Working in Fast Fashion SEO During a Takeover Technical SEO From mega menu changes to internal linking on PLP and PDP pages, there were things that had almost instant impact and others that I was sure would, but didn’t. SEO Governance The trials and tribulations of an SEO in an organisation such as Missguided, particularly around SEO governance. With e-comm teams, buyers, trade, copywriters and UX/CRO’s all jostling for power – getting your SEO recommendations implemented can be easier said than done. A glimpse into some methods I used to get things live and how a solid process can help to achieve that. Also SEO education within the organisation. Buyouts Some advice on what happens when a firm such as Frasers buys the company and tries to replatform your site with little or no consideration for SEO. Some tips on how to handle this politically/diplomatically and perhaps some examples of my SEO Migration master checklist and generally how you should approach such a migration or replatform for such a large e-commerce website.

2. What I Learned Working in
Fast Fashion SEO During a
Takeover

3. Fast Fashion &
SEO

4. Fast Fashion &
SEO
“Fast fashion is a term used to describe the
clothing industry's business model of replicating
recent catwalk trends and high-fashion designs,
mass-producing them at a low cost, and bringing
them to retail stores quickly, while demand is at
its highest.”

5. Fast Fashion &
SEO
URL Type
https://www.quizclothing.co.uk/clothes/dresses/ Fast Fashion
https://www.next.co.uk/shop/gender-women-category-dresses-0 High Street
https://www.riverisland.com/c/women/dresses High Street
https://www.asos.com/women/dresses/cat/?cid=8799 Hybrid
https://www.prettylittlething.com/clothing/dresses.html Fast Fashion
https://www.boohoo.com/womens/dresses Fast Fashion
https://femmeluxe.co.uk/dresses Fast Fashion
https://www.silkfred.com/womens/clothing/dresses Fast Fashion
https://www.johnlewis.com/browse/women/womens-dresses/_/N-flw High Street
https://www2.hm.com/en_gb/ladies/shop-by-product/dresses.html Fast Fashion
https://www.matalan.co.uk/womens/dresses Fast Fashion
https://www.marksandspencer.com/l/women/dresses High Street
https://www.nastygal.com/gb/womens/dresses Fast Fashion
https://www.newlook.com/uk/womens/clothing/dresses/c/uk-womens-clothing-dresses Fast Fashion
https://www.very.co.uk/women/dresses/e/b/1655.end Online Department
https://direct.asda.com/george/women/dresses/D1M1G20C1,default,sc.html Supermarket
https://www.neverfullydressed.co.uk/collections/dresses Boutique
https://www.little-mistress.com/dresses-c101 Boutique
https://www.houseoffraser.co.uk/women/dresses Online Department
https://www.karenmillen.com/womens/dresses Fast Fashion

6. Fast Fashion &
SEO
0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
3000
3500
4000
4500
Sustainable Terms
sustainable dresses - Search Volume (UK) organic dresses - Search Volume (UK) recycled dresses - Search Volume (UK)
vintage dresses - Search Volume (UK) second hand dresses - Search Volume (UK)

7. Fast Fashion &
SEO
0
20000
40000
60000
80000
100000
120000
140000
21–27
Nov
2021
28
Nov
–
4
Dec
2021
5–11
Dec
2021
12–18
Dec
2021
19–25
Dec
2021
26
Dec
2021
–
1
Jan
2022
2–8
Jan
2022
9–15
Jan
2022
16–22
Jan
2022
23–29
Jan
2022
30
Jan
–
5
Feb
2022
6–12
Feb
2022
13–19
Feb
2022
20–26
Feb
2022
27
Feb
–
5
Mar
2022
6–12
Mar
2022
13–19
Mar
2022
20–26
Mar
2022
27
Mar
–
2
Apr
2022
3–9
Apr
2022
10–16
Apr
2022
17–23
Apr
2022
24–30
Apr
2022
1–7
May
2022
8–14
May
2022
15–21
May
2022
22–28
May
2022
29
May
–
4
Jun
2022
5–11
Jun
2022
12–18
Jun
2022
19–25
Jun
2022
26
Jun
–
2
Jul
2022
3–9
Jul
2022
10–16
Jul
2022
17–23
Jul
2022
24–30
Jul
2022
31
Jul
–
6
Aug
2022
7–13
Aug
2022
14–20
Aug
2022
21–27
Aug
2022
28
Aug
–
3
Sept
2022
4–10
Sept
2022
11–17
Sept
2022
18–24
Sept
2022
25
Sept
–
1
Oct
2022
2–8
Oct
2022
9–15
Oct
2022
16–22
Oct
2022
23–29
Oct
2022
30
Oct
–
5
Nov
2022
6–12
Nov
2022
Popular Organic Dress Terms
dresses - Search Volume (UK) maxi dress - Search Volume (UK) party dress - Search Volume (UK) bodycon dress - Search Volume (UK)

