Stats
18K to 64.9K Monthly Visits
Industry
Ecommerce & Retail
Niche
Home & Office
Reporting Date
December 2024
J. Queen New York is a luxury bedding manufacturer and eCommerce site. Founded in 2009, its website has become a popular online destination for interior design enthusiasts.
Today, J. Queen's eCommerce platform has reached a new level of online visibility.
Organic traffic more than tripled over the course of a year, begging the question: What's the secret to their newfound success?
In this SEO case study, we'll investigate the strategies behind J. Queen's recent organic growth.
And the good news is that each strategy is easy to replicate (plus, you’ll get the WordPress tools to do it).
In This Article
The Catalyst: How J. Queen New York More Than Tripled Organic Traffic
1. The Power of Images: SEO Strategies for Visual Content
Fundamental SEO best practices are at the core of J. Queen's recent organic success.
First up?
Image optimizations.
Image SEO is the practice of optimizing your images for search engines. It uses descriptive file names, alt text, and more to help search engines understand the content of your images and rank them in search results.
For a visually driven business like J. Queen New York, whose products are inherently appealing to the eye, this was crucial.
Their luxury bedding needed to be seen to be appreciated.
Optimizing their images ensured potential customers could view their products when searching for terms like “luxury bedding” or “designer bedding”.
Let’s look at an example.
Here, we have a product image of the Sicily Comforter Set:
And here are the image optimizations J.Queen New York used for it:
- Image file name: /sicily-teal-comforter-set
- Alt text: “Teal Queen 4pc Comforter Set”
- Title tag: “Teal Queen 4pc Comforter Set”
They also used the following URL slug for this page: /sicily-teal-comforter-set
(While technically the above optimization is considered part of on-page SEO, it’s still a component that helps search engines understand the images on the page.)
Ultimately, this strategy proved effective, earning J. Queen thousands of image snippets, like the example below.
Image snippets more than tripled over the year, providing J. Queen extra visibility in search results.
They also ranked in the Google Image Pack for the first time in 2024.
This area of the search engine results page (SERP) features image results among standard listings.
Note: Ranking in the Image Pack means you’re also ranking in Google Images, where there are over 1 billion searches every day.
Overall, these optimizations significantly boosted J. Queen's visibility and drove valuable organic traffic to their website.
Why this matters:
When your images rank in search results, users are more likely to click them than standard search listings.
This is especially important for visually-driven businesses like J. Queen, where the products are your key selling points.
By appearing in image snippets and the Image Pack, you can capture the attention of users actively searching for products like yours.
How to optimize images:
This tutorial demonstrates how to optimize WordPress images. Here’s a quick overview of the process:
- Use descriptive image file names.
- Write keyword-rich alt text.
- Include image title tags.
- Implement image schema markup.
- Consider adding captions.
Tools for image SEO:
Image SEO plugins like All in One SEO (AIOSEO) make it easy to rank your images in Google search results.
And it automates a lot of the process, so you can benefit from time-saving optimizations.
Take image titles, for example.
With AIOSEO, you can customize smart tags to populate image titles automatically.
You can also use this feature for alt text (shown below), captions, descriptions, and file names.
2. The Breadcrumb Trail: Improving User Experience & SEO
The second SEO best practice J. Queen New York uses is implementing breadcrumbs.
Breadcrumbs are navigational aids that show users their current location on a website. They typically appear as a trail of links at the top of a page, indicating the path from the homepage to the current page.
A breadcrumb trail helps users position themselves on the website.
But they aren't just beneficial for users — Breadcrumbs also have SEO benefits.
Search engines use breadcrumbs to understand a website's structure and hierarchy. This can improve crawlability and ultimately lead to faster indexing.
Additionally, breadcrumbs can enhance a website's appearance in search results by providing Google with the information needed to display sitelinks.
Sitelinks are links that appear below a website's main listing in search results, offering direct access to key pages within the site.
(In some instances, sitelinks can also provide access to different sections of the same web page.)
Ultimately, by using breadcrumbs on its website, J. Queen improves the user experience and supports its SEO efforts.
Breadcrumbs provide a clear navigation system, aiding users and search engines in finding what they need quickly.
