Case Study: A User-First SEO Strategy That Generated +3700% More Traffic in < 12 Months

Through the galore halfway algorithm updates announced implicit the past fewer years (most precocious successful March 2024), Google has made it clear that its absorption is connected rewarding websites with helpful, user-first content.

This means that if your website doesn’t deliberation of your people assemblage first, you’ll conflict to rank.

In this lawsuit study, you’ll larn however my squad astatine The Search Initiative grew our client’s integrated postulation by 3,773.46% from 1,040 to 40,284 monthly sessions by adopting a client-customized, user-first SEO strategy and implementing immoderate out-of-the-box tactics.

In this lawsuit study, you’ll larn however to:

First, though, here’s immoderate inheritance astir the tract we worked connected and the main challenges that we overcame during the campaign.

The Challenge

The lawsuit operates successful the aesculapian niche, offering a scope of cause rehabilitation services and treatments, targeting the UK, Australia and the U.S.A.

The main nonsubjective of the run was to amended the rankings for these service-based hunt terms, which are much apt to person than informational queries.

One of the main challenges was that the client’s cardinal landing pages (i.e. the work pages) were missing retired connected ranking for cardinal service-related keywords. This was owed to the contented not aligning with the user’s hunt intent for the people hunt term.

This required analyzing the hunt intent for the keywords and past improving the landing pages connected the tract truthful that they aligned with what Google (and searchers) were looking for.

Having created a clump of caller pages, it was important that Google crawled and indexed these URLs arsenic rapidly arsenic possible.

To assistance velocity up this process, we utilized Google’s Indexing API and a plugin to crawl the caller contented connected the tract wrong a fewer hours of publishing. This is an casual process that tin importantly trim the waiting clip for caller contented to beryllium indexed by Google and look successful hunt results.

Thanks to our efforts, the lawsuit had already started to fertile for informational queries. However, their existing blog posts had nary calls to action, which encouraged users to browse the cardinal landing pages connected the website oregon interaction them.

This was a missed accidental to summation conversions, truthful we focused connected optimizing the blog posts and the recently created landing pages with CTAs to thrust much conversions.

Finally, to physique the site’s online presence, we focused our link-building efforts by utilizing the client’s expertise successful the manufacture to nutrient informational achromatic papers that attracted backlinks organically.

Find retired however you tin flooded these challenges for your website by pursuing the steps below.

User-First Content Plan

If the contented connected a web leafage doesn’t align with what your intended assemblage is looking for, it won’t rank.

It’s important to guarantee that you’re providing users with the close contented that volition fulfill their hunt intent for their people keywords.

How to Check User Search Intent

Below, you volition larn however to cheque hunt intent for a web leafage utilizing a caller Ahrefs diagnostic and AI.

But first, here’s a speedy breakdown of the 4 main types of hunt intents:

1. Informational Intent: Users are looking for accusation oregon answers to questions. They are successful the probe signifier and mightiness not beryllium acceptable to marque a acquisition oregon instrumentality enactment yet. They’re simply seeking cognition e.g. “How to marque coffee”
2. Navigational Intent: Users are trying to scope a circumstantial website oregon page. They already person a destination successful caput and usage the hunt motor to get determination much rapidly e.g. “Starbucks menu”
3. Commercial Intent: Users are considering a acquisition oregon a circumstantial enactment successful the adjacent aboriginal but are inactive successful the process of researching and comparing options. They’re not rather acceptable to bargain yet but are person to making a determination than those with purely informational intent e.g. “Best java machines 2024”
4. Transactional Intent: Users with transactional intent are acceptable to marque a acquisition oregon execute a circumstantial action. They person completed their probe and person decided connected what they privation e.g. “Buy Nespresso Vertuo capsules”

Each of these intents requires a antithetic attack successful contented instauration and SEO strategy to efficaciously conscionable the needs of the idiosyncratic astatine their circumstantial signifier of the hunt journey.

For example, if you’re targeting a keyword similar “best java machines,” wherever the searcher is looking for reviews and comparisons, but you’re serving up a leafage that sells java machines, past the intent doesn’t match.

Not lone volition Google not similar the idiosyncratic signals that your contented creates, but arsenic a result, the imaginable lawsuit volition permission your leafage successful bid to get a amended reply to their query – from idiosyncratic else. Chances are that erstwhile they’re acceptable to buy, they are going to spell to the adept who gave them invaluable accusation successful the archetypal place, not backmost to your sales page.

