SEO case studies based on true sales-oriented SEO results

Altus Lift Trucks LLC Altus Lift, LLC served as our second campaign in our SEO case studies. They are a full service material handling company located in New Jersey who already have an online presence with a website built by another developer. However, they weren't satisfied with their search rankings, and came to me to design a new website, which went live in 2012. As part of the project, I ended up developing all of the features on their site, including a shopping cart. When that was complete, they approached me to implement quality SEO content and keywords to increase the number of visitors to their website and their rankings.

On-Page optimization, Content and Keywords

As I often do, the seo case study started by utilizing a questionnaire to determine the appropriate keyword phrases. By working closely with the client, I discovered the core of their business, including key products that they wanted to be emphasized from sales perspective. When I was complete, I use those keywords to create quality content on their home page and key product pages. After a few tweaks, I tracked the rankings for keyword phrases based on prior knowledge.

Landing pages with keywords: Once I had the list of keywords, I was able to include that in the on-page optimization by creating content on landing pages that included the keywords in an organic way. This way, it was targeted to visitors who were likely to convert to being clients as well as resulting in 100% SEO compliant guidelines. In addition to this seo case study, meta data and Google Authorship or updated to provide the best possible click through from the search engine results page.
Responsive Website Layout: In my company, we know and believe that responsive web design has the best results when it comes to SEO optimization. Just like other SEO case studies, We focus on using code that will translate in all browsers and mobile devices so that our clients experience the best results possible. In addition, their visitors will have a beautifully aesthetic experience on the site whether they are on their smartphone, tablet, or computer.

Optimizing the checkout gave 90% more orders:What we've discovered is that sometimes the most straightforward methods end up improving profits greatly. As an example, I turned the table and considered what visitors were experiencing during checkout. When I found was that potential customers can be turned away when finalizing the purchase if it's not smooth and easy.
As you’ll see in the following screenshot, several things were optimized:

Inbound Link Building Campaign

Link Analysis: In order to assess the quality and value of links on other websites that pointed back to Altus Lift, I performed an analysis for this SEO case study. It turns out that it had been ranking low on major search engines, such as Google and Bing, due to the lack of quality keywords and backlinks.
Strategic Link Building: In order to increase traffic to the website, we performed a comprehensive link building campaign for this SEO Case study. Included was a strategic approach to connecting with local directories, blogs, and material handling forums and utilizing them for guest posts.
Social media marketing: Social Media playing an excellent role in for succeeding my SEO case studies. I created Altus Lift Facebook, Google+ and Twitter accounts included them in their new website. This helped to enable a stronger SEO strategy that was more effective in generating increased traffic flow while also building a community of followers and customers.

Guest Blogging Outreach: The secret to ranking on Google's first page comes down to utilizing proven link building and contents keywords as techniques. In this case , I provided a guest post to several blogs that were interesting and industry relevant but also included graphics. This is one of the easiest ways to help increase the number of quality backlinks to a website.

Custom WordPress Blog

The trick is that the more links that take readers back to your website, the more prominent it will be in the search bots.
In the case of Altus Lift's website, my team and I designed a WordPress blog for them. We wrote fresh content every third day with quality keywords and the results were improved SEO rankings and traffic.

Local SEO

In order to ensure visibility for Altus Lift, I utilized Google Local in the New Jersey area. Altus local SEO optimization plan included 3 key objectives:

• Ensure full exposure across all local search channels
• Fix any incorrect business information throughout the web & online directories
• Increase local and organic search rankings

SEO Success

Due to this SEO campaign, Altus Lift has come a long way since we first started working with them. They now boast first page ranking on Google for a variety of long-tail and short-tail keywords.

1. Toyota Hybrid Forklift - 7
2. Hyster Sit Down - 8
3. Pneumatic Sit Down -6
4. Hybrid Lift Trucks – 4
5. Choosing Forklift Tires - 5

Prior to when we started to work with them, I created a baseline sample of their website traffic. Just one year later, we did another analysis that focused on the same time period, which also allowed for ample time to let the search engine optimization efforts work. Here are the results after one year:

• 654% increase in site visits
• 740% increase in total Google Page views
• Consistent Bounce Rate of 50%
• Consistent 50:50 split between new and returning visitors

Search Traffic

In order to review "search" traffic, we eliminated links and direct traffic from the website statistics. By doing so we were better able to analyze how many people were new to the Altus site by having come through search engines. It’s comparison of traffic coming via search engines before the launch of SEO campaign (1000 visits/mo) and traffic coming after the success of this SEO case study (almost 7000 visits/mo):
The primary goal of this campaign was to drive increased traffic from America, and as a result there was an 85% increase. We were extremely happy with these results.

Lastly, altuslift.com and their owners were great to work with. It's always rewarding to help small businesses shine by building visibility to their site that creates traction and customer conversions. It was a great accomplishment, and rewarding for everyone involved.

