Adapting an SEO Strategy for a Male Audience at Stitch Fix
Company: Stitch Fix
Product: Men’s line (U.S. market expansion)
Role: Content & SEO strategy
Goal:
Drive organic growth for Stitch Fix Men using SEO, under a limited marketing budget and with a fundamentally different audience.
The Problem
After finding early success with women, Stitch Fix expanded into the men’s market. While the product strategy was strong, the reality was that the men’s line launched with a much smaller marketing budget.
That constraint made one thing clear: organic growth needed to do the heavy lifting, and SEO would be critical to success.
However, while we had a proven SEO content strategy for women, the audience itself was very different. Men think about shopping, style, and fashion in a fundamentally different way. Applying the same content approach without adaptation risked missing the mark, and wasting limited resources.
The challenge wasn’t whether SEO would work. It was whether we could make it work for this audience.
The Core Challenge
We needed to answer two questions quickly:
How do men search for style and fashion help?
How should content be framed to meet those needs — without copying what had worked for women?
Budget constraints meant there was little room for trial and error. The content strategy needed to be efficient, audience-aware, and grounded in real behavior.
Strategy
We used the existing SEO playbook as a starting point, but adapted it based on audience research rather than assumptions.
1. Re-examining audience behavior
Research surfaced a common misconception: men don’t dislike shopping, they just approach it differently.
Key insights included:
Men are generally more practical and less impulsive
They tend to deliberate before making purchases
They struggle with assembling outfits, matching colors, dressing for specific occasions, and breaking perceived fashion “rules”
These insights shaped not just topic selection, but tone, structure, and voice.
2. Reframing blog content around problems, not inspiration
Instead of aspirational or trend-driven content, we focused on:
Solving specific style problems
Reducing decision anxiety
Providing clear, logical guidance
The blog’s voice was intentionally practical, informative, and straightforward — while still approachable and entertaining.
3. SEO-first prioritization under constraints
Given the limited budget, SEO needed to drive the majority of growth.
I focused keyword research on:
Common fashion problems for men
Informational searches tied to personal style and decision-making
Queries where clear, useful content could outperform competitors
We devoted 75% of the monthly content calendar to articles driven directly by keyword opportunity.
Execution
I led the design and launch of the Stitch Fix Men’s blog, applying the SEO principles that had worked for the women’s blog, but tailoring execution to this audience. (Pun intended. ;D)
Key elements included:
SEO-driven editorial planning
A consistent, problem-solving content voice
Focus on the top ranking factors already proven to work for Stitch Fix
Content formats designed for clarity, scannability, and utility
This approach allowed us to move efficiently while staying aligned with both audience needs and search intent.
Results
The adapted strategy delivered outsized results.
The men’s blog grew organic traffic 10x faster than the women’s blog
Traffic increased by 700% in 2016
Continued growth of 450% in 2018
By aligning SEO strategy with audience behavior — not just keywords — organic content became the primary growth driver for Stitch Fix Men.