Why this matters:
Breadcrumbs are a simple yet powerful tool for SEO. They also provide a two-fold benefit:
- User Experience: Breadcrumbs make navigation easier and more intuitive. Users can clearly see their location on the site and easily move between pages, leading to a more enjoyable browsing experience.
- SEO: Breadcrumbs help search engines understand your site's structure, leading to better crawlability and indexing. They can also enhance your search appearance with sitelinks, increasing visibility and driving additional traffic.
How to add breadcrumbs to your site:
This tutorial teaches you how to add breadcrumbs in WordPress. It walks you through the following 4 methods:
- Gutenberg blocks
- Shortcode
- Widget
- PHP code
It’s important to note that each method uses a breadcrumbs plugin. I’ll recommend one next.
Tools for breadcrumbs:
AIOSEO offers SEO breadcrumbs that show users where they are on your site in relation to the homepage.
All you have to do is check that breadcrumbs are switched on. (This is the default setting, so you would only need to check if you had turned it off previously.)
You can also select how you want to show breadcrumbs on your website using any of the above options.
Finally, AIOSEO will implement breadcrumb schema markup automatically for you. This means you don’t have to worry about working with structured data or code.
It also increases the chances of your website getting Google sitelinks.
3. The Value of Internal Links: Connecting Your Content
J. Queen utilizes internal links throughout its website, but they're most prominent in blog posts.
Within its blog content, J. Queen strategically links images to relevant product pages.
For example, in the screenshot below, J. Queen discusses spring styling tips and features its Brilliance Collection. Each image is linked to this specific collection, allowing readers to easily learn learn more about the products and potentially make a purchase.
J. Queen also includes a more traditional hyperlink within the body copy.
This strategic use of internal links serves several purposes.
Firstly, it enhances the user experience by providing readers with easy access to related content and products. This can keep users engaged and encourage them to explore more of the website.
Secondly, internal links help distribute link equity throughout the site. Link equity, or link juice, is the value passed from one page to another through hyperlinks.
By strategically linking to important pages, J. Queen can improve the authority and ranking potential of those pages in search results.
Overall, J. Queen's use of internal links demonstrates how to connect content in a way that benefits both users and search engines.
By guiding users to relevant products and distributing link equity, it creates a more valuable and engaging website experience.
Why this matters:
Like breadcrumbs, internal links serve both users and search engines.
- Users: Internal links guide users to relevant products and information, creating a more engaging and user-friendly experience. It also helps boost content discovery, which can lead to improved engagement metrics like time on site.
- Search engines: Internal links strengthen website architecture, distribute link equity, and improve rankings. This leads to better visibility and increased organic traffic for your website.
How to improve your internal linking strategy:
Internal links are the backbone of a well-connected site. Plus, they’re super easy to include.
Unfortunately, many business owners don’t give them the attention they deserve.
To change that, here are our top tips for improving your internal linking strategy:
- Use descriptive anchor text. (This is the clickable text of your link.)
- Link to and from your most important pages.
- Make sure to set your internal links as dofollow.
- Don’t overlink! There is a thing as too much, so just be mindful that your links are relevant and natural.
Tools for internal linking:
The best internal linking plugins make linking a breeze.
AIOSEO comes equipped with a smart Link Assistant that generates linking recommendations directly in the WordPress editor. This saves you valuable time from having to find internal links on your own.
If you see one you want to add to your content, click Add Link.
AIOSEO will add the link to your post or page and set an appropriate anchor text. (You can also edit the anchor text to your preferences.)
Standout SEO Wins
Now that we’ve seen how J. Queen New York leveraged SEO best practices to grow their organic traffic, I’d like to point out a final technique that improves their overall online presence:
Social Media Posts Engage Customers & Create Backlinks
J. Queen New York understands the power of social media in today's digital landscape and uses it to engage customers and build backlinks.
Facebook is their most active account, but they also have profiles on Instagram and Pinterest.
J. Queen shares high-quality images of their products and inspiring lifestyle content on each of its platforms.
They also include links to their website and product pages, making it easy for followers to convert.
Plus, considering how these links come from an external domain (aka, not jqueen-ny.com), they count as backlinks for the website.
