Case Study: Gilliangladrag

Reversing stagnation with a UX-led Shopify rebuild and large-scale content optimisation

The Reality

Gilliangladrag is a well-known independent craft retailer with a loyal audience, strong personality, and a large catalogue built up over many years.

But despite that history, the brand wasn’t growing. Traffic had plateaued. Organic visibility had stalled. Some areas were beginning to decline. The site was live and trading — but it wasn’t moving forward.

This wasn’t a marketing problem. It was a structural one. The Shopify store was holding the brand in place rather than helping it grow.

The Problem

Several issues combined to create stagnation:

- An ageing, heavy Shopify theme that struggled with performance
- Poor Core Web Vitals affecting SEO and user experience
- Mobile navigation that was hard work for large catalogues
- Over 4,000 products and collections relying on thin, single-sentence descriptions
- Valuable pages offering little context for users or search engines

Incremental tweaks wouldn’t reverse that trend. The foundations needed fixing.

The Approach: Fix the Foundations Properly

This wasn’t a cosmetic redesign. It was a reset.

The work followed a deliberate sequence:
UX → Platform → Content → SEO

1. UX & Information Architecture First

Before any development, the UX and structure of the site were redesigned.

This involved:
- Rethinking navigation for a very large catalogue
- Designing collection pages to explain ranges, not just list products
- Making discovery easier on mobile
- Creating a clear hierarchy for users and search engines

The goal was to remove friction — not add features.

2. Shopify OS 2.0 Rebuild

With the UX defined, the site was rebuilt on Shopify OS 2.0.

The focus was performance and flexibility:
- Lighter templates and faster load times
- Cleaner navigation and filtering
- Better control for the client without developer dependency
- A platform capable of supporting growth again

3. Large-Scale Content Rewrite (4,000+ Pages)

This was the most critical part of the project. Content was rewritten and optimised across more than 4,000 products and collections. Single-sentence descriptions were replaced with fully optimised page content.

This included:
- Keyword-aligned collection copy
- Improved product descriptions for clarity and intent
- Proper heading structure and internal linking
- Turning thousands of weak pages into genuine SEO assets

SEO Built Into the Rebuild

Alongside UX and content, the technical SEO foundations were rebuilt:

- Clean URL and collection structure
- Improved crawl efficiency and indexation
- Structured data across products and collections
- Canonical and duplication clean-up
- Editable metadata across the entire catalogue

Results: 7 Days After Launch

Just seven days after launch, early signals showed the site moving in the right direction.

- 4.45% organic visibility across tracked keywords
- 94 keywords ranking in Google’s top 100
- 48 keywords in the top 20
- 37 keywords in the top 10
- 7 keywords ranking in the top 3

For a site that had stagnated — and in some areas declined — this early breadth of visibility confirms the reset is working.

Final Word

Gilliangladrag didn’t need a refresh. It needed a course correction. This rebuild shows what happens when UX is designed properly, Shopify is rebuilt for performance, and content is taken seriously at scale.

Early results don’t guarantee the future — but they do confirm the site is no longer standing still.

View the www.gilliangladrag.co.uk store