Case study: A huge increase in visits with search engine optimization
We performed a keyword research related to business school vocabulary for Mafy in the autumn of 2021. Based on the results of the research, we optimized Mafy’s business studies coaching pages and Google Ads campaigns. Now after six months, we took a look at the results of the work and noticed that the ROI of the optimization has been spectacular.
Mafy offers e-learning materials and university coaching courses for those in the medical, business and technical fields. It also provides learning materials for high school students to prepare for exams, as well as course materials for teachers.
Keyword research laid the foundation for strategy work
Keyword research helps to find out what keywords the target groups use and what kind of content they look for. The target groups for Mafy’s business coaching course are high school students and graduates, those looking for a career change, and people who are re-doing the university entrance exams.
After performing the keyword research, we identified the need for broader strategy work and content optimization. We completely redesigned the landing pages related to the business coaching courses, from the structure of the pages and the URL hierarchies to the text content itself. We optimized the content for specific keywords to better meet the search needs of our target groups and created sub-pages targeting different keywords on the coaching page. The sub-pages guide the user to learn more about Mafy’s coaching courses and self-study materials, and prompt them to navigate to the online store. The new structure ensures that the users find the content they were looking for and get answers to their questions regarding coaching courses and self-study materials.
After optimizing the pages, we also edited the business studies campaign on Google Ads by dividing the ad groups into different stages of the purchase path. Traffic was redirected to landing pages that correspond to each step in the user path.
Huge growth on the business studies pages
Several pages have now been created on Mafy’s website for those interested in business studies: a general presentation of the coaching, as well as sub-pages that tell more about the self-study materials and courses.
Let’s look at what search engine visibility and traffic look like on the business studies page from February this year to the end of April, compared to the same period last year when no changes had yet been made to the pages (1.2.2021 – 30.4.2021 vs. 1.2.2022 – 30.4.2022). The subpages of the business studies page are included in the comparison.
Clicks
+59.8%
Impressions
+423.3%
The average ranking of keywords with the important search term kauppatieteet (“business studies”) rose three ranks on the first page of search results. The clicks for this search term increased by 290% and the CTR by 245%.
Another important keyword for Mafy is kauppatieteet valmennuskurssi (“business studies coaching course”), which was bumped up two ranks on the first page of search results. The clicks for this keyword increased by 93%. However, our work is not finished and we can expect the rankings to improve even more in the future.
Search engine optimization has supported the quality of advertising
In terms of advertising, we’ve found that changing the campaign structure and using the right keywords has led to more traffic and better brand and product awareness. The number of conversions has increased and the keyword research has also contributed to the sales of Mafy’s other products. Better brand awareness through ads has also increased traffic from other sources: a part of the organic traffic is made up of visitors who first saw an ad on the search engine, and later on did a branded search.
The success on the business pages has led to continuous cooperation in optimization and advertising, where we aim to improve the organic visibility of all Mafy’s pages and products. The results are already visible: organic traffic on Mafy’s website has grown tremendously since we started systematically developing their site.
The increase in organic visibility from the beginning of February to the end of April 2022 compared to 2021:
Clicks
+110.5%
Impressions
+52.8 %
Most of the time, branded keywords (keywords including the company name) perform better than unbranded keywords. What is significant about Mafy is that there has been a lot of growth in non-branded keywords as well, thanks to the content work. See a comparison of branded and unbranded keywords below (the time period is the same as in the comparisons above):
Non-branded keywords:
Clicks
+111.9%
Impressions
+61.3%
CTR
+30.8%
Branded keywords:
Clicks
+164.7%
Keywords
+112.1%
CTR
+25.1%
The revenue of the ecommerce store has skyrocketed
Let’s look at the developments in Mafy’s ecommerce store through organic traffic from the first day of December 2021 to the end of February 2022, and compare this to the same period last year (1.12.2020 vs. 28.2.2021 vs. 1.12.2021 to 28.2.2022). As you can see from the numbers, great success has already been achieved.
Store revenue
+188%
Conversions
+57%
Transactions
+260%
The work we’ve done for Mafy is a great example of how search engine optimization and search engine advertising can support each other and how significant growth can be achieved with optimization. Combining SEO and advertising creates an effective strategy where advertising supports organic visibility and vice versa.
Are you interested in the possibilities of growth marketing? Check out our search engine optimization and digital advertising services or contact us!
