SEO Case Study: 7 Ways To Increase Your Search Traffic

There isn’t really any secret to increase your search traffic.

If you make improvements to your technical base, content and links – you will see search traffic grow:

We built thousands of links last year, and it’s amazing to see just how many people skip over the technical and content part of SEO.

So I’m going to show you 7 specific things you can do to start increasing your websites search traffic right now.

7 Ways To Increase Your Search Traffic

If you want to boost your website’s search traffic, it’s crucial to grasp the three fundamental components of Search Engine Optimization (SEO). 

These pillars lay the groundwork for an effective online presence:

  1. Technical: This involves fine-tuning the technical aspects of your website. From page load speed to site structure, ensuring seamless functionality is paramount. Think of it as the backbone that supports your entire digital presence.
  2. Content: High-quality content reigns supreme. Crafting valuable, relevant, and engaging content not only attracts visitors but also keeps them coming back. Keywords play a vital role here—choose them wisely to align with user intent.
  3. Link Building: Building a network of authoritative backlinks is akin to establishing credibility in the digital realm. These links act as endorsements, signaling to search engines that your content is trustworthy and valuable.

By strategically improving each of these areas, you’ll witness a surge in search traffic. Now, let’s delve into the specifics of what to focus on within these core elements!

1. Technical Improvements

Technical SEO is the foundation for everything. You need to build a solid foundation for success.

There is no point in spending time, effort, or money on link building & content creation if this part isn’t right.

So let me show you 3 things you should implement straight away.

Site Speed Optimization

Don’t underestimate the importance of site speed.

Site speed impacts the essential areas of your website:

  • SEO Rankings: Google uses website speed as a ranking factor
  • User Experience: A fast-loading site provides a superior user experience
  • Conversion Rates: Studies have shown a direct correlation between site speed and conversion rates

Bottom line: Website speed can directly affect how much SEO traffic you get, whether visitors like your site and how much money you make.

Pretty important, right?

The good news is that fixing website load speeds is easier than most people think. Just follow the steps below.

How To Measure Site Speed

Login to Google Search Console and click on Core Web Vitals on the left.

This gives you a general overview of your Core Web Vitals for every page on your website – both mobile and desktop versions. It will tell you how well you’re doing and what pages need improvement.

Now click on the Page Experience tab.

This report gives you insights into your overall website’s user experience. The goal is 100% desktop and 100% mobile.

So, with the baselines established, it’s time to turn your attention to improving your site speed.

How To Improve Site Speed

I’ve spent a lot of time testing all possible site speed combinations for:

  • Hosts
  • Plugins
  • Configurations

And while it’s difficult to provide one-size-fits-all advice, nearly everybody needs to integrate these 3 things to speed up their site:

1. Use A Fast Host

Many hosts, and especially shared hosts overload their servers. These make all of the connected sites slow.

In this case, it might be time to migrate hosts.

I tested 12 popular WordPress hosting services and published the results here.

WPX was the clear winner of my testing.

So, if you are using a slower host, it might be time to consider taking advantage of the free migration service from WPX to speed your site up immediately.

2. ShortPixel

Images have a significant effect on website and page load speeds.

That’s where ShortPixel comes in.

Shortpixel is an image compression tool. They offer what’s called Lossy & Lossless Compression.

They also automatically generate the new .webp image file type, which reduces image sizes even further. This is a big win for speed!

What I love about Shortpixel is how they shave up to 80% of file sizes but maintain image quality. Take a look:

Install ShortPixel and enter the dashboard.

In the GENERAL tab, activate the Lossless Compression option:

Then, go to the Advanced Tab and scroll down to select the Create WebP images option:

Next:

Go to Media > Bulk Shortpixel in WordPress and run the bulk optimisation tool to compress all your images:

Once done:

Head back to WPRocket > Media and enable this option:

At this point, your site load speeds should be soaring.

There is just one more thing to really bring it home…

3. CDN

If your hosting isn’t one that provides their own CDN like WPX, you are most probably using Cloudflare.

CloudFlare is an online performance and security company, but we will focus on its performance features.

Sign up. Connect your site. Open the dashboard. Then, the SPEED tab.

Activate ALL these settings so they look like this:

You can also activate the Rocket Loader, but if you find something not working on your site, come back here and disable it– sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t!

Now, head to the NETWORK tab. Here, you’ll activate these options:

That’s it! Your website should have received a significant speed boost.

Once you have integrated these steps, you will have made a HUGE AND IMMEDIATE impact on your site.

You will see conversion rates and engagement metrics increase instantly while giving Google more of what it wants

Mobile Compliance Review

Did you know that displaying popups or lightboxes on mobile devices directly violates Google’s guidelines

It’s crucial not to interrupt users from reading or scrolling through content with such popups. 

Surprisingly, many people seek an SEO consultation with me while having basic errors on their websites, which often account for 90% of their problems.

What Is Mobile First Indexing?

Before 2016, Google examined two versions of your site: mobile and desktop. 

What does this mean for you? 

