How Absolute Digital Media took a British insole manufacturer from 312 to 23,957 monthly organic sessions and to the top of the category’s core commercial term.
Absolute Digital Media's SEO campaign for FootActive delivered 23,957 monthly organic sessions (from 312), 861 keywords in the top three (from 6), +448% revenue and +10 Domain Rating points (14 to 24).
FootActive manufactures arch support and orthotic insoles for a range of clinical and everyday uses, alongside a footwear range built around the same principle.
The category places the business in a specific position. It sells a product that people buy because something hurts, which means it is competing in a health-adjacent market where advice, accuracy and credentials are assessed differently from ordinary retail. It is also competing against Dr Scholl, a household name with decades of brand recognition, and against Amazon and eBay, which held prominent positions on the core commercial terms. FootActive’s ambition was to take those terms as the specialist, and it did.
Traffic, keyword and Domain Rating figures are from Ahrefs Site Explorer, UK database. From the client’s reporting: revenue up 448%, new users up 313%, organic search visibility up 287%. Keywords in positions four to ten rose from 23 to 1,255. The peak exceeded the site’s pre-update level by more than 7 times.
Integrated Agency of the Year - SilverEuropean Agency Awards 2026
Best Use of Search B2C (PPC) Small (The Swallow Co.)European Search Awards 2026
Standout B2C Ecommerce Website of the Year (Stelrad)UK Digital Excellence Awards 2026
Best Integrated Paid Media CampaignUK Paid Media Awards 2026
Best New Business CampaignUK Agency Awards 2025
Best Use Of Search (Retail/Ecommerce) - SEOUK Search Awards 2024Integrated Agency of the Year - SilverEuropean Agency Awards 2026Best Use of Search B2C (PPC) Small (The Swallow Co.)European Search Awards 2026Standout B2C Ecommerce Website of the Year (Stelrad)UK Digital Excellence Awards 2026Best Integrated Paid Media CampaignUK Paid Media Awards 2026Best New Business CampaignUK Agency Awards 2025Best Use Of Search (Retail/Ecommerce) - SEOUK Search Awards 2024 
The strategy was set and led by Ben Austin. The Medic update assessed whether a site offering health-adjacent information demonstrated the expertise, authority and trustworthiness to do so, and the recovery had to satisfy that criterion rather than route around it. The rejected alternative, and the standard response across the category, is to publish more and build more links. On pages reassessed for demonstrated expertise, additional content of the same kind reinforces the assessment and links do not address a quality judgement at all. Work started on the two pages carrying the most traffic and the most transactional intent, the homepage and the arch support insoles page, both completely restructured, rewritten and re-audited to establish who FootActive is, what qualifies it to advise on foot health, and what the products actually do. The uplift from that exercise alone was substantial, and it confirmed the diagnosis before any further budget was committed.
Nobody searches for an orthotic insole without a reason. They search because their heel hurts in the morning, or their arches have collapsed, or their Achilles is inflamed. Those searches happen first, they carry substantial volume, and a manufacturer that can explain the condition properly is better placed to rank for them than a marketplace listing ever will be. The section was expanded continuously against the enquiries FootActive’s own customers were making and the related search queries those generated, so the content followed real demand rather than a content calendar. The Achilles tendonitis page holds position one on its lead term with 291 ranking keywords. The flat feet page holds position three for insoles for flat feet, a term carrying 2,200 monthly searches. The approach also does the E-E-A-T work: a page that explains a condition accurately demonstrates expertise in a way a product description cannot.
The Magento 1 to Magento 2 migration and full redesign were scheduled into the slower trading period rather than deferred until performance recovered. Migrations carry risk and consume attention, and the instinct after an algorithm reassessment is to freeze everything until the numbers stabilise. That reasoning inverts the calculation. The quiet period is when the disruption costs least, and delaying a migration until performance has recovered means taking the risk when there is more to lose.
The site’s authority was reasonable for its size and the commercial terms were held by Amazon and eBay, so digital PR campaigns were built as a core component of the integrated strategy rather than as an add-on. Domain Rating moved from 14 to 24 across the recovery, 10 points against a traffic increase of more than 76 times, because the authority build brought the site into contention on the commercial terms and the content and structure produced the scale.
Content opportunities were identified in part from the paid media team’s sales performance data, surfacing keywords and pages that were converting in paid and were not yet covered organically. Most agencies keep the two channels separate and report separately. Paid search data is the fastest available evidence of what converts, and using it to direct organic content means the SEO programme is built on demonstrated commercial value rather than on estimated search volume.
Heat mapping and customer behaviour analysis identified where users stalled and left between landing page and checkout, with design and functionality changes made against that evidence. Revenue rose 448% against the traffic increase, and the gap between those two numbers is the conversion work.
Ben Austin set the recovery on satisfying the Medic update’s criterion when the category default was to publish more and buy links. The sequencing was diagnostic: rebuild the two most valuable pages first, read the uplift, then commit the budget the evidence justified. The condition-led architecture, the migration timing and the integration of paid performance data into organic planning were his calls, and the site finished more than 7 times above its pre-update level on them.
