Overview
Client: OLX MENA
Industry: Online Classifieds Marketplace
Market: Middle East and North Africa (UAE, Egypt, Lebanon, Kuwait, Oman, Bahrain, Qatar)
Challenge: Double organic traffic while improving rankings for high-value keywords
Industry: Online Classifieds Marketplace
Market: Middle East and North Africa (UAE, Egypt, Lebanon, Kuwait, Oman, Bahrain, Qatar)
Challenge: Double organic traffic while improving rankings for high-value keywords
The Challenge
OLX MENA operated in seven diverse markets, each with unique languages (Arabic, English, French), search behaviors, and competitive landscapes. Monthly organic traffic had plateaued around 250,000 visits. To support business growth, that number needed to double, and fast.
The classifieds model depends on liquidity – enough buyers and sellers creating a vibrant marketplace. Organic search is ideal for this because it brings both sides: people posting listings and people searching for things to buy. But only if you rank well for the right keywords.
Competition was fierce. Local classifieds sites, international platforms, and social marketplace groups all competed for the same search terms. OLX needed technical excellence and content strategy to break through and dominate organic search in the region.
Another challenge was organizational. SEO cannot succeed in isolation. Product teams building features, content teams creating listings, and engineering teams implementing changes all needed to consider search impact. Without cross-team integration, SEO initiatives would stall.
The classifieds model depends on liquidity – enough buyers and sellers creating a vibrant marketplace. Organic search is ideal for this because it brings both sides: people posting listings and people searching for things to buy. But only if you rank well for the right keywords.
Competition was fierce. Local classifieds sites, international platforms, and social marketplace groups all competed for the same search terms. OLX needed technical excellence and content strategy to break through and dominate organic search in the region.
Another challenge was organizational. SEO cannot succeed in isolation. Product teams building features, content teams creating listings, and engineering teams implementing changes all needed to consider search impact. Without cross-team integration, SEO initiatives would stall.
Our Approach
We treated this as both a technical optimization project and an organizational transformation. Quick technical wins would drive immediate growth. Process changes would ensure sustainable improvement over time.
The strategy started with a comprehensive technical audit. With millions of listing pages, small technical issues compound into major problems. We needed to identify what was preventing search engines from crawling, indexing, and ranking content effectively.
Next came category optimization. Category pages like “Cars for Sale in Dubai” or “Apartments in Cairo” drove the most valuable traffic – people ready to browse listings and engage. These pages needed to rank on page one, ideally in top three positions where most clicks happen.
Finally, we built cross-functional workflows that embedded SEO into everyday operations. Product features would launch SEO-ready. Content would follow templates optimized for search. Engineering sprints would include SEO improvements alongside feature work.
The strategy started with a comprehensive technical audit. With millions of listing pages, small technical issues compound into major problems. We needed to identify what was preventing search engines from crawling, indexing, and ranking content effectively.
Next came category optimization. Category pages like “Cars for Sale in Dubai” or “Apartments in Cairo” drove the most valuable traffic – people ready to browse listings and engage. These pages needed to rank on page one, ideally in top three positions where most clicks happen.
Finally, we built cross-functional workflows that embedded SEO into everyday operations. Product features would launch SEO-ready. Content would follow templates optimized for search. Engineering sprints would include SEO improvements alongside feature work.
What We Did
Phase 1: Technical Foundation (Month 1)
- ✓Crawled millions of pages across all MENA markets identifying issues
- ✓Fixed critical crawl errors affecting hundreds of thousands of pages
- ✓Improved page speed reducing average load time by 50%
- ✓Enhanced mobile experience for better mobile rankings
- ✓Resolved duplicate content issues across listing variations
- ✓Implemented proper canonicalization for filtered URLs
- ✓Enhanced XML sitemaps for more efficient crawling
Phase 2: Category Optimization (Months 2-3)
- ✓Analyzed top-performing classifieds sites for category page structure
- ✓Rewrote category titles and descriptions to target search intent
- ✓Added helpful category content addressing common buyer questions
- ✓Improved category filtering and faceted navigation
- ✓Enhanced internal linking between related categories
- ✓Implemented schema markup for ItemList structured data
- ✓Optimized image handling on category pages
Phase 3: Listing Page Enhancement (Month 4)
- ✓Developed optimized listing page templates
- ✓Encouraged users to create search-friendly listing titles and descriptions
- ✓Added social proof elements (views, inquiries, seller ratings)
- ✓Implemented Product schema for listing rich results
- ✓Enhanced image optimization and lazy loading
- ✓Improved call-to-action visibility for better engagement
- ✓Added related listings to increase page depth
Phase 4: Cross-Team Integration (Months 5-6)
- ✓Established weekly SEO council with product, content, and engineering
- ✓Created SEO checklist integrated into product development workflow
- ✓Built automated monitoring alerting teams to SEO issues
- ✓Developed training materials and documentation for all teams
- ✓Implemented quarterly SEO roadmap planning process
- ✓Created data dashboards showing SEO impact for each team
Phase 5: Regional Expansion (Months 7-9)
- ✓Optimized Arabic language content and right-to-left layouts
- ✓Enhanced French content for North African markets
- ✓Built location-specific optimization for major cities
- ✓Improved hreflang implementation for multilingual content
- ✓Targeted region-specific keywords and search behaviors
- ✓Expanded category structures for local market needs
Ongoing: Optimization and Scaling
- ✓Weekly monitoring of rankings, traffic, and conversions
- ✓Monthly testing of new category page layouts and content
- ✓Quarterly competitive analysis and strategy adjustments
- ✓Continuous expansion into new categories and subcategories
- ✓Regular training updates as teams grew and changed
The Results
Technical fixes and category optimization drove explosive growth:
Traffic Growth
Traffic Growth
- ✓Scaled from 250,000 to over 500,000 monthly organic visits
- ✓Achieved target of doubling traffic in under 12 months
- ✓Sustained growth trajectory beyond initial goals
- ✓Consistent month-over-month increases across all markets
Rankings Performance
- ✓Doubled number of top three keyword rankings
- ✓Achieved page one rankings for 80% of priority category keywords
- ✓Improved visibility for high-commercial-intent searches
- ✓Featured in local pack results for location-based queries
Business Impact
- ✓Increased listing creation rates from organic traffic
- ✓Higher quality buyer traffic with better engagement metrics
- ✓Reduced customer acquisition cost through organic channel
- ✓Improved marketplace liquidity from both-sided traffic growth
Organizational Transformation
- ✓SEO integrated into product development process
- ✓Engineering teams proactively considering search impact
- ✓Content teams following SEO-optimized templates
- ✓Sustainable processes ensuring continued growth
What Made This Work
Technical excellence was the foundation. You cannot rank millions of pages if search engines cannot crawl them efficiently. We fixed the fundamentals first: site speed, mobile experience, indexation, and duplicate content. This unlocked the platform’s ranking potential.
