Sports Unlimited came to 20North after an extended organic slide, with more than a year of falling rankings and organic revenue moving the wrong direction. The catalog had lost visibility on the products that mattered most, and the site needed to rebuild search authority before it could recover the traffic and sales it had shed.

The work started by re-establishing topical authority through informational content and adding SEO rich content to the highest-value collection pages. As rankings recovered, the program evolved to meet AI search demand through answer-driven content and proof points that show shoppers why to choose Sports Unlimited.

Key opportunities included:

• Reversing more than a year of declining rankings and organic revenue
• Rebuilding search authority across the catalog
• Recovering visibility on the highest-value collection pages
• Reaching shoppers earlier with informational, question-led content
• Positioning content and structure for AI search and answer engines

After partnering with 20North, Sports Unlimited reversed a year-long decline and returned to growth across traffic, revenue, and search authority. The program rebuilt rankings on the catalog's most important collections, recovered organic traffic at scale, and established a foundation in AI search that mirrored the gains happening in traditional organic.

Traffic and Revenue (Year over Year)

• Organic sessions up 85.3%, from 25,745 to 47,705
• Organic users up 100%, from 21,000 to 42,000
• Organic revenue up 28.4%, from $67,000 to $86,000

Keyword Visibility (Year over Year)

• Page 1 keywords up 41.8%, from 6,700 to 9,500
• Stabilized the total keyword pool after more than a year of decline

AI Search and Authority (Year over Year)

• AI Visibility rank improved from 16 to 12, with the score rising from 8.5% to 9.8%
• Share of Voice rank improved from 16 to 12, with the score rising from 1.6% to 2.0%
• Held the #4 Citation rank in a competitive field

Search Authority

• Rebuilt topical authority across the catalog through informational content
• Recovered rankings on the highest-value collection pages
• Positioned content and structure for AI-driven, answer-first search

BRUCE BOLT, an 8-figure CPG brand from Austin, Texas with a focus on the baseball category, partnered with 20North to break through stagnant sales and build long-term category leadership. The work began with paid media in Fall 2023 and expanded into SEO and AEO, or answer engine optimization, as AI search gained share. The phased SEO and AEO program eventually pushed BRUCE BOLT to the #1 AI visibility position in its category.

Challenges across paid, organic, and AI search included:

• Wasted budget and inflated ROAS
• Lack of audience segmentation
• Redundant ad creative
• Ineffective tracking and campaign execution
• Limited organic visibility in the batting gloves category
• No infrastructure for AI search visibility

In 4 months, 20North and BRUCE BOLT broke every sales record the company had, three times. As the SEO and AEO program matured, BRUCE BOLT pulled into the #1 position across every AI visibility metric in its category, far ahead of the next closest competitors.

Paid Media Wins

• 260% increase in gross sales
• Captured new audiences
• Double-digit ROAS
• Ventured into new channels by adding TikTok advertising

SEO and AEO Wins

• #1 in AI visibility at 52.6%, well above the next closest competitors at 35.1% and 30.5%
• #1 in share of voice at 9%, more than 50% above the next closest competitors at 5.9% and 5.2%
• #1 in citation share at 8%, nearly double the next closest competitors at 4.2% and 3.9%
• Top-cited pages span product, collection, and educational blog content, giving BRUCE BOLT citation depth across the funnel.
• Ranks across high-intent prompts in the baseball batting gloves category, BRUCE BOLT's #1 category

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