Clear White Teeth, the leading supplier of dentist approved home teeth whitening products, became our next case study for SEO optimization. Based in the UK, they provided me with their history and requested a review of their current website to include levels of optimization and visitor data. Like every company, they wanted to convert their visitors to sales in the most effective way possible.

Design and Development

The first thing I did was recommend a website overhaul because their current vision had poor navigation. This made it difficult for visitors to find their way around the website. To add to it, the site design had poor interactivity which made it difficult or nearly impossible for site users to interact with the website or with Clear White Teeth.
Through the redesign, we provided them with the new inmates in terms of website and branding. We created high quality content that related to their core products and keywords utilizing targeted meta-titles in order to gain the results of a high search engine ranking.
My approach was to create and implement an optimization strategy that would apply to their homepage, product page, and other relevant pages. In addition, I created keyword rich content on the homepage and higher-level pages. I implemented a global menu structure that was SEO-friendly through a global CSS drop-down menu. Once completed, internal pages that were more difficult to find were now readily accessible through search engines, which of course means the end-user. Each of these efforts continued throughout the campaign by use of a variety of linking services.

Optimizing the checkout gave 116% more sign-ups

Some websites have the tendency to drive away customers rather than attract them, let alone entice them to buy. Often times, this happens in the final moments of a transaction. Sadly, there are a lot of designs that don't take the shopping experience into consideration enough. Because of this, and for this SEO case study, I developed a richer shopping experience for their visitors. With a five step process, and self-explanatory graphics, the shopping experience was now simple, clear and user-friendly. Since Google gives ranking preference to user-friendly sites, this was a win-win for both the client and the company.

One of the tools I use is Qualaroo (the survey tool formerly known as KISSinsights). This is a survey tool that I installed on the page where visitors could register or for a free trial kit. It helps me to analyze the visitors experience on that page. The biggest thing we learn from this was that visitors don't like to hand over their credit card information for a free trial kit. It came across as both a scam and unnecessary. To handle this, I included an explanation box that addressed the reason why a credit card was required right under the free trial sign-up button. The explanation also indicated that Clear White Teeth would not charge their card during the free trial. It also noted that this prevents people from ordering multiple free trial kits.

Another realization that came out of using Qualaroo was that visitors didn't quite understand the discount coupons or how to apply them when making a purchase. Hesitation is the last thing you want when you have a customer ready to buy, so it was imperative that we made it clear that Clear White Teeth were unable to provide discounts on certain products. However, we let them know that they could participate in a Facebook competition to win teeth whitening kits for free.

The Action Plan

Phase I: Identify all listing sources that contained erroneous and outdated information. Coordinate required updates with each channel. These two analyses resulted in the expectation of a significant increase in traffic from the search engines through improved rankings on top level category keywords like “Teeth whitening kits,” “Daily whitening foam” etc. In addition, I concluded that there website would see increased traffic and conversions by targeting keywords in specific verticals like Dental Problems, and Certified teeth whitening. I made the strength of the site, the vast amount of content. My job was to make sure that the spiders indexed the content, improve content best practices for their editorial team, and optimize the code on the page for those keywords.

Phase II: Created new listings on channels that were highly relevant to the Clear White Teeth specialty dental sector, and also ensure strong search engine ranking signal points for both local and organic search results. This process included a variety of phases, such as: blog commenting, guest posting and directory submissions etc.

Phase III: Continually monitored and notified the client of new listings being published, as well as reviews, and social mentions for immediate interaction.

Improve Optimization & Implement Best Practices

The most critical aspect of the optimization was to improve the optimization of the site structure. This was the first thing I consulted with them on. We collaborated to change the URL structure seen by the search engines so that the dynamic pages would have a flat URL structure. The primary page for the “Clear White Teeth” category previously was located on a non SEO-friendly URL. I consulted with them to change this URL structure so that the search engines would see a flat URL, currently http://www.clearwhiteteeth.co.uk/all-products/. My consultation also included several recommendations meant to improve the navigation by incorporating a search engine-friendly use of text links in the navigation and content within the site that would provide better results.

Responsive Website Layout

“Google recommends webmasters follow the industry best practice of using responsive web design, namely serving the same HTML for all devices and using only CSS media queries to decide the rendering on each device.” – Google
If SEO is a core angle of your digital marketing strategy, creating a mobile–friendly website is essential. Hence, I designed and developed Clear White Teeth website as a responsive layout design. The results were evident within a few months by the increased number of mobile visitors reaching 30%.

Addition of Video at Homepage

An interactive website that includes video creates a much more engaging experience for visitors. The benefits are that people can hear and see you and client testimonials. Having this on the homepage with a balance of critical and content rich text made all the difference with Clear White Teeth. Not too surprisingly, when they added a video, they had a 100.5% increase in traffic.

Social media marketing

In addition, I created a Facebook fan page for Clear White Teeth, which resulted in more visits as part of their overall marketing strategy, branding, and social reach.
As part of the marketing campaign, and to generate interest, the Facebook page held contests where people could win the whitening kits for free. Most certainly, adding social media marketing increased website traffic.