In short, if your site doesn’t appear and function effectively on mobile devices, it won’t rank well in both mobile and desktop searches. 

So that’s what we are going to work on right now!

Check For Popups On Mobile

Google prohibits site owners from displaying popups or lightboxes on mobile devices that obstruct users from reading or scrolling through content. 

Google has emphasized multiple times that such intrusive practices are unhelpful

Let’s take a look at an example of what your mobile popup SHOULD NOT look like: 

But I have good news for you: 

You have more flexibility on your desktop site. 

It won’t affect your rankings or SEO. However, if you’re using a mobile popup or lightbox that obstructs content, consider disabling it. 

Opt for smaller banners that allow users to interact and scroll freely.

Make sure to review each page to eliminate intrusive popups. Remember that popups can be triggered in various ways, so thorough testing is essential.

2. Quick Content Improvements

Now let’s dive into the second SEO pillar: Content

Without content, there isn’t traffic so it’s important we give content the respect it deserves.

I’ll guide you on keeping your content fresh effortlessly and optimizing existing content step by step.

Keeping Content Fresh

Google values well-aged pages that receive consistent updates over time. This signals that the site is actively maintained and its content can be relied upon. 

Now, let me guide you through the simplest method to update your content step by step!

Which Content Should You Update?

Create a list of content that hasn’t been updated in the last 6 months. For each piece, follow these steps:

  1. Update the title.
  2. Rewrite the opening paragraph.
  3. Add an FAQ section or update an existing FAQ question.
  4. Verify the existing content’s accuracy.
  5. Check if images/screenshots are still current.
  6. Ensure all links still work.

That’s it! Not too challenging, right?

Re-Index With Google Search Console

After refreshing content, re-index it using Google Search Console.

Repeat this step for each updated piece. Typically, it takes 8 to 72 hours for the updates to appear in search results.

Rinse & Repeat

I prioritize maintaining fresh content for both Google and visitors. 

Here’s my approach:

  1. Scheduled Updates: Set a task or calendar reminder to refresh content every 6 months. This ensures your content remains fresher than your competitors’, maximizing your ranking potential.
  2. FAQ Maintenance: For content with an FAQ section, simply update one question with a concise 40-50 word answer every 6 months. This effectively maintains freshness.

Remember, staying ahead means consistent content care. Start by listing content due for an update and follow the steps above! 

Optimizing Existing Content

In the past, content optimization was time-consuming and demanded intricate SEO knowledge. 

However, today, a plethora of tools eliminate the guesswork.

So today I’m going to show you how we optimise content quickly and which pages you should focus on first.

Which Content Should You Optimise First?

While optimizing all your content is the ultimate goal, let’s avoid getting overwhelmed. 

Here’s what you need to do: 

  1. Identify pages ranking between positions 4 and 20 for their target keywords.
  2. Filter and select your business’s 3 most critical pages from that list.

The most important pages are the ones that will directly increase revenue or leads for your business if they break the top 3 on Google.

Pick only 3 of them! Then we’ll focus on optimising those first.

How To Optimise Your Content With Surfer

My favorite tool to optimise content is Surfer SEO

Why? Because this tool is simply exceptional

Surfer SEO meticulously analyzes 500x different ranking factors, providing straightforward and actionable recommendations.

If you haven’t been using Surfer SEO to help you optimise your content…

Let me show you how to do it:

First, go to the Audit tool and paste in your page URL. 

Then, select your target keyword and country:

Now, check the following reports in this exact order

  1. Exact keywords report
  2. Partial keywords report
  3. Page structure report (only red issues)

Fix all the issues you find and refresh the report: 

Next, check the word count section. This will tell you if you need to add (or remove) content.

Refresh the report again.

Lastly, scroll to the “Terms To Use” section and focus purely on the “Phrases” report.

You can ignore the “Words” and “Numbers” sections in the “Terms To Use” section.

When you’re done, hit the “Refresh” button one last time and double-check everything is right.

That’s it! It’s quite easy to accomplish, and in most instances, it involves either rephrasing sentences or making adjustments based on instructions. 

Link building is the final pillar of SEO you should focus on and is often considered the most challenging.

If you need help with link building, then you need the help of LinksThatRank.

And you might want to take a look at some of these recommended services to help with your guest posting and link building efforts.

It’s crucial to ensure that you focus your link-building efforts on pages that have the potential to boost your revenue and increase your chances of securing the top position. 

Now, let me guide you through the step-by-step process of identifying the right pages on your site for link building:

Now, I’ll guide you through a rough calculation to determine the number of backlinks required to break into the top three rankings for a specific keyword. 

Understanding this is crucial because once you know the necessary link count, you can estimate the cost of targeting any keyword. 

The process is straightforward—just follow these steps:

That is how you calculate the backlink gap. And you can do it for any keyword!

Truth be told:

Link building is no cakewalk. 

Even with the most effective strategies, achieving results demands substantial time, effort, and expertise. 

That’s precisely why many website and business owners choose to outsource their link-building to reputable services. 

By doing so, you can focus on running your business while seasoned SEO professionals take care of your links.

