iRide EQ · SEO & Content Programme
Monthly Performance Audit
October 2026
Full-month review of organic search, content and revenue performance, with every metric compared against September. Prepared for the monthly review discussion.
01 · Headline numbers
Every core metric moved in the right direction
Organic clicks are up +28.6% on the same 27 days of September and +50.1% on August. The driver was rank gain rather than content volume: average position improved by more than three places, which lifted click-through rate on impressions we were already earning.
Organic clicks, week by week
Every week of October ran ahead of the same week in September — the gain is a steady level shift, not one spike.
Three-month trajectory
| Metric | Aug | Sep | Oct |
|---|---|---|---|
| Clicks | 615 | 789 | 923 |
| Impressions | 65,948 | 75,610 | 77,891 |
| CTR | 0.93% | 1.04% | 1.18% |
| Avg position | 14.8 | 14.0 | 11.0 |
| Ranking keywords | — | 1,937 | 4,373 |
| Articles published | 22 | 33 | 24 |
October figures cover 1–28 Oct; August and September are full months. On a like-for-like 28-day basis clicks are +28.6%, impressions +15.8%.
02 · Full comparison table
All improvements at a glance
Every measured metric, September versus October, with the direction of travel. Green is improvement.
| Metric | September | October | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Search visibility | |||
| Organic clicks (GSC) | 718 | 923 | +28.6% |
| Impressions (GSC) | 67,291 | 77,891 | +15.8% |
| Click-through rate | 1.07% | 1.18% | +11.1% |
| Average position | 14.2 | 11.0 | -3.2 |
| Mobile clicks / desktop clicks | 446 / 262 | 622 / 284 | +39.5% |
| Keyword footprint (SE Ranking) | |||
| Keywords ranking (top 100) | 1,937 | 4,373 | +125.8% |
| Keywords in positions 1–5 | 130 | 469 | +260.8% |
| Keywords in positions 6–10 | 177 | 471 | +166.1% |
| Keywords in positions 11–20 | 411 | 933 | +127.0% |
| On-site & revenue | |||
| Organic search sessions (GA4) | 865 | 1,033 | +19.4% |
| Organic search transactions | 9 | 16 | +77.8% |
| Organic shopping sessions | 98 | 110 | +12.2% |
| AI assistant sessions | 38 | 42 | +10.5% |
| Total orders (Shopify) | 16 | 28 | +75.0% |
| Revenue (Shopify, paid) | $6,430 | $5,456 | -15.2% |
| Average order value | $402 | $195 | -51.5% |
| Content | |||
| Articles published | 33 | 24 | -27.3% |
| Blog posts earning clicks | 52 | 70 | +34.6% |
| Collection pages earning clicks | 72 | 78 | +8.3% |
03 · Where growth came from
Editorial is compounding; collections held flat
Blog articles supplied the month's growth, more than doubling their impression base and lifting clicks by 65.4%. Collection pages held steady on clicks while their average position improved — the rebuilt pages are indexing ahead of ranking.
| Page type | Oct clicks | Sep clicks | Change | Oct impr. | Sep impr. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blog articles | 407 | 235 | +73.2% | 37,746 | 23,719 |
| Collection pages | 201 | 205 | -2.0% | 29,157 | 30,149 |
| Product pages | 219 | 182 | +20.3% | 11,446 | 13,316 |
| Guide/location pages | 18 | 7 | +157.1% | 1,519 | 245 |
| Homepage & other | 92 | 99 | -7.1% | 4,166 | 4,402 |
Keyword footprint: September vs October
Total keywords ranking inside the top 100 went from 1,937 to 4,373. The biggest proportional gain is at the sharp end: positions 1–5 grew from 130 to 469.
Content that broke out this month
| Page | Impr. Sep | Impr. Oct | Change | Clicks | Position |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| how-much-does-it-cost-to-own-a-horse-in-australia-20/blogs | 4,552 | 6,115 | +34.3% | 16 → 37 | 6.5 → 5.2 |
| equestrian-gift-guide-best-gifts-for-horse-lovers-in/blogs | 31 | 1,355 | ×44 | 0 → 19 | 8.3 → 7.4 |
| best-summer-horse-rugs-australia-a-weight-guide/blogs | 360 | 1,472 | +308.9% | 3 → 15 | 6.9 → 7.3 |
| half-pads-and-gel-pads-explained-which-does-your-hor/blogs | 205 | 1,307 | +537.6% | 4 → 18 | 6.0 → 6.5 |
| how-to-improve-show-jumping-position/blogs | 643 | 1,394 | +116.8% | 9 → 16 | 6.9 → 7.5 |
| horse-riding-helmets-australia-how-to-choose-the-rig/blogs | 182 | 910 | +400.0% | 2 → 18 | 8.6 → 9.0 |
| best-riding-helmets-under-300-australia-2026/blogs | 552 | 1,212 | +119.6% | 9 → 12 | 8.8 → 9.9 |
| horse-jumping-boots-the-complete-buyers-guide-austra/blogs | 165 | 682 | +313.3% | 4 → 6 | 6.3 → 7.1 |
| polos-wraps/collections | 621 | 1,065 | +71.5% | 0 → 4 | 19.5 → 12.0 |
| best-browbands-for-australian-riders-style-fit-and-c/blogs | 49 | 419 | +755.1% | 1 → 4 | 6.6 → 6.6 |
04 · Revenue & conversion
More orders from organic, on a lower basket
Organic search delivered 16 transactions in October against 9 in September. The revenue line is softer only because September carried two high-value single-item sales. AI assistants referred 42 sessions and one order — small, but it is the channel to watch as answer engines start to surface product recommendations.
