1 of 21

January, 2024

SEO Performance Report

Client: Sopexa Japon

Project: Avocado From Mexico

2 of 21

SEO Issues and Result

Table of Contents

Executive Summary

Recommendations

Major Issues

Minor Issues

3 of 21

Executive Summary

Our project's primary goal was to fix the overall On-page SEO (optimizing web pages and the content for both search engines and users). After conducting the initial audit, we recommended fixing issues:

  • adding domain property on search console
  • redirecting the HTTP to HTTPS
  • adding meta keywords
  • changing heading structure
  • re-indexing pages, 404 monitors
  • improving the title and meta description.

After we adjusted the On-page SEO (October - December) impressions increased by 6% compared to before (July - September).

However, due to major Google Search Algorithm updates in October and November (the biggest update of 2023) the average position decreased from 7.9 to 8.7. The algorithm update evaluates the content quality, quality of backlinks source, user review, social signals/proof of social media, etc. We will work to continue SEO growth.

In this report, we also summarize recommendations to maintain and improve the SEO aspects on the website.

Metrics

July to September

October to December

Difference

Impressions

2,699,813

2,863,911

6%

Clicks

167,553

148,824

-11%

Ranking

7.9

8.7

-20%

Initial Summary Report

4 of 21

GOOGLE SEARCH ALGORITHM UPDATES 2023

Initial Summary Report

SOURCE

  • Based on Google incidents reported for Ranking in 2023, there are 10 updates, most of them during October and November (5 updates)

​

  • These Google Algorithm updates caused the APEAM website’s organic performance to decrease. It’s indicated that the SEO foundation of APEAM website could be against the new terms of Google Algorithm updates.

​

  • Two factors could be the major issue of the SEO foundation:
    • 1. Content quality of recipe page (the page contains few copies, or content match between queries and the landing page copy)

​

    • 2. Backlinks quality, where a lot of backlinks use nulled anchor text like straight http://avocadosfrommexico.jp/ and not use contextual anchor like “アボカド サラダ”

5 of 21

SEO Issues & Results - Major Issues

Initially, we outlined these major issues on the website - which we have worked on over the course of the campaign:

​

  • A different URL was entered in the Google search console
  • Fix the SEO Page structure by adding target keywords
  • Create and Search Keyword List
  • Website Security at risk
    • HTTP is accessible:
  • http://avocadosfrommexico.jp/ Unregistered Pages
    • The sitemap is plugin generated

Initial Summary Report

6 of 21

Major Issues #1

A different URL was entered in the Google search console

What did we do?

RESULTS

We added DNS verification on the website’s Control Panel (txt. record) to get an overview of all URLs associated with the main domain. (eg. www. http, https).

After we added the DNS record, we can now see all of the URLs associated with the page, as well as URLs that are not indexed. This is so that we’re able to re-index the URL’s that are not indexed.

7 of 21

Major Issues #2

Website Security at risk

What did we do?

RESULTS

Redirect the HTTP to HTTPS to improve the website security and SEO related

Every time users try to type http://avocadosfrommexico.jp/ , the website will always be redirected to https://avocadosfrommexico.jp/ . Now the website will be more SEO friendly and increase the security from malware or hackers.

8 of 21

Major Issues #3

Unregistered Pages

What did we do?

RESULTS

This is actually related to first issue; after we added the DNS verification and could access all the pages, we found that the pages are not properly indexed using Search Console Property.

Based on search console data, we can see there are 2 reasons for the large number of pages that are not indexed: pages with redirects and AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages for mobile-optimized web pages)

9 of 21

SEO Issues & Results - Minor Issues

  • Page Indexing
  • 404 and Redirect Monitor
  • KWs research for targeted page
  • Fix Title and Meta Description
  • Page structure: H1, H2, H3, etc.
  • SILO structure

Initially, we outlined these minor issues on the website - which we have worked on over the course of the campaign:

Initial Summary Report

10 of 21

Minor Issues #1

Page Indexing Issue

What did we do?

RESULTS

Requested to reindex over 200 pages that have not been indexed by Google.

After we requested to reindex the pages, now total of pages that have not been indexed by Google is around 110 pages, and it will decrease slowly depending on Google's crawling schedule. Having indexed pages is important to improving the site visibility.

11 of 21

Minor Issues #2

H1 Missing

What did we do?

RESULTS

We fixed the heading structure by changing the page title as H1.

After we fixed the heading structure, now all the headings are set properly. Using a proper heading structure is important to help Googlebot understand the overall page structure.

12 of 21

Minor Issues #3

404 and Redirect Monitor

What did we do?

RESULTS

We found 56 broken links (404) and redirected to similar page as 301 (permanent redirect)

After the broken links are redirected, now there are no more broken links.

13 of 21

Minor Issues #4

KWs Research for Targeted Page

What did we do?

RESULTS

We added the focus keyword which will be the meta keyword for specific pages.

After the update, the SEO score shown on the Yoast Plugin turned green, indicating that the keyword is a match and could help the SEO performance.

14 of 21

Minor Issues #5

Keyword Performance

What did we do?

RESULTS

We conducted a keyword research and optimized them to improve the traffic of website.

​

After the keyword research, we added those keywords as meta keywords of targeted pages.

Some of the targeted keywords have improved.

​

For example, the keyword “アボカド サラダ” produced 4.608 clicks (increase of 9%), 24.554 impressions (increase of 3%), and the CTR also increased by 1.1%

15 of 21

Keyword Performance: Keyword Optimization List

Keywords

Impressions

Clicks

CTR

Avg. Position

Before

After

Dif.

