“You’re passed off to the junior executives and you realize – okay, that’s not what we signed up for.”
See how CravenSpeed expanded their top page keyword rankings from 100 to over 3,000 in a matter of months and built a foundation for growth in the AI transition.
CravenSpeed is a family-owned aftermarket auto parts manufacturer based in Portland, Oregon. Tristan Morris and co-owner Kellen have been designing, manufacturing, and selling precision automotive parts online for over 21 years. They make their own products, run their own fulfillment, and have built a serious category reputation in the MINI and specialty automotive space. This is a team that understood digital. Tristan had been investing in outside help for search and visibility for years. The problem was finding a partner that would keep senior level attention on their business after the contract was signed.
3 Core Challenges
CravenSpeed Faced
1st Core Challenge:
Outside marketing partners consistently started strong, then handed the account to junior staff and went quiet. Tristan kept getting billed while results drifted.
1st Strategic Shift:
KeenView’s team has experienced, senior leadership managing their account day in and day out, providing not only tactical support but strategic guidance as well.
2nd Core Challenge:
A front-end website redesign had introduced technical problems that were hurting performance, and nobody Tristan had worked with could clearly diagnose what was wrong.
2nd Strategic Shift:
KeenView was able to quickly diagnose the structural problems using their proprietary Indexing Optimization System (IOS) platform and get the site back into growth mode.
3rd Core Challenge:
AI was reshaping how buyers search across platforms, and Tristan didn’t have the time to stay on top of the rapid changes while running a growing business.
3rd Strategic Shift:
Tristan now has a partner who follows the AI search landscape closely and keeps CravenSpeed positioned ahead of it. He doesn’t have to think about it.
The Problem
Tristan has run this business for over 20 years and been through all the big changes in online marketing. He understands how visibility drives revenue, and the impact it has on the business when that slips.
His team had hired outside help before. The first conversation was always great. The team seemed to get it. Then a month or two in, the account moved to someone junior, the original contact became hard to reach, and momentum stalled. He was still paying but nothing was moving. When he pushed for answers, he got deflection. It was a frustrating cycle that repeated itself over and over.
As AI began driving change in the search landscape, it was hard to keep up. AI platforms were changing how buyers found products, and staying ahead of that wasn’t something Tristan wanted on his plate. He wanted a partner who was already on top of it and would just handle it.
The Solution
The first call with KeenView was the tell. Within ten minutes, the KeenView executive team had identified the root problem caused by their site migration and started laying out a plan to fix and improve the site. He knew immediately he was talking to someone who had actually looked at his business.
KeenView told him upfront what they were going to do, in what order, and that it would build slowly before it compounded. That’s exactly what happened. Top-page keyword rankings went from around 100 to over 3,000 in a matter of months.
On the AI side, Tristan doesn’t track platform shifts and doesn’t want to. He knows KeenView is watching it and keeping CravenSpeed positioned correctly as buyer search behavior evolves across Google, ChatGPT, Claude as well as emerging platforms. That’s one less thing he has to own, which is critical when you’re running a business.
Without the internet, we’re nothing. In the past, we’ve used companies for SEO that I don’t feel like they really get what we’re doing. They’re great when they’re talking to you, and it’s great for a month, and then you’re passed off to the junior executives. When I was on the phone with KeenView, after the first ten minutes, he put his finger right on something that I had known but just hadn’t been able to articulate about what was wrong with our site. Right from the start, they told us what they were gonna do, how they were gonna do it, and then proceeded to just methodically go through those steps. We started at roughly 100 top page rankings for keywords. Fast forward a few months and we’re at about 3,000. I have a high level of confidence that KeenView knows exactly what’s going on with AI and how that’s going to affect us. The best part is that I don’t have to do much except count the money.
Tristan Morris – CEO, CravenSpeed
Tristan Morris – CEO, CravenSpeed