing as possible. 

Publishing high-quality original content was also incredibly important for building authority and ranking for keywords. We developed consistent, unique blog posts targeting informational queries like ‘how should a beard neckline look,’ securing #1 rankings and generating mid-funnel traffic.  

Lastly, the client was in desperate need of contextually relevant backlinks to improve their DR score and begin earning AI citations.    

The Results 

After only three months, the client’s DR score rose by 9 points, which is extremely fast. 

The improved authority paved the way for stronger keyword rankings and AI citations. 

Speaking of AI, the brand gained over 70 new citations across multiple AI platforms. 

In terms of keywords, the client now ranks for 97 keywords in the top 3, many of which are in the #1 position. 

The blogs were an enormous help in this regard. 

Through expert keyword research, we got the client ranking for dozens of brand-new keywords in the #1 position. Overall, they saw 59% more keywords in the top 10 after three months of our campaign. 

The campaign is by no means over, either. We have plans to add Digital PR and other products in the near future to continue the client’s upward trajectory. 

This case proves that e-commerce stores need flawless SEO in order to truly thrive. 

Want to Improve Your Online Store’s Visibility on Google and AI Search Tools?

If you want to take your e-commerce store’s online performance to new heights, don’t wait to book a free call with our team.  

Also, don’t wait to try out HOTH X to enjoy a cohesive, hands-off SEO campaign.  

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The Proof 

Due to the improved authority and blog content, the client began ranking for tons of new keywords in the #1 spot. 

Here are a few examples:

There are also 97 keywords in the top 3:

Here’s the improvement to the client’s backlink profile:

These are the AI citations the client earned during the 3-month campaign: