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From Manual Action Penalty to 82 New Sales in Less Than 6 Months.

Helping a family-run carpet retailer go from penalised and invisible to back on Google and generating measurable sales through SEO that works.

About Carpet Hub

Highlights

  • Resolved a manual action and successfully indexed all 16 new pages on Google by September 2024.
  • Achieved 82 conversions in less than 6 months, including 41 phone calls, 32 contact form submissions and 9 emails.
  • Boosted organic search visibility with 125 ranked keywords and 14.5K impressions, improving the CTR to 3%.
  • Disavowed 100 spammy backlinks, raising the domain authority to a score of 9.

Challenges

Carpet Hub’s website faced severe issues – some of the worst we have ever seen.

  • 1. Hacked Website: The site hosted over 8,000 spammy blog posts including being involved in a large spammy link farm, significantly harming its reputation, search engine rankings and leading to a manual action from Google.
  • 2. Manual Action by Google: None of the pages were indexed, rendering the website invisible to potential customers. You could not find this website when searching on Google!
  • 3. Spammy Backlinks: The site’s association with 100 toxic backlinks contributed to its low domain authority, negatively impacting its search engine performance. This was due to its placement in the link farm.
  • 4. Poor Website Quality: The old website was riddled with spelling mistakes, broken images, 404 errors and outdated content. Not to mention extremely spammy blogs from the hackers who had infiltrated the site.
  • 5. Local SEO Neglect: There was no effective keyword strategy targeting Bristol’s carpet niche.
  • 6. Lack of Analytics Tools: The client did not have Google Analytics or Search Console set up, leaving them without insight into website performance. They did not realise their past SEO supplier had got them added to a vicious spammy link farm.

What is a link farm?

A link farm is a network of websites designed to artificially boost search engine rankings by exchanging or hosting low-quality, irrelevant links. Disused websites with outdated security are often hacked and added to these networks, further damaging their reputation and search performance.

Approach

To tackle these challenges, HandL Agency implemented a comprehensive recovery and optimisation strategy:

  • Designed and developed a brand-new, 16-page website on WordPress.
  • Improved the site’s visual appeal with a clean, professional design.
  • Ensured a fully responsive and user-friendly experience for desktop, laptop, tablet and mobile.
  • Transferred the domain and implemented a meticulous 301 redirect map.
  • Disavowed over 100 spammy backlinks with high spam scores, helping to restore domain authority.
  • Removed all spammy content and ensured proper indexing.
  • Rewrote all pages using Surfer SEO for full optimisation.
  • Conducted thorough keyword research targeting local SEO terms in Bristol for the carpet niche.
  • Focused on high-impact terms like “Carpet Shop Bristol” (390 searches/month) and “Wood Flooring Bristol” (170 searches/month).
  • Optimised headers, metadata, schema and internal linking for enhanced discoverability.
  • Fixed broken links and images, eliminating all 404 errors.
  • Updated sitemaps and submitted them to Google Search Console.
  • Implemented schema markup for local business SEO.
  • Addressed Google’s manual action and ensured all spammy elements were removed.
  • Successfully reinstated all 16 pages in Google’s index by September 2024.
  • Set up Google Analytics 4 (GA4) for real-time tracking and performance insights.
    Integrated Google Search
  • Console to monitor search visibility, keyword rankings, and crawl issues.

Results

  • Manual action resolved:

    Google removed the penalty and all 16 new pages were successfully indexed by September 2024.
  • Conversions skyrocketed:

    82 key events recorded, leading to real business outcomes that directly generated customers and enquiries.

    • 41 phone calls (click-to-call) from customers ready to buy
    • 32 contact form submissions generating qualified leads
    • 9 click-to-email enquiries driving direct communication

    These conversions prove that a user-focused website paired with a smart SEO strategy delivers real revenue impact.

  • Improved search visibility:

    Organic traffic reached 91 visits per month, with 125 keywords ranked and dominating first-page positions for key terms like “Carpet Hub” and “Carpet Shops Bristol.”
  • Significant traffic growth:

    Sessions increased to 1,415 since August 2024, with a strong 55.69% engagement rate proving users are actively interested.
  • CTR and impressions:

    14.5K impressions and a 3% click-through rate show a strong rise in visibility and engagement across Google search.
  • Spam-free backlink profile:

    Disavowing 100 harmful backlinks restored the website’s domain authority and protected future ranking growth.
  • Enhanced tracking capabilities:

    GA4 and Google Search Console now give the client actionable insights, enabling data-driven decision-making for the business.
Untitled design - 2025-12-05T094306.822

These guys created our website for Carpet Hub and did such a great job. They went above and beyond to make sure everything was perfect, all for a great price!

Mitch Powell

Director

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