Large fashion retailer: rankings 13→9 and a new AI channel
A large footwear & accessories store — a top player in a highly competitive niche. 40k+ clicks/mo, DR 45, 1,880 referring domains. Over six months rankings climbed and a new channel opened — ChatGPT.
About the project
| Parameter | Value |
|---|---|
| Project | Large fashion retailer (under NDA) |
| Niche | Footwear & accessories online store |
| Market | Ukraine (UA/RU + EU diaspora) |
| Scale | 40k+ clicks/mo, DR 45, 1,880 domains |
| Window | 6 months observed (2026) |
| Focus | Rankings in a competitive SERP + AI visibility |
The project is one of the biggest players in its retail niche: a large catalog, a strong brand, a mature link profile (DR 45, 1,880 referring domains) and a steady 30–44k Google clicks per month. For projects like this, SEO isn't about "10x growth" — it's about systematically moving rankings in fierce competition and not missing new channels.
In parallel, a new traffic source emerged — AI engines (ChatGPT first of all) — that barely existed a year ago.
Starting point
Baseline at the start of the window (May 2026):
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Google clicks / mo | ~44,000 |
| Average position | 13.3 |
| Domain Rating | 45 |
| Referring domains | 1,880 |
| AI traffic | negligible |
What we do
Working a large catalog
Systematic optimization of thousands of product and category pages in a highly competitive niche, where every top spot is contested by big players.
Ranking gains on commercial terms
Steady improvement of average position on commercial categories — from 13.3 to 8.8 over six months.
E-commerce technical optimization
Speed, indexing, structure and markup of a large store — the foundation for stable rankings.
AI presence
Content and structure that AI engines cite and send traffic from: growing ChatGPT referrals and citations across AI platforms.
Results
| Metric | Before (May) | After (Sep) | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average Google position | 13.3 | 8.8 | ↑ |
| ChatGPT traffic / mo | ~206 | ~516 | ×2.5 |
| AI citations (all platforms) | 299 | ~1.4K | ×4+ |
| Click volume / mo | 30–44k | 30–44k | steady |
The key result is average position rising from 13.3 to 8.8 on a large site in a tough niche (harder than scaling a small project). Click volume is steady and seasonal (summer dip → autumn uptick), so we don't present it as "growth". In parallel a new channel grew: ChatGPT referrals ×2.5 and citations across AI platforms ×4+.
Clicks and impressions in Google Search Console over 3 months: 115K clicks, 4.69M impressions, average position 10.3
Ahrefs: DR 45, 1.9K referring domains, 98.8K organic and presence in AI answers — 1.4K citations
Sources: Google Search Console, Google Analytics 4, Ahrefs. Project under NDA — data anonymized.
Demand & AI
Presence in AI answers (citations, October 2026):
| AI platform | Citations |
|---|---|
| All platforms (combined) | ~1.4K |
| Google AI Mode | 221 |
| Perplexity | 36 |
| Copilot | 28 |
| ChatGPT | 17 |
| Gemini | 11 |
Honestly: most of the volume sits in the combined "all platforms" basket; individual named engines are more modest and fluctuate. For a brand this size the head of search demand is mostly brand/navigational; non-brand demand lives in the long tail of product categories.
| Country | Share |
|---|---|
| Ukraine | 92% |
| Germany | 3.7% |
| Poland | 1.9% |
| Other | 2.4% |
Takeaway
A large store in a tough niche lifted its average position from 13.3 to 8.8 over six months at a steady 30–44k clicks/mo, DR 45 and 1,880 referring domains, while opening a new AI channel (ChatGPT ×2.5, citations ×4+ across platforms). It's a mature-SEO case for a top player: systematic rankings + an early move into AI search.
Service for this case: GEO / AI optimization →
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