SUCCESS STORIES

Bell & Bone: The Underdog Amongst The Giants

Bell & Bone is an Australian made and owned dental brand for dogs and cats. It started in Melbourne when Arianne, a devoted dog owner, read the back of a supermarket dental stick and didn't like what she found.

So she made her own: healthy dog treats and natural dental sticks made with real meat, free from the unnatural flavourings and additives found in many supermarket options. Today, hundreds of thousands of pet owners who want the best for their pets are part of the Bell & Bone community.

Back in 2020, the website was just two years old and the biggest brands in pet treats owned the search results. Arianne wanted the dog owners searching for natural dental sticks and healthy treats to find Bell & Bone.

Want results like this?

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160%

organic traffic increase

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62%

keyword base increase

The Need

Bell & Bone had built strong momentum through social media and paid ads, but organic search was new territory. The website was young in SEO terms, and the dental stick and dog treat market was led by well-known brands. We saw huge potential for the underdog to grow.

The key objectives:

The first two pages
- Rank on the first two pages of Google for "dental sticks", "healthy dog treats" and "puppy treats".
More organic users
- Grow organic users by 20% year on year.
A bigger keyword base
- Grow the keyword base by 50% year on year.
SEO know-how
- Build Arianne's understanding of how SEO grows a business over time.

The Plan

SEO was a new channel for Bell & Bone, so the plan paired practical work with plenty of education.

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Category content

Add keyword-rich descriptions to every category page.

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Internal linking

Pass authority from the strong homepage to the category pages.

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Authority building

Earn quality backlinks to lift Bell & Bone's domain authority.

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SEO education

Show Arianne how SEO works and why it builds over time.

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Category pages in a week

Many category pages were missing descriptions above the fold. We created a category description template with SEO best practice and competitor examples, and Arianne wrote descriptions for every category page within a week. We also showed her how internal links from the homepage could lift those pages.

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Naming the superfood range

In January 2021, Arianne shared plans for a new superfood dog treat range. "Superfood dog treats" had almost no search volume, so we advised naming the products around the high-volume keywords Bell & Bone was already starting to rank for, while making the superfood ingredients clear.

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A website built for search

We reviewed the site's architecture and created a website architecture guide for Bell & Bone's web development agency. The refreshed website launched in July 2021, built around our recommendations.

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Patience with a new channel

After quick wins from social media and paid ads, organic growth can feel slow. Clear reporting and regular check-ins showed Arianne how her rankings were building, from pages two and three towards the top.

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A shift in social advertising

When Apple's iOS 14 update changed how Facebook ads could reach customers, organic visibility became more valuable than ever. The groundwork already in place meant Bell & Bone was ready to lean into it.

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Taking on the giants

Bell & Bone competed with some of the biggest names in pet treats. Focused category content, smart product naming and quality backlinks helped the underdog hold its own.

The Results

Within a year, Bell & Bone's organic presence had grown up fast.

Organic traffic up 160%: Organic traffic grew 160%, far beyond the 20% goal.

Keyword base up 62.22%: From July 2020 to July 2021, the number of keywords Bell & Bone ranked for grew 62.22%, beating the 50% goal.

Rankings on the rise: By February 2021, about four months in, rankings for Bell & Bone's top keywords were climbing fast.

A refreshed website: The new website launched in July 2021, built for both shoppers and search engines.

160%

Increase in organic traffic

62%

Increase in keyword base

1 week

To write every category description

The Conclusion

Bell & Bone began with one dog owner who wanted something better for her pup. Taking on the biggest names in pet treats with a young website was a big ask, but the potential was clear from day one.

Category descriptions written in a week, smarter internal links, quality backlinks and SEO-led product naming gave Google good reasons to rank Bell & Bone. A website architecture guide made sure the refreshed site was built for search from the ground up.

Along the way, Arianne learned how SEO builds over time, and the results followed. Organic traffic grew 160% and the keyword base grew 62%.

+160% organic traffic. +62% keyword base.
Proof that the underdog can run with the giants.

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In-depth AI & SEO audit

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Expert traffic analysis

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Custom AI & SEO roadmap

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Client success:

160%

organic traffic increase

62%

keyword base increase

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378%

Increase in number-one keyword rankings

How 'custom t shirts' went from page one, position eight, to the very top spot.

Bell & Bone: The Underdog Amongst The Giants

The Need

The Plan

The Execution

The Challenges Overcome

The Results

The Conclusion

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