Now, the million-dollar question: Which link-building service should you opt for?

Our recommendation is LinksThatRank

They have a well-established reputation for constructing top-quality links that genuinely contribute to improved rankings in the search engine results pages (SERPs).

Unlike other services, LinksThatRank stands out with the following features:

  1. Quality Control Checklist: They meticulously adhere to a 23-point quality control checklist, ensuring that the links they provide are effective for ranking.
  2. Anchor Text Selection: By carefully choosing the target anchor text, they prevent triggering any anchor text penalties.
  3. Content-Length: Each placement includes a substantial 1,000 words of content by default, enhancing overall value.
  4. Natural Linking: To maintain authenticity, they seamlessly add internal and external links to placement pages.
  5. Strict Blacklist: LinksThatRank maintains a strict blacklist of sites with “write for us” pages and known guest post farms and PBN networks.
  6. Toxic Backlink Identification: They’ve even developed their own link-building tool to identify and avoid toxic backlinks.

In summary, choosing LinksThatRank means you’ll receive higher-quality links that can significantly impact your rankings. 

Here’s a recent client case study:

LinksThatRank stands out as one of the premier link-building services globally, and for good reason. 

Moreover, they offer monthly link-building packages at discounted rates! 

If you’re committed to boosting your SEO traffic but lack the time to construct links yourself, entrust LinksThatRank to handle it on your behalf.

Resource page link building is a well-established link-building strategy that adheres to a traditional process:

  1. Identify Relevant Pages: Begin by locating webpages from which you desire a backlink.
  2. Gather Contact Information: Once you’ve found potential pages, collect their contact details.
  3. Link Negotiation: Engage in negotiations to secure the desired link.

Remarkably, this strategy offers an impressive return on investment (ROI) per link. 

In fact, it ranks as our third most effective link-building approach in terms of results.

BUT:

It doesn’t scale and the opportunities are limited in any given niche.

Resource page link building involves securing a spot on a website’s dedicated “resource” page. 

These pages typically compile and link to valuable industry resources, including:

  • Products
  • Services
  • Tools
  • Research
  • Statistics
  • Guides

In any specific niche, you can approach the website owner and propose featuring your statistics post. If they agree, you’ll earn a valuable backlink to your site.

This strategy works particularly well for statistics posts because people have an affinity for data-driven insights! 

It’s a win-win situation for both website owners and their audience. 

Step #1 – Find Resource Pages

This is actually pretty easy.

All you have to do is a quick Google search to locate existing resource pages within your niche, just like this:

This will bring up many of the sites in your niche and the resource pages attached to them.

As you scroll down the results, you’ll notice that many of the world’s top travel blogs appear in the first four listings. 

Additionally, smaller blogs also feature travel resource pages. 

Your task is to systematically go through the search results and compile a list of relevant resource pages where you’d like to be featured.

Step #2 – Find Their Contact Details

This process mirrors the previous lesson. By now, it should be second nature to you:

  1. Utilize tools like FindThatLead and Hunter.
  2. Collect all the contact emails you discover during your search.

Remember, efficient email collection is a valuable skill in your link-building journey!

Step #3 – Send The Email

Now, let’s dive into the pitch!

Remember, gentleness and respect are key. 

You’re essentially asking the site owner for a favor, and they’re more likely to oblige if they feel a positive connection. Approach it as if you’re offering something valuable that benefits both them and their audience.

Feel free to customize the template below by editing or omitting details to make it sound more aligned with your voice and intentions!

Hey [First Name],

I’ve been researching [topic] for a while now and I felt pretty stuck until I found your resource page. Learning about [topic] from the link on there really helped me do [desired outcome].

Since you helped me so much I’d love to offer something in return. I’ve [written] an article about the latest [statistics topic] and I think it would be a great help to your audience and a good addition to your resources page!

I’ve also attached a handy image that you might like:
[Your link]

Keep up the great work, and I really look forward to reading more of your stuff.

Have a great day,
[Your name]

And as always,

Don’t forget to schedule your follow-up emails!

Often, it’s the second or third email that gets a response.

In the realm of return on investment (ROI), this link-building strategy consistently delivers robust outcomes. Remarkably, it ranks as our third-best performer.

Moreover, it serves as an excellent method to swiftly secure a few valuable links for your new post.  My recommendation? 

Make this process a habit every time you create a statistics post! 

Wrapping It Up

Keep in mind that SEO success results from a harmonious blend of efforts in technical optimization, content creation, and link building.

Therefore, I encourage you to promptly implement the steps I’ve shared above on your own website. Imagine achieving more results like this:

And don’t forget:

The LinksThatRank team can help.

They handle the intricacies of link building, allowing you to focus on more critical aspects of your business.

And for those not yet ready to dive into link building…

Consider embarking on the 100% free 28-Day SEO Challenge

It’s a fantastic way to enhance your SEO skills!

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Matthew Woodward
Matthew Woodward

Matthew Woodward is best known for his SEO blog, case studies and experiments that have helped thousands of people to grow their search traffic.

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