E-commerce SEO results · web design · AI visibility

E-commerce SEO case studies: two online shops we built from scratch

Aquatropics runs on WooCommerce. Tropical Fish Co is a custom Shopify storefront. We built both from nothing, and both now average around position 5 on Google, turn up in AI answers and sell to shoppers sent by ChatGPT. Here is the evidence side by side, and the method behind it.

Illustration: a laptop and phone showing an online fish shop beside a planted aquarium with neon tetras at dusk — Illustration

Google clicks in 28 days: 26,751; Both shops, 26 September–23 October 2026
average Google positions: 5.2 and 5.0; Aquatropics and Tropical Fish Co, same 28 days
pages in their sitemaps: 6,822; 6,054 of them product pages
Google AI Overview citations: 1,317; Both shops, UK, DataForSEO

The case studies

An established shop and a brand-new one

WooCommerce shop & SEO

Aquatropics

WooCommerce WebsiteE-commerce SEOAI Visibility

Aquatropics: A WooCommerce Shop We Built From Scratch, Now Averaging Position 5 on Google

Aquatropics is a client, a London aquatics shop run by Aquatropics London Ltd. We built the shop from scratch and run its SEO, Google Ads and website assistant. This page reports our work and the shop’s own data; it is not a customer testimonial.

Average Google position 5.2 in the 28 days to 23 October 2026, from 14.5 in July 2025
14,100 Google clicks in 28 days, +32.3% on the previous 28 days
ChatGPT listed Aquatropics first when asked where to buy tropical fish online in the UK (26 October 2026)
About 7p a click on Google Ads, with landing pages rated above average on all 21 scored keywords

Read the case study

Shopify shop & SEO

Tropical Fish Co

Custom Shopify StorefrontE-commerce SEOAI Visibility

Tropical Fish Co: A Custom Shopify Shop We Built From Scratch, at Position 5 on Google Within Six Months

Tropical Fish Co is our founder’s own shop, not an independent client. Hand On Web built it and looks after its website, SEO and customer service, so it shows our hands-on work, not a customer endorsement.

Average Google position 5.0 in the 28 days to 23 October 2026, from 25.1 in its first month
34,912 Google clicks in 90 days, 5.6 times the previous 90 days
Cited in 446 Google AI Overview answers in September 2026, up from none in May
AI assistants brought 2.5% of purchases over 90 days, almost all from ChatGPT

Read the case study

Side by side

Both shops, the same measures

Aquatropics and Tropical Fish Co compared: Google Search, AI visibility and Google Ads, checked 26 October 2026
	Aquatropics	Tropical Fish Co
Platform	WooCommerce	Custom Shopify storefront
Who it belongs to	Client: Aquatropics London Ltd	Our founder’s own shop
Search Console history	From July 2025	From launch, April 2026
Average Google position, last 28 days	5.19	4.97
Google clicks, last 28 days	14,100 (+32.3%)	12,651 (−2.4%)
Google clicks, last 90 days	39,121 (+9.0%)	34,912 (5.6×)
Average position, last 90 days vs the 90 before	6.5 → 5.8	10.5 → 5.9
Pages in the sitemap	3,564 (3,374 products)	3,258 (2,680 products)
Different pages shown in Google, 90 days	4,267	4,569
UK keywords in the top 10 (DataForSEO)	1,272 of 4,548	581 of 5,438
Google AI Overview citations, UK (DataForSEO)	702	615
ChatGPT: “Where can I buy tropical fish online in the UK?”	Listed first of five	Listed third of five
AI assistants’ share of purchases (GA4)	1.6% (11–23 October 2026)	2.5% (26 July–23 October 2026)
Phones’ share of Google clicks	82%	78%
Google Ads	About 7p a click	No steady Search campaign yet

Google Search Console (web, all countries) for 26 September–23 October 2026 and 26 July–23 October 2026, against the periods before. Keyword and AI Overview counts from DataForSEO, a third-party tool. ChatGPT check on 26 October 2026, UK location, web search on. Purchase shares from Google Analytics 4. Checked 26 October 2026.

Two routes to page one

Aquatropics climbed from 14.5 in July 2025 to around 5, dipped over the summer of 2026 and is climbing again. Tropical Fish Co went from 25.1 at launch in April 2026 to 5.0 six months later, and in October 2026 its average position passed the older shop’s.

Aquatropics (WooCommerce)Tropical Fish Co (custom Shopify storefront)Search Console, web, all countries. October 2026 runs to the 23rd. Lower is better.

The method

How we build an online shop that ranks, gets cited and keeps improving

Start from real searches

Before a page is built we look at what people type: “betta fish for sale”, “female betta fish”, “discus fish for sale uk”. The category structure follows those searches, not the supplier’s price list.

