US Ecommerce SEO for Gift Store

We are looking for an experienced ecommerce SEO specialist to improve organic search traffic and sales for antiquegifts.shop, a US-focused online store selling handcrafted, vintage-inspired brass gifts made in India: engraved compasses, telescopes, sundial compasses and rosewood/brass desk objects. The store has a small catalogue (about 14 products), free US shipping, gift boxing with every order, and a gift guides section.

GOAL
Grow qualified organic traffic from the US and increase gift-related orders, especially around gifting seasons (Christmas, Father's Day, graduations, birthdays, religious milestones, retirements, anniversaries).

SCOPE OF WORK

1. Technical SEO audit and fixes
- Full crawl and audit: indexing, canonicals, sitemap, robots.txt, redirects, duplicate content, broken links
- Site speed and Core Web Vitals (mobile first), image optimisation (WebP, sizes, alt text)
- Structured data: Product, Offer (price and availability), Review/AggregateRating where genuine, BreadcrumbList, Organization, FAQ
- Handling of out-of-stock products (keep the page indexed, correct availability markup, related-product links)
- Google Search Console and Google Analytics 4 setup/verification, with tracking for key events (add to cart, checkout, purchase)

2. Keyword and competitor research
- US search-intent research for: engraved brass compass gifts, personalised compass gifts, religious/faith gifts, graduation gifts, Father's Day gifts, telescope gifts, sundial gifts, nautical desk gifts, gifts for travellers/explorers/collectors
- Competitor gap analysis (Etsy sellers, Amazon, other brass/nautical gift stores)
- A keyword map assigning primary and secondary keywords to each page

3. On-page SEO
- Optimised titles, meta descriptions, H1/H2s and URLs for the homepage, 4 collection pages (compasses, telescopes, sundials, desk objects) and all product pages
- Original, benefit-led product descriptions (no copied manufacturer text), with unique copy per product
- Internal linking between collections, products and guides
- FAQ sections for shipping, returns, engraving and gifting questions

4. Content and gift guides
- Plan and write (or outline for our approval) 8-12 SEO gift guides and blog posts, e.g. "Best compass gifts for graduates", "Meaningful religious gifts", "Father's Day gifts for the man who has everything"
- Seasonal content calendar aligned to US gifting dates
- All content must be accurate and honest: no false claims about age, antiquity or materials. Products are vintage-INSPIRED and handcrafted, so wording should reflect that.

5. Off-page and local/brand signals
- Safe, white-hat link building: gift guide inclusions, bloggers/reviewers, niche directories, HARO-style outreach
- Google Merchant Center free listings, product feed quality, Pinterest and image search optimisation
- Review collection strategy (post-purchase email flow)
- No spammy links, link farms, PBNs or paid link schemes

DELIVERABLES
- Technical audit report with a prioritised fix list (and implementation of fixes where you have access)
- Keyword map and competitor analysis
- Optimised meta and on-page content for all key pages
- Content calendar and the agreed number of published/ready-to-publish articles
- Monthly report: rankings, organic traffic, impressions/clicks, conversions, backlinks gained
- A clear 3-month roadmap with expected milestones

REQUIREMENTS
- Proven ecommerce SEO results, ideally for US-market gift or handicraft stores
- Please share 2-3 case studies or examples (results with real numbers)
- Strong skills with Search Console, GA4, Screaming Frog, Ahrefs or Semrush
- Experience with product schema and ecommerce platforms (Shopify preferred; tell us what you have worked with)
- Native-level written English for content
- White-hat techniques only

COMMUNICATION
- Weekly progress update, monthly report, and a short call every 2 weeks (IST-friendly timings)

TIMELINE: initial audit and quick wins in the first 2 weeks, then an ongoing 3-month engagement with an option to continue.

Please include in your proposal: (1) examples of similar ecommerce SEO work, (2) your approach for the first 30 days, (3) tools you use, (4) how many articles per month you can deliver, and (5) your pricing (fixed monthly retainer preferred).