Focus on high-value pages drove disproportionate results. Rather than trying to optimize millions of individual listings, we focused on category pages that drove the most traffic. Better ranking for “Cars Dubai” impacts thousands of searches and sessions.
Cross-team integration turned SEO from a marketing project into a platform capability. When product, engineering, and content teams all understood search impact, every decision considered SEO. This multiplied results beyond what any single team could achieve.
We also prioritized top three rankings, not just page one. Most users click one of the first three organic results. A position four ranking is better than position ten, but position two is exponentially better than position four. We focused effort on keywords where we could realistically achieve top three placement.
Finally, we built systems and processes for sustainable growth. Consultant-dependent optimization does not scale. We created playbooks, checklists, training, and monitoring that let teams optimize independently. This ensured growth continued long after initial implementation.
Focus on high-value pages drove disproportionate results. Rather than trying to optimize millions of individual listings, we focused on category pages that drove the most traffic. Better ranking for “Cars Dubai” impacts thousands of searches and sessions.
Cross-team integration turned SEO from a marketing project into a platform capability. When product, engineering, and content teams all understood search impact, every decision considered SEO. This multiplied results beyond what any single team could achieve.
We also prioritized top three rankings, not just page one. Most users click one of the first three organic results. A position four ranking is better than position ten, but position two is exponentially better than position four. We focused effort on keywords where we could realistically achieve top three placement.
Finally, we built systems and processes for sustainable growth. Consultant-dependent optimization does not scale. We created playbooks, checklists, training, and monitoring that let teams optimize independently. This ensured growth continued long after initial implementation.
Lessons for Marketplace and Classifieds Platforms
Fix technical issues first. With millions of pages, technical SEO problems compound quickly. Slow sites, crawl errors, and duplicate content will tank your rankings. Get the platform right before worrying about content optimization.
Category pages drive marketplace traffic. Individual listings come and go. Category pages like “Electronics for Sale” or “Jobs in Cairo” drive sustainable traffic. These pages should be your optimization priority.
Top three rankings matter most. Position four and position one deliver dramatically different traffic. Focus optimization effort on keywords where you can realistically reach top three, not chasing impossible rankings.
Embed SEO across teams. Marketers alone cannot optimize platforms with millions of pages. Product, engineering, and content teams must understand and consider SEO impact in their work. Build processes that make this automatic.
Marketplace SEO requires liquidity. Search rankings improve when you have lots of active listings creating fresh content and engagement signals. SEO and marketplace operations reinforce each other.
Mobile optimization is non-negotiable. Classifieds searches happen mostly on mobile. If your mobile experience is slow or clunky, you will lose both rankings and conversions.
Category pages drive marketplace traffic. Individual listings come and go. Category pages like “Electronics for Sale” or “Jobs in Cairo” drive sustainable traffic. These pages should be your optimization priority.
Top three rankings matter most. Position four and position one deliver dramatically different traffic. Focus optimization effort on keywords where you can realistically reach top three, not chasing impossible rankings.
Embed SEO across teams. Marketers alone cannot optimize platforms with millions of pages. Product, engineering, and content teams must understand and consider SEO impact in their work. Build processes that make this automatic.
Marketplace SEO requires liquidity. Search rankings improve when you have lots of active listings creating fresh content and engagement signals. SEO and marketplace operations reinforce each other.
Mobile optimization is non-negotiable. Classifieds searches happen mostly on mobile. If your mobile experience is slow or clunky, you will lose both rankings and conversions.
Services Delivered
- ✓Comprehensive Technical SEO Audit
- ✓Site Performance Optimization
- ✓Category Page Development and Optimization
- ✓Listing Template Optimization
- ✓Schema Markup Implementation
- ✓Cross-Team Process Integration
- ✓SEO Training and Documentation
- ✓Multilingual and Regional Optimization
- ✓Performance Monitoring and Reporting
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