Helping a Specialist Cookbook Shop Get Found Online
How we worked alongside a small Shaftesbury retailer to improve their search visibility, set up the right tools and turn “cooking gifts for food lovers” into a genuine search opportunity
This is a story about a brilliant independent shop that was doing everything right on the high street but was barely visible online. If you run a small ecommerce business and you know your website could be working harder for you but you do not have the time or the technical know-how to fix it yourself, this one is for you.
The Business
In the heart of Shaftesbury, there is a specialist cookbook shop that is far more than a bookshop. Yes, they sell cookbooks. But they also stock hard-to-find ingredients, specialist kitchen tools and the kind of carefully chosen products that make perfect gifts for anyone who loves food. On top of that, they run food events in the local area that bring people together around cooking and eating.
In person, the shop is wonderful. The owners know their products inside out. Customers love the experience. The events are always popular.
The problem was that almost none of this was showing up online.
What We Found
We started with a quick website audit. This is always our first step because it tells us what is working, what is broken and where the biggest opportunities are. Here is what we found.
The website had good products on it but the pages were not structured in a way that helped search engines understand what was being sold or where the shop was located. There was no strategy around the kind of searches that would bring the right people to the site. Terms like “cooking gifts for food lovers” or “specialist kitchen tools” or “food events in Dorset” were not being targeted at all.
Google Business Profile was underused. It existed, but it was not being updated regularly with posts, events or seasonal content. Given that the shop runs brilliant food events and has constantly changing stock, this was a missed opportunity.
Google Merchant Centre had not been set up. This is the tool that tells Google exactly what products you sell, with prices, images and descriptions. Even if you are not running paid ads, having your products in Merchant Centre means they can appear in Google Shopping results organically. For a shop selling niche products that people actively search for, this matters.
The shop had great products and loyal customers. The job was connecting all of that to the places people search online.
How We Worked Together
This is the part that matters most if you are a business owner reading this and wondering how it actually works in practice.
We did not take over. We worked in tandem with the shop owners. They know their products, their customers and their events better than anyone. We know how to make that knowledge visible to search engines and AI tools. The combination is what makes it work.
The business owner brought the product knowledge and customer insight. We handled the technical strategy and optimisation. Each side played to their strengths.
The website audit and fixes
We reviewed the site structure, page titles, meta descriptions, heading hierarchy, image optimisation and internal linking. We made practical recommendations and implemented the changes that would have the most impact first. Nothing dramatic. Just the kind of solid, sensible work that helps search engines understand what every page is about.
Gift-focused content
We identified that searches like “cooking gifts for food lovers”, “gifts for people who love baking” and “unusual kitchen gift ideas” had real volume but very little competition from independent retailers. Most of the results were dominated by large retailers and generic gift guides. We worked with the owners to create content that showcased their genuine expertise and unique product range in a way that targeted these searches.
Google Merchant Centre
We guided the owners through setting up their Merchant Centre account and getting their product feed connected. This is one of those jobs that sounds complicated but is perfectly manageable with the right guidance. The benefit is significant. Google now knows exactly what the shop sells, and those products can appear in shopping results even without a penny spent on ads. It is a good step for any ecommerce business, and one that many small retailers do not know about.
Google Business Profile
We helped develop a rhythm for posting to their Google Business Profile. Seasonal gift ideas, upcoming food events, new product arrivals, staff picks. These posts appear directly in Google search results and on Google Maps when someone searches for the business or related local terms. For a shop that constantly has something new and interesting going on, this is an ideal channel.
Event promotion
The food events the shop runs are a genuine differentiator. We made sure these events were being promoted through the Google Business Profile, through the website with properly structured event pages, and through content that could be picked up by local search results. When someone searches for food events in the Shaftesbury area, the shop should be part of that conversation.
Why This Approach Works for Small Ecommerce Businesses
The point of this case study is not just about one cookbook shop. It is about an approach that works for any small retailer or ecommerce business that has good products but limited time and technical resource.
You do not need to become an SEO expert. You do not need to spend your evenings learning about schema markup or Merchant Centre feeds. You need someone who can look at what you have, work out what is missing, and help you put the right things in place without taking over your business.
The collaborative approach matters because no agency understands your products and customers the way you do. We can optimise a website all day long, but the content that really connects with your audience needs your knowledge and your voice in it. The most effective work happens when the business owner and the agency each play to their strengths.
What You Can Take From This
If you run a small ecommerce business, here are the practical questions worth asking yourself.
Is your Google Business Profile active and up to date, or is it gathering dust? Have you set up Google Merchant Centre, even if you are not running ads? When someone searches for the kind of products you sell, does your website actually appear? Are you creating content around the specific searches your customers are making, or are you just hoping they will find you?
If the honest answer to any of those is no, you are leaving opportunities on the table. The good news is that none of this is impossibly complicated. It just needs someone to look at it properly, work out the priorities, and get it done.
Could Your Online Presence Be Working Harder?
If you are an ecommerce business owner who knows your online presence could be better but you are not sure where to start, get in touch. We can run a quick assessment and show you what we find. No jargon. No obligation.
You built your business because you are brilliant at what you do. Let us help make sure the right people can find you.