Updated on April 3rd, 2024: This post was originally published July 12th, 2023 and has been revamped and updated for accuracy and comprehensiveness.
Does your website feel invisible online? Are you struggling to reach the right customers through search engines? As a business owner, you might recognize the importance of SEO, but translating that into results can feel frustratingly complex.
At KWSM, we have helped thousands of clients achieve high-ranking results in Google organic search for nearly 15 years. As a Senior Digital Marketing Strategist, I have had the opportunity to help dozens of these clients apply SEO best practices to their marketing and strengthen their online presence and authority.
If you’re ready to turn your website into a lead-generating machine, an experienced SEO agency can help. But what exactly does that look like? Let’s examine a real-world SEO agency case study.
What is SEO?
Search Engine Optimization, or SEO, is the process of improving your website to increase its visibility in organic searches.
An SEO agency like KWSM has the experience and knowledge to use the right combination of keywords, formatting, structure, and user behavior to help Google’s automated spiders find, crawl, and index pages for optimal ranking. When done correctly, this process will put your website in front of your desired audience organically while they browse.
This optimization process can be further improved upon by following Google’s E-E-A-T guidelines, which search engines use to evaluate the quality and credibility of your website. Let’s break down this terminology further.
What is E-E-A-T?
E-E-A-T stands for Experience, Expertise, Authority, and Trustworthiness. You can build trust with your audience and Google by showcasing your company’s Experience, Expertise, Authority, and Trustworthiness through employee quotes, company stats, case studies, and outside publications.
In simple terms, Google’s E-E-A-T focuses on providing original and helpful content to online users. On your website, this takes the form of service pages, blogs, press releases, and even video content.
Related Article: What Does Google’s E-E-A-T Mean for Content Marketing
By including the above elements and highly searched keywords and phrases, you can help improve the ranking of your website and content in users’ searches.
SEO Agency Case Study
In the spring of 2022, our client, a West Coast art logistics-based company, was interested in highlighting their shipping and transportation services. Our team came up with a campaign that would focus on driving traffic to a service page that made all of the information easy to access through organic search.
Prior to running our campaign, we audited the current service page and concluded that it lacked the benefits of proper SEO keywords, blog resources, and form to nurture the ideal user experience.
In addition to reviewing the service page, we examined their blogs’ current performance. Although they were topical, they lacked a clear call to action (CTA) to drive leads for these specific services and did not include formatting around Google’s recent E-E-A-T guidelines.
Here’s how we optimized both of those elements of the campaign and the YOY results we received.
Tactic 1: Optimizing Blogs
Blogging was a large part of this client’s strategy for our campaign to reach artist professionals who were looking for transportation services for their pieces.
Although the weekly content produced was topical and relevant to the right audience, it was not helping to drive an increase in interest in shipping and transportation services. We aimed to optimize the blogs further to establish our client as the expert in the field and encourage form fills to request a quote.
In order to improve the blogs, we focused on the following elements:
- Adding more service-based keywords into the copy and metadata
- Linking to the service page and embedding the shipping and transportation contact form
- Adding optimized images to help photos appear in organic searches
- Adding E-E-A-T tactics such as team quotes, case studies, and internal insights
YOY Results From Blog Optimization
Implementing these elements in our shipping and transportation blogs generated a 40% YOY increase in overall pageviews to the blog homepage, a 44% YOY decrease in exit rate for all blogs, and a 15% increase in page entrances for these service blogs.
We also added a variety of keywords for supporting services that work hand-in-hand with shipping and transportation inside the blogs. As a result, the website is now landing on the first page of Google for branded keywords and supporting service-related keywords such as “fine art crates” and “Art installation Portland.”
We also saw the following improvements in the supporting keywords:
- 500% increase in impressions for “Art Transportation Company”
- 82% increase in impressions for “Art Installation Services”
- 51% increase in impressions for “Secure Art Storage”
- 35% increase in impressions for “Fine Art Crating”
These results show that optimizing our copy and images has made a positive impact on the performance of all blogs and the ranking of this client’s services in organic searches.
Now, let’s look at how the service page and form were changed and the YOY improvements we saw.
Tactic 2: Optimizing Service Pages
To further optimize the shipping and transportation service page, we conducted a content audit and implemented changes aligned with Google’s new E-E-A-T best practices.
To improve the performance of this page, we focused on the following:
- Updating the metadata to focus on “art transportation services” as our main keyword
- Updating the copy on the page to include the above keyword and provide a clearer description of the service
- Embedding a custom service form at the bottom of the page
- Adding two anchor buttons to the page that brought users to the form at the bottom
- Creating an FAQ section that included links to topical blogs
- Adding testimonials and action shots throughout the page
Once we implemented these changes in Q2 of 2022, we began tracking the performance of this page as well as the number of organic leads coming in from the service form embedded on this page and at the bottom of the service blogs we were writing.
YOY Results From Optimizing Service Pages
After implementing these changes in Q2 of 2022, we began tracking the performance of this page and the number of organic leads derived from the service form embedded here and in related service blogs. Here’s what we found:
- Impressive YOY Results:
- 200% increase in form fills from organic searches
- 100% increase in time on site
- 10% increase in page views
- 8% decrease in bounce rate
- Successful User Engagement:
- 30% of page visitors reach the form at the bottom of the page (demonstrates better layout)
- All users click on the newly added FAQ blogs (increased interest in related content)
- Positive Impact on FAQ Blog Performance
- 20% average increase in page views
- 30% increase in time on site
- Overall SEO Improvements:
- 37% increase in CTR on all keywords
- 45% improvement in position in organic searches for the main keyword “art transportation services”
- 7% increase in organic search impressions
These results clearly show that our additions to this service page have successfully increased user discoverability via organic search, improved on-page engagement, and ultimately encouraged more users to complete the transportation form to request a quote.
“I’ve seen firsthand the impact that SEO can have on the success of a business, and I strongly believe that every business needs an SEO strategy. Getting your business featured more prominently on Google can increase engagement with your content and drive conversions.”
– Stephen Wagner, KWSM VP of Finance and Operations
Looking for an SEO Agency to Help Your Business?
As you’ve seen from this SEO agency case study, search engine optimization is crucial for the online success of any business.
With the right SEO strategy, you can grow your online presence and authority, drive high-quality traffic to your website, and increase organic leads, which improves your overall ROI.
Are you ready to appear in more search results, make sure the right people find you online, and generate the results you’ve been looking for? The KWSM team remains on the cutting edge of constantly changing SEO trends.
Contact us to learn more.
