SEO Case Study: Current Client - 1,000% Traffic Improvement

Taking Inventory
One of the reasons I got this client is because of our initial meeting. I was able to run through four or five things right there in the meeting to show them the hurdles they had. The site had over 2,300 HTML errors per page! This was causing incomplete indexing of the site by the search engines as well as problems correctly crediting the site with their existing link base. The problem was compounded by a complex content management system (CMS) running the back-end of this 20,000+ page site. Google was only able to index 9 pages and had credited the site with just 19 links.

The Fix
After our initial meeting we negotiated the consulting agreement and then got to work with a complete SEO setup including all the initial research and fixes required to get the site on track. The initial setup phase including all the HTML corrections took about four weeks. The project involved coordination with their reporters, editorial team, IT staff, and CMS service provider.

Immediate Results
Within two weeks of implementing the HTML corrections, sorting the URL structure, optimizing the internal linking structure and all the other work that was required, Google was able to index 9,000 pages and credited over 100,000 links to the site. Today the site has nearly 24,000 valid URLs indexed and 1.3 million links credited.

Growth
Since we started working with this company, organic traffic is up over 1,000%. Google, Yahoo, and Bing traffic has all improved by ten times over the baseline. The site's bounce rate is down, PPC spend is down, return visits are up, new visits are up, and the site is consistently ranking news stories at position one and two within hours of posting the article.

Baseline Organic Traffic
Over the period of Jan 1 2010 through March 18 2010, Google sent 6,229 visits from organic results

Current Organic Traffic
Over the period of Jan 1 2011 through March 18 2011, Google sent 62,885 visits. An improvement of over 1,000%!

1,000% Improvement Means We're Done, Right?
No! Over the next 12 months we will be working to double organic traffic from what it is today. Broadening the reach of a website is an exciting and never-ending project!