SUCCESS STORIES

Clarks Finds Its Stride

Clarks had decades of loyal customers behind it, but its website wasn't pulling its weight in search. Broad collection pages missed the specific searches shoppers were making, like "black school shoes for boys", and with an internal team new to SEO, there was a lot of untapped potential.

StudioHawk rebuilt the collection structure around how people search for shoes, launched targeted pages for high-demand styles, and upskilled the Clarks team along the way, so the growth didn't stop when the campaign did.

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101%

Increase in organic revenue

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53%

Increase in organic traffic

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27%

Increase in Top 3 Positions for collections pages

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Clarks is a heritage footwear brand that's been making shoes for nearly 200 years, known for quality, comfort and styles that last.

Its range covers everyone from kids needing school shoes to adults after reliable everyday styles, from classic leather sneakers to desert boots and its Originals line. Clarks has a loyal customer base and a Shopify store selling across Australia, but organic search was doing far less for the brand than it could have been.

The Need

Shoppers were searching for exactly what Clarks sold, but the site wasn’t making it easy to find. Broad collection pages, weak metadata and a structure built around the catalogue meant high-intent searches were slipping through to competitors.

The key challenges:

Collection pages were too generic.
- Broad categories couldn't capture shoppers with specific needs, like "black school shoes for boys" or "wide-fit leather shoes", so high-intent searches were going to competitors.
The site structure didn't reflect how people shop.
- The collection setup was built around the catalogue rather than search behaviour, leaving gaps where-in-demand styles had no dedicated page.
Metadata wasn't earning the click.
- Titles and descriptions didn't reflect the searches shoppers were making, holding back click-through rates even where Clarks was already ranking.
Shopify's flat URL structure limited the site's hierarchy.
- Without nested URLs, internal links had to do the heavy lifting to show Google how collections related to each other.

The Plan

With no room for big backlink campaigns, the strategy focused on getting more out of what Clarks already had: its products, its collection pages and the searches shoppers were already making.

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Build pages for specific searches

Introduce targeted collection pages for underused long-tail keywords to capture shoppers close to buying, starting with high-demand gaps like men's white sneakers.

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Write copy for shoppers and search

Pair short, engaging above-the-fold copy with keyword-rich content further down the page, so collections stay easy to shop while giving Google more to work with.

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Rewrite metadata around real queries

Update titles and descriptions across the site to match how shoppers search, lifting click-through rates on pages that were already ranking.

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Use internal links to create structure

Connect related collections through strategic internal linking to make up for Shopify's flat URL structure and show Google how the site fits together.

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Mapped collection gaps against stock and demand

Worked with Clarks to identify where shoppers were searching for styles with no dedicated page, and checked every proposed collection against current inventory and customer needs.

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Rewrote collection pages from top to bottom

Wrote above-the-fold copy to engage shoppers straight away, with SEO-rich content and internal links further down to connect related collections across the site.

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Refreshed metadata site-wide

Rewrote titles and descriptions to reflect the queries shoppers were using, giving existing rankings a better chance of turning into clicks.

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Launched the Men's White Sneakers page

Despite some early hesitation, the new page went live February 2024 and quickly became one of the campaign's biggest wins, proof that one well-targeted page can make a real difference.

Clarks School Shoes collection page with intro copy and links to school shoe sub-collections

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One collection, six ways in.

The School Shoes collection opens with a short intro, with more detail tucked behind a "Read more" toggle, then links straight through to dedicated pages for black, lace-up, leather, Mary Jane and T-Bar, sports and self-fastening styles. Each one targets a specific search, like "black school shoes", so parents land on exactly what they're after.

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Working with a team new to SEO

Clarks’ internal team hadn’t worked with SEO before. We ran tailored workshops to explain the key concepts, so the team could get behind each recommendation and keep things moving.

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Keeping visibility through a theme change

A website theme change mid-campaign could have undone a lot of the progress. By walking developers through the what and why behind each recommendation, we got their buy-in and kept SEO protected through the switch.

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Growing without a big link budget

With no room for large backlink campaigns, every decision had to count. We focused on the on-site changes most likely to move revenue: collection pages, copy, metadata and internal links.

The Results

Revenue doubled, beating the target: Clarks set out to grow organic revenue by 50%. It more than doubled instead, up 101% year on year. Organic traffic grew 53%, comfortably past the 40% goal.

Collection pages did the heavy lifting: The restructured collections were where the biggest gains landed. Traffic to collection pages grew 760%, and organic revenue from them jumped 1,254%.

More rankings, more clicks: Top 3 rankings rose 27% across collection pages and 12% site-wide. First-page rankings grew 8% and total ranking keywords 17%, while clicks in Search Console rose 33% and impressions 15%.

101%

Increase in organic revenue

53%

Increase in organic traffic

27%

Increase in Top 3 rankings for collection pages

The Conclusion

Clarks came to StudioHawk with a strong brand, a team new to SEO and no budget for big link campaigns. By focusing on collection pages, smarter copy and metadata, and bringing the Clarks team along at every step, the campaign turned what the site already had into real revenue.

The result: organic revenue up 101%, organic traffic up 53% and collection page revenue up 1,254%, smashing both targets. Just as importantly, the Clarks team now understands the why behind SEO, so they can keep building on that growth long after the campaign.

378%

Increase in number-one keyword rankings

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

Clarks Finds Its Stride

The Need

The Plan

The Execution

The Challenges Overcome

The Results

The Conclusion

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