Forestry SEO Case Study

How Forestry Companies Get More Sales Online with SEO and Digital Marketing

To help Potters Carpets & Beds overcome its digital challenges,MarketPilotAgencycrafted a tailored online strategy aimed at elevating the user experience, strengthening SEO results, and driving higher conversion rates.

Read time: 11 Mins

Our Strategy

When The Log Dog first connected with The Market Pilot Agency, they believed their main requirement was simply a new website. But during our initial strategy consultation, we uncovered a completely different perspective — deeper, underlying challenges that many seasonal businesses encounter without realising it. These issues were quietly holding back their growth and limiting their long-term potential.

What they originally believed would solve the issue:

A modern, professional-looking website
Better online visibility during their peak winter months
A stronger mobile experience for their current site

The Problem

Before partnering with The Market Pilot Agency, The Log Dog was dealing with several critical issues that were choking their digital growth:

Website Challenges

Their old website was a major conversion blocker. Slow page speeds, poor mobile responsiveness, and unclear navigation caused potential customers to leave within seconds — long before they could even consider ordering “seasoned hardwood”.

SEO Invisibility

With weak keyword coverage and poorly optimised metadata, they were almost invisible for the searches that mattered most. Local customers searching for “firewood delivery Banbury” or “seasoned logs near Banbury” simply couldn’t find them.

Technical Limitations

A fragile site structure and weak internal linking meant search engines struggled to crawl and understand their pages. It was like having a great shop hidden on a road with no signs.

Lack of Measurement Data

With no meaningful tracking, conversion events, or GA4 insights, they had no clarity on what was working — or what wasn’t. They were operating in the dark within an increasingly competitive market.

Local SEO Neglect

As a local business, they were missing key opportunities. Minimal Google visibility, limited quality backlinks, and underused community authority meant they weren’t tapping into their strongest potential audience.

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What We Discovered They Actually Needed

When The Log Dog partnered with The Market Pilot Agency, they came to us with four clear goals — but our deeper analysis uncovered much larger opportunities for long-term growth and performance.

Complete Digital Transformation

They were only ranking for 24 keywords, while competitors dominated hundreds. To put this into context, when anyone in Banbury searched for “firewood delivery,” “seasoned logs,” or “kiln dried wood,” The Log Dog simply didn’t appear. Their competitors were winning hundreds of valuable searches every single day, while The Log Dog stayed unseen.

A Modern, Conversion-Optimised Website

Their current website was costing them customers at every touchpoint. Even when users managed to find the site, the poor mobile experience made it difficult to browse products, request quotes, or get in touch. The website wasn’t supporting their business — it was slowing it down.

Local SEO Visibility and Dominance

Despite being well-established in Banbury, they weren’t showing up for crucial location-based searches. When customers typed “firewood near me” or “log delivery Banbury” into Google, The Log Dog didn’t appear anywhere near the first page. For a local business, this is equivalent to having your store buried down an unmarked alley during the busiest season.

Capture Seasonal Peaks — and Sustain Off-Season Visibility

They had no structured plan to take advantage of their peak winter demand or maintain visibility during the quieter months. Like many firewood suppliers, they faced sharp seasonal fluctuations. Without a clear marketing approach, they were missing out on customers who search heavily during cold weather and proactive buyers planning ahead in off-season periods.

Drive the Right Traffic — Not Just More Traffic

The goal wasn’t just higher website visits; The Log Dog needed visitors who were genuinely ready to buy. They were missing out on high-intent customers searching for immediate firewood solutions and instead attracting casual browsers with low conversion rates. They required a strategy focused on targeting purchase-ready users, not just general attention.

Increase Domain Authority and Build Trust

With limited backlinks and a weak domain authority score, search engines didn’t view The Log Dog as a credible, well-established brand. This meant that even when pages were well-optimised, they couldn’t rank above competitors with stronger authority. Establishing trust signals and growing authority was essential to compete effectively with larger suppliers.

Does This Sound Familiar?

If you’re reading this as a business owner, you may recognise several of these challenges:

Customers saying they “couldn’t find your business online”
Competitors consistently appearing above you on Google
A website that feels outdated or hard to use on mobile
Difficulty capturing seasonal demand when it matters most
Relying heavily on word-of-mouth just to stay busy

Many businesses are genuinely surprised by how much revenue they lose simply because they’re not showing up where customers are searching. Our free audit highlights exactly where your biggest opportunities are — delivered within 2–3 working days, complete with an actionable summary that could transform your next busy season.

Why The Log Dog Chose The Market Pilot Agency

After speaking with multiple agencies, The Log Dog chose The Market Pilot Agency for one clear reason: we understood that seasonal businesses require a completely unique approach.

They needed a team capable of handling the technical demands of modern SEO while also recognising the challenges of capturing peak winter demand and building consistent momentum during the quieter months. With our combined strengths in SEO strategy, UX-focused website design, and fully optimised e-commerce development, we were able to deliver a complete digital transformation from one place.

Most importantly, our approach is built on measurable outcomes. Every recommendation is data-led, every enhancement is tracked, and every success is transparently backed by results.

Our Five-Phase Approach

Phase 1: SEO Foundation and Initial Improvements

We began by implementing SEO enhancements directly on their existing website. This allowed us to start generating early wins while identifying the deeper issues affecting performance. We optimised key pages for high-value local search terms, resolved urgent technical problems, and configured proper tracking to establish accurate performance benchmarks.

