With this client, we knew results would take time. The website had never had any SEO work done prior.
However, that is also exciting. We could build the brand’s authority and expertise correct from the beginning, giving them a solid foundation to grow on for years to come.
Our SEO process is focused on scalable results that provide long term value.
Background
In February 2024, we started working with a client in the communication training space. The person behind this brand had a tremendous reputation – they work with celebrities and CEO’s, and have a very accomplished resume. However, all of their business comes from word-of-mouth, and their website had virtually no organic traffic.
In the month prior to us starting, the website had gotten 36 total clicks from organic search.
So, we were working on a site with no rankings, no organic traffic, and no visibility. Our goal? To build their authority, drive targeted organic traffic, and turn their site into a go-to resource in their industry.
What We Did
With a website that has had very little done to grow its presence in search engines, its important to take a holistic approach. We wanted to build the website into a trusted authority in the niche that they serve. To do that, we need to focus on building authority and expertise.
Content Strategy: Building Authority With Consistent, High-Quality Content
We performed Keyword Research to determine which topics would help establish this expertise and relevance, and highlighted the ones that had lower competition for ranking.
- We published 94 brand-new articles between February 2024 and March 2025, covering key topics in communication, voice training, and public speaking.
- We updated six older articles, optimizing them for SEO and improving readability.
- We deleted three underperforming pages to improve site quality and focus on high-value content.
How it played out:
- First 6 months (Feb–July 2024): 51 new articles (~8.5 per month) – focusing on fundamental, high-value topics like public speaking, communication skills, and vocal training.
- Second 6 months (Aug 2024–Feb 2025): 43 new articles (~7 per month) – refining the content strategy with niche-specific, long-tail keyword articles.
- March 2025: 3 new articles, as we have covered a lot of the key topics at this point
- Conversely, most of these content updates happened in February 2024, right when we started.
Link Building: Increasing Trust and Authority
We identified good opportunities to connect with other brands online to build authority. With the research complete, it was time to get to work.
- We built 35 high-quality backlinks over 13 months, using a mix of homepage links, inner-page links, and keyword-optimized anchor texts.
- We targeted authoritative industry websites, ensuring each link provided SEO value and referral traffic.
- Internal linking was a major focus, and we implemented structured internal link maps to pass authority between key pages.
How it played out:
- The backlink building was consistent, with 2–6 links added per month.
- Initially, we started with 2 backlinks per month (February–July 2024), focusing on foundational pages like the homepage and service pages.
- By October 2024–February 2025, backlink acquisition scaled up to 4–6 links per month, targeting both high-value landing pages and new content.
Technical SEO: Creating a Strong Foundation
This website was already set up pretty well from a technical standpoint. However, it’s important to do everything in your power to make sure the website is technically sound. This will only improve your chances of maximizing all of the hard work.
- We optimized site structure, ensuring key pages were easy to find and crawl.
- We improved page load speed and mobile usability, addressing Core Web Vitals to enhance user experience.
- We implemented schema markup and metadata optimizations to boost click-through rates (CTR) from search results.
Results: Month-by-Month Growth
As expected, results from our work took several months to start coming in:
- February – June 2024:
- The site had no real organic traffic yet, but we focused on laying the groundwork with content and backlinks.
- Internal linking was optimized to connect related pages and improve rankings.
- July – August 2024:
- We started seeing the first real growth in organic impressions, meaning Google was recognizing and indexing our content.
- Rankings for key terms began improving, though traffic was still minimal.
- September – December 2024:
- Consistent traffic growth started happening as more pages ranked higher.
- Our backlinking efforts helped push key pages onto page one of search results.
- January – March 2025:
- A huge traffic spike happened in late January, more than doubling organic traffic overnight.
- By March, organic traffic had quadrupled compared to January.
- We hit 565,000+ impressions and 5,300+ clicks in just 16 months.
- Monthly:
- The site now receives over 200,000 Impressions and almost 2,000 clicks from organic traffic
- This traffic is high value for the brand, as they sell high priced communication training.
Why It Worked:
- Content Velocity: We published articles at a steady pace to help Google consistently crawl and index fresh content.
- Strategic Link Building: We didn’t chase random backlinks. Instead, we built high-authority links that reinforced our most important pages.
- Keyword Targeting: We focused on a mix of high-volume and low-competition keywords to drive traffic fast.
- Site Optimization: By improving internal linking, page speed, and user experience, we ensured visitors stayed on the site longer.
Final Thoughts
This case study proves that with the right mix of content, links, and technical SEO, even a brand-new site can achieve massive organic growth in just a year.
We took this site from zero to thousands of clicks per month, and the traffic trend shows no signs of slowing down. Moving forward, we’ll continue scaling backlinks, optimizing for conversions, and expanding into higher-competition keywords to keep the momentum going.
