Woods Canada
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
eCommerce
Recovering Organic Performance through Content & Technical SEO
Woods Manufacturing Co. Ltd. is a leading Canadian outdoor brand specializing in camping tents, sleeping bags, furniture, and accessories.
Their online store, woods.ca, showcases a wide product range designed for Canadian campers and outdoor enthusiasts.
Seologist was brought on board to help the company recover from a seasonal decline in organic traffic and improve overall visibility through a combination of technical SEO, content development, and on-site optimization.
Objective
The campaign objectives were to:
Restore organic traffic and revenue lost during seasonal downturns.
Strengthen search visibility for key product categories such as tents, camping gear, sleeping bags, and cookware.
Improve conversion performance and user engagement through data-driven technical and content enhancements.
Build a content strategy addressing informational and transactional user intent.
Conduct a technical SEO audit to fix duplicates, broken links, and redirect gaps.
The Challenge
Seasonal Traffic Fluctuations
Woods experienced major traffic declines during the fall and winter months. In Canada, organic sessions dropped by over 50%, and in the U.S. by 16%. This decrease reflected the natural demand cycle but also revealed the need for evergreen content to sustain off-season interest.
Improper Product Page Handling
Roughly 300 product pages were deleted without proper 301 redirects, resulting in traffic and ranking loss.
Low-Quality Backlinks
Following a Google algorithm update, low-quality backlinks negatively impacted visibility. A total of 90 toxic links were identified.
Duplicate Categories & Structural Issues
Shopify collection pages contained duplicates (e.g., /collections/cookware vs. /collections/stoves-and-cookware), causing keyword cannibalization and index bloat.
What we did
Technical SEO Recovery
- Completed a full 4-in-1 audit covering meta tags, redirects, duplicate content, and broken links.
- Implemented 301 redirects for all outdated or deleted product pages.
- Updated meta titles and descriptions for category pages; all reindexed successfully.
- Created a process for proactive redirect mapping to prevent future losses.
- Compiled and submitted a disavow file for 90 low-quality backlinks in Google Search Console.
Content Production & Optimization
- Developed a 3-month editorial plan featuring seasonal and evergreen topics.
- Produced blog articles such as:
- “What to Take on Your First Camping Trip”
- “Best Camping Tables 2021”
- “Top Family Size Camping Tents 2021”
- plus an infographic: “Camping Essentials.”
- Wrote optimized content for nine product categories, including Tents & Shelters, Sleeping Bags & Mats, Stoves & Cookware, Camping Chairs & Tables, Snowshoes, and others.
- The goal was to improve category relevance and increase organic exposure for transactional queries.
Link Building & Citations
- Conducted an outreach campaign resulting in contextual placements on authoritative websites such as:
- ViewtheVibe.com – “5 Reasons You Need Great Equipment When Wild Camping”
- TopTeny.com – “How to Make Camping More Comfortable”
- LazyPenguins.com – “8 Tips to Consider Before Going Camping.”
- Launched forum and profile link building to diversify the backlink portfolio.
- Prepared a local citation plan for directory listings once the new business address was confirmed.
Traffic Drop Research & Analysis
Reason #1 – Seasonal Dependence
Organic sessions typically declined after August due to lower product demand.
- Canada: −50% traffic drop (from ~30 K to 15 K users).
- U.S.: −16% decline.
Solution: Introduce evergreen and educational content to sustain engagement year-round.
Reason #2 – Low-Quality Backlinks
The 2021 Google core update penalized sites with weak link profiles.
Solution: Remove and disavow toxic links, reinforce authority through organic outreach and citations.
Reason #3 – Missing Redirects for Discontinued Products
More than 300 pages were removed without redirects, resulting in traffic and authority loss.
Solution: Establish a redirect mapping protocol for all discontinued SKUs to retain equity and preserve crawl paths.
Our Results
| Metric | Change |
| Organic Traffic (30 days) | +38% MoM growth |
| Revenue from Organic | +32% increase in new customer revenue |
| Keywords in Top 10 Google | Rankings maintained and strengthened across core categories |
Top Performing Keywords
Overall Impact
Conclusion
Through a comprehensive content and technical SEO strategy, Seologist helped Woods Manufacturing:
- Recover organic visibility after seasonal and technical decline.
- Eliminate duplicate content and redirect issues.
- Strengthen search performance for key product categories.
- Maintain steady conversions and engagement during low season.
This project demonstrates how a structured, data-backed approach combining audit, content, link building, and technical SEO can rebuild lost visibility and ensure long-term growth for a seasonal eCommerce brand in Canada.
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