There’s a misconception that SEO results can only be achieved by large businesses. While business size can impact SEO, high quality keyword rankings can be achieved by any business – it’s simply about implementing the right strategy.
This article discusses how we collaborated with 6 businesses of different sizes to grow their search engine rankings and which strategies delivered success.
What you need to know
Before we dive into the businesses and SEO results, you’ll need to know a few things:
- We use domain authority (DA) as a predictor of how likely a website is to rank in search engines. Domain authority is a search engine ranking score provided by Moz, where scores range from 1 to 100 and higher scores correspond to greater likelihood of ranking. Large established businesses tend to have higher domain authorities which is why they typically rank for more keywords.
- The SEO results charts you’ll see all come from the 3rd party SEO tracking tool Moz. Each bar in a chart represents keyword rankings on a given week and the colours correspond to ranking positions.
What SEO results can be achieved with a DA of 9 to 60?
Let’s explore the search engine results our clients achieved in order of domain authority (proxy for business size).
Bond Global
Domain Authority: 9
Our approach
Bond Global is a Recruitment Agency with a low domain authority. Prior to launch, the only things they ranked for in Google were very specific brand terms and a couple of broad terms buried deep into page 4 of search results.
With businesses in Bond’s position, we need to be smart about how we allocate resources to secure rankings. Being realistic about the types of keywords they can rank for is imperative for success. We selected a number of keyword targets that were very specific to Bond’s recruitment specialisms. This enabled them to gain greater visibility for those specific terms without wasting resources chasing after competitive and less relevant broad terms.
SEO results
+173% increase in search engine visibility since launch
Integr8
Domain Authority: 18
Our approach
Integr8 is a bunker fuel management provider with a low to moderate domain authority. They held some keyword rankings before we engaged on the project so it was important that we built upon what was in place to grow their visibility. Much like with Bond Global, we focused on specialist keywords that were tightly aligned with their service offering. Working in such a niche business space, keyword volumes are typically low. Therefore, we selected a greater number of keywords to ensure that Integr8 achieved the reach required to meaningfully increase their organic traffic. We introduced keywords that targeted specific locations such as ‘bunker quality durban’ to capture local traffic.
Within weeks of launch, Integr8 had secured new #1 keyword rankings for keywords that were previously ranking lower than page 5 of Google. Other keywords have climbed from the middle-bottom of page 1 to the #1 position which typically generates between 4-6x more clicks.
SEO results
+1279% increase in search engine visibility since launch
Minale + Mann
Domain Authority: 21
Our approach
Minale + Mann is a small luxury architecture firm in South London. At 21, their domain authority is relatively low for the construction industry. However, lower domain authorities only mean that we need to be more selective with the keywords we target. By analysing hundreds of search terms, we can select keywords that the client has a statistical change of achieving. Find out more about how we select keywords.
For Minale + Mann, we identified a number of ranking opportunities in the London architecture and interior design keyword groups, as well as some more niche keywords around their conservation architecture and restoration services. We leant into the on-page specificity on the Minale + Mann website, creating pages to target clusters of keywords and producing copy that closely aligned the keywords with Google’s algorithm.
The client saw significant results within 2-3 months and rankings continued to climb over the next year.
SEO results
+91% increase in organic traffic since launch
+42,963% increase in search engine visibility since launch
Hanson Wade
Domain Authority: 40
Our approach
Hanson Wade has a moderate to good domain authority. Their main challenge was that their previous website hadn’t been built and optimised in a way that would enable them to achieve their potential. Our specialists focused on delivering a website with high quality technical SEO foundations and implemented a strategy that targets a combination of broad short tail keywords and specific long tail keywords. This enabled Hanson Wade to benefit from the high search volumes of the broad keywords and the highly aligned traffic of the lower search volume but very specific keywords.
Hanson Wade had huge amounts of untapped SEO potential and experienced huge growth following our SEO work.
SEO results
+1959% increase in search engine visibility in the UK since launch
+2821% increase in search engine visibility in the US since launch
Diffusion PR
Domain Authority: 41
Our approach
Diffusion PR is a PR agency with headquarters in the UK that was looking to open a new office in the US. They needed to increase their lead generation to fund the new office, with particular focus on generating leads in the US to grow their client base. They had a moderate-good domain authority, but we were mindful that the marketing and communications sector typically has a high level of SEO competitiveness, meaning that a domain authority of 41 is not as competitive as it would be in another industry.
Our strategy for Diffusion was to introduce a US territory on their website, enabling them to produce content that was aligned with their US customer base and provide a solid foundation for regional SEO optimisation. There are a number of technical SEO considerations for international websites, particularly those using the same language. Our team handled the intricacies of the setup and used the new structure to target clusters of keywords with specific landing pages. This enabled Diffusion to secure a broad range of strong rankings that bring users into specific parts of the site that match their search intent.
SEO results
+3045% increase in search engine visibility in the UK and US since launch
+15% increase in new lead generation
-27% bounce rate
Cole & Son
Domain Authority: 60
Our approach
Cole & Son is a luxury wallpaper brand with a high domain authority. Much like Diffusion, their industry is typically very competitive, however a domain authority of 60 gave us a great platform to grow their rankings.
They had made the decision to transition their business model from selling via distributors to selling direct to market. To do this, they needed to build their global market share to outperform their distributors and generate direct sales. We worked closely with Cole & Son to lay the foundations for international SEO rankings on their website and execute a global SEO strategy that would enable them to enter new markets and gain visibility.
Given the scope of Cole & Son’s marketing ambitions, we delivered a headless eCommerce website with 8 international territories. Each territory had a tailored SEO strategy that was rolled out within the site. We identified an opportunity for Cole & Son to target specific long tail keywords that used combinations of product descriptors including colour, pattern, texture, room and material. Targeting these keywords opened up Cole & Son’s organic market size, enabling them to reach consumers looking for very specific products.
SEO results
+101% increase in revenue since launch
+543% increase in search engine visibility in the UK since launch
+523% increase in search engine visibility in the US since launch
+592% increase in search engine visibility in Australia since launch
+1053% increase in search engine visibility in New Zealand since launch
+218% increase in search engine visibility in Sweden since launch
+120% increase in search engine visibility in Norway since launch
+190% increase in search engine visibility in Singapore since launch
Our work with Cole & Son also won the Best Cross Border Campaign Award at the eCommerce Awards 2023.
Summary
All businesses have the opportunity to grow their SEO rankings and achieve their business goals. The key is to select the right strategy based on the domain authority, industry and objectives of the business.
If you would like some advice on SEO strategy, you can book a complimentary consultation by emailing us at [email protected] or calling 0203 0111 641.
How to measure your domain authority?
Moz has a free domain authority checker tool that you can use to benchmark your level of competitiveness.
Other content you may like:
How to choose keywords for your SEO strategy
What Makes a Winner? The Strategy Behind Our Cross Border Campaign Win at the eCommerce Awards
How to Implement Hreflang Tags: Global SEO Optimisation
How to Change Your Domain URL Without Losing SEO
