Case Study: Natural Search Program Boosts Pottery Barn’s Online Traffic, Visibility and Revenue

The companies spotted various terms core to the three Pottery Barn businesses, Larkins says. The sites’ tests went live in June and July 2006.

Pottery Barn shattered the indexation goals for each of the three sites within weeks. Total traffic from natural search surged in the first three months, and total revenue from natural search also grew at a rate described by Performics and Pottery Barn as “comparable to traffic for most properties.”

For PotteryBarn.com, the number of indexed pages grew by 1,268 percent, surpassing its six-month goal in one week and the ultimate target in less than two months.

PotteryBarnKids.com saw its indexed pages grow 9,756 percent. It reached a six-month goal in less than a week and more than doubled its overall target in a month. PBteen.com’s indexed pages grew by 4,319 percent, surpassing its target in less than a month.

As for costs, Shea says the program is performance-based. “We don’t pay on a cost per click,” she says. “We’re working on revenue share.”

In the future, plans call for building the next phase. “We want to attack the holiday season,” she says, “and add our seasonal products.”

* * * For background on the rise of the Pottery Barn Web sites’ NSO, click on “How Pottery Barn Sites Got Noticed” under Related Content.

Gail Kalinoski is a freelance writer based in Wappingers Falls, N.Y. You can reach her at gkalinoski@aol.com.