Ranking #1 for the terms pool buyers search

The challenge

The client is a US online store selling above-ground and semi-inground pools, liners, pool decks, heaters and accessories. The market is crowded with big-box retailers, marketplaces and specialist stores, and buyers compare several sites before spending thousands of dollars on a pool.

The goal was simple to state: show up when people search for pools on Google, and turn that traffic into paying customers rather than browsers.

How I worked

• Category pages first. The collection pages for above-ground pools, semi-inground pools, liners, decks and saltwater pools are where buyers land and compare. These pages were optimized for the exact product terms people type, with search intent, internal links and content shaped around what a buyer needs to choose a model.
• Helpful content that answers buyer questions. Practical guides and tools, such as installation advice and a pool size calculator, capture people early in their research and pass them to the right product pages. Several of these now rank among the site's top traffic drivers.
• Local presence. The Google Business Profile was kept complete and active, so people searching for the store or for pools nearby could call or click straight through.
• AI search visibility. Clear, quotable product and guide content makes the site easy for AI assistants to cite. The site is now mentioned in ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, AI Mode and Gemini answers.
• Measure and improve. Rankings, traffic, leads and purchases were tracked in Search Console, GA4 and Semrush, so effort went to the pages that produced customers.

Steady growth in Google search

Over six months the site earned 440,000 clicks from 35.5 million impressions in Google search, at an average position of 8.8. The trend is a steady climb, not a one-off spike: daily clicks rose from under 1,000 in January to between 3,000 and 6,000 by early summer, the peak buying season.

Ranking for the searches that matter

In Semrush Position Tracking for the US, the site holds a 47.7% visibility score, with 17 tracked terms in Google's top 3, 24 in the top 10 and 29 in the top 20. It ranks #1 for non-branded product terms including "above ground pool", "above ground pools", "above ground pool heater" and "pool heater for above ground pool".

Showing up in AI search

The site has been mentioned more than 1,200 times across ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, AI Mode and Gemini, including 818 mentions in AI Overviews, with over 1,000 of its pages cited as sources.

Real people landing on the site

In the last 28 days of the period, 629,000 people visited the site, 586,000 of them for the first time. Around 129,000 of those visits came from unpaid Google search.

Once they land, they stay

In a single month the site logged 4.39 million page views with a 90.78% engagement rate. The category pages for swimming pools, above-ground pools and semi-inground pools lead the list, which is exactly where buying decisions happen.

Calls and visits from the Business Profile

Between February and July 2026 the Google Business Profile was viewed 83,411 times and appeared in 38,745 searches. It produced 8,550 interactions, including 1,085 phone calls and 7,465 clicks through to the website.

Traffic that turns into business

In the last 28 days alone, GA4 tracked 22,000 form submissions and 8,000 purchases. Search visibility here isn't a vanity metric: it turns directly into leads and revenue.