8. Volatile SERPs - Dresses
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
https://www.quizclothing.co.uk/clothes/dresses/ https://www.next.co.uk/shop/gender-women-category-dresses-0
https://www.riverisland.com/c/women/dresses https://www.asos.com/women/dresses/cat/?cid=8799
https://www.prettylittlething.com/clothing/dresses.html https://www.boohoo.com/womens/dresses
https://femmeluxe.co.uk/dresses https://www.silkfred.com/womens/clothing/dresses
https://www.johnlewis.com/browse/women/womens-dresses/_/N-flw https://www2.hm.com/en_gb/ladies/shop-by-product/dresses.html

9. Volatile SERPs – Wedding Guest Dresses
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
https://www.asos.com/women/dresses/dresses-for-weddings/cat/?cid=13934 https://www.silkfred.com/collection/wedding-guest-dresses
https://www.coastfashion.com/womens/dresses/wedding-guest-dresses https://www.chichiclothing.com/collections/wedding-guests
https://www.johnlewis.com/browse/women/womens-dresses/wedding-guest/_/N-flwZ1z0ropu https://www.prettylittlething.com/clothing/dresses/wedding-guest-dresses.html
https://www.boohoo.com/womens/dresses/wedding-guest-dresses https://www.quizclothing.co.uk/shop-by-occasion/wedding-guest/
https://www.axparis.com/collections/wedding-guest-dresses https://www.next.co.uk/shop/gender-women-category-dresses/use-weddingguest

10. Authority Still > E-A-T

11. Missguided
&
Governance

12. 0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
13.07.2015
31.08.2015
12.10.2015
23.11.2015
04.01.2016
15.02.2016
28.03.2016
09.05.2016
20.06.2016
01.08.2016
12.09.2016
31.10.2016
12.12.2016
23.01.2017
06.03.2017
17.04.2017
29.05.2017
17.07.2017
28.08.2017
09.10.2017
20.11.2017
01.01.2018
12.02.2018
26.03.2018
07.05.2018
25.06.2018
06.08.2018
17.09.2018
29.10.2018
10.12.2018
21.01.2019
04.03.2019
15.04.2019
27.05.2019
08.07.2019
19.08.2019
07.10.2019
18.11.2019
30.12.2019
10.02.2020
30.03.2020
11.05.2020
22.06.2020
10.08.2020
21.09.2020
02.11.2020
14.12.2020
25.01.2021
08.03.2021
19.04.2021
31.05.2021
12.07.2021
23.08.2021
04.10.2021
15.11.2021
27.12.2021
07.02.2022
21.03.2022
02.05.2022
13.06.2022
25.07.2022
05.09.2022
17.10.2022
Missguided – Organic Visibility
A Decline of Epic Proportions
Missguided’s fall from the one of fast fashion’s top organic players and the absolute authority in dresses, was
largely due to the impact of Google’s Core updates, and a lack of SEO governance within the business.

13. Daily Analysis & Reporting
Marketing
Trade
E-Comm
Buying
UX & CRO
Investors
CEO

14. Demand or Organic
Visibility?
• Year on year pretty much redundant due to COVID and the economy, but 2019 the best guide
• Organic reporting day on day or or even week on week has serious flaws from an SEO perspective

15. Tech SEO Challenges
SearchPilot
ODN
Tech
Stack
Other
Channels
Backlog
Archaic
Magento
Resource/Abilit
y

16. Keyword & Content Mapping
• A process for identifying a peak in demand, in time for buying to find the stock and then populate a PLP likely to compete with the
established sites, is hard
• Again, year on year fairly useless as a barometer of demand
• Content needs to be keyword rich then go through brand guidelines, trade team, UX and CRO
• Then there is the battle with e-comm, UX and CRO around how much content can actually be exposed on mobile PDP/PLP
0
20000
40000
60000
80000
100000
120000
Festival Outfits – UK Trends (5 Yr)