Alex Stott built the common foot problems section and rewrote the commercial estate to the standard the update was assessing: who FootActive is, what qualifies it to advise, what the condition is and what the product does about it. The section grew against real customer enquiries rather than a content calendar. The Achilles tendonitis page holds position one with 291 ranking keywords, and the condition and category pages now carry between 169 and 454 ranking keywords each.
Jack Hawtin ran the digital PR campaigns that carried the site into contention against Amazon, eBay and Dr Scholl on the category’s commercial terms. Domain Rating moved from 14 to 24 across the recovery, the 10 points that made position one for orthotic insoles contestable, while the content and structure decided it. Campaigns were built into the integrated strategy rather than run as a separate volume exercise.
Shofiur Rahman delivered the Magento 1 to Magento 2 migration and the full redesign into the quiet trading period, preserving the ranking assets the content work was building while moving the site onto a supported platform with the speed and rendering standard the category now expects. The conversion changes identified through heat mapping were engineered into the new build, which is part of why revenue growth outpaced traffic growth.
Lewis Esson is Head of SEO at Absolute Digital Media, leading a team of seven across organic strategy for gambling, lending, adult and regulated ecommerce brands. He joined ADM as…
Shofiur Rahman is Head of Technical at Absolute Digital Media, leading the team responsible for everything the agency builds and runs: client websites, internal applications, infrastructure, AI systems and the…
Alex is Head of Content at Absolute Digital Media, overseeing content production and ideation for regulated-sector clients in iGaming, finance, and healthcare. He specialises in creating content that performs reliably…
Jack Hawtin leads the outreach team at Absolute Digital Media, running link building and outreach strategy mainly for iGaming clients, alongside adult industry brands, interior design, and a smaller portfolio…
Organic traffic grew from 312 to 23,957 monthly sessions, finishing more than 7 times above the level the site held before the Medic update. Keywords in the top three grew from 6 to 861, and positions four to ten from 23 to 1,255, all from Ahrefs Site Explorer, UK database.
Revenue rose 448% and new users rose 313% on the client’s own reporting, with organic search visibility up 287%. Domain Rating moved from 14 to 24, 10 points against a traffic increase of more than 76 times, because authority brought contention and the content produced the scale.
| Page | Lead keyword | Volume | Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homepage | orthotic insoles | 1,600 | 1 |
| Arch support insoles | foot arch support | 800 | 1 |
| Footwear | slippers with arch support | 1,000 | 1 |
| Achilles tendonitis | achilles tendon support | 800 | 1 |
| Slippers | orthopedic slippers | 600 | 1 |
| Plantar fasciitis insoles | plantar fasciitis insoles | 6,000 | 3 |
| Shoe insoles | shoe insoles | 3,700 | 3 |
| Flat feet | insoles for flat feet | 2,200 | 3 |
| Orthopaedic shoes for women | orthopedic shoes for women | 3,700 | 4 |
| Orthopaedic shoes | orthopedic shoes | 6,100 | 6 |
| Flip flops and sandals | arch support sandals | 2,600 | 6 |
Source: Ahrefs Site Explorer, UK. Position one for orthotic insoles is the standout. It is the category's core commercial term, it was held by Amazon and eBay alongside the established brands, and a specialist manufacturer took it on a Domain Rating of 24. The homepage grew from 242 monthly sessions to 2,399 and from 72 ranking keywords to 317, and the category and condition pages beneath it now carry between 169 and 454 ranking keywords each.
By identifying what the update assessed and satisfying it. The Medic update judged whether health-related content demonstrated the expertise behind it, so the recovery meant rebuilding the pages to establish who the business is and what qualifies it, rather than publishing more content or acquiring more links.
Yes, where the underlying business is sound and the diagnosis is correct. FootActive recovered from a low of 312 monthly sessions to 23,957, more than 7 times the level the site held before the update.
On terms where the marketplace cannot answer the intent, yes. FootActive holds position one for orthotic insoles on a Domain Rating of 24. A buyer researching a foot condition needs an explanation the marketplace has no page for, and a manufacturer can provide it.
Where the product is bought to solve a problem, yes, and they are usually the largest untapped demand in the category. Customers search the problem before they search the product, those searches are less contested, and the pages demonstrate the expertise that health-adjacent sites are assessed against.
During the slowest trading period, and not deferred until performance recovers. Migration disruption costs least when there is least trading to disrupt, and postponing it means carrying the risk when the business has more to lose.
It should, and most agencies keep the two apart. Paid is the fastest available evidence of what converts, and building organic content against demonstrated commercial performance produces a better return per page than building against estimated search volume.
Less than the competitive set suggests. Domain Rating moved 10 points here while traffic grew more than 76 times, because authority brought the site into contention and the content and structure decided the positions.
The first uplift here came from rewriting two pages and appeared quickly. Full recovery to pre-update levels arrived inside 18 months, and the growth beyond that accumulated over the following 3 years. Content-led recovery is slower than most clients expect and considerably more durable than the alternatives.
If an algorithm update removed your visibility, the fix is whatever the update was asking for, and it is rarely more content and never more links. FootActive answered the question the update asked and finished 7 times above where it started.
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