How Promodo Increased Organic Traffic by 417% for a Shopify Store in Highly Regulated CBD Market

Solution

1. Technical SEO Audit and Optimization

We conducted a comprehensive technical SEO audit. Because the website ran on Shopify, many conventional SEO recommendations were not directly applicable and required platform-specific workarounds to achieve the desired results.

The technical Shopify SEO included:

• implementing structured data and breadcrumbs, 
• cleaning up 3xx and 4xx issues,
• setting up multilingual SEO and multi-currency functionality for the EN and DE versions using hreflang.
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2. Commercial Content Optimization

We rebuilt the semantic core around commercial search intent.  Promodo’s SEO team focused not only on increasing organic traffic but also on attracting high-intent users who were ready to purchase.

For this matter, we conducted separate keyword research for products and collections. We clustered keywords according to the website structure. It allowed us to create targeted landing pages for relevant search queries.
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As a result, Promodo’s SEO team offered a complete redesign of the website's main navigation. We replaced the traditional category structure with a hybrid navigation that combined product types, their strength, and cannabinoid categories. This improved the user journey, expanded keyword coverage, and created a website architecture that better matched both search intent and Google's understanding of the topic.‍

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Based on the keyword research, the team prepared detailed content briefs and technical specifications for collection pages. They also optimized metadata to improve search relevance and increase click-through rates.

For good ranking, it’s also critical to constantly update the existing content to make sure that it is relevant, high-quality, and appropriate for a regulated niche.  

In total, we optimized 38 category pages: 32 existing categories were updated, and 6 new ones were created. Each optimization included competitor analysis of top-ranking pages, comprehensive keyword research, a full content audit, updates to heading structure, and metadata optimization.  
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A key success factor was to react quickly to market changes. When new cannabinoids gained popularity in Germany, we rapidly created optimized categories to be one of the first websites to capture emerging search demand. When regulations changed, we promptly adapted or removed pages for substances that were no longer legally available. In such a way, we protected the website from search engine penalties.

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3. Backlink Profile Cleanup and Link Building

Building an effective link-building strategy was very challenging because of the industry’s nature. The German cannabinoid market offers a limited number of relevant websites. At the same time, it has strict requirements regarding the relevance and quality of referring domains and, as a result, significantly higher publication costs than traditional industries.

To find an approach that met both SEO objectives and the client's standards, we tested four different link-building strategies before identifying the most effective model.

We first addressed the website's toxic backlink profile by disavowing spammy links. We also ensured that the existing high-quality backlinks were properly indexed. 

Then, Promodo’s link-building team conducted a competitor backlink analysis to identify the types of websites Google considered trustworthy within this highly regulated niche. Based on these insights, we developed a targeted outreach strategy focused on acquiring links from authoritative and industry-relevant publications. Because high-quality placement opportunities were limited, we carefully evaluated every backlink source for topical relevance, authority, and compliance with the strict quality requirements.

As a result, the website now has 200+ quality referring domains, while its Domain Rating increased from 30 to 41. 
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4. Strengthening E-E-A-T

As a website operating in a Your Money or Your Life (YMYL) category, 9 Realms is held to particularly high standards by Google. Websites offering wellness-related products must demonstrate strong expertise, experience, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness (E-E-A-T) to earn and maintain high organic rankings.

To strengthen these signals, we conducted a comprehensive E-E-A-T audit to identify opportunities to improve the website's authority and credibility. 

We recommended enriching the About Us page with information about the company's mission, history, years in business, registration details, and industry recognition, including awards and achievements. These additions helped reinforce the brand's legitimacy and expertise.

We also introduced a series of recommendations for product pages to strengthen both E-E-A-T and the user experience. These included displaying real-time "In Stock" information, adding customer ratings, introducing a clearly visible disclaimer for regulated products, and providing direct access to third-party laboratory test reports (COAs) in PDF format. Together, these improvements increased transparency, strengthened trust signals, and aligned the website with Google's expectations for YMYL websites.
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5. AI Search Visibility Monitoring

As AI-powered search became an increasingly important traffic source, we expanded the SEO strategy to include Generative Engine Optimization (GEO). We monitored AI-driven traffic, analyzed brand visibility in AI Overviews and other generative search experiences.

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Results

Our objective was to transform a Shopify store with low organic visibility and a toxic backlink profile into a website that could consistently rank on Google's first page in one of Germany's most competitive and highly regulated industries.

The developed and launched SEO strategy allowed us to reach the set objectives. The Shopify store in a highly regulated industry with low organic visibility increased its impressions by 263%. 

The website moved from the fourth page of Google to first-page rankings for high-value commercial keywords. As a result, the organic traffic grew by 417% (5.2× times).
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As a result, 9 Realms established a strong and sustainable organic presence in Germany's regulated cannabinoid market. The long-term effectiveness of the strategy was demonstrated by the website's stable performance through four consecutive Google Core Updates (December 2025, February 2026, March 2026, and May 2026).
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A key factor behind these results was the close collaboration between Promodo and the client. The 9 Realms team was committed to implementing SEO recommendations promptly, maintaining an active content strategy, quickly adapting to market and regulatory changes, and continuously expanding the product range. This agility allowed us to capitalize on emerging search demand and maintain strong organic performance over time.

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