17. Menu / Navigation

18. Impact of Menus on Visibility
0
0.005
0.01
0.015
0.02
0.025
03.01.2022
17.01.2022
31.01.2022
14.02.2022
28.02.2022
14.03.2022
28.03.2022
11.04.2022
25.04.2022
09.05.2022
23.05.2022
06.06.2022
20.06.2022
04.07.2022
18.07.2022
01.08.2022
15.08.2022
29.08.2022
12.09.2022
26.09.2022
10.10.2022
24.10.2022
07.11.2022
Knitwear
0
0.001
0.002
0.003
0.004
0.005
0.006
03.01.2022
17.01.2022
31.01.2022
14.02.2022
28.02.2022
14.03.2022
28.03.2022
11.04.2022
25.04.2022
09.05.2022
23.05.2022
06.06.2022
20.06.2022
04.07.2022
18.07.2022
01.08.2022
15.08.2022
29.08.2022
12.09.2022
26.09.2022
10.10.2022
24.10.2022
07.11.2022
Festival Shop
Even with strong a strong internal linking strategy, the impact on visibility of a PLP when in the menu is huge
Although these are clearly seasonal items, these fluctuations were directly impacted by the presence on the navigation

19. UX, CRO & Conversion Rate
If traffic is struggling, attention inevitably turns to CvR, which almost always ends up badly for SEO
• Aggressive promos
• Whittled down menus
• Sale pages cannibalising existing categories
• Aggressive Pop Ups
• Negative impact can be avoided with collaboration
These strategies tend to intensify when there
is investor pressure, potential sales being
negotiated and the threat of administration
looming

20. Factors such as stock impacted performance outside of Core Updates, which is still the case
But as Core updates continued to hurt visibility, SEO teams had little ability to arrest the decline and external
issues such as supply started to take its toll
Their legacy and vanity ”dresses” ranking is perhaps the best example
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
15.11.2021
22.11.2021
29.11.2021
06.12.2021
13.12.2021
20.12.2021
27.12.2021
03.01.2022
10.01.2022
17.01.2022
24.01.2022
31.01.2022
07.02.2022
14.02.2022
21.02.2022
28.02.2022
07.03.2022
14.03.2022
21.03.2022
28.03.2022
04.04.2022
11.04.2022
18.04.2022
25.04.2022
02.05.2022
09.05.2022
16.05.2022
23.05.2022
30.05.2022
06.06.2022
13.06.2022
20.06.2022
27.06.2022
04.07.2022
11.07.2022
18.07.2022
25.07.2022
01.08.2022
08.08.2022
15.08.2022
22.08.2022
29.08.2022
05.09.2022
12.09.2022
19.09.2022
26.09.2022
03.10.2022
10.10.2022
17.10.2022
24.10.2022
31.10.2022
07.11.2022
14.11.2022
Missguided - Dresses Ranking
Crucial Ranking Decline - Dresses
* Indicative of how sophisticated Google now is when it comes to ranking these terms in real time, and not just based on classic ranking factors

21. • Out of Stock process for any e-commerce website is crucial
• Automatic NoIndexing of any OOS PDP meant that visibility was hard to regain
• Product descriptions and SEO content also disappears when a PDP becomes OOS
• This contributed to 30% of the organic traffic drop suffered by the brand since 2020 Core updates
Out of Stock – Crucial Impact

22. Investors, Administration
&
Takeover

23. 0
2
4
6
8
10
12
Missguided Organic Visibility - 2022
Tumultuous Year
New investors, pre- Christmas
Administrators
Takeover

24. Collaboration Impossible
• Despite all manner of migration checklists and roadmaps, with no collaboration possible with new development teams, it was
pretty futile

25. Quick & Dirty Replatform
Outlet for fresh
content
Advanced structured data
Liaison between Heads of SEO and developers or staging site
A year’s worth of colour PLP work
6 legacy international territories auto redirected

26. Huge Loss of Equity & Authority

27. Thank you!
@whitworthseo@seocommunity.social
@WhitworthSEO
https://www.linkedin.com/in/seo-consultancy-
manchester/
https://www.whitworthseo.com/