The provided materials detail several SEO strategies employed by various businesses, ranging from brick-and-mortar establishments to e-commerce sites and SaaS applications. These examples highlight the importance of on-page SEO, technical SEO, and off-page strategies, particularly backlink acquisition. The data indicates a focus on content creation, keyword targeting, and technical website optimization as key components of successful SEO campaigns. Several examples emphasize the continued relevance of SEO despite the emergence of large language models like ChatGPT.
On-Page SEO and Content Strategy
On-page SEO centers on structuring content to target specific keywords. One example provided focuses on Oakwell Beer Spa, which utilizes a blog to attract Denver locals and travelers interested in wellness services. The business publishes one blog article per week, targeting keywords related to the Denver lifestyle and wellness space, and updates older articles to maintain rankings. The data shows this strategy resulted in 79,000 organic website visitors from Google within seven months of a rebranding and website redesign. This suggests a strong content strategy, combined with consistent publishing and updates, can drive significant organic traffic.
Calm, a meditation app, also demonstrates a successful on-page SEO strategy centered around a blog. According to data from Ahrefs, Calm’s blog generates 1.2 million of its 1.3 million monthly visitors from SEO. The strategy involves ranking for “pain point” keywords, addressing user discomfort and distress, and subsequently introducing the Calm app as a solution. This approach highlights the value of identifying and targeting specific user needs through content.
The Cut, a media company, ranks for high “top of funnel” keywords related to horoscopes, interpersonal questions, and celebrities, achieving 2-3 million monthly visitors from SEO. The data emphasizes the importance of creating a brand beyond search engines, incorporating newsletters, partnerships, and a strong social media presence (with over 1 million followers). The Cut’s content is noted as being 100% human-written, as verified by Originality AI, potentially contributing to its strong rankings.
Technical SEO Considerations
Technical SEO involves building a website that search engines can readily understand. The materials mention Schema markup, sitemaps, and HTML as components of technical SEO. While the examples do not provide detailed technical implementations, they note that modern website builders like Webflow, Squarespace, and Framer often handle many technical aspects automatically.
Canva exemplifies programmatic SEO, generating content for various templates like business cards and resumes. Despite some URLs lacking meta descriptions, these pages rank well for high-volume searches, such as “business card template” (over 20,000 monthly searches). This demonstrates the potential of programmatic SEO for large-scale content creation, though the data cautions against SEO mistakes, such as creating pages with limited user value. Tools like Airtable and SEOMatic are suggested for automating programmatic SEO projects, and Webflow is recommended for building data-driven, SEO-optimized pages. Ahrefs Meta-description generator is also mentioned as a tool for automating page titles and meta-descriptions.
The materials also highlight the importance of image optimization, including adding alt text for accessibility and compressing images to improve website load speed. Plugins like Kraken.io are suggested for automatic image compression.
Off-Page SEO and Backlink Acquisition
Off-page SEO primarily concerns backlinks – links from other websites. Nerdwallet’s strategy focuses on developing helpful tools, such as budget worksheets and cost of living calculators, to attract backlinks. Their cost of living calculator has received over 5000 backlinks from 1000 different domains, including Wikipedia, Salesforce, and Yale. The success of this strategy is attributed to the tool’s broad appeal and its ability to anticipate user needs.
Local SEO Tactics
Asbury Electric provides an example of effective local SEO. The company targets “electricians in Gloucester Point, Virginia,” positioning itself as “your local residential electrician” and appearing in the local 3-pack. The data indicates that Asbury Electric also ranks for local searches in other areas, leveraging a franchise model. The materials identify key local SEO tactics as claiming a Google Business Profile listing, strategically using locally-targeted keywords, earning citations from local businesses, and responding to reviews on Google and third-party review sites.
Future Trends and Considerations
The materials suggest that user-generated content and influencer marketing are gaining importance, with millennials valuing influencer recommendations more than traditional advertising. The data indicates that three in ten millennials prioritize influencer recommendations, and five in ten find influencer marketing more engaging than traditional ads.
Conclusion
The provided materials demonstrate the continued importance of a multifaceted SEO strategy encompassing on-page optimization, technical considerations, and off-page link building. Successful examples, such as Oakwell Beer Spa, Calm, The Cut, Nerdwallet, and Asbury Electric, highlight the value of targeted content creation, technical website optimization, and strategic backlink acquisition. The data also suggests that local SEO remains crucial for businesses targeting specific geographic areas and that emerging trends like influencer marketing may play an increasingly significant role in SEO success. Despite the rise of AI-powered search, the examples emphasize the continued value of high-quality, human-generated content.
Sources
- https://www.marketermilk.com/blog/seo-examples
- https://www.pollycloverwrites.com/blog/seo-website-examples
- https://www.webfx.com/blog/seo/seo-examples/
- https://www.seo.com/blog/seo-examples/