Why does non-branded search matter for eCommerce growth?

Non-branded search helps brands reach shoppers earlier in the buying journey. These customers may not be searching by brand name yet, but they are often looking for a product type, feature, use case, material, or solution the brand already offers.

How does information architecture affect eCommerce SEO?

Information architecture affects how search engines understand the site and how easily customers can move through it. Clear categories, collections, navigation, and internal links can help shoppers find relevant products faster while supporting stronger organic visibility.

What should an SEO strategy include for Shopify eCommerce sites?

A strong Shopify SEO strategy should include keyword research, competitor analysis, technical audits, metadata, site structure, content strategy, product and collection optimization, internal linking, and CRO considerations tied to the customer journey.

How do SEO and CRO work together in eCommerce?

SEO helps bring qualified shoppers to the site, while CRO helps those shoppers move toward the right product or next step. When the two work together, brands can improve both visibility and the quality of the shopping experience.

Sherpani Case Study

A search strategy that made Sherpani’s sustainable bags easier to find, compare, and shop.

Visit the Site

Sherpani designs stylish, functional bags, luggage, and travel accessories for women who move through the world with confidence. As the brand continued to grow online, the team needed more of the right customers to find them through non-branded search, not only by name. SwiftOtter partnered with Sherpani to strengthen organic visibility through keyword research, competitor analysis, technical SEO, content strategy, and improvements to how shoppers moved through the site.

38%

increase in organic revenue

74% increase

increase in organic sessions

309%

increase in non-branded clicks

The Right Shoppers Needed a Clearer Path In

Sherpani had a strong product line and a clear point of view: bags designed for everyday movement, travel, adventure, and sustainable living. But having products people want is not the same as being easy to find when those customers are searching.

The opportunity was bigger than ranking for the Sherpani name. The brand needed stronger visibility for the non-branded searches customers use when they are still comparing options, exploring styles, or trying to find the right bag for a specific need.

Without that visibility, Sherpani risked losing high-intent shoppers before they ever reached the site. The right customers could be searching for crossbody bags, travel bags, backpacks, anti-theft features, sustainable materials, or everyday carry options, but landing with competitors who were easier to find.

What Organic Growth Needed to Support

Sherpani needed an SEO foundation that helped shoppers discover the brand earlier and move through the site with more clarity once they arrived.

Success meant the site needed to support three things:

Stronger non-branded discovery
The brand needed to improve visibility for the searches customers use before they know exactly who they want to buy from.

Clearer paths through the product range
Navigation and information architecture needed to help shoppers find the right category, collection, style, or product without unnecessary friction.

A stronger connection between search and shopping
Keyword strategy, content, technical performance, and CRO needed to work together so organic traffic could become qualified shopping activity, not just more visits.

The goal was not to chase rankings in isolation. It was to help more right-fit customers find Sherpani and move confidently toward the products that fit their needs.

The Search Strategy

SwiftOtter started by looking at how customers searched, how competitors were showing up, and where Sherpani had room to gain visibility. The strategy focused on three priorities:

Understand the search landscape
We used keyword and audience research alongside competitor landscape analysis to identify where Sherpani had opportunities to improve non-branded visibility.
Strengthen the technical foundation
Technical SEO audits and optimization helped address issues that could limit performance, crawlability, or the site’s ability to compete in organic search.
Improve the path from search to product discovery
Content strategy, SEO migration support, and CRO-focused recommendations helped connect search intent to the shopping experience, so visitors could move from discovery to product consideration with less friction.

This mattered because Sherpani’s customers were not all searching the same way. Some were looking by product type, some by use case, some by material or feature, and some by lifestyle need. The site had to meet those searches with clearer paths and more relevant content.

Building a Better Path From Search to Shopping

Expanded non-branded keyword visibility

SwiftOtter refined Sherpani’s keyword strategy with a focus on the searches customers use before they are familiar with the brand. This helped expand reach beyond branded demand and created more opportunities to appear earlier in the buying journey.

Strengthened the technical SEO foundation

Technical audits and optimization helped address issues that could affect site performance, search visibility, crawlability, and organic growth.

Improved site structure and product discovery

Competitor insights, information architecture, and navigation recommendations helped make the site easier to move through, supporting clearer paths across product categories, collections, and shopper needs.

Connected content strategy to customer intent

Content recommendations helped align the site more closely with what customers were searching for, while supporting Sherpani’s broader story around style, function, travel, and sustainable design.

Before

After

Results That Went Beyond Rankings

Together, these improvements helped search, content, and the shopping experience work in the same direction. Sherpani saw measurable improvement across both business performance and search visibility.

Organic revenue increased by 38%, organic sessions increased by 74%, and non-branded clicks increased by 309%. Those gains showed that the strategy was not only bringing more people to the site, but helping more right-fit shoppers discover Sherpani through the kinds of searches they were already making.

The SEO foundation also strengthened. Non-branded impressions increased by 100%, non-branded keywords ranking on page 1 of Google increased by 87%, and the average position of non-branded keywords improved by 44%.

Together, those results point to a stronger organic growth engine: better visibility, more qualified discovery, and a clearer path from search to shopping.

100% increase

in non-branded impressions

87% increase

in non-branded keywords ranking on page 1 of Google

44% improvement

in average position of non-branded keywords

Search Should Support the Whole Shopping Journey

SEO is not just about bringing more visitors to a site. For eCommerce brands, it has to help the right shoppers find the right products at the right moment.

That matters for brands with broad product lines, lifestyle-driven categories, sustainability stories, and customers who search by need as much as by brand. If the site is difficult to find or difficult to navigate, the business loses opportunities before the customer ever reaches checkout.

Sherpani’s project shows how stronger organic visibility, clearer site structure, and customer-focused content can work together to support growth without turning SEO into a disconnected checklist.

Make it easier for the right customers to find you.

Let's chat about a search strategy built around how your customers actually shop.

Brands can improve non-branded visibility by researching how customers search before they know the brand, identifying competitor gaps, improving technical SEO, strengthening category and product content, and aligning site structure with search intent.