Case Study: Hybrid Local/Organic SEO
We deployed a hybrid local SEO/e-commerce campaign for a client in the educational sector with 10 locations in the Denver Metro Area
Organization Sector
Client has integrated e-commerce deployment for 10 Denver Metro locations operating in the educational sector.
Campaign Details
Campaign executed from 2018-2022. Analytical Maturity reached after 2 years. Prior black-hat SEO.
Primary Objectives
Expand reach in educational sector via e-commerce platform, integrate services at 10 locations in the Denver Metro area.
Services Rendered
Search Engine Optimization, Link-Remediation, Link-Building, Web Development, Social Media
Campaign Initiation
We responded to a Craigslist ad that was placed in mid-September 2018 regarding an organization who was looking to partner with an SEO provider for their medium-sized business.
Our sales cycle is usually around 2-3 weeks from initial contact to signed contract and invoicing. Client started services on October 1, 2023.
Client operates in the greater Denver metro in the educational sector.
The data used throughout a lot of places on this website are from this campaign, as it has been one of our most successful campaigns to date.
Client Lost Traffic After Google Core Update
What prompted this client to get in touch with us was that they kept seeing their organic traffic steadily decline over a six-month period following a Google Core Update. Core Updates are major changes in Google's algorithm that contribute to a lot of ranking fluctuation.
In this case, on April 17, 2018, Google released a Core Update that caused major ranking fluctuation. In the case of our client, their site began to see the negative effects on their rankings and thus traffic and revenue.
Looking at that 6-month period between that update and the time the client signed on services, all of their traffic metrics were down.
The client increased their Paid traffic to compensate for this loss in Organic traffic. Eventually they came to us to get a forensic audit of their site's past SEO and see if we could get them back on track.
By the end of this campaign, we would not only have gotten them completely back on track, but conducted work that propelled them to new levels of visibility and revenue.
Initial Campaign Onboarding
Before any work gets started, we take initial benchmark snapshots against which we measure future results to gauge the success of the campaign.
Beginning Remedial SEO
Dismissing SEO as ineffective, the client had previously terminated services with another (black-hat) SEO provider years prior to seeing enough loss in their metrics to seek professional insight into what could be happening. Low-quality or black-hat SEO can have severe negative impacts on the site's rankings with each Core Update.
There are 3 primary aspects of SEO: 1. Technical SEO (how your site's underlying technology is configured), 2. On-page SEO (the content/structure of your site), and 3. Backlinks (links pointed towards your site from other sites).
Part of remedial SEO is to conduct a forensic backlink audit and fix any issues with links that could be negatively affecting rankings, such as this manipulative backlink collection. The client operates in the educational sector and here is a domain about car insurance with nonsensical content about wires/cables.
Having a lot of links like this used to be a way to manipulate search engines that is now penalized. This is a small example of the range of harmful backlinks your site could have.
Content Strategy
You may have heard "content is king" thrown around a bit in the SEO ecosphere. It's true. Content is an incredibly important aspect of your website and making sure that you have a relevant, solid content development strategy is critical to your business' success.
Link Building Begins
Backlinks, as stated above, are one of the most crucial elements of your SEO. Once the backlink remediation was complete, we moved on to deploy a standard link-building campaign.
Results Start To Kick In
Combined with the on-page recommendation, the link building, and link remediation, we already started to turn some of those negative metrics around. The first few months of the campaign were off to a great start as we got the site back on track and poised to keep heading upward.
In 2.5 months, we had the traffic on a slight uptick. It was only 0.40% but it was headed upward.
By the 3.5-month mark, we saw steady increase in Organic traffic, this time up to 4.67%! Heading in the right direction.
By the 4-month mark, we saw Organic traffic increase to a whopping 15.35%. This is significant, and was the result of a huge initial push of work, including a complete backlink audit. These initial boosts tend to level out, then steadily increase as the campaign matures. This is great news and a great way to kick off a campaign.
Traffic / Revenue: Year 1 (2019 v Benchmark)
Organic Traffic up 47%
Organic Revenue up 137%
Traffic / Revenue: Year 2 (2020 v Benchmark)
Organic Traffic up 91%
Organic Revenue up 121%
Traffic / Revenue: Year 3 (2021 v Benchmark)
Organic Traffic up 138%
Organic Revenue up 193%
Campaign Conclusion
In early 2022, negotiations began on the transition of ownership of this business. The original owners had seen enough success with this campaign to expedite their retirement plans and decided to sell the business. Seriously.
The incoming investors had a partner already for their SEO. Unfortunately this happens in the business world. We are proud of the work we did for the account, no doubt laying a solid foundation for their future.
We ended the campaign on excellent terms and wish the new owners nothing but success and prosperity with their new venture!
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