Category pages that answer the buying questions

Delivery price, live-arrival guarantee, care needs and a short FAQ sit on the category page itself, with links to the care guides. Category pages bring in most of both shops’ non-brand clicks.

Thousands of product pages, one pattern

Between them the shops list 6,054 product pages. Every listing follows the same naming, so a search for a species and size finds the right fish.

Structured data on every template

Product, offer, delivery, returns, breadcrumb and FAQ markup, built into the templates so new stock gets it automatically. Both shops also publish an llms.txt file for AI assistants.

Guides worth the click

Care guides, tank-size guides and fishkeeping tools answer the questions that come before a purchase. Several of them rank on their own.

Facts AI assistants can quote

ChatGPT and Google’s AI Overviews recommend shops whose facts are clear and agree everywhere. We keep delivery, guarantees and product details the same on every page, in the markup and in llms.txt.

The same pages for Google Ads

Pages built for SEO make good ad landing pages, and Google prices clicks by them. Aquatropics pays about 7p a click, with landing pages rated above average on all 21 scored keywords.

Watched 24/7, improved every month

Automatic checks watch search, analytics and ads around the clock, our AI agents read the data daily and a person decides every change. That is why both shops are still climbing.

Illustration

AI visibility

What ChatGPT says

We asked ChatGPT, with a UK location and web search on: “Where can I buy tropical fish online in the UK?” It recommended five shops. Aquatropics came first and Tropical Fish Co third, both linked to their own category pages.

It isn’t only a mention. Google Analytics shows AI assistants bringing 1.6% of Aquatropics’ purchases and 2.5% of Tropical Fish Co’s, almost all from ChatGPT. And Google’s AI Overviews in the UK cite the two shops 1,317 times between them.

One check on 26 October 2026. AI answers change from run to run, so we track them over time.

Google Ads

Cheaper clicks from the same pages

Aquatropics’ Google Ads land on its SEO category pages. Google rates them above average for landing-page experience on all 21 scored keywords, 19 keywords have a Quality Score of 8 to 10, and the shop pays about 7p a click where the UK average for the same searches is 17p to 22p.

Read the Google Ads case study

Google Partner for Google Ads What it means for you

E-commerce SEO: common questions

Has Hand On Web built e-commerce websites that rank on Google?

Yes. We built Aquatropics on WooCommerce and Tropical Fish Co as a custom Shopify storefront, both from scratch. In the 28 days to 23 October 2026 they averaged Google positions of 5.2 and 5.0, with 26,751 Google clicks between them. Tropical Fish Co is our founder’s own shop; Aquatropics is a client.

How long does SEO take for a new online shop?

Tropical Fish Co went live in April 2026 at an average position of 25.1. It averaged 7.3 in July and 5.0 in the 28 days to 23 October 2026. That is one shop in one niche, so treat it as an example rather than a promise: competition, budget and the catalogue all change the timeline.

Do you build on Shopify or WooCommerce?

Both. Aquatropics runs on WooCommerce; Tropical Fish Co is a custom Shopify storefront, where Shopify runs the checkout and stock and our own front end handles the design and pages. We pick the platform from the catalogue, the budget and who will run the shop day to day.

Can you get an online shop recommended by ChatGPT?

Nobody can guarantee it, because the AI companies decide. What we can do is make a shop’s facts clear and consistent so assistants can quote them. On 26 October 2026, ChatGPT answered “Where can I buy tropical fish online in the UK?” with five shops, Aquatropics first and Tropical Fish Co third. AI assistants now bring 1.6% and 2.5% of the two shops’ purchases.

Does good e-commerce SEO make Google Ads cheaper?

Indirectly, yes. Organic rankings are not part of the ad auction, but landing-page experience is part of Quality Score, and a higher Quality Score lowers the price of a click. Aquatropics’ ads land on its SEO category pages, rated above average on all 21 scored keywords, and it pays about 7p a click.

Does an average position of 5 mean every product is in the top 10?

No. Average position is Google’s average across every time a shop appeared in search. Some searches rank first and some sit on page two; the broad “tropical fish for sale” is still off page one for both shops. The case studies show the searches and pages one by one.

The service

E-commerce SEO

Building the shop

E-commerce web design

Shopify shops

Shopify SEO

ChatGPT and AI Overviews

AI visibility services

Paid search

Google Ads case studies

All our work

Every case study

Average position is Google’s average across every time a shop appeared, not a promise that every product is in the top 10. Figures are historical, not forecasts. We publish shares rather than the shops’ sales figures. Full sources and downloadable data are at the foot of each case study.

Free consultation

Want an online shop that ranks like these?

Tell us about your shop, or the one you want to build. We will tell you what we would do first and what it costs.

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Scope and terms agreed upfront+44 333 038 2152Chester-based team