Our early SEO work included improving product and service pages for location-specific keywords, fixing core technical SEO faults that were hindering indexation, setting up GA4 tracking to measure user behaviour, and carrying out detailed keyword research focused on the Banbury service area.

But as our work progressed, it became clear that the original website structure was too restrictive, preventing us from applying more advanced, long-term SEO strategies effectively.

Phase 2: Website Transformation

The old website’s technical limitations, weak mobile performance, and poor conversion flow were preventing us from unlocking The Log Dog’s true growth potential. At this stage, we recommended a full website rebuild to remove these barriers entirely.

We developed a custom WordPress and WooCommerce solution focused on speed, mobile-first design, and conversion optimisation. The new website introduced streamlined navigation, smart product filtering, and multiple frictionless contact options — including WhatsApp integration, click-to-call features, and fully optimised enquiry forms.

To maintain their personality-driven brand, we also incorporated Sprout — their iconic office dog — into the site’s visuals and microcopy, giving the website a warm, memorable, and authentic feel.

Phase 3: Technical SEO Excellence

Once the new website was live, we were finally able to deploy the advanced technical SEO strategy that the old platform simply couldn’t support. After launch, we carried out a full technical audit and systematically resolved every issue affecting search performance. This included repairing indexation problems, improving Core Web Vitals, implementing clean redirect pathways, adding structured data, and completely rebuilding metadata across all pages.

We also created a detailed keyword map for every location and product category, ensuring The Log Dog could rank for terms like “kiln dried logs,” “seasoned hardwood,” and “bulk firewood delivery” across their full service area.

Phase 4: Content That Converts

Understanding that customers had questions at every stage of their buying journey, we created a strategic content calendar aligned with seasonal trends and user search behaviour. Key content pieces were designed around high-intent keyword opportunities, including:

“Hardwood Logs Near Me Banbury” – specifically targeting local customers who were actively ready to purchase.

“Seasoned Logs Delivery Banbury” – Capturing local delivery searches with commercial intent

“Best Firewood Banbury” –Capturing AI Overview snippets for competitive search terms.

“Reliable Firewood Supplier in Banbury”– Building trust and local authority for branded searches

Blog Content for Different Customer Stages:

“10 Essential Tips for Buying Firewood” – Targeting early-stage researchers exploring their options

“4 Benefits of Using Seasoned Firewood” –Educating customers on quality differences

Each piece was crafted with specific target queries, internal linking strategies, and clear calls-to-action directing readers to relevant product pages.

Phase 5: Local Authority Building

We rebuilt The Log Dog’s local SEO foundation from the ground up. This involved optimising their Google Business Profile, creating and maintaining accurate citations across local directories, auditing backlinks to remove harmful links, and conducting targeted outreach to secure relevant, high-quality local backlinks. These efforts strengthened their credibility, boosted local visibility, and positioned them as the go-to provider in Banbury and surrounding areas.

Phase 6: Measurement and Continuous Improvement

Finally, we implemented full GA4 conversion tracking to monitor every key user interaction: enquiry form submissions, click-to-call actions, WhatsApp contacts, and e-commerce checkout steps. This data informed monthly reporting and seasonal marketing plans, enabling continuous optimisation of the highest-impact pages and ensuring sustained growth over time.

The Results

Traffic Growth

+171% organic sessions (year-on-year): Nearly tripling monthly organic traffic from search engines, bringing in real customers actively searching for their services during peak periods.
+140% total sessions (year-on-year): Demonstrating overall digital growth across all traffic sources.
10× average daily impressions: From minimal visibility to dominating local firewood searches in Banbury.
Daily clicks increased 3× (peaking in winter months): Visibility that directly translated into enquiries and orders when customers needed firewood most.

Search Visibility

Keywords ranking: 945% increase in the number of search terms where they appeared. From limited keyword presence to leading all relevant firewood and delivery searches in the Banbury area.
Backlinks grew 209% from quality referring domains: Establishing The Log Dog as a trusted, authoritative business in the eyes of search engines, improving rankings across all content and pages.
Increased organic share: SEO became their primary customer acquisition channel, reducing reliance on word-of-mouth alone.
Local search dominance achieved: Consistent first-page rankings for high-intent searches like “firewood delivery Banbury” and “seasoned logs near me.”

What Changed for Customers: The UX Wins That Matter

Beyond the impressive results, The Log Dog’s customers enjoyed a significantly improved digital experience:

Before Optimisation

Slow-loading pages with poor mobile usability
Confusing navigation and limited ways to get in touch
Unclear product details and a cumbersome checkout process

After Implementation

Fast, fully responsive design optimised for all devices
Multiple contact options (WhatsApp, click-to-call, enquiry forms) and intuitive product filtering
Clear, frictionless conversion paths from search to purchase or enquiry

These changes directly increased revenue potential by removing barriers between customer interest and completed transactions, creating a seamless journey from discovery to sale.

In Joe’s Own Words

Partnering with The Market Pilot Agency has completely transformed our online presence. We’ve seen measurable improvements in website traffic and customer engagement, and the new site has been a real hit with our users. The team was professional throughout, and the results speak for themselves. We’re now competing with much larger companies in search rankings, and customers frequently comment on how easy our website is to navigate.

– Joe, The Log Dog

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