Puppy Finder Capitalizes on Covid-Fueled Cuddle Craze (And Loses it All)
We helped 3 million Americans unleash their inner dog lover in 2020.
Puppy Finder’s story is a case study like you’ve never read before. From humble beginnings as a cute side project, to cash-printing monster, to a footnote in Google History, it’s a lesson in marketing and human nature you won’t forget.
Project Overview
Founded in 2015, Puppy Finder (a pseudonym) was developed in-house at my previous marketing agency. Aimed at competing with online puppy finders like PuppySpot and Puppies.com, Puppy Finder evolved into a lead broker connecting dog lovers with breeders.
The Puppy Finder Model
We positioned Puppy Finder as a premium brand against the ‘online pet store’ feel of other pet finders, emphasizing designer/hybrid breeds like Goldendoodles and Labradoodles. Our strategy included building location/breed landing pages and managing a network of breeders.
Early Success: 2016 – 2019
Our organic strategy bore fruit, securing a major partnership with Puppy Place, which funded our expansion and provided valuable market insights.
As demand grew, we expanded our team and capabilities. I transitioned from writing full-time to hiring and managing a team of writers. We scaled to 8 full-time writers and editors by the end of 2019.
Throughout 2019, our landing pages were ranking in the top 3 on Google within days of going live.
The Covid Boom: 2020 – 2021
By late 2019, Puppy Finder was growing fast. But Covid was about to make us go hyperbolic.
A Puppy for Every Family
With Americans going into lockdown, you’d think that fear and scarcity would drive people to save money and only purchase necessities.
At one point we saw over 20% of our total sales coming from [Puppy Finder]. Seeing this, with our own marketing department, getting smoked by a small team…made us uncomfortable.
But what really happened?
Flush with stimulus funds, an astonishing number of families decided to splurge on a new puppy to keep them company at home.
We continued our content plan, hitting our target of 5,000 pages during mid-2020.
We expanded our landing page strategy again, this time shooting for 10,000 pages.
Post-Pandemic Decline: 2021 – Present
In 2021, we had grown from providing 10% of Puppy Place’s total sales to more than 20%. Despite that, leads declined post-pandemic.
We scaled our landing pages to 60,000 using automation, but algorithm changes were causing our rankings to slip.
During the height of Covid, we were routinely ranking Number One for our most valuable keywords. By early 2023, we had slipped to #5. Anyone who works in marketing knows what a huge drop this is.
A 2020 study by Sistrix found that the average top link on Google has a 28.5% click-through rate (CTR), while the fifth spot’s CTR is just 7.2%.
Despite minor gains, we exited the project in early 2024 to explore new opportunities.
Lessons Learned
Puppy Finder experienced great successes and notable challenges. Here are my key takeaways.
1. Marketing Cannot Create Demand
Puppy Finder thrived during high demand, but couldn’t sustain it afterward.
What are you doing when you market something? You are not creating demand for a product… You can’t create demand for anything because demand is too large for you to create. The demand has to be out there. The demand has to exist before you even walk into the picture.
Key Takeaway: Focus on existing market needs. Don’t fight trends. Go with the flow.
2. Google Told Us This Would Happen
If you started Puppy Finder in 2024 instead of 2016, it wouldn’t work.
It’s not useful for tens of thousands of these landing pages to exist. Buying a dog online from a couch in Baltimore is no different from buying a dog online from a couch in Bakersfield.
Our approach conflicted with Google’s changing standards, leading to decreased relevance.
Key Takeaway: Align yourself with Google’s vision. Have a great offer. Develop helpful, relevant content.
3. We Lacked Full Commitment
Lack of reinvestment and full commitment hampered Puppy Finder. We could have:
- Built a true brand, with active social media accounts and a real community.
- Created more informational and educational content to target prospects in other stages of awareness
- Experimented with ads instead of depending on organic results.
- Considered alternative revenue streams, like toys, food, training materials, pet insurance, etc.
- Sought partnerships with local shelters, vets, groomers, and other dog professionals.
Key Takeaway: Don’t game the system; build an ecosystem.
Today, Puppy Finder still generates about $10,000 per month in passive income. That’s a far cry from those $150,000 payouts during Covid!
If you only take one thing away from the rise and fall of Puppy Finder, let it be this:
In marketing and business, innovation is crucial. Speed is necessary. Bigger is often better. But when you ignore the fundamentals, your brand will never have a stable foundation to stand on.
