SUCCESS STORIES

    SCF: From Zero to Primary Channel

     
    SCF operates across seven product categories, eight depot regions and two countries. When we started working together in 2020, organic search was a brand new channel for the business.
     
    The first goal was to double monthly non-branded organic visits within 12 months. We hit it, and SCF set a bigger target: make non-branded organic search its primary commercial acquisition channel.
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    1140%
    Increase in monthly non-branded organic visits
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    3740%
    Increase in top-3 keyword positions
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    14:1
    Organic-to-branded traffic ratio
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    SCF is Australia's longest established national container supplier, with more than 30 years of providing storage, transport and specialised container solutions. Its range covers shipping containers, site sheds, dangerous goods containers, tank containers, refrigerated containers and more.
     
    With depots across eight regions and operations in New Zealand, SCF supplies everyone from enterprise and government departments to small businesses and project teams working in remote conditions, across logistics, construction, mining, agriculture, defence and events.

    The Need

    When SCF came to StudioHawk in 2020, organic search was a new channel for the business, so year one was about proving it could work. Once it did, the goal became making non-branded organic search SCF's primary commercial acquisition channel.
     
    The key objectives:
    • Double non-branded organic visits in 12 months
      • Show the channel's value within the first year.
    • Build a full taxonomy across seven product categories
      • Create category pages for every product line, backed by supporting content.
    • Win local visibility across eight depot regions and two countries
      • Give each of the eight Australian depots its own local presence, with the NZ site covered too.
    • Stand apart in a logistics-heavy SERP
      • Make it clear SCF is the container supplier, in results shared with shipping and freight companies.

    The Plan

    We built the strategy around four focus areas, starting with technical and structural work before moving into content, local SEO and links.
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    Site architecture and taxonomy
    A full category build across seven product lines, with hub-and-spoke content covering sizes, dimensions, hire vs buy, lifecycle and use cases.
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    Technical SEO
    Strengthen indexing and crawlability, consolidate the 20ft container variant URLs under one parent, give each portable building page a clear, distinct focus, and roll out product, organisation, FAQ page and local business schema sitewide.
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    Local SEO
    Build and optimise eight depot landing pages, with Google Business Profile, Apple Maps and Bing coverage for every location.
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    Authority and AI visibility
    Point link building at inner product, category and depot pages once they were live, support it with link-magnet blog content, and from 2025 add a five-pillar framework to win AI Overview placements.

    The Execution

    We sorted the technical side first, then added content, local visibility and links as each stage came together.
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    Built strong technical foundations first
    Improved indexing and crawlability before any content work began, consolidated the 20ft container variants, gave each portable building page a distinct focus, added hreflang across the AU and NZ domains and rolled out schema across product, category, depot and organisation pages.
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    Built categories, content and depots from scratch
    Created seven product category architectures with hub-and-spoke content, commercial landing pages for sale, hire, modifications and industry verticals, and eight optimised depot pages backed by Google Business Profile, Apple Maps and Bing.
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    Grew authority and AI visibility
    Shifted link targeting to inner pages once they were live, and applied a five-pillar AI framework across on-site semantics, schema, structured-source profiles like Wikidata, Wikipedia and Crunchbase, and ongoing AI-prompt monitoring.
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    The Container Check Digit Calculator validates shipping container numbers instantly. Logistics and procurement teams use it to check container numbers, and it ranked in the top three for its core search terms.
     
    In 12 months it delivered 15,732 non-branded clicks. A simple tool that keeps bringing the right audience to the site.

    The Challenges Overcome

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    Standing out in a logistics-heavy SERP
    Container searches are shared with freight and logistics companies, so SCF needed to stand out as the supplier. We built content and architecture that make it clear what SCF does and who it serves.
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    Building everything at once
    SCF was starting from scratch, so the taxonomy, depot pages and supporting content were built at the same time, while we kept crawlability and page focus on track.
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    Holding ground as the market shifted
    United Rentals bought Royal Wolf, Coates Hire moved into bulk liquid storage, and Google's 2024 Helpful Content updates changed traffic patterns across the industry. We adjusted targeting along the way, kept traffic within a defined band and hit a new high in Year 6.

    The Results

    Traffic that keeps climbing: Monthly non-branded visits grew from 1,734 to 21,483, a 12.4x increase. Non-branded organic now outperforms branded search 14:1, up from 1.3:1 in 2020.
     
    Far more keywords ranking: Total tracked keywords grew from 874 to 8,057, and top-3 positions grew from 25 to 960, a 38x increase.
     
    Winning in AI search: AI Overview placements grew from 0 to 547 in 12 months, alongside 1,147 other SERP feature placements.
     
    A six-year track record: Three annual targets exceeded, one achieved within band and one at 98%. Year 4 was affected by industry-wide changes from Google's Helpful Content updates.
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    1140%
    Increase in monthly non-branded organic visits
    rewarded_ads
    3740%
    Increase in top-3 keyword positions
    rewarded_ads
    547
    AI Overview placements in 12 months

    The Conclusion

    In 2020, organic search was a new channel for SCF. Six years later, non-branded organic search is its primary commercial acquisition channel. It came down to getting the foundations right and adjusting the strategy through four distinct market phases.
     
    12.4x non-branded traffic. 38x more top-3 positions.
    SCF now holds 547 AI Overview placements, with non-branded organic outperforming branded search 14:1.
    SCF came in with a clear challenge. Build organic from scratch in a category where the SERPs work against you. That made the wins even more satisfying.
    StudioHawk Team
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