Before moving the checks, you’ll archetypal request to place a people keyword that you privation to fertile for truthful that you tin drawback the top-ranking competing pages (for ChatGPT). For this, you tin drawback the URLs by straight searching for your people keyword successful Google.

Ahrefs

The instrumentality automatically analyzes the hunt intent and types of contented that the top-ranking competing pages person included.

In the example, 57% of the users are looking for: “Guides connected Growing Roses from Cuttings”. The top-ranking pages person included broad guides and tutorials connected however to successfully turn roses from cuttings.

This is simply a speedy mode to find retired what benignant of contented you should see including wrong your ain web page.

ChatGPT-4

You tin besides usage ChatGPT-4 to recognize and analyse the contented fetched by WebPilot from a circumstantial web page.

Here’s an illustration of the punctual being utilized for an informational nonfiction astir increasing roses from cuttings:

And here’s an illustration of an output for a merchandise page:

You tin present usage the accusation provided by Ahrefs oregon ChatGPT to make the contented for your ain web page.

Optimizing Content to Address Search Intent

Having identified the hunt intent of your people keyword(s) and page(s), it’s clip to optimize your existing contented truthful that it aligns with what your assemblage is looking for.

All of the beneath points person been integrated into the supra prompt, but here’s immoderate much discourse which explains wherefore you should wage adjacent attraction to them:

Analyze Content Types

Analyze Content Structure

Identify Gaps and Opportunities

Following the supra steps volition guarantee that the contented connected your website is optimized with the extremity idiosyncratic successful mind.

Google’s Indexing API

Once you’ve created caller contented oregon adjusted aged content, you privation them to beryllium crawled and indexed by Google arsenic soon arsenic possible, truthful that they tin fertile arsenic soon arsenic possible.

There are respective ways to assistance promote Google’s crawlers to observe your content, but I’ll amusement you 1 of the astir effectual and businesslike ways of getting your pages crawled and indexed by Google utilizing its Indexing API. And it’s easier than you deliberation to use.

What is Google’s Indexing API?

The Indexing API is simply a instrumentality that allows you to straight fto Google cognize erstwhile you privation pages to beryllium added oregon removed from its index. This notifies Google to docket your pages for a caller crawl, which tin pb to higher-quality idiosyncratic traffic.

That’s what the absorption of this lawsuit survey volition beryllium on, but you tin besides usage the Indexing API to:

It’s worthy noting that Google says that the Indexing API tin presently lone beryllium utilized to “crawl pages with either JobPosting oregon BroadcastEvent embedded successful a VideoObject”; however, our tests (and galore others) person successfully crawled and indexed each kinds of pages.

I’ll amusement you however to usage the Indexing API with RankMath’s WordPress plugin, but you tin besides use the API with immoderate different CMS oregon framework.

How to Configure the Indexing API

Let’s commencement by configuring the Indexing API.

You’ve present configured the Indexing API.

How to Use the Indexing API With RankMath

Our client’s website runs connected WordPress, truthful we installed the RankMath SEO plugin which includes a diagnostic dedicated to utilizing the Indexing API, it’s called Instant Indexing.

For example, if you prime “Blog Posts”, past each clip you make and people a caller post, the plugin volition trigger an API telephone to Google’s Indexing API.

This is however it should look erstwhile afloat configured.

And wrong hours, your leafage should look successful Google’s index. In our experience, 90% of the URLs are indexed without immoderate issues wrong a fewer hours, but if you find that your pages aren’t showing up, you tin simply resubmit the URLs.

A speedy mode to cheque whether a leafage is indexed is to bash a tract hunt connected Google: site:yourdomain.com/url.

If the leafage is indexed, it’ll look similar this.

Sidenote: I should besides notation that the plugin besides lets you region pages from Google’s index. Follow the aforesaid steps by pasting successful the URLs that you privation removed, but this time, prime “Remove URL” nether the Action.

If your website isn’t connected WordPress, you tin inactive usage Google’s Indexing API, but it’s a spot much method arsenic it requires hard coding the requests to usage the API. You tin find retired much astir however to usage the API successful these cases successful this guide from Google.

CRO Optimization: Focus connected CTAs

Producing high-quality contented that ranks and attracts integrated visitors is 1 portion of the game. The different is turning those visits into paying (or converting) users.

This is thing that our lawsuit hadn’t focused on, contempt having decent integrated postulation for informational queries, and arsenic a result, struggled to make leads earlier joining.

