DuctSox's SEO and Paid Search Turnaround.

DuctSox needed search programs that could do two things at once: capture existing demand efficiently, and build demand for a product category buyers did not know to search for.

• One paid campaign, one bidding strategy and no per-application budgets meant Google's automated bidding could not be used properly and the business could not direct spend where it mattered.
• Branded terms consumed most of the paid budget even though DuctSox already ranked first for them organically.
• Application verticals with the highest deal values had almost no paid presence.
• The contact form returned roughly half unqualified leads, so conversion counts overstated real pipeline.
• Organic rankings were strong on fabric-specific terms but weak on broader commercial and industrial ductwork queries that reach buyers still deciding between materials.
• Competitors such as KE Fibertec used gated content, custom title tags and lead capture to build SEO value with less traffic than DuctSox had, and metal ductwork suppliers were publishing content that overstated fabric's disadvantages.
• After the 2021 ZOO Fans acquisition, a second brand needed organic and paid visibility without diluting the DuctSox domain.

 

The stakes were lead volume, lead quality and cost per lead in a category where a single opportunity can start at $50,000.

Ascedia treats SEO and PPC as one program with shared keyword research, shared conversion definitions and shared reporting. The 2018 audit set the baseline: a year of Google Analytics and Search Console data, a branded versus non-branded query split, a competitive gap analysis for position-one terms, and a full accounting of where paid budget was going. From that, Ascedia defined KPIs DuctSox could act on (contact and application form submissions, Design Manual requests, Find a Rep usage, cost per lead) rather than traffic alone.

Paid search was restructured around applications and personas so budget follows business priority. SEO strategy started with the terms DuctSox already owned and expanded outward toward broader ductwork queries, with content written to answer the questions buyers ask before they know fabric is an option. In 2020 Ascedia added an account-based layer: ideal customer and buyer profiles and a set of messaging pillars that every campaign, content piece and email workflow now traces back to. Goals are set annually as S.M.A.R.T. targets, and each monthly report pairs the numbers with insights and the next month's action items, reviewed on biweekly status calls.

Paid search restructure

Ascedia rebuilt the Google and Microsoft Ads accounts into separate campaigns: DuctSox Brand (including fabric and metal competitor terms), Traditional applications, Critical Environments (science, technology and data centers, agriculture), Underfloor Air Distribution, and a persona campaign with ad groups for architects, engineers, contractors and end users. Each campaign carries its own budget and bidding strategy, so campaigns with conversion history can optimize for conversions while newer campaigns build data. Branded spend was reduced to what was needed to protect the SERP, and the savings were redirected to application terms.

 

Display, video and remarketing

Google display and video campaigns were added with custom affinity and in-market segments, plus 180-day remarketing to visitors who had not converted. Remarketing to visitors of specific application pages became one of the strongest conversion sources in the account and was expanded to additional applications as results came in.

 

Paid social

Ascedia ran a test period on Facebook and LinkedIn using the same persona targeting and creative as display, then focused on LinkedIn lead generation aimed at engineers with the DuctSox Design Manual as the offer.

 

Conversion tracking and lead quality

Ascedia implemented Google Tag Manager tracking for clicks to call and email, content downloads, CTA clicks, form submissions by type and Find a Rep requests. Source tracking was added to forms so sales could see which channel produced each lead. Spam and bot filtering on forms tightened the definition of a conversion, which held cost per lead steady while raising the share of real inquiries.

 

SEO and content

On-page work covered title tags, metadata, heading structure, internal linking, redirects and site launch tasks for the redesign (XML sitemap, robots, keyword targets for five page types, 85 pages of metadata, 301 mapping). Off-page work included backlink review and disavows and Google Business Profile management. Content strategy moved from fabric-specific terms toward broader queries such as "commercial ductwork" and "industrial ductwork," with comparison pieces that address metal supplier claims directly. Application-specific content for data centers, schools and universities, grow facilities and other verticals feeds both organic rankings and email nurturing. For ZOO Fans, Ascedia mapped non-branded keyword targets for every migrated page and redirected legacy domains to preserve authority.

 

Account-based marketing (ABM)

Because DuctSox's universe of high-value buyers is well defined, Ascedia built an ABM strategy to align sales and marketing around named accounts. The work included ideal customer profiles for four verticals (Industrial, Critical Environments, Grow/Eat/Drink, Community Spaces), ideal buyer profiles for end users, consulting engineers, architects, mechanical consultants and general contractors with their motivators, objections and messages that matter, and five messaging pillars: Why Fabric, Performance and Reliability, Customer Experience, Customization and Value. Ascedia audited existing site content against the pillars, built a content plan to close the gaps, mapped the purchase journey to ABM plays and produced tactical recommendations for identifying, attracting and nurturing target accounts across channels.

 

Landing pages, automation and email

Paid and organic traffic land on application-specific pages with gated Design Manual and content offers that feed persona identification and email workflows built in Kentico, starting with data centers and expanding by vertical. Ascedia built reusable email widget templates so the DuctSox team can assemble campaigns, and lead scoring assigns point values to site activity so the most engaged visitors are surfaced to sales for follow-up.

 

Usability testing and conversion optimization

Ascedia runs heat maps on high-traffic and high-intent pages (homepage, Why Fabric, Design, Resources, application pages) and follows with A/B tests where the data points to a fix. On application pages with industry-specific forms, heat maps showed more than half of users scrolling past the form and engaging with case studies at the bottom of the page, which led to smaller banners and case studies moved higher. Find a Rep was revised to encourage contact with DuctSox directly rather than a distributor.

 

Reporting and planning

Monthly reports cover paid performance by platform, organic sessions and conversions, top landing pages and queries, non-branded rank tracking against named competitors, heat map findings and competitor benchmarks. Annual planning resets goals and budgets. The 2026 plan for both sites focuses on content depth, EEAT signals, schema markup and structured data to maintain visibility in Google AI Overviews and large language model results.

 

Paid search (March through September 2021 vs. prior year, Google Ads)

• Click-through rate up 31.6% (5.0% vs. 3.8%)
• Cost per lead down 25.5% ($20.25 vs. $27.19)
• Contact form submissions across channels up 32.1% (687 vs. 520)

 

Organic search

• Organic sessions up 9.8% (23,100 vs. 21,037), March through September 2021 vs. prior year, Google Analytics
• Organic impressions up 107% and organic conversions up 9.4%, January 2022 vs. January 2021, Google Search Console and Google Analytics
• DuctSox holds top positions for its core category terms, including "fabric duct," "fabric ductwork," "duct sock" and "fabric duct systems"

 

ZOO Fans (January through August 2025 vs. prior year, GA4)

• Organic sessions up 59% (8,130 vs. 5,119)
• Product page organic sessions up 257% (3,342 vs. 937)
• Organic contact form submissions up 13%, with product page submissions up 71%

 

Website redesign, supported by launch SEO (first year post-launch, year over year)

• Total sessions up 78%
• Find a Rep usage up 244%
• Email inquiries up 328%

 

Operationally, DuctSox now has per-application control over paid budget, a conversion definition sales trusts, and a keyword and content roadmap that extends beyond the terms it already owns. DuctSox has reinvested in the search program every year since 2019.