RUNESILK case study
From overlooked product to search-led growth
How a four-week Shopify, SEO and GEO project turned an underperforming anti-dandruff beard shampoo into a focused organic growth opportunity.
Project context: RUNESILK was created and is operated by Daniel Jones, founder of Cape Wired. This internal brand project provided a real commercial environment in which to test the same Shopify, SEO, content and GEO methods Cape Wired applies to product-led businesses.
Early performance
Measurable movement within the first 27 days
The project was completed in four weeks. These figures cover the first measured 27-day period following launch and should be viewed as early directional results rather than long-term performance.
The challenge
A strong product that was not receiving enough attention
RUNESILK’s SLS-free anti-dandruff beard shampoo was one of the strongest products in the range. It had a clear purpose, a specialist formula and independent award recognition, but sales were not reflecting its potential.
Competing head-on for broad terms such as “beard oil” would have meant entering an established and crowded search market. Larger competitors already had substantial authority, content libraries and advertising presence around those generic categories.
The opportunity was not to shout louder about another beard-care product. It was to become more useful around a specific problem.
Underperforming sales
The shampoo had a strong formula and proposition, but monthly unit sales were lower than expected.
Crowded category terms
Generic beard-care keywords were highly competitive and dominated by established brands.
Theme limitations
The existing Shopify theme restricted how much useful product, education and comparison content could be presented.
The strategic idea
Focus on the customer’s problem, not only the product
The strategy centred on beard dandruff, visible flakes, itching and dry skin beneath the beard. These were real concerns that customers were actively researching, but the available information was often generic, fragmented or focused on scalp care.
Rather than create a single sales page and expect it to rank, the project built an interconnected information system around the problem. Educational articles answered early research questions, comparison content helped users evaluate solutions, and the product page became the commercial destination.
- Lead with a clearly defined customer problem.
- Answer informational questions before asking for a sale.
- Connect articles, landing pages, collections and products.
- Give search engines and AI systems clear, consistent context.
- Build useful product pages beyond the theme’s default limits.
Work completed
One coordinated Shopify, SEO and GEO project
Strategy, research, copy, design, imagery, development, implementation and measurement were completed by Daniel Jones without an external development team.
Shopify redesign
The website’s visual hierarchy, navigation and key commercial journeys were overhauled to create a more focused ecommerce experience.
Custom Liquid development
Custom sections were created for cosmetic product and collection pages instead of relying on the theme’s limited default templates.
Product-page rebuild
The shampoo page was expanded with formula information, use cases, comparisons, routines, quick facts, FAQs and stronger purchasing context.
Content cluster
A connected group of beard-dandruff articles was produced to capture different stages of the customer’s research journey.
On-page and technical SEO
Titles, headings, metadata, internal links, indexation, structured content and page relationships were reviewed and improved.
GEO and AI visibility
Copy was structured to make the brand, problem, product attributes and supporting evidence easier for AI-powered search systems to understand.
Conversion improvements
Product benefits, trust signals, comparison information, routines and calls to action were positioned to reduce uncertainty.
AI-assisted workflow
Claude was used to accelerate parts of the custom Liquid workflow, while strategy, direction, testing, quality control and deployment remained founder-led.
Measurement setup
Google Search Console, analytics reporting and AI visibility monitoring were connected or corrected to establish an evidence base for continued optimisation.
View the eight-part beard-dandruff content cluster
- Best Beard Shampoo for Dandruff in the UK
- Climbazole in Beard Shampoo: What Does It Do?
- Beard Dandruff vs Dry Skin
- How to Get Rid of Beard Dandruff Without Shaving
- SLS-Free Beard Shampoo: Why It Matters for Facial Skin
- How Often Should You Wash Your Beard?
- Best Beard Care Routine for Itchy, Flaky Beards
- Do You Need a Beard Conditioner?
Performance evidence
Commercial, search and AI visibility moved together
The early results suggest that clearer positioning, deeper product content and problem-led educational pages began increasing discovery while supporting more product interest and sales.
First 27-day performance snapshot
A visual summary compiled from Shopify sales data, Google Analytics, Google Search Console and Ubersuggest. It is a representative summary rather than a screenshot from one analytics platform.
Tracked AI-search visibility
- Brand visibility 62.5%
- Share of voice 20.62%
- Sentiment Positive
- Lead over named comparison +34.4 points
These figures relate only to the prompts, competitors and AI platforms included in the Ubersuggest project during the tracked period. They do not represent RUNESILK’s share of all AI search.
What changed
The shampoo became part of a larger discovery journey
Search users no longer had to discover RUNESILK through a generic product page alone. They could enter through educational content, compare beard-specific solutions, understand the role of ingredients such as Climbazole and Bisabolol, and move naturally towards the product.
During the first tracked period, Google Search Console recorded 17,200 impressions and 183 clicks. The homepage, beard-dandruff guide, dedicated shampoo landing page and shampoo product page all appeared among the leading destinations.
Analytics also recorded 210 shampoo product-page views and 150 active users, representing increases of 139% and 142% respectively against the preceding comparison period.
How to read the figures
Google Search Console had only recently been connected, so its “previously zero” comparison does not mean RUNESILK had no prior organic traffic. It means earlier data was not available within that report.
Analytics tracking was also corrected during the wider project. The product-page comparison should therefore be considered useful directional evidence rather than a final long-term benchmark.
The 94% sales uplift compares the first measured shampoo unit total with typical monthly unit sales across the preceding 12 months.
Commercial reality
Built without an agency-sized budget or development team
The project was completed while RUNESILK continued trading and Daniel continued handling the day-to-day responsibilities of operating the business.
Limited resources
There was no external development team and no large production budget. Work had to be commercially prioritised and delivered efficiently.
Operator-led execution
Strategy and implementation were handled together, reducing handovers and allowing decisions to be tested directly against the needs of the live store.
Theme restrictions
The existing Shopify theme did not provide the content depth or flexibility required for the new product and collection experience.
Custom sections
Purpose-built Liquid sections made it possible to create richer landing pages without replacing the entire Shopify setup or adding unnecessary applications.
Key learning
Smaller brands do not always need to compete for the biggest term
A narrower customer problem can create a stronger commercial opportunity than a broad, highly contested category keyword.
By combining a useful content cluster with a detailed product experience, RUNESILK created more ways for customers, search engines and AI systems to understand why the product existed and who it was designed to help.
The first 27 days are not the end of the case study. Search visibility, rankings, sales and AI mentions will be reviewed regularly as the content matures and additional clusters are developed.
Your Shopify opportunity
Is a strong product being overlooked in your store?
Cape Wired helps product-led businesses identify clearer search opportunities, improve Shopify content and turn specialist expertise into stronger organic visibility.
Results vary between businesses and depend on factors including market demand, existing authority, implementation, competition, measurement quality and the time available for search content to mature.