How did we identify the opportunity?
An established site with no current SEO strategy, our initial audits showed the site was predominantly acquiring traffic via existing blogs that had not been optimised. This told us there was a market for the type of content DLC were creating and the products they sell – their site just wasn’t optimised to reach them effectively.
With a niche site, we decided taking our strategy back to basics would be most effective; this included understanding their audience, undertaking technical hygiene practices, focusing on search intent, mapping keywords to differentiate on-page content and re-optimising priority pages.
What did we do?
During the brand immersion stage we established early on that the site needed to target two distinctive audiences: individuals looking to further their career and employers looking to advance and retain their current staff. Once this was established we undertook keyword research and mapped keywords to particular pages based on search intent and relevancy – with less focus on search volume.
We prioritised optimising overarching themed course pages such as /supply-chain as these pages act as the gateway between users and the brand’s goal: getting leads for course sign-up. From a tech perspective, we improved core web vitals and reduced the vast number of course links to avoid confusing Google and making the user path to these pages clearer. We then began working on the content, differentiating it page by page and reducing any risk of duplication across the site.
To ensure new blog content being created internally was optimised going forward, we shared some tricks of the trade with the internal content team to help them understand how to write optimised content and reach the relevant audience.
What outcomes were achieved?
Organic traffic to the site from 1 October 2022 – 28 Feb 2023 has increased by 47% compared to the same period the previous year. What’s more the course pages optimised in the first phase of our strategy have all seen huge organic traffic improvement as they begin rising up the SERPs for highly relevant keywords.
| Course Page |
Organic Session Change |
Keyword – Search Vol – Position |
| /supply-chain/ |
+188% |
Supply chain management – 5400 – 19
Supply chain manager course – 170 – 38
Supply chain courses – 170 – 7
Supply chain management courses – 260 – 5 |
| /purchasing-and-procurement/ |
+177% |
Procurement qualifications – 210 – 3
Procurement courses – 210 – 4
Procurement training – 170 – 8 |
| /leadership-and-management/ |
+357% |
Management courses – 2900 – 5
Leadership and management – 1600 – 18
Online management courses – 1200 – 12
Leadership and management courses – 1000 – 8 |
| /logistics-and-transport/ |
+143% |
Logistic courses – 260 – 9
Logistics training – 110 – 6 |
Final Thought:
In the next phase of our strategy we will continue maintaining this level of growth by categorising blog content into hubs that allow the differing audiences to easily find the content they require, and creating new content that adds further depth to the site.
When it comes to niche industries, low search volumes and smaller markets are key tactics in ensuring the site becomes more visible to its specific, targeted competition.
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