Case Study: SEO Help For Locally-Focused Clients

Background

Express Countertops started working with us in late 2011. They are a Maryland-based business specializing in the fabrication and installation of countertops. Their business area covers all of Maryland, Delaware, and Washington DC, as well as Northern Virginia.

The Problem

Before coming to us, Express had been working with a SEO company that was using questionable strategies to boost their search rankings. The content that the company was writing for Express was not in accordance with Google’s guidelines, which led to a Google Slap.

The penalty resulted in a deep drop in search rankings and website visits. To make the slap worse for Express, the few visitors to the site were landing on pages that were not relevant to their search. Therefore, conversion rates dropped and bounce rates skyrocketed.

Express Countertops was not using Analytics at the time of the slap, but to give you an idea of what a Google Slap is like, take a look at the picture below.

This data comes from a client who experienced a Google Slap after the Penguin algorithm update was released. The algorithm lowered site rank because of certain links that were pointing to the site. Fortunately, this client was already working with us and we were quickly able to get them back on track, as seen below.

The Solution

In order to pull Express out of this slump, WebMechanix focused on rebuilding the website’s content using approved SEO and usability techniques. There were four specific steps we took that led to Express Countertops’ spike in visits.

1. Removing Duplicated Content – Dozens of pages of content were completely removed from Express’s website. This was a quick and easy step to shedding Google’s penalty. Duplicated content is the fast track to get Google Slapped.

2. Replacing Geographies – We researched where most of the site visitors were coming from and made note of the geographies that converted the most. In an attempt to attract qualified visitors, these were the geographies we targeted.

3. Reviewed Non-Duplicated Content – Express already had content on their site that had not been copied from one of their manufacturers. We put some wheels on this content by reworking the copy to focus on information the user would be searching. The graph below illustrates the increase in pageviews for the non-duplicate pages after we re-worked them.

4. Revamped Metadata – We updated this data to accurately describe the page and the content within so that users would find exactly what they expected to find, reducing bounce rates and improving click-throughs.

The Results

The combination of these steps led to the spike in visits after the first few months of SEO help. The sharp jump and steady incline in visits can be seen in the graph below.

The steps mentioned are a portion of the WebMechanix Backbone process, which is where we start with all clients. Data revealed during this process is used as a focus area to build digital marketing strategy.

Learn More

If you’d like to speak with a WebMechanix representative today, call us today at (443) 927-7195 or click here to contact us online.