schuh Steps Ahead with Uberall: How Local SEO Drives Real-World Impact

schuh, a leading footwear retailer with over 120 locations across the UK and Ireland, is renowned for offering top brands like Converse, New Balance, and UGG. As a staple on the high street, schuh is committed to ensuring customers can navigate both its digital and physical storefronts.

To explore their local SEO strategy and how they harness Uberall for success, our team sat down with schuh on the Local Marketing Beat podcast How Location Marketing and Local SEO Drives Retail Success for schuh for an in-depth conversation on their approach to customer engagement and visibility— read on!

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The Challenge: Making Every Store Easy to Find

In the competitive retail world, schuh faced key challenges:

• Keeping Listings Accurate: With so many stores, schuh needed a simple way to ensure that store hours, amenities, and key details were always up to date.
• Standing Out in Local Search: Competing against both direct footwear retailers and larger platforms, schuh wanted to secure top search rankings and maximize organic traffic.
• Bridging Digital and Physical Shopping: Customers research online before visiting stores, so schuh needed to ensure a seamless journey from search to store.
• Managing Reviews at Scale: schuh values customer feedback and needed a structured approach to keep engagement high.

“Local SEO is all about building a bridge between our physical stores and the online world. We want to make sure customers can shop however, whenever, and wherever they want.” – Jonny Gilpin, SEO Manager, schuh

The Solution: How Uberall Transformed schuh’s Local Marketing

schuh turned to Uberall’s platform to streamline and enhance its location marketing strategy:

1. One Centralized Listings Hub: schuh now manages store details across directories like Google, Apple Maps, Bing, Facebook, and more—all from one place.
   “Before, managing listings across different platforms was a real challenge. With Uberall, we can update everything instantly, ensuring accuracy and consistency.” – Jonny Gilpin, SEO Manager, schuh
2. Tailored Local Content for Every Store: Uberall powered Store locator pages are optimized with location-specific content, making them more relevant for searchers.
   “Search behavior varies by location. For example, in Manchester, people search for New Balance 327s more than in Liverpool. Now we can fine-tune our content to match these trends.” – Jonny Gilpin, SEO Manager, schuh
3. Automated Data Syncing: Uberall’s API keeps store details accurate 24/7 across all platforms.
4. Proactive Review Management: schuh now efficiently handles Google reviews while upholding its high customer service standards.
5. Real-Time Insights: Uberall’s analytics help schuh track search trends, customer engagement, and competitive benchmarks to refine its strategy.

The Results: Local SEO Wins That Drive Foot Traffic

schuh’s Uberall-powered strategy has delivered impressive results:

• 26% more store page sessions (YoY)
• 10.35% increase in average session duration (YoY)
• Store page impressions surged from 1.71M to 2.51M (YoY)
• CTR for ‘Store’ queries jumped from 4.8% to 11.2% – A higher percentage of people who saw schuh’s store pages in search results clicked through, reflecting greater relevance and engagement from potential customers.
• 60% increase in map impressions (YoY)
• 3% growth in direction clicks (YoY)
• Top 3 search rankings for 31% of locations (up from 15%)
• 99% profile completeness across all stores
• Location Performance Score at 82/100— Uberall’s proprietary practice that connects digital presence to measurable local revenue.
• The average store in the UK is linked to 51 directories including Google, Apple Maps, Bing, Facebook (as the main ones), and Uber, TomTom and Show Me Local as the secondary. In Ireland, stores are linked to 33 directories.

“The increase in CTR to 11.2% highlights the impact of well-optimized store locator pages. More customers are engaging with our listings because they’re finding the right information at the right time. Combined with the 10% increase in session duration, this indicates customers are not just clicking but also meaningfully interacting with our store details.” – Jonny Gilpin, SEO Manager, schuh  

The Power of Reviews

schuh actively manages Google My Business and Trustpilot reviews while its in-house Customer Experience team handles feedback from multiple channels. Their structured approach ensures:

• Quick responses to reviews, reinforcing schuh’s commitment to customer satisfaction.
• Stronger brand reputation, driving trust and loyalty among customers.
• Better retention and lifetime value, supported by schuh’s loyalty program, schuh Club.

“Positive reviews play a huge role in maintaining our reputation as a trusted footwear retailer. The faster and better we respond, the more we strengthen customer relationships and build loyalty.” – Jonny Gilpin, SEO Manager, schuh

A New Store Launch Done Right

When schuh opened a new store in Craigavon, Northern Ireland, they leveraged Uberall to establish their digital presence before the doors even opened. On launch day:

• The store’s locator page ranked #1 locally for searches like Converse, New Balance, UGG, and Shoes.
• Customers immediately engaged with store details, driving foot traffic from day one.
• Google reviews were actively managed, reinforcing schuh’s strong reputation.

“Thanks to Uberall, we had the new store set up digitally ahead of time, with directory links and optimized content in place from day one. Within three weeks, we were already ranking #1 for key brand searches in the area.”

What’s Next for schuh?

schuh’s work with Uberall has made local SEO a major driver of both digital and in-store success. As consumer habits evolve, schuh is doubling down on data-driven strategies to stay ahead.

“We have so much valuable data—from product trends to customer reviews—and the next step is making even better use of it. The more insights we have, the more we can refine our approach and serve customers at exactly the right moment.” – Jonny Gilpin, SEO Manager, schuh

Want to hear more about schuh’s local SEO strategy? Listen to our episode of Local Marketing Beat, How Location Marketing and Local SEO Drives Retail Success for schuh, featuring Jonny Gilpin.