Backlinks are like votes of confidence, signaling to search engines that a website is trustworthy and valuable.
They're also considered among the top 3 ranking factors, according to SEO statistics
Ultimately, by integrating social media with its SEO efforts, J. Queen maximizes its online visibility and drives overall growth.
Tool: You can integrate all your favorite social media platforms with AIOSEO. This WordPress social tool tells search engines which social media profiles are associated with your website.
You can also set up default thumbnail images for platforms like Facebook and Twitter, streamlining your social media strategy.
Takeaways
In our analysis of J. Queen New York, it's clear that its organic growth stems from a strong understanding of SEO best practices.
They've combined fundamental SEO tactics with strategic content creation and social engagement to drive their recent boost in traffic.
To achieve similar success, website owners should focus on the following key areas:
Top 3 Strategies to Emulate
- Optimize images for search engines. Implement image SEO best practices by using descriptive file names, alt text, and title tags. This will improve your visibility in image search results and drive valuable traffic to your site. It also can help you rank in Google Images, where there are over 1 billion searches daily.
- Enhance navigation with breadcrumbs. Implement breadcrumbs on your website to improve user experience and provide clear navigation. This will also benefit your SEO by helping search engines understand your site structure and hierarchy. Google can also use breadcrumbs to generate sitelinks in search results, providing even more entry points to your website.
- Strategically use internal links. Incorporate internal links in your web pages to boost content discovery and site navigation. You'll want to ensure that all links are relevant and natural, providing a positive page experience for users. Internal links also distribute link equity throughout your site, improving its overall authority.
Bottom 3 Strategies to Reconsider
- Excluding meta descriptions on indexable pages. J. Queen is missing out on an opportunity to optimize some of its meta descriptions. Meta descriptions are the short snippets of text that appear below the title tag in search results. They provide a concise summary of the page's content and directly influence clickthrough rates (CTRs). For your website, you should have a unique meta description for every indexable page. You can use a meta description generator to write them for you.
- Exceeding character limits for SEO titles. Some of J. Queen's SEO titles exceed the recommended character limit. This can result in truncated titles, which are less effective in conveying the page's content and attracting clicks. To avoid this issue, keep your SEO titles between 50–60 characters. You can also use a SERP snippet tool to preview your search listing before going live.
- Not implementing schema markup. J. Queen could benefit from implementing more schema markup on their website. Schema markup is a type of structured data that helps search engines understand the content on a page. By adding it, you provide additional context to search engines about your web page, products, and services. This can lead to rich results in SERPs, which have high CTRs. You can use a schema generator plugin to add structured data to your site without having to code.
Steal Our Winning SEO Strategy: A Checklist for Your Website
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Improve Your Online Visibility With AIOSEO
J. Queen New York's success story highlights the power of SEO in driving organic traffic and achieving business goals. By implementing SEO best practices and focusing on the user experience, they've significantly boosted their online visibility and attracted a larger audience.
But achieving similar results requires consistent effort and a deep understanding of SEO.
That's where AIOSEO comes in.
All in One SEO is the best WordPress plugin for SEO. It has over 3 million active users and thousands of 5-star reviews attesting to the usability and effectiveness of its tools. Some customer favorites include:
- Image SEO: Turn on automatic image alt text and title attributes with a single click. You’ll save time from manual entries while helping users and search engines understand your images.
- Breadcrumbs: Create a trail for users and search engines to understand where they are in your site hierarchy. Breadcrumbs are a great way of facilitating navigation and can generate sitelinks in SERPs.
- Rich Snippets Schema: Win more rich results with AIOSEO’s user-friendly schema generator. Just pick the schema type you want, and we’ll format the structured data properly for Google.
- Link Assistant: Get link suggestions, edit anchor text, and add internal links to your content in just 1 click. Link Assistant helps you effortlessly build a better linking strategy.
- Social Media Integration: Seamlessly connect your favorite social media platforms to your site and share content with your audience. Available integrations include Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, YouTube, and more.
- AI Title & Description Generator: Save time writing SEO titles and meta descriptions with the help of AI. With just a click of a button, you can generate unique metadata for any page on your website.
