Website optimization and search engine marketing for Leijonat Store
Leijonat Store is the Finnish Ice Hockey Association’s official fan store for Leijonat products. The Leijonat Store’s team reached out to us because they needed help with website optimization and search engine marketing. We started our collaboration with Leijonat in January 2023, with the goal of being in top form for the upcoming World Championships in the spring. Our work included optimizing the online store, revamping analytics, and running effective Google Ads campaigns.
E-commerce optimization and effective search engine advertising
Our collaboration began with optimizing the Leijonat Store’s Shopify e-commerce site. The optimization included several small but impactful tweaks, such as adding a favicon, updating hero images, fixing and editing headings, adding internal links, including missing meta descriptions, and providing recommendations for new content. In addition to optimization, we installed Google Analytics 4 on the site and updated the cookies.
After optimization, we launched search engine advertising. We created ad groups based on product categories and keywords. The advertising campaign gained full momentum in April, when we added a Performance Max campaign and Shopping ads to Leijona Store.
Previously, only light smart campaign advertising had been used for Leijonat Store, so there was no substantial data from previous campaigns. During the competition period, our goal was to increase e-commerce sales and visibility. We introduced the Performance Max campaign because we wanted to easily test different ad formats without a lot of manual effort. Performance Max is a goal-based campaign type that allows the use of all Google Ads ad formats within a single campaign, leveraging an automated auction model.
Leijonat Store hadn’t yet set up Merchant Center, but we agreed that it would be needed in the future. Shopping ads were considered important for the long term because they offer e-commerce stores the best return on investment (ROI). Once the account was set up, we activated Shopping ads as well. The ads ran for just one week, but they will continue to be utilized going forward.
Early advertising delivered excellent results
Finland’s performance in the competition wasn’t as favorable this year as it had been in previous years. Although this was reflected in organic traffic, sales results grew, as did the time spent on the site (+2.92%) and the conversion rate (+101%). For Leijonat Store, the key factor was the early launch of advertising, which steadily increased sales even before the competition started, whereas in previous years, there had been a noticeable spike in sales only during the games.
The advertising was highly profitable: the ROI was 518.29%, and the number of purchases grew by 12.76%. Now that the advertising accounts are set up and valuable data has been collected, we believe next year’s results will be even better. We’re excited to continue from here!
Interested in digital advertising? Contact us!