Acquisition channels (bot traffic excluded)
| Channel | Oct sess. | Sep sess. | Change | Tx O/S | Revenue O/S |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Organic Search | 1,033 | 865 | +19.4% | 16 / 9 | $3,269 / $4,182 |
| Organic Shopping | 106 | 95 | +11.6% | 5 / 3 | $344 / $580 |
| AI Assistant | 41 | 35 | +17.1% | 1 / 1 | $200 / $55 |
| Organic Social | 66 | 237 | -72.2% | 0 / 1 | $0 / $699 |
| Referral | 10 | 16 | -37.5% | 1 / 0 | $523 / $0 |
| Unassigned | 127 | 453 | -72.0% | 2 / 0 | $86 / $0 |
Direct traffic is excluded from this table: GA4 recorded 14,264 direct sessions at 6.7 seconds average engagement and 12% engagement rate, the signature of automated traffic already flagged in previous months. Reporting on Direct would overstate the month.
October best sellers
| Product | Units | Revenue |
|---|---|---|
| Flexible Rubber Combination bit | 1 | $412.34 |
| Majyk Equipe Elite Eventing XC Front Boots - 6 Colours | 2 | $399.90 |
| Samshield 1.0 Helmet | 1 | $350.00 |
| Men's 45 Series : Beige | 1 | $308.00 |
| Women's 45 Series: Beige | 1 | $308.00 |
| Full cheek rigid Hackamore | 1 | $283.28 |
| Women's 40 Series: Navy | 1 | $280.00 |
| Majyk Equipe Ergonomics "Superhorse " Contoured Jump Girth w | 1 | $239.95 |
Revenue by brand
| Vendor | Revenue | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Jump'In | $1,285 | 22% |
| Struck Apparel | $896 | 15% |
| Majyk Equipe (via Toptac) | $870 | 15% |
| EQUEST OUTLET | $390 | 7% |
| iRide EQ | $347 | 6% |
| JNK Collective | $339 | 6% |
05 · What we shipped
Twenty-four articles, fourteen collection rebuilds, nine location pages
The delivery list for October, with the commercial purpose behind each workstream.
24 blog articles
Every post keyword-mined before writing, fact-checked against primary sources, and illustrated with real product photography. Four formats rotated so the blog does not read as templated.
14 collection pages rebuilt
Long-form buying guides, product carousels and FAQs added to the commercial pages that carry the highest impression volume.
9 city landing pages live
Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide, Canberra, Newcastle, Central Coast and Gold Coast, plus a redesigned locations hub and footer coverage.
Christmas gift hub
Seasonal landing page built and linked from the gift-guide article cluster, ready for the November–December push.
Blog hub redesign
Category section rebuilt as seven swipeable article carousels, in review before going live.
Product description programme
Bulk rewrite of thin product copy started, worst-first, roughly 200 products per run.
Google Merchant Centre
12,900 variants live with 12,760 approved and store quality rated Great; Shopping clicks up 21.9%. Customer-review survey widget installed.
Product schema upgrade
GTIN/MPN identifiers, return policy, shipping details and per-variant offers added to structured data sitewide.
Brand copy audit
Twenty of thirty brands corrected for origin, range and distributor claims — several had been described as brands when they are wholesalers.
Search cannibalisation fixes
Commercial blog posts re-titled to informational intent so collection pages reclaim the buying queries; duplicate helmet guide merged and redirected.
Automated link protection
Daily catalogue churn detection creates 301 redirects whenever a product goes dark, so no indexed URL is left broken.
Reading experience
Sticky article sidebar rebuilt, prose width uncapped to the full column, mobile padding fixed and card typography standardised.
06 · Opportunities
Where the next gains are sitting
These pages already rank and already earn impressions but convert none of them into clicks. They are the cheapest wins available in November.
| Page | Impressions (Oct) | Avg position | Issue & fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| /collections/horse-health | 873 | 45.8 | Largest single impression pool with zero clicks — needs a hub rebuild and internal links from the health articles. |
| /blogs/buying-guides/horse-boots-explained… | 534 | 7.3 | Ranks page one, earns no clicks: meta title does not match the query. Rewrite to lead with the searched phrase. |
| /collections/horse-riding-gear-equipment | 504 | 21.5 | Broad commercial term, position 21 — a title and copy refresh plus internal links should push it to page one. |
| /collections/brushes-grooming-essentials | 436 | 30.4 | High-volume category stuck on page three; candidate for the collection rebuild treatment. |
| /collections/jnk-collective | 410 | 8.2 | Brand page ranking well with no clicks — brand copy and title need to state what is sold. |
| /collections/breastplates-and-martingales | 306 | 11.6 | Two positions from page one; a supporting article and internal links would tip it. |
07 · November plan
Four workstreams
- Christmas push — gift-guide cluster, hub page and seasonal collection copy live and internally linked before mid-November.
- Finish the product rewrite programme — roughly 200 products per run, biggest thin-copy vendors first.
- Collection hub rebuilds — grooming and horse boots, plus ten further city pages.
- Google Merchant Centre compliance — 30-day returns, which also unlocks the benchmarked traffic opportunity.
- Remarketing — tagging is already in place; the Google Ads account needs reactivating before campaigns can run.
- Weekly reporting — Wednesday war room continues, with ranking and conversion tracking on the rebuilt collections.
- Mid-month checkpoint — remarketing performance review once the first fortnight of data lands.