We grew a client’s organic search traffic by 534%. Here’s how we did it:
How to Grow Organic Search Traffic by 534% Using AMP…?
The client in this case study runs a media website in the competitive legal space. Here’s what we did to grow their organic traffic in a short amount of time:
1. Optimize Loading Speed & Mobile UX
The client was using a dated, slow WordPress theme and had an excessive amount of plugins. So the first thing we did was consolidate and delete plugins.
Then we pitched the client on moving to a 100% AMP website.
The rationale was simple:
They’re a content site, and the page loading speed is paramount to their success.
Plus, Google Adsense plays nice with AMP. Fortunately, the client agreed! We spent about a month making the website 100% AMP compliant.
Here are a few things we did:
We selected “Standard” mode on the AMP plugin, which will make your entire website AMP by default.
However, you can manually disable AMP on any page if you want.
We also:
- Eliminated and replaced all plugins that don’t play well with AMP
- Installed GeneratePress WordPress theme because it’s lightning-fast and it’s highly customizable
- Redesigned the new theme to match the previous one
- We moved to Google Tag manager and made the tracking AMP-compliant.
Here’s their performance before and after these changes:
The cool part about a 100% AMP-friendly website is that it optimizes speed and mobile experience simultaneously.
2. Eradicate “Dead” Content
The website had nearly 3,000 blog posts when we started. The only way to tackle this level of content volume is with data.
So we did a complete content audit similar to what I do in this video:
In a content audit, I’m looking for a few things:
Is there keyword cannibalization (when two or more pages are targeting the same keyword)?
Fixing keyword cannibalization is a priority because it can kill your performance.
Are there pages with no traffic, no leads, no sales, and no backlinks?
These pages become the priority for deletion, redirection, or consolidation.
In the case of this client, we decide to take a “start from scratch” approach. Most of the content was dated and thin.
That’s why we chose to delete 2,170 posts.
Now we’re replacing this content with new SEO content built to rank instead of content created to meet content publishing targets.
3. Increase Publishing Velocity
Google is slowly removing the deleted content and reindexing the site. At the same time, we’re publishing new SEO content built around our proven framework.
This client, fortunately, has a team of writers, so it’s making our life easier.
Here’s how our SEO content development process looks at a high level:
1. Identify qualified keywords with low competition
Targeting low competition keywords can help you get early momentum, which makes ranking easier in the future.
Why? Because you’ve built topical authority.
The more topical authority you have, the easier it is to rank.
2. Identify clustering opportunities
About 20% of the keywords we target won’t have much search volume. And it doesn’t matter because we’re qualifying the topics using other sources.
In particular, Google’s “People Also Ask” SERP feature.
We use this tool to find these clustering opportunities.
3. Create SEO content strategies
We separate our SEO content strategy and briefs into two different templates.
In the “SEO Content Strategy” brief, we answer questions like:
- What SERP features are present?
- What’s the ideal word count?
- How many backlinks will we need?
- Do competitors satisfy the intent correctly?
- What’s our unique angle for differentiation?
There’s a total of 29 various points we tackle in our SEO content strategy briefs.
It may seem excessive, but our goal is to avoid being wrong.
4. Create SEO content briefs for the writer
Once we finish the SEO content strategy, we develop an SEO content brief for the writer.
It pulls information from the strategy brief but also adds some other critical points like:
- Exact keyword mentions
- Secondary keywords to use
- Phrases to include (pulled from Surfer SEO)
- Writing guidelines like Angle, Audience, Tone, and other key points
We then send this to the writer and then perform the final step in the process.
5. Optimize the content for search
If we tackled the previous steps well, there shouldn’t be much to optimize. However, we still run the content through Grammarly (to improve grammar, spelling, and readability), and then we run it through Surfer.
Watch this video if you want to learn how to do on-page SEO:
6. Acquire editorial backlinks
Do all the previous steps well, and you won’t need many backlinks to rank. You just need the right types of backlinks. Those are going to be backlinks from trusted websites with authority.
We’re Just Getting Started!
The early stages of an SEO campaign are challenging because you’re typically cleaning house. But once the foundation is strong and you’re pushing out SEO content (the right way), you’ll start to see traction.
Then throw some powerful editorial backlinks into the mix, and your organic traffic will be off to the races.
Listen:
If you’re struggling to get consistent SEO results, then I recommend enrolling in Gotch SEO Academy. It will show how to get first-page rankings and more organic search traffic (systematically).
If you need more hands-on SEO help, then book a free SEO strategy session, and let’s see if there’s an opportunity for us to work together.
Thanks for reading, and share it if you got value!
Hi Nathan, interesting case study. Definitely agree with the second part about client expectations…
The 50 branded properties – are these just social media sites or something else?
Yes sir, usually social media sites
Your “blogger outreach service” seems interesting. Do you have a blog network of your own?
Nope! We have no control over the sites you get placements on
I would love to know more about you “Blogger Outreach Service/program” for small businesses. What is your strategy?
Hope I am not asking a business secret!
Here’s everything you need to know here: https://www.gotchseo.com/blogger-outreach-service/
Thanks. I am really enjoying your posts 🙂
Hi Gotch, Well explained post. I have always had confusion with leaving comment on a blog. Can you explain how it should be done? The website details we fill in the coloum while submitting comment would be of any use?
Take a look at my suggestions in this article: https://www.gotchseo.com/backlinks/
Amazing inspiring case study Nathan!!!1
I can’t thanks you enough for this. I really enjoyed this case study.
Thank you Bobby! I’m glad you found it helpful
Hi Nathan,
Nice case study again ! Thanks for sharing
Thanks Claude
Hi Gotch, Excellent post. Your case studies are very helpful.
Thank you!
Hi Nathan.
I can completely relate with this post about SEO taking time.
I myself worked with a startup (as a digital marketing manager) that was into a very competitive domain; education and training.
It took almost 8-9 months for me to help them rank number 1 for global search for its primary keyword (yes, that actually happened. we started right from the scratch).
The best part is there was no blog or proper social media activities before I took over.
And you know what was the best part? I didn’t do even a single paid activity during this entire period.
The start-up ranks above authority sites and blogs. I no longer work with them, yet they are there in top position. Now they’ve re-approached for SEO for their other site.
That’s awesome man, thanks for sharing!
Nice case study! Thanks for sharing
Thank you for commenting!
Brilliant and refreshing!
Thank you Scott!
WoW Awesome Post Gotch Awesome Strategy.
Thank you sir!
Hey Gotch I love reading your blog posts, I have a lot of question from you….
1. About Brand Signals:
First of all please tell me, should we create Tier 2 links of Brand Signals
2. Web 2.0’s
Suppose I want to rank a keyword for example Call of Duty 1 Game For PC
This is my target keyword and how much Web 2.0’s Should I create and should we Create Brand Signals of This Web 2.0 that we are using to rank our keyword. How much posts should we do on powerful Web 2.0? How much tier 2 links should we build on that Web 2.0….
3. Social Signals?
These days social signals are not working for me, for you they work or not? If yes, then please tell me how do you use Social Signals to rank keywords….
Please answer my questions and I shall be very thankful to you, waiting for your reply anxiously….