We hear a lot about JD Sports’ huge ambitions in the US but it’s worth noting that North America as a whole is important to it and it has appointed London-based fashion SEO agency Verde Digital to “help strengthen the brand’s visibility across Google and AI search in the competitive Canadian sportswear market”.
It said the 12-month project will focus on SEO and AI Search Optimisation, including Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO) and Answer Engine Optimisation (AEO), “as JD Sports continues to scale its presence in Canada”.
The British retailer first entered Canada in 2021 with a Toronto store and now has more than 30 locations across the country. And it said that “while the brand has built significant awareness in the UK since its launch in Greater Manchester in 1981, Canada presents a different search landscape, with JD Sports competing for online visibility against established retailers and some of the world’s biggest sportswear brands”.
Initially, Verde Digital will focus heavily on the footwear category for which JD Sports is known, “targeting opportunities around high-demand brands and product categories, including Nike, Jordan and Adidas, before expanding further into apparel”.
Verde founder Joe Hale said JD has established a strong physical presence in Canada, “and our work will help the brand build a similarly strong online presence. There’s a huge amount of competition for search demand across footwear in Canada, and we’re setting out to place JD Sports among the established brands. There is an opportunity to capture more of the demand at an earlier stage in the search cycle by improving visibility at the category level”.
Alongside traditional SEO, the new link-up will optimise JD Sports Canada’s presence across emerging AI search platforms, “reflecting the growing role of generative search in how consumers discover products, compare brands and make purchasing decisions”.