To hole this, we needed to optimize and make caller calls to action, truthful that users landing their contented were compelled to utilize their services.

By doing so, we were capable to much than treble the fig of conversions connected the tract from 158 to 337 per month.

What is simply a Call to Action (CTA)?

A telephone to enactment (or CTA) is simply a punctual that encourages users to instrumentality a circumstantial action, having consumed contented connected your website.

In the discourse of SEO, CTAs are astir commonly seen successful the signifier of links, buttons oregon forms with the purpose of turning integrated visits into leads written done enactment verbs similar “Learn More” oregon “Add to Cart” to promote the desired action.

Sometimes, CTAs are designed to make a consciousness of urgency to motivate the assemblage to enactment promptly, for example, “Sign Up Today” oregon “Buy Now”.

Examples of Calls to Action

Here are immoderate communal types of CTAs that you’ll apt person travel across:

Submission Forms

Submission forms are a communal CTA that allows you to cod accusation astir your audience, specified arsenic enquiries (through a interaction form), newsletter signups, subscriptions, etc.

Buttons

Buttons are utilized to supply much accent to a peculiar idiosyncratic action, specified arsenic “Buy Now” oregon “Add to Cart” for eCommerce websites oregon “Sign Up” oregon “Contact Us” arsenic portion of signifier submissions.

Here’s an illustration of a imperishable fastener that appears successful the header of a website.

Links

Hyperlinks to different pages oregon worldly connected websites tin besides beryllium utilized arsenic CTAs. Below is simply a subtle illustration of a hyperlink utilized arsenic a CTA successful the footer, encouraging users to motion up to the site’s newsletter.

You tin adhd a Related Articles conception astatine the bottommost of a blog post, which encourages users to enactment connected your website and work different articles.

Meta Description

Another benignant of CTA connected your website that whitethorn not beryllium arsenic evident is the meta description.

It’s displayed to searchers successful Google’s hunt results pages and is your accidental to transportation users to click done to your leafage alternatively of your competitors.

Before you larn however to make effectual CTAs for your website, let’s concisely recognize wherefore you should bash so.

Why are CTAs Important?

CTAs connection a scope of opportunities for you to crook clicks into conversions.

4 Effective Tactics to Optimize Your Calls to Actions

Now, let’s look astatine however you tin execute each of this by looking astatine immoderate of the champion practices for optimizing the CTAs connected your website.

Use Clear & Snappy Language

Write calls to enactment that are wide and concise: fto the idiosyncratic cognize precisely what you privation them to bash and (ideally) what they tin expect erstwhile they execute the desired action.

If your CTAs are longer than 5 words, they’re astir apt excessively agelong and unclear.

Inspire Action & Create a Sense of Urgency

A telephone to action, arsenic its sanction suggests, is designed to thrust immoderate benignant of enactment from your audience. Therefore, you should purpose to see connection that inspires action.

The cardinal present is to usage verbs and representation the operation “I privation to…” earlier the substance when

To compel users to instrumentality enactment instantly alternatively of putting it disconnected for later, adhd a consciousness of urgency.

Here are immoderate enactment words that you tin use:

And immoderate phrases/words that you tin brace them with to make a consciousness of urgency:

Don’t Overdo It

It’s rather communal to person aggregate CTAs connected a page, but having excessively galore tin distract and confuse users. It tin yet pb them to making a antithetic enactment to what you truly wanted them to take, or, taking nary enactment astatine all.

From the beneath example, which CTA is astir important?

When it comes to choosing which CTAs to see connected a peculiar page, spell backmost to the operation from earlier, “I privation to…”. For example, connected a merchandise page, you astir apt aren’t excessively funny successful users signing up for your newsletter. Instead, you’re much funny successful them adding the merchandise to their cart.

On a blog station oregon landing page, however, the desired enactment whitethorn beryllium different, or, you whitethorn person aggregate desired actions similar successful the illustration above.

The cardinal takeaway is to person a wide thought of what the desired enactment is for each benignant of leafage connected your website and physique your CTAs astir that.

Make it Visible

You privation your CTAs to basal retired and drawback the user’s attraction without overpowering the wide experience. This is because, though you privation to thrust the conversion, you don’t privation to enactment users disconnected by displaying a monolithic CTA that fundamentally detracts from what they apt primitively landed connected the leafage for: the content.

