EPIC-25 – Ian Lockwood – Succeeding In Search With Ecommerce Retail

Succeeding In Search With Ecommerce Retail

In this comprehensive and practical session, Ian Lockwood from Vibrant Doors shared hard-won insights from managing search marketing for a competitive ecommerce doors retailer. Facing challenges from major DIY stores like B&Q and Wickes, plus specialist online competitors, Ian revealed the strategies that have driven real results in one of the most saturated retail markets.

The presentation covered four key areas that have delivered measurable success: hub content strategy, NLP/entity optimisation, creative content & digital PR, and advanced PPC techniques. A highlight was Ian’s approach to hub content creation, showing how informational articles about bifold doors generated 51,000 visits, 200 calls, 50 emails, and crucially, actual sales over 12 months.

Ian also demonstrated practical applications of NLP and entity optimisation, using tools like Surfer SEO to analyse top-ranking content and optimise for entity attribute values. The session included insights into ProductGroup structured data implementation and preparing content for AI search with entity-rich, answer-oriented copywriting.

On the PPC side, Ian shared a compelling case study of campaign consolidation, showing how merging overly-specific product groups delivered +64% revenue and +71% conversions while reducing CPC by 8%. He also covered product title optimisation, dealing with Google’s image rendering issues, and valuable scripts for monitoring disapproved products.

Whether you’re struggling with ecommerce competition or looking to optimise existing campaigns, this session provided actionable strategies with proven results from the front lines of competitive retail search marketing.