Small budget, big impact: TAL Agency shortlisted for SEO award

TAL Agency share the strategy that earned them UK Search Awards recognition.

In today’s ecommerce landscape, having great products isn’t enough. To truly thrive and grow, brands must stand out in search results, communicate their story, and convert the right customers at scale – especially during peak trading season.

That was the challenge facing The Wasabi Company, the UK’s first grower of fresh wasabi and a leading online retailer of premium Japanese ingredients, cookware, and gifts. Despite an exceptional product range and strong heritage, the brand had begun to see stagnation in organic performance. Competition in the gifting space had surged, especially in Q4, and the short seasonal window meant every click – and every conversion – mattered.

Ahead of Q4, The Wasabi Company partnered with TAL Agency with one clear objective:

Reignite organic growth and deliver the strongest seasonal performance in the brand’s history.

With only 16 hours a month to work with – a rather tight budget – the campaign needed to be focused, strategic, and highly effective.

A performance-centric organic strategy

To maximise impact, budget was spread across three areas:

• Technical SEO – 4 hours per month
• Content marketing – 7 hours per month
• Digital PR – 7 hours per month

This distribution ensured that essential technical foundations were in place, while still investing heavily in visibility, content authority, and conversion-driving messaging. Every action taken needed to directly support one of three core goals:

1. Increase search visibility
2. Improve user engagement and conversions
3. Strengthen brand authority

With the clock ticking toward the peak gifting season, there was no room for error or wasted spend.

Understanding a very specific audience

The Wasabi Company targets a niche audience; their ideal customer isn’t looking for mainstream mass-market products or big seasonal discounts… They want:

• An authentic culinary experience
• High-quality, premium Japanese produce
• Gifts with provenance, craftsmanship, and cultural character

So in order to succeed, our strategy needed to lean into this positioning, not shy away from it…

• Audience first: Speak directly to curious food lovers, home chefs, and gift buyers seeking unique products with a story
• Authenticity and heritage: Highlight the brand’s status as the UK’s first grower of fresh wasabi
• Story-driven content: Use copy, guides, and seasonal content to not only educate and inspire, but to position products as discoveries rather than commodities
• A premium experience: Ensure every page, image, and interaction reinforced the feeling of an elevated gifting destination
• Budget efficiency: Maximise ROI by focusing effort on the highest-impact touchpoints

The goal was simple: deliver growth while protecting the premium voice and values that make The Wasabi Company so distinctive.

An integrated strategy for speedy impact

With only a short time before peak season, we implemented an end-to-end organic approach designed to reap speedy results.

1. On-page content optimisations

We optimised the high-value product and category pages most likely to influence seasonal sales. This included:

• Strengthening internal linking
• Updating meta data and titles for seasonal and gifting intent
• Refreshing copy to reinforce the brand’s premium positioning and product uniqueness

2. Technical SEO fixes

Search engines needed to crawl and index efficiently – especially at speed.

Our main SEO fixes included:

• Implementation of structured data across products and categories
• Fixing technical issues impacting indexation and performance
• Enhancing site speed and user experience to reduce friction during peak demand

3. Google Merchant Centre 

With product-led search features expanding year-on-year, Merchant Centre visibility was a major priority:

• Improved feed quality and accuracy
• Ensured structured data aligned with Google’s requirements
• Prioritised gifting categories to secure as much visibility as possible

4. Digital PR & brand awareness

Finally, to build authority and demand ahead of Q4, we launched targeted digital PR campaigns, securing coverage and high-quality backlinks in national lifestyle and food publications. This amplification strengthened ranking power, expanded reach, and drove interest at exactly the right time.

The challenges faced

This campaign was not without its hurdles, and how we worked around them would make or break the success of our campaign:

Stagnating organic growth

Traffic had plateaued despite strong products and brand reputation. Fresh optimisation and renewed focus on high-intent seasonal terms were critical to kickstart improvement.

Competitive Q4 market

The premium gifting space is now more competitive than ever. Authentic storytelling and strong product history became important differentiators against larger retailers.

Short seasonal window

We had only a few weeks to make results happen, demanding agility, rapid content deployment, and highly focused prioritisation.

Balancing brand and conversions

The campaign needed to drive sales without undermining the high-value brand positioning. Conversion improvements were made with subtlety, not aggressive discounting.

Limited budget

With only 16 hours a month, we needed to make every penny count.

A special focus: Konro grills

The Wasabi Company wanted strong growth for the “konro grills” category, which historically struggled against paid competition. This niche became a major strategic priority for The Wasabi Company, and therefore us!

Record-breaking results

The payoff was exceptional:

• 30% increase in organic product grid clicks (Q4 vs Q3)
• 620% increase in organic product grid conversions (Q4 vs Q3)
• 230% increase in organic revenue (Q4 2024 vs 2023)
• 129% uplift in keywords ranking 1–3 YoY
• 222% increase in position 1 rankings Yo
• 84% uplift in organic clicks YoY

And for the highly competitive “konro grill” search term?

• The Wasabi Company secured position #2 in organic search, up from position 9 and previously sitting mostly on page two
• Their “Ultimate Guide to Konro Grills” also landed top positions in organic results and surfaced in short-form video placements – including TikTok

Proof that a strong cross-platform organic approach works.

This partnership demonstrates that you don’t need a huge budget to achieve huge results. With focus, smart allocation, and data-driven execution, even smaller brands can outperform much larger players in the most competitive retail season of the year.

Nicola Hughes, Head of SEO, led the organic strategy from the start: “This campaign worked because every decision was purposeful. With a small retainer, we couldn’t afford nice-to-haves – only work that moved the needle. By prioritising technical stability, search intent alignment, and strong content execution, we maximised organic performance without compromising brand identity.”

Megan Dooley, Head of Brand: “The Wasabi Company has an incredible story to tell, and a product range unlike anything else in the UK market. Our goal was to amplify that, not take away from it. Instead of trying to compete on discounts or generic gifting claims, we leaned into premium experience, provenance, and cultural storytelling – and customers responded.”

Connect with TAL Agency: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/talagency/