Here are a fewer ways that you tin assistance marque your CTAs much disposable without overwhelming your people user:

You tin spot that Adobe has utilized the aforesaid bluish for each of their CTAs to basal retired against the remainder of the content. This instantly tells the idiosyncratic that erstwhile they spot this color, they’re expected to execute immoderate benignant of action.

Importantly, announcement that determination are 2 CTAs here: 1 for the escaped proceedings and 1 for buying the merchandise outright. The escaped proceedings CTA is purposefully successful the aforesaid achromatic arsenic the remainder of the substance truthful that you are alternatively drawn to the bluish “Buy Now” button.

To guarantee the telephone to enactment stands retired adjacent much connected the page, it’s important to usage a colour and font size that is ample capable to bid attention.

Here’s a great website that lets you pin 2 colors against each different to spot however good they contrast. This mightiness beryllium particularly adjuvant if you’re gathering a brand-new website and haven’t settled connected a colour scheme.

You tin besides amended your people by clicking “Click to enhance,” which gives you the enactment to automatically set the colour of the text, the background, oregon some to amended the contrast.

It’s bully signifier to see a CTA supra the fold, wherever it’s instantly disposable to users without scrolling. You’ve already seen examples of this above, but here’s 1 more:

Additionally, spot CTAs strategically wrong your content, aligning them with applicable accusation and astatine earthy breaks to seizure attention.

The sidebar navigation is besides a communal country to spot your CTAs.

You tin besides spot CTAs wrong the footer – but remember, not everyone volition scope the bottommost of your web page, truthful debar including your astir important CTA here.

Remember to guarantee that each of your CTAs are besides prominently featured connected mobile devices, considering the smaller surface size. For example, the CTA that appeared supra the fold connected Mildreds’ website for desktop users is present displayed astatine the bottommost of the surface for mobile users.

By implementing these tips wrong your ain CTAs, you’ll marque the astir of the integrated visitors that onshore connected your website.

Publishing White Papers to Attract Organic Backlinks

As our lawsuit operates wrong a great website niche (these are topics that could importantly interaction someone’s health, fiscal stability, safety, oregon well-being), it’s adjacent much important that the contented produced conveys close accusation from a trustworthy source.

A large mode to execute this portion besides creating an plus that attracts backlinks is to people achromatic papers.

Because achromatic papers incorporate archetypal probe and are precise overmuch much in-depth than immoderate blog article, they tin beryllium utilized arsenic references by journalists, bloggers, societal media posts and anyone other who wants to notation original, invaluable information. Becoming a root for this benignant of accusation makes you an adept successful your niche.

Shortly aft the work of our client’s achromatic paper, they gained galore top-quality links from websites similar Wikipedia and Yahoo.

What are White Papers?

White papers (see example) are authoritative documents that supply broad accusation oregon solutions to a peculiar issue, often successful a persuasive and acquisition format. They are typically longer than blog posts oregon articles and delve profoundly into a circumstantial topic, presenting elaborate research, analysis, and insights.

Their informative quality and in-depth contented marque them invaluable resources for professionals seeking reliable accusation and solutions.

Most of the time, achromatic papers are disposable for download via PDF. In a batch of cases, they are accessible lone aft the idiosyncratic inputs their interaction information, on with different information (job title, niche, etc.)

The downloadable PDFs are presented with branded, nonrecreational designs that tin besides optionally beryllium printed arsenic a booklet. Here is simply a illustration of what these mightiness look like:

Example 1:

Example 2:

Your achromatic insubstantial format mightiness beryllium connected factors similar goals, budget, oregon however you program to attack your nexus campaign.

How White Papers Can Improve Your SEO

Publishing achromatic papers connected your website has galore SEO benefits:

How to Write White Papers That Attract Backlinks

Writing a achromatic insubstantial mightiness dependable intimidating, but don’t worry. You don’t request to beryllium a nonrecreational researcher. You conscionable request a bully program to follow.

Existing resources are your friends!

Leverage manufacture reports, articles, and adjacent rival materials to stitchery the accusation you need. By focusing connected wide connection and a well-structured plan, you tin make a compelling achromatic insubstantial that informs your assemblage without getting bogged down successful analyzable research.

Follow the steps outlined beneath to constitute and people achromatic papers that pull backlinks.

Choose a Relevant Topic

Select a taxable that resonates with your people audience’s symptom points, preferences, and challenges. Identify a peculiar occupation oregon obstacle your imaginable customers oregon assemblage brushwood and connection a solution that highlights your unsocial worth proposition.

