Case Study: Cabela’s.com
Print version available here.
With a selection of more than 200,000 distinct skus, Cabelaâ??s was searching for a way to get more of their Web pages competing for unbranded â??long tail? search terms. They first partnered with a SEO firm that optimized a handful of static category and product pages, but soon found that that was not enough. Their vast product selection and constraints of their dynamically-driven Web site called for a solution that was scaleable across their entire website and went far deeper into implementing best SEO practices.
In collaboration with Cabelaâ??s, Netconcepts launched a search optimization solution in September of 2006 to gain greater visibility in the natural search results of major search engines.
Goals
- Free SEO efforts from IT dependencies
- Maximize natural search brand visibility
- Increase search traffic and revenue
Solution
GravityStream provides a simple to implement search engine optimization solution that delivers measurable results without requiring extensive IT resources.
Netconcepts initiated such a program for Cabelaâ??s. They created a real time, crawler friendly version of Cabelaâ??s ecommerce site, giving them the flexibility to optimize the existing pages of their website without having to rebuild their current site. With the addition of page optimization, Googleâ??s PageRank is allowed to flow through the site and boost Google rankings on a wide range of relevant non-brand search queries.
Results
- GravityStream empowers Cabelaâ??s marketing team with control over the natural search channel.
- GravityStream shattered indexation goals by 45%. This lead to 200% more traffic and 50% more sales.
- Cabelaâ??s brand is well positioned in over 200,000 long-tail search markets, with over 40,000 pages driving traffic.
?We have seen an impressive 50% increase in year over year organic search sales using a powerful new approach to SEO. Best of all, we didnâ??t have to change our core website. GravityStream gives me the flexibility we need to systematically manage our organic search business.?
– Derek Fortna,
Marketing Programs Manager, Cabelaâ??s, Inc.
Comments
I wonder when SEO literacy will make it into the general mainstream of CEO education? Recently I tried to brief a client an SEO and what it meant to his business, only to get an e-Mail a day later telling me that if he entered his exact domain name in Google he could find himself at position 2 … and how he certainly didn’t need any of that “SEO magic” 😉 Oh boy.
Cabela’s strategy shows that there’s no one size fits all, but that product and site structure matter.

Chapter 7:
Content Marketing
From the fundamentals of link building to the nuances of natural linking patterns, virality, and authority.
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I always follow Cabela’s buesiness efforts and what its doing to continue to grow. I worked for Cabela’s for about 6 years and learned they always strive for the very best and set the example of success I can always learn from. I wish all my old friends there all my best, and I will be looking into GravityStream for my company too.