The primary goal was to increase both traffic and conversions from organic search. Month-over-month and year-over-year growth in ranking keywords, organic sessions, and conversions were the primary KPIs.

We needed the website to rank for niche-relevant keywords at every stage of the buyer journey: top of funnel, middle of funnel, and bottom of funnel. Bottom-of-funnel rankings drive conversions, but top/mid-funnel content was essential to build expertise, authority, and trust.

In other words: we started with broad content that solidified authority, then layered in highly converting content to turn organic visibility into customers.

Strategic Plan

1. Update Homepage
2. Establish a Pillar and Silo Model for Content
3. Internally Link Content
4. Develop Content Plan to Create Authority
5. Publish Keyword Optimized Content
6. Build Links to Attractive and Informative Content
7. Update Old Content for Higher Rankings

Update Home Page

Before keyword optimization or link building, we updated the homepage. It’s a primary driver of domain authority and needed meaningful content.

The homepage only had ~100 words and functioned mostly as a thin funnel page to the sales page.

Establish Pillar & Silo Model for Content

Beyond the homepage, the site needed structured content around service areas. We used a pillar + silo model to organize existing content and guide future publishing.

We published 5 long-form pillar articles—each targeting a top-of-funnel keyword and designed to be the best resource on the topic.

We then created silos for each pillar post and categorized all past content into the new structure, noting gaps where new support content was needed.

Internally Link Content

Internal linking is one of the highest-leverage strategies for sites with large content libraries. We linked from silo content back up to pillar pages to funnel authority and reinforce topical expertise.

At this point, the website was set up for success through:

• Updating the home page and adding meaningful content
• Publishing 5 long-form pillar articles
• Organizing architecture through the silo model
• Internally linking content back to pillar pages

Develop Content Plan to Create Authority

With architecture in place, we developed a plan to publish new support content. The site now had authority-building pillars, but needed additional niche support content to expand topical coverage.

Publish Keyword Optimized Content

We published long-form educational articles over several months. Each article was 2,000+ words to provide the depth needed to rank, targeting keywords that were low competition and tightly aligned with the brand.

We also intentionally built a “bulk” of niche-focused content to increase Google’s trust and authority signals over time—supporting key page rankings later.

Build Links to Attractive and Informative Content

With high-quality content live, we built links to several of the most informative pieces. These links are typically easier to earn and allow us to funnel authority to priority pages through internal linking.

Many links came from highly relevant domains with strong authority.

Update Old Content for Higher Rankings

Finally, we optimized existing high-quality articles that had never been SEO tuned. We identified posts with ranking potential, added content, improved structure and headers, and optimized for target keywords.

We fully executed the content + authority strategy:

• Keyword research to identify new content opportunities
• Long-form content published
• Links built to attractive, informative content
• High-potential older content updated for rankings

Keyword growth started almost immediately, but it was slow in the beginning—this made sense because much of the early work focused on structure and preparation.

The site grew in total ranking keywords by 50% through the first 7 months. At month 8, growth accelerated. By the end of 12 months, total ranking keywords had grown by 408% (over 5X).

After completion, growth continued. At month 18, total keyword growth reached 667% (nearly 8X).

Organic traffic growth started slowly, then spiked during the second half of the project. That upward trajectory continued after the work was completed.

At the end of 12 months, the site had grown organic traffic by 385% (nearly 5X).

To evaluate conversions from organic traffic, we accounted for seasonality by comparing the final 6 months of the 12-month project to the same 6-month period from the year prior.

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