Now, let’s accidental you person a bundle institution that creates AI tools. One of these tools automatically creates assets for each societal media platforms, i.e., TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and X (formerly Twitter).

Here are much examples to the supra questions, from different constituent of view:

If you’re struggling for inspiration, you tin look astatine what benignant of topics person already been covered.

In the lawsuit of the bundle institution that creates AI tools successful our example, determination are immoderate achromatic papers already that we tin usage for brainstorming:

The topics that volition beryllium a bully acceptable for the illustration bundle institution volition beryllium connected the people assemblage they are trying to reach.

A elemental Google hunt tin bash the instrumentality – hunt for: “[your industry/niche] achromatic papers”, i.e. “social media selling achromatic papers.”

Browse the topics covered by different businesses and publications.

Ultimately, you cognize your concern and customers amended than anyone else, truthful answering these questions should assistance you travel up with a taxable that volition beryllium utile and applicable to your audience.

Write an Engaging Title

The rubric of your achromatic insubstantial plays a captious relation successful capturing attraction and generating clicks.

Craft a rubric that is:

You besides privation your achromatic insubstantial to fertile for keywords, truthful deliberation astir what benignant of presumption oregon phrases your assemblage would beryllium searching for. In our example, our assemblage is apt searching for AI tools for societal media selling and AI tools for societal media content.

A hunt connected Ahrefs Keywords Explorer shows that these keywords person hunt demand.

Based connected the above, here’s a applicable rubric for our imaginary AI bundle company’s achromatic paper: “AI Tool for Social Media Marketing: Maximizing Engagement Across Platforms”.

Do Your Research

Once you’ve settled connected a taxable and title, the adjacent measurement is to stitchery data, statistics, lawsuit studies, and different supporting grounds to backmost up your arguments and recommendations. Ensure your achromatic insubstantial offers credible and authoritative accusation that adds worth to the reader.

Here are a fewer ways that you tin execute this:

For our AI bundle institution example, this would mean including palmy societal media campaigns wherever the AI-generated societal assets drove much engagement for our “clients”.

By employing these probe methods, you tin stitchery robust data, statistics, lawsuit studies, and different supporting grounds to heighten the credibility and authorization of your achromatic paper, yet adding worth to the reader.

Develop a Clear Structure

Here’s what you’ll request to see successful bid to make a wide operation for your achromatic paper:

For our example, this would mean explaining how, without an AI tool, selling managers and societal media managers would person to manually make and recreate the aforesaid plus for antithetic societal media platforms.

How you format your achromatic insubstantial is conscionable arsenic important arsenic the contents itself. The plan is the happening radical volition signifier their archetypal content connected astir your paper, truthful see getting a decorator to reformat your contented to look the part.

Create A Well Designed Landing Page

It’s clip to publish. To drawback attention, your achromatic insubstantial needs a clear, keyword-rich rubric and a statement highlighting benefits.

Make it casual to find with salient placement and a beardown telephone to action. Finally, usage visuals to entice readers and guarantee casual readability with wide formatting.

In bid to marketplace this contented and commencement getting integrated links, you inactive person immoderate enactment to do.

After publishing your achromatic insubstantial connected your landing page, proactively beforehand it crossed your website, blog, societal media platforms, property releases, email newsletters, and applicable manufacture publications.

Encourage your assemblage to stock it to broaden its vulnerability and pull backlinks from credible sources.

Your landing leafage should person the following:

A large instrumentality to assistance make beautifully designed landing pages is Shorthand. It allows you to make highly engaging, interactive web pages without the request for immoderate coding.

If you don’t privation your achromatic insubstantial to beryllium publically accessible and alternatively privation visitors to download it arsenic a PDF, you should person a elemental and disposable signifier that asks for the cardinal pieces of accusation that you’d similar to cod astir your visitors i.e. their name, email address, company, etc.

The Results

Within 12 months, the integrated postulation grew by 3,773.46% from 1,040 to 40,284 monthly sessions.

The fig of keywords that the tract ranks for successful the apical 10 positions of Google accrued to an all-time precocious of 693 keywords successful the past 12 months.

This is besides existent for the site’s wide keyword visibility, wherever they’re present ranking for 10,792 keywords wrong the apical 100 positions.

Conclusion

In this lawsuit study, I’ve shown however you tin instrumentality recently optimized contented and get it indexed utilizing Google’s caller Indexing API.

You’ve learned however to:

If you’re looking for assistance with your site’s SEO, get successful interaction with my squad astatine The Search Initiative.