A well-designed website is only as strong as its technical foundations. Even when the front end looks flawless, missing critical behind-the-scenes setups can hurt rankings, performance, and analytics.
When Sitemasons reviewed Nelly.com, a major global apparel retailer, we discovered that — despite its polished interface — key technical components were missing or misconfigured. This case study details how our comprehensive backend work enhanced indexing, SEO performance, speed, and analytics capabilities — turning a good-looking site into a fully optimized business asset.
The Client: Nelly.com
Nelly.com is a leading fashion retailer, especially popular in the Nordics, with over 1.5 million monthly visits and high session durations (~7 minutes).
Their site is beautifully built and offers a seamless browsing experience — but beneath the surface, there was room for significant improvement.
The Challenge: A Polished Front-End with a Weak Backend
Nelly.com had an attractive website powered by Elementor, but it lacked essential technical configurations. We identified several critical issues:
- Missing Google Search Console setup — several key pages were not indexed.
- No sitemap submitted — limiting crawlability and visibility.
- No Cloudflare CDN — assets weren’t optimized for speed across global regions.
- Un-optimized images — slowing page loads.
- Zero technical SEO plugin — crucial metadata and schema markup were missing.
- Poor backend quality — large CSS/JS files, no caching.
- No Google Analytics — leaving marketing insights blind.
- Improper WordPress configurations — default settings left performance gains untapped.
In short: a beautiful exterior hiding an unstable engine.
Our Approach: Full-Stack Technical Optimization
We took a structured, multi-layered optimization plan to bring Nelly.com’s technical setup up to industry standards:
- Google Search Console + Indexing Cleanup
- Set up and verified GSC.
- Submitted XML sitemap; resolved crawl errors; re-indexed previously missing pages.
- Ensured mobile-friendliness and Core Web Vitals compliance were visible in GSC.
- Google Analytics Integration
- Installed GA4; configured event tracking for user engagement (views, clicks, form submits).
- Connected Analytics and GSC for unified data insights.
- Cloudflare CDN Implementation
- Enabled CDN to serve assets from edge servers globally.
- Turned on Cloudflare caching and minification for CSS/JS delivery.
- Image Optimization
- Bulk-compressed product images via Imagify.
- Implemented WebP conversion and responsive srcsets.
- Enabled lazy-loading to reduce initial load.
- Technical SEO via RankMath
- Installed and configured RankMath:
- Generated meta titles and descriptions.
- Set up schema markup for products.
- Configured Open Graph tags for social sharing.
- Created and submitted robots.txt.
- Performance Enhancements with WP Rocket
- Implemented caching of pages and browser assets.
- Minified and combined CSS/JS.
- Cleaned and optimized the site database.
- Deferred non-critical scripts to improve First Contentful Paint.
- WordPress Core Tuning
- Hardened security via secure file permissions and wp-config tweaks.
- Streamlined database access and cleaned unused plugins/themes.
The Results: From Silky Surface to Solid Core
| Outcome | Before | After |
| Indexed Pages | Many missing from GSC | All key pages indexed |
| Crawl Errors | 404s and blocking issues | Cleaned in Search Console |
| Page Load Times | Slow (4–6s) | Faster (<2s globally) |
| Global Asset Delivery | Local server-only | CDN-powered edge delivery |
| GA / Analytics Visibility | None | Full tracking & insights |
| SEO Metadata & Schema | Bare minimum | Complete with RankMath |
| WordPress Backend Efficiency | Unoptimized | Cache-enabled & lightweight |
We turned rankings and traffic insights from blind spots into easily monitored, optimized streams — while boosting performance worldwide.
Client Feedback
Sitemasons helped us sort out the backend issues we were ignoring. Speed, SEO, analytics. Everything’s running smoother now, and we’re already seeing better traffic.
— Nelly.com Technical Team
Key Takeaways
- Design isn’t everything: Without solid indexing, analytics, and SEO, a site can’t fulfill its potential.
- Technical foundations drive performance: CDN, caching, and clean backend code are essential at scale.
- Search visibility requires setup: GSC & sitemap are non-negotiable for crawlability.
- Insights power optimization: Analytics and console data guide marketing decisions.
Final Thoughts
With elegant front-end design already in place, Nelly.com was a prime candidate for a deep technical overhaul — and the results speak volumes. From invisible setup errors to measurable gains in SEO and site speed, the transformation was nothing short of substantial.
Need a technical tune-up that makes your site perform the way it looks?
Let’s ensure your backend is as sharp as your front end.