Business Blog to Boost Sales

Besides social media, Blogs are very popular way to get the word out about your products. Articles with industry related information not only establishes you as an authority, but it educates consumers. It's been shown that 61% of U.S. consumers have made purchases based on blog articles they've read. The bottom line is that a Blog article can boost sales significantly. Like other SEO case studies, I personally like to use WordPress to set up a Blog based on the right theme and branding. I wrote content rich articles about their products and posted these articles weekly.

Website Loading Speed Optimization

The smoother and faster checkout experience a client has on your website, the more likely they will buy from you. Like other SEO studies, I optimized the source code and combined multiple JavaScript files and related images in order to reduce http requests. I also minimize CSS coding. The end result? A website that loads three times faster!

The Results

The results for Clear White Teeth were almost immediate. Compared to their previous non-optimized site, the newly designed website now receives a 150% increase in organic search traffic coming through various keywords.
Not this only, various keywords started ranking on the top page of Google results.

• Teeth whitening kits -10
• Premium home teeth whitening -9
• Daily whitening foam -5
• Super White Toothpaste - 10
• Whitening Activator Spray - 12
• Daily White Fusion - 5

In addition, their visibility is greatly increased not only for their homepage, but for their internal pages that were previously difficult to find in search engine rankings. Keywords such as Teeth whitening kits, Daily whitening foam, Super White Toothpaste etc., were now helping visitors find any and all of their pages. They also saw these results:

1. Over 331% increase in average monthly non-branded organic search traffic
2. 52% increase in non-branded organic search traffic in year 2 vs. year 1
3. Over 1,000% increase in Top 10 Rankings

Clear White Teeth has seen a profitable increase in traffic, qualified leads, and overall sales. They are continuing with optimization and linking for the next year and even expect to expand their product line as a continued effort with Echo Freelance to expand their business on both a national and international level.

Red Brick Management, also based in the UK, is a property management service company. Four years ago, I began working with them to increase the number of visitors to their site. Suffering from low search rankings, they contacted me to improve their current website. This is the only SEO campaign in our SEO case studies which is related to real estate industry.

Keywords Research and analysis

I performed an intensive audit of their website rankings and came up with a series of recommendations. The first critical detail was to improve the website content with optimized keywords and relevant key phrases. After working closely with the client, we came up with top quality content and I added titles and Meta descriptions that would improve their search engine optimization. I started by creating a list of relevant keywords based on what potential clients would likely search for based on their business sector.

My Approach

I started by building a social analytics framework which helped them to recognize the importance of their social media campaigns, create and align their social media objectives with larger goals related to their business, and to answer any remaining questions. We worked with Red Brick to create the following buckets:
Growth: A measure of how many people actively chose to receive a company’s social media marketing messaging.
Reach: A measure of the expansiveness of social media marketing messages. How many users see the content?
Engagement: A measure of how many users actively engage with a company's content.
Influence: A measure of a company's ability to make content go viral, their influence on other users in social media.
Sentiment: The feeling towards a company or brand in social media. What others are saying about them.
Effect: A measure of how social media leads to off-network goals such as website conversions or in-store sales.

How I tackled Algorithm update in this SEO case study

During this search engine optimization campaign, the website was hit by the effects of Google's mid-2012 algorithm updates, with several key word phrases dropping to the bottom of Page 3 whilst managing to hold their rankings. The higher positions were now dominated by well-known property management companies such as Savills and CPM ltd etc. So making the first page of Google for their key phrases a very competitive place.
My search engine optimization team quickly responded to Google's algorithm changes. They focused on several areas, including increasing the amount of top quality content on the website. Combined with a strong social media campaign and some strategic link earning activity, these key phrases that had taken a head began to move their way back up the rankings.
The results have been positive. The website is currently climbing back up in the rankings for most competitive keywords locally, as well as nationwide.

• Property management Stevenage – 4
• Property management UK- 4

Overcoming Accessibility Issues

On a more technical side, I knew that improving search engine optimization rankings would be incredibly difficult for the simple reason that they were still using Flash. So, I weighed my options:

• Completely rebuild the site, which would be much more costly for Red Brick, and was an option that was off the table from the beginning.
• Using the no-script tag (which the developers had included as a “fallback” for older browsers) to deliver SEO-specific content wasn’t working.
• Using a newer technology that would work hand-in-hand with the old site and that wouldn’t necessarily require a ton of upfront investment might be feasible.

3-month growth

This was a time-limited project, over a 3 month period, and yet I began to see positive results almost immediately. In summary, at the end of 3 months:

• 23% increase in impressions
• 36% increase in clicks
• Bounce rate decreased to 35%
• Ranking keywords increased from 2 to 8
• Page 1 keywords increased from 5 to 8
• Position 1-3 rankings increased from 1 to 5
• Google Keyword increased

This performance increase has helped Red Brick reach a more sophisticated and competitive level with their online marketing and advertising. The company is now able to compete hand-in-hand with their toughest competitors in their industry. They can now also offer their customers an engaging and entertaining relationship in social media.