Before

After

Dif.

Before

After

Dif.

Before

After

Dif.

アボカド サラダ

23.850

24.554

2.95%

4.224

4.608

9.09%

17,7%

18.8%

1.1

1,4

1.1

27.270%

ワカモレ

54.942

55.269

0.60%

2.058

1.663

-19.19%

3,7%

3%

-0.7

6,1

5.9

3.39%

ワカモレ レシピ

26.030

25.144

-3.40%

3.277

1.378

-57.95%

12,6%

5.5%

-7.1

2,9

4.4

-34.09%

アボカド レシピ 人気

1.424

1.465

2.88%

57

69

21.05%

4%

4.7%

0.7

9,2

9.1

1.10%

アボガド おつまみ

167

293

75.45%

5

6

20.00%

3%

2%

-1

8,3

6.9

20.29%

アボカド チーズ

1.754

1.845

5.19%

54

36

-33.33%

3,1%

2%

-1.1

6,8

6.9

-1.45%

アボガド 冷凍

473

441

-6.77%

9

5

-44.44%

1,9%

1.1%

-0.8

6,3

5.5

14.55%

アボガド 納豆

18

20

11.11%

0

0

0%

0%

0%

0

6,4

14.7

-56.46%

アボガド サンドイッチ

98

135

37.76%

2

10

400.00%

2%

7.4%

5.4

6,7

4

67.50%

アボガド キムチ

190

190

0.00%

29

20

-31.03%

15,3%

10.5%

-4.8

1,2

1.3

-7.69%

アボカド サラダ レシピ

1.641

1.530

-6.76%

263

276

4.94%

16%

18%

2

1,6

1.4

14.29%

アボカド 海老

49

32

-34.69%

0

0

0%

0%

0%

0

11,7

12.8%

-8.59%

アボガド スープ

34

56

64.71%

3

10

233.33%

8,8%

17.9%

9.1

3,5

3.3

6.06%

  • Green highlights refers to improvements.
  • Red highlights refer to lower performance.
  • White highlights mean that there are no changes.
  • Based on the data, the overall performance is improved.
  • Impressions
    • Green highlights: 8
    • Red highlights: 4
    • White highlights: 1
  • Clicks
    • Green highlights: 6
    • Red highlights: 5
    • White highlights: 2
  • CTR
    • Green highlights: 5
    • Red highlights: 6
    • White highlights: 2
  • Avg. Position:
    • Green highlights: 8
    • Red highlights: 5
    • White highlights: 0

16 of 21

Keyword Performance: Additional Insights

  • Overall, we saw more improvements on the keyword performance.
  • Several keywords, such as アボカド サラダ (avocado salad), アボカド レシピ 人気 (popular avocado recipes), and アボガド サンドイッチ (avocado sandwich) have improved their metrics overall - which implies a good keyword performance.
  • In the case of the keyword アボガド 冷凍 (frozen avocado), the impressions and clicks decreased, but the average position has improved; this means that the performance drop is due to fluctuating keyword volume.
  • On the other hand, if the impressions and avg. position increased but the clicks and CTR decreased (e.g., the keyword ワカモレ, guacamole), it could be due to low intent match between keyword and user intent, or that the title and meta descriptions need to be updated.

17 of 21

Minor Issues #6

Google PageSpeed Insights

The performance could increase if we compress these images: image 1, image 2, image 3, and also change the social media embed because it contains too much JS and blocks the main thread for 420 ms

BEFORE

AFTER

18 of 21

Recommendations

Based on the performance and Google search algorithm trends, we recommend doing these steps to improve the organic performance:

​

  • Improve the page speed of the homepage by removing the images that are oversized: image 1, image 2, image 3
  • The social media embed in the home page contains a lot of Javascript and it’s decreased the page speed. We suggest changing it to simple icon, so the website will be lighter.
  • Considering that today’s SEO is about content, we suggest to improve the content quality. Good quality content is by always having strong intent match between the targeted keywords and content copy of the landing page. For example, if the target keyword is, “アボカド サラダ”, then the copy should mention this keyword, and the variation like “アボカド サラダレシピ”, “アボカド サラダ 豆腐”, “アボカド サラダ エビ”, etc.
  • We suggest adding more backlinks or links from trusted website (outside the APEAM website) to improve the domain authority and improve the page rank.

Initial Summary Report

19 of 21

Inspiration & Reference

Initial Summary Report

  • This is one of example content comparison between APEAM recipe page and Cookpad.
  • The issues of APEAM website are; 1) the number of words, and 2) low presence of search terms (keywords variation) in the content.
  • According to Google algorithm updates, quality content is one of the most important factors for SEO. High-quality content means:
    • The content should answer overall users queries
    • The content should have strong intent match between users queries and LP copy
    • Even if there are no concrete answers about total words in one content, ideally it should be more than 300-400 words. The reason is that if one content only has a few words, it cannot cover the search terms variation (exp: “avocado salad”, “salad avocado”, “avocado with salad”, etc.)

20 of 21

Inspiration & Reference

Initial Summary Report

  • The social media embed seems to decrease the page speed performance; therefore, we suggest changing the social media embed to a banner with social media icons.
  • If we use that, we can improve the page speed and the display will be more distinguishable because we can flexibly create the design.

21 of 21

End of report

Thank you