We worked with an established and funded 7 figure startup to create an organic search strategy focused on SEO, content strategy, content production and architecture/on-site improvements. Some of the initial areas of focus for deliverables were,
- Researching keywords to identify current and new opportunities.
- Performing a technical audit to identify issues that may be preventing the site from performing well organically, including index bloat.
- Performing competitive research (top 3 competitors in the space) to help inform strategy.
- Creating a content strategy & editorial calendar that can target multiple use cases for lead generation.
- Creating a strategy to improve rankings for high volume lead generating queries and pages holistically.
- Producing and pitching content for outreach, as well as building relationships for links to relevant content.
- Training the internal team on outreach and content optimization.
KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) of Focus
- Improve the number of organic leads for 2 main customer types.
- Improve overall organic revenue.
We also had the goal of improving visibility across a number of relevant keywords for certain topics, and leveraging the content we created to establish this brand as a thought leader in their space.
General Metrics
We were able to:
- Substantially increase the overall volume of keywords through architecture, content and on-page improvements.
- In the first 6 months, we were able to improve MOM organic traffic by 15%+ percent, and improve 7 of the main phrases we were targeting into the top 3 positions through on-page changes, internal linking and relevancy improvements.
- YOY, we were able to improve the Goal Value (overall revenue from organic) by ~461% and improve the Goal Conversion Rate by ~78%
- We improved average position by 25% and average CTR (click through rate) by 18%.
- Improved organic traffic to one of the key landing pages for lead generation by 43%.
- When isolating blog traffic, sessions increased by 192% and new users increased by 209%
Okay, But How?
Companies and teams are living, breathing entities. Understanding the relationships between the developers, marketing and editorial teams, the workflow, and how to get things executed upon are all part of the consulting process in order to see results. We became fairly integrated into the team, so we could understand how everyone communicated which helped when planning out timelines and having all key stakeholders invested in the process.
For the first 1-2 months, we identified what to fix, what needed attention, what was low return/high opportunity cost to stop doing, and what a content strategy / long-term SEO strategy for the brand would look like.
Content Strategy & Production
We created the content strategy, presented ideation (ideas) for content, planned out the editorial calendar, and then went into production with our writing team. Our goal wasn’t to replace their existing content style, but to compliment it by creating posts based around keyword opportunities and “questions” that we researched. We produced content for the first year, integrated with their editorial meetings, then worked directly with their in-house team so they could produce content in-house that lined up with our organic search strategy.
The content,
1) Had a purpose and provided information that was relevant for their audience.
2) Shareable.
3) Maintained the brand voice.
4) Had consistency so the audience knew when to expect new content.
Blog Specific Metrics
- Increased in the number of sessions: 192%.
- Increased in new users: 209%
Search / Technical Strategy
Often times, we work with companies who have had unrealistic SEO strategies recommended in the past that ended up causing friction and frustration with no results, so we crafted a very unique, multi-step strategy for both the short term and long term that their team was capable of implementing. This was based on an extremely in depth audit that reviewed technical/architecture, keywords, the competitive landscape, current rankings, backlink portfolio and ongoing discussions around strategy.
- There were a number of issues we fixed when it came to crawling key areas of the site. We identified which changes were high/medium/low impact, and which were high/medium/low difficulty and worked directly with the dev team on implementation and QA.
- We addressed index bloat and worked with the dev team to create a back-end tool to handle custom noindexing and expiration for certain page types. This helped increase the overall number of pages that were generating traffic relative to the number indexed.
- We built out new initiatives throughout the site to improve search traffic and relevancy. This required us brainstorming and wire-framing the pages, including where content will go, internal linking requirements, copy recommendations, etc and then reviewing completed designs for launch. For one specific initiative/buildout, we generated 600+ additional highly relevant keywords across all pages.
- Improved on-page relevancy and rankings through meta adjustments, on-page copy adjustments, and internal linking.
- Secured links through outreach, then created a training program for a new hire so they could then execute on outreach internally without requiring us to do so.
If you’re interested in a custom organic search strategy, let’s chat! Shoot us a note below. We’ll review your email with a coffee in hand. ☕️