Case study · High-competition SEO
Vape brand: from pages 4–5 to page one for keywords with difficulty 75+
Technical SEO, conversion optimisation and a high-competition keyword strategy, led by our team.
Between October 2024 and June 2025, our team took a UK vape and CBD brand’s target keywords from pages 4–5 of Google to page one. The keywords had difficulty scores above 75, and the brand needed results before the UK disposable vape ban on 1 June 2025 so it could clear its stock.
The challenge
- Very high competition for terms like “CBD vape”, “CBD vapes” and “disposable CBD vapes”
- All target keywords buried on pages 4–5 of Google
- A fixed deadline set by new regulations
- Traffic that wasn’t converting well
What we did
- Technical SEO fixes across the site
- A focused strategy for high-difficulty keywords
- Conversion rate optimisation of product pages
Results
- Page one rankings for keywords with difficulty scores of 75 and above
- Ranking improvements across all target keywords, from pages 4–5 to page one
- Stock cleared before the regulation deadline
- Improved conversion rates from optimised product pages
- Rankings held after the campaign
What it shows
Even very competitive searches can be won with the right technical foundations, focused pages and patience. For most local businesses the competition is far lower, so the same discipline usually works faster.
Related: local SEO services · SEO in Falkirk · small business website design · Google Business Profile management · all case studies
Last updated: 2 October 2026
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