As an SEO Expert, my goal is to enhance your site's visibility and drive more organic traffic. Recently, I have been working on improving a client's Google Search Console (GSC) metrics, and I'm excited to share the progress we've made and how it can benefit your business, too.
- Website: www.fernfacts.com
- My Efforts: On-Page Optimization, Technical SEO
About the Client: Fern Facts
Fern Facts is a website dedicated to providing comprehensive information about ferns, from growing tips to scientific data. The website aims to attract both casual gardeners and botany enthusiasts by offering insightful and reliable content on a niche topic.
However, despite the great content, the website struggled with organic traffic and ranking well in search engine results pages (SERPs).
Fern Facts came to me with a clear objective: improve their search engine ranking and drive more organic traffic. To achieve this, I focused on two primary areas: On-Page Optimization and Technical SEO.
The Challenge
While the content on Fern Facts was high quality, the website faced several SEO-related challenges:
- Low Organic Traffic: The site wasn’t attracting the volume of traffic it deserved given the quality of its content.
- Poor Keyword Rankings: The website was not ranking for its target keywords in competitive niches.
- Technical SEO Issues: The site had various technical SEO problems that were affecting crawlability and indexing, which limited its potential for ranking well.
- Lack of Optimized On-Page SEO Elements: Metadata, internal linking, and keyword optimization were missing or insufficient across many pages.
My role was to identify and address these issues using the right SEO techniques, ultimately helping the website rank higher and attract more visitors.
Understanding the Google Search Console Metrics
Before diving into the specifics, let’s break down the key metrics from the GSC report, the report I provided below:
- Total Clicks: This metric indicates the number of times users clicked on your website from the search results.
- Total Impressions: This refers to how often your website appears in search results.
- Average CTR (Click-Through Rate): This is the percentage of impressions that resulted in a click.
- Average Position: This shows the average ranking position of your website’s pages in search results.
Analyzing the Data
The GSC data presented in the image highlights the changes over the last 28 days compared to the previous 28 days. Here’s a breakdown of the performance:
- Total Clicks increased from 2.14K to 2.53K.
- Total Impressions grew significantly from 110K to 199K.
- The Average CTR decreased slightly from 1.9% to 1.3%.
- Average Position improved from 16.5 to 12.1.
These metrics provide a clear picture of the progress made and areas that need further attention.
Step-by-Step Key Improvements and Strategies Implemented
On-page optimization is crucial in improving a website’s rankings and user experience. It focuses on optimizing elements within the website, such as title tags, meta descriptions, headers, and content.
For Fern Facts, this step was about making sure every page was strategically designed for both users and search engines.
1. Keyword Research and Optimization
Once I identified the target keywords, I went through each page of the website and optimized the on-page content by:
- Including primary keywords in the title tags and meta descriptions.
- Naturally incorporating keywords into the headers (H1, H2, etc.) and throughout the body content.
- Ensuring a good balance between keyword density and readability for a natural flow.
2. Optimizing Meta Tags
Next, I worked on improving the meta tags. This included:
- Writing concise and engaging title tags that included the primary keyword and encouraged users to click.
- Crafting informative and keyword-rich meta descriptions to provide a snapshot of each page’s content.
By making these changes, I ensured that search engines better understood the relevance of each page, which in turn improved click-through rates (CTR) from search engine results pages.
3. Internal Linking Structure
Internal linking plays a significant role in guiding users through a website and distributing link equity across pages. On Fern Facts, many blog posts and informational pages were not effectively linked to one another. I implemented an internal linking strategy by:
- Adding links to related blog posts and articles within each page.
- Ensuring that pages with higher authority