Episode Summary
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1. Introduction to the Episode
In this episode of Let’s Talk Shop, Luke focuses on comparing two prominent high street retailers in the UK: Wilko and B&M.
2. Wilko’s Current Situation
Wilko, once a significant player on the UK’s high streets, is currently grappling with multiple challenges. The cost of living crisis, among other factors, has pushed the company perilously close to administration. This is alarming, especially considering the brand’s historical prominence.
3. B&M’s Surprising Success
In stark contrast, B&M, a direct competitor operating in the same space as Wilko, appears to be thriving. This divergence in fortunes prompts the question: why is B&M succeeding where Wilko seems to be faltering?
4. The Focus of the Episode
Luke’s main aim is to analyse and compare the online presence of Wilko and B&M, particularly in terms of their SEO strategies. He plans to delve into their respective websites, suggesting what Wilko might have done differently to improve its online visibility and possibly boost e-commerce revenue.
5. The Importance of SEO Rankings
The comparison reveals that B&M has superior keyword rankings. They have a broader keyword set, achieve higher rankings for specific keywords than Wilko, and as a result, potentially attract more traffic.
6. Introducing Wilko and B&M to a Global Audience
For those unfamiliar with UK retail, Wilko and B&M might not ring any bells. Here’s a brief:
- Wilko: A mainstay in UK society, Wilko has been around since the early 1900s. It’s known for affordable items spanning various categories.
- B&M: Similar to Wilko, B&M stores are generally larger and stock affordable items, vying for the same customer base.
7. The SEO Edge of B&M Over Wilko
Luke identifies significant factors that might explain why B&M consistently outperforms Wilko in SEO rankings.
8. A Dive into SEO Metrics
Before delving deep into the SEO statistics of both brands, Luke clarifies that domain authority is merely indicative. Preliminary data for both brands is analysed.
9. SEO Metrics for B&M
Upon closer examination of B&M’s SEO metrics, Luke details the brand’s domain authority, backlinks, referring domains, keywords, and traffic.
10. Delving into Technical SEO: The Robots.txt File
Luke examines Wilko’s robots.txt file, noting its unusual comprehensiveness and potential misconfigurations.
11. The Risks of Over-relying on Robots.txt
Luke elaborates on the pitfalls of heavily leaning on the robots.txt file for SEO and offers better practices for managing search engine crawling.
12. Better Practices for Managing Crawling
Luke suggests using meta robots tags instead of solely relying on robots.txt, offering better control over site architecture.
13. The Missteps with Wilko’s Robots.txt
Luke emphasizes the potential SEO issues arising from Wilko’s robots.txt file, highlighting contradictory rules.
14. The Importance of Robots.txt
The significance of the robots.txt file and its potential impact on SEO is discussed.
15. User Experience: Navigating Wilko’s Product Pages
Luke critiques Wilko’s user interface, particularly its multi-layered product navigation.
16. The Impact of Click Depth on SEO
The concept of “click depth” and its implications for SEO and user experience are elaborated upon.
17. B&M’s Efficient Product Navigation
Luke praises B&M’s website for its efficient product navigation and flatter structure.
18. Brand Pages: Potential Self-Competition
Luke discusses the potential SEO pitfalls of having multiple pages for a single brand, using “Air Wick” as an example.
19. The Multi-layered Navigation of Wilko’s Site
Luke delves deeper into Wilko’s multi-layered navigation, noting the multiple clicks required to reach specific products.
20. Page Pagination and its Implications
Luke explores the topic of pagination, discussing its benefits and potential drawbacks for SEO.
21. Duplicate URL Issues
Luke highlights an issue with Wilko’s pagination that leads to duplicate URLs for the first page of results, which can be detrimental for SEO.
22. Improper Hyperlinking in Pagination
Luke stresses the importance of effective internal hyperlinking for paginated content. B&M have this nailed whilst Wilko is lacking behind in this sense.
23. Lazy Loading and SEO Implications
Luke talks about Wilko’s lazy loading feature, which, while providing a better user experience, can have certain SEO implications. It’s about striking the right balance between tech SEO and UX.
24. B&M’s Pagination Approach
Comparatively, B&M’s straightforward approach to pagination is lauded, especially when compared to Wilko’s methods.
25. Effective Use of Branding in B&M
On B&M’s site, each product linked to a brand efficiently guides users back to that brand’s main page, a strategy that boosts SEO and user experience.
26. Wilko’s Missed Branding Opportunity
Luke points out the missed opportunity on Wilko’s site, where products do not link back to their respective brand pages, potentially affecting SEO and sales.
27. Closing Thoughts
Luke concludes by emphasising the notable differences in the online strategies of Wilko and B&M. B&M’s streamlined approach gives it an organic search ranking advantage over Wilko.
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