Case Study: Connected & SMAI - The Black Belt of Search (SEO)
- Christie Wade
- Apr 7
- 2 min read
Updated: Jul 9

SMAI, a well-established brand in the fitness and martial arts space, approached Connected to address a critical gap in their organic search performance. While SMAI's business was growing year-over-year, organic traffic and revenue were lagging behind. SMAI's leaders were increasingly concerned about the lack of visibility for business-critical products and sought Connected's expertise to uncover the root of the issue and implement a solution.
OUR APPROACH - SEO CASE STUDY
Objectives
Objectives: Improve SMAI's organic visibility and drive commercial growth for priority products in a highly competitive market.
Increase organic visibility
Drive non-brand traffic
Boost sales
Grow revenue
The Challenge: Despite strong E.E.A.T (Expertise, Experience, Authority, and Trustworthiness) metrics and no clear technical SEO issues identified by tools, SMAI's most important product pages were not ranking on Page 1 or 2 of Google.
Strategy & Execution
1. Identifying the Problem and Testing the Hypothesis
While typical tools didn’t flag any obvious issues, Connected’s deeper analysis revealed that Search Engines were prioritising non-preferred product pages largely due to internal linking inconsistencies and taxonomy misalignment with user search behaviour.
To validate the hypothesis, Connected updated content, internal links, and menu structures for one priority collection page.
Test results were clear: Positions improved from Page 6 to Page 2 within 3 months (Search Console).
2. Scaling the Solution
Building on the test results, Connected restructured the entire website:
Internal Links: Remapped internal links across all product and collection pages.
Site Structure: Redesigned menus and categories based on keyword data to align with user search behaviour.
On-Page Content: Updated H1 headings, improved content relevance, and ensured all product descriptions aligned with search terms.
RESULTS
Outcomes
In just three months Connected achieved transformative results:
Non-Brand Keyword Referrals: +74%
Average position: +6.8 places
Organic Revenue: +36%
