Case study
Fortune 500 Glass Manufacturer
Turning around SEO decline at a Fortune 500 glass manufacturer
The world's leading producers of the most sustainable packaging: the glass container.
SEO recovery · Technical SEO · Content ops
OVERVIEW
A Fortune 500 Manufacturing Company partnered with Rothbright in March 2024 to address a sudden decline in digital visibility. The initiative aimed to enhance search engine rankings, improve on-conversion, and deliver a better user experience. Leveraging SEMRush, Rothbright provided actionable insights, training, and hands-on technical improvements to stabilize and grow the company's online presence.
01 / CHALLENGE
Challenge
Between October 2023 and April 2024, the company's website lost rankings for 4,635 keywords, resulting in a major drop in organic traffic and "traffic value" — the estimated ad spend required to replace lost visibility. The number of ranked keywords fell from 8,300 in September 2023 to just 4,500 by January 2024, an alarming trend that signaled deep underlying issues. Rothbright identified Google Core Web Vitals, especially on mobile, and server performance bottlenecks as critical factors driving this decline.
02 / APPROACH
Approach
Rothbright collaborated with the company's development team and hosting partner to resolve server capacity issues, immediately improving load times and rankings. They deployed All-In-One SEO (AIOSEO), integrated with SEMRush, to systematically address technical SEO issues. A full content operations review uncovered workflow inefficiencies, leading to a reset in how the communications team publishes content. Additionally, Rothbright began restructuring site architecture to align URLs with relevant search terms (e.g., shifting from "/innovation/engineering-emotions" to "/glass-bottles/glass-bottle-packaging").
03 / RESULTS
Results
Early outcomes were promising. With server fixes in place, the company began to recover keyword rankings and stabilize traffic. SEMRush audits provided benchmarks in backlink health, authority score, and keyword rankings, offering a roadmap for ongoing improvement. Toxic backlinks — identified as a risk to domain trustworthiness — were slated for disavowal, ensuring the company's digital reputation aligned with its global market standing. This comprehensive approach positioned the company to not just recover but also expand its SEO footprint.
4,635
lost keywords identified and addressed
8,300 → 4,500
ranked keywords before recovery work began
04 / CONCLUSION
Conclusion
This Fortune 500 Manufacturing Company case demonstrates the importance of integrating technical fixes, structured content strategy, and ongoing SEO monitoring. By addressing 4,635 lost keywords, resolving server capacity bottlenecks, and optimizing site organization, Rothbright and the company are creating a scalable system for sustainable visibility. The project underscored a vital truth: in digital markets, "the experience IS the brand." Through disciplined SEO practices, the company is ensuring its innovative solutions are discoverable by the audiences that matter.