Case study / SEO & AI search / Pet food store
Bark & Whisker Foods sells pet food and animal goods online and around Waco, Texas. In the three months to 31 January 2026, its keywords in Google's top 3 rose from 13 to 31 and its AI citations from 32 to 114, with estimated organic traffic at 3K visits a month, according to Ahrefs.
From Ahrefs, 31 Oct 2025 to 31 Jan 2026.
01 / The results
From Ahrefs, the three months to 31 January 2026. Traffic and traffic value are Ahrefs estimates, not the site's own analytics.
Up 138% in three months.
Led by ChatGPT, with 88 citations.
Estimated visits a month, up 2.3K.
With backlinks up 3.9K, to 8.9K.
02 / The challenge and the work
Where the client started, what we changed and what the figures show.
It competes with established pet stores, supermarkets and national chains around Waco, and online with large retailers and pet brands that have much bigger websites and backlink profiles. It had the products and a real local presence; what it lacked was search authority.
We built relevant mentions and backlinks from pet, animal care, local business and Texas community sites and spread them across the homepage, category pages and useful content rather than one page. We also strengthened the main commercial and category pages and tied the site more clearly to Waco.
In the three months to 31 January 2026, keywords in Google's top 3 rose from 13 to 31 (+138%) and ranking keywords from 149 to 208, and estimated organic traffic reached 3K visits a month, up 2.3K, according to Ahrefs. Domain Rating rose from 32 to 35 and backlinks grew by 3.9K to 8.9K. AI citations grew from 32 to 114, led by ChatGPT with 88.
RankNexus helped us improve our visibility on Google and reach more local customers in Waco. We started seeing better rankings and more organic traffic within a few months. The team was easy to work with and kept everything clear throughout the process.
03 / The proof
The Ahrefs panels behind every figure on this page, placed side by side and watermarked. Nothing retyped or rounded.
Source: Ahrefs, the three months to 31 January 2026. Ahrefs traffic and traffic value are third-party estimates, not the client's own analytics.
The three months include the holiday season. Estimated traffic peaked at about 4.4K around 20 January and was about 3K on 31 January.
Ahrefs also shows some paid search traffic in part of the period; the figures here are organic.
Ahrefs traffic and traffic value are third-party estimates, not the client's own analytics.
This is one client's result over the dates shown, not a forecast or a typical result for another business.
What this means for your business
A store with real products and a local presence can still lose to bigger sites. The fix was authority: relevant mentions and links spread across the whole site, stronger category pages and clear signals about where the store is.
Ahrefs figures are estimates from a third-party tool, not the client's own analytics, and rankings move with every update. This is a record of one client's result, not a forecast for yours.
About these results
Three months: 31 October 2025 to 31 January 2026, from Ahrefs. The period includes the holiday season; estimated traffic peaked at about 4.4K around 20 January and was about 3K on 31 January.
How often AI answers cite pages from the site, as Ahrefs tracks it across Google AI Overviews, ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Copilot. For Bark & Whisker Foods they rose from 32 to 114, led by ChatGPT with 88.
It's an Ahrefs estimate of monthly organic search visits, not the store's own analytics, and the same goes for traffic value. Keyword counts and positions are what Ahrefs tracked in Google.
No. This is one client's result over the dates shown, not a forecast. Results depend on your market, your competition, your website and your budget.
We can't promise numbers, but we can show you where you stand: ask for a free audit of your website or your AI visibility, and get a recorded 10-minute walkthrough within 2 business days.
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