Impulse Automation — Full EE Build with Live Product Search screenshot
Case Study

Impulse Automation — Full EE Build with Live Product Search

Ground-up ExpressionEngine build for a UK industrial components distributor — built with Structure for intuitive content management, a custom AJAX live search for products and part numbers, and an SEO programme that delivered measurable improvements in search visibility within weeks of launch.

Year
2026
Author
Geoff Cowan

The brief

Impulse Automation are a UK importer and distributor of pneumatic, electrical, and electromechanical components, representing major manufacturers including Kuhnke, Kendrion, and Hengstler exclusively in the UK and Ireland. Their existing site wasn't doing justice to the depth of their product range, and finding specific products or part numbers was difficult for both customers and search engines.

The brief was a full ground-up rebuild — a clean, well-structured EE site that would be easy for the team to manage, make their extensive product catalogue properly searchable, and perform well in organic search.

Structure for content management

We built the site using ExpressionEngine with the Structure add-on, which gives the client a familiar page-tree interface for managing content. For a site with a large product hierarchy — categories, subcategories, individual product ranges and datasheets — Structure makes it straightforward for non-technical users to add, move, and manage pages without developer involvement.

AJAX live search

Impulse Automation's customers often arrive knowing exactly what they're looking for — a specific part number, a product range, or a manufacturer's reference. We built a custom AJAX search add-on using EE's native search engine, returning results instantly as the user types without a page reload. The search covers product names, part numbers, descriptions, and manufacturer references across the full catalogue, making it fast to find exactly the right component.

SEO programme

We worked closely with our SEO partners to ensure the site was built for maximum search visibility from day one — clean URL structures, properly implemented structured data, optimised page templates, and a technical SEO audit baked into the build process rather than bolted on afterwards. The results were measurable within a very short time of launch, with significant improvements in rankings for key product and part number searches.

The outcome

Impulse Automation now has a well-structured, maintainable EE site that reflects the quality and depth of their product offering. The live search has made it significantly easier for customers to find specific components, and the SEO improvements have brought more of the right traffic to the right product pages.

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