How Pope Increased Organic Traffic by 161%

Pope had strong brand recognition and a broad product range across watering, irrigation and garden care. The opportunity was to meet Australian gardeners at the moments that mattered: when they had a problem, a seasonal task, or a product decision to make. Intender built an intent-led SEO program around customer needs, topic priorities and clearer pathways from discovery to action. The work strengthened organic visibility and improved engagement without relying on isolated keyword wins.

The Challenge

Clearer Pathways

Pope is an Australian garden watering and irrigation brand helping people care for their gardens with practical, reliable products. Its range spans hoses, hose reels, tap timers, sprinklers, drip irrigation, pop-up systems and poly pipe fittings. Through Gardening with Pope, the brand also gives customers clear advice, ideas and how-to content to help them choose the right solution and use it well.

Pope had strong brand awareness and the product range to support a wide mix of garden watering needs. The gap was connecting more of that demand to the right page, message and next step.

The challenge was to understand what people were trying to solve, connect them with useful content or product pathways, and make the next step feel clear.

  • Customers were searching by problem, task and season: Gardeners were looking for help with dry lawns, watering schedules, irrigation planning, hose storage and sprinkler choice. Pope had the expertise to answer those needs, but the digital journey needed clearer topic alignment and stronger intent matching.
  • The journey needed stronger continuity: Organic pages needed to support different stages of the journey, from early advice through to product consideration. Content, collection pages and product pages needed clearer connections so customers could move from a question to a relevant solution.

The Approach

Building Growth Around Customer Search Intent

The strategy started with customer intent.

  • Intent before execution: We looked at how Australian gardeners move from symptom to solution, from noticing a watering problem to comparing products and planning the right setup.
    • Demand was grouped around real garden needs, such as watering control, hose storage, sprinkler coverage, drip systems and seasonal lawn care.
    • We identified where Pope had strong product relevance, but where the path from search to solution could be clearer.
  • Topic-led page priorities: We shaped SEO priorities around topics and customer journeys, not just individual search terms.
    • Commercial intent was connected to priority product and collection pages.
    • Advice-led intent was shaped into FAQs, blog content and resources that helped people make a better decision.
  • Content aligned to active demand: SEO recommendations were shaped around the questions, topics and product needs customers were already searching for, with each page given a clearer role in the journey. Make Pope easier to find. Make the answer easier to understand. Make the next step easier to take.

The work then moved from intent insight to practical execution across SEO content and on-page improvements.

Clearer Product Pathways

We improved priority collection and product pages so they better matched how customers think, compare and choose garden watering solutions.

  • Page copy, metadata, FAQs and internal links were refined to make each page more helpful for people and easier for search engines to understand.
  • The focus was on making product pathways clearer, from broad needs through to specific solutions.

People-First Advice Content

We developed advice content around practical gardening questions and seasonal watering needs.

  • Content was built around moments of need, such as choosing the right sprinkler, planning a watering system, using tap timers or improving lawn care through hotter months.
  • Each piece had a role in the broader journey: answer the question, reduce confusion and guide the customer toward a useful next step.

Stronger Page Structure

The approach was simple: clear keyword priorities, useful content and stronger page structure shaped around measurable organic demand.

Gardeners search by problem, not by product name. When every page had a clear job to answer the question and point to the right solution, the growth followed.

—
Camilla Hansen
,
Owned and Earned Manager
-
Intender

Platform Capabilities

The Results

Measurable Growth Across Organic Search

The strongest gains came from combining customer-intent insight with clearer content, stronger page structure and more useful pathways to relevant solutions.

161%

increase in organic sessions
Organic sessions saw a 161% lift from 1 October 2025 to 31 May 2026, compared with the same period the year prior.

178%

increase in engaged organic sessions
Engaged organic sessions grew by 178%, while organic key events increased by 100%.

75%

increase in top 10 keyword rankings
Top 10 keyword rankings increased by 75% between the Ahrefs baseline and latest export.

Additional outcomes

  • Organic sessions saw a 161% lift when comparing 1 October 2025 to 31 May 2026 with the same period the year prior.
  • Engaged organic sessions grew by 178%, while organic key events increased by 100%.
  • Top 10 keyword rankings increased by 75% between the Ahrefs baseline and latest export.
  • Top 3 keyword rankings saw a 130% uplift.
  • Movement into stronger organic positions showed that the site was becoming more relevant across the journeys customers were already taking.

By shifting the focus from isolated keyword wins to customer intent, Pope built a stronger search foundation. The work made it easier for gardeners to find useful answers, compare solutions and move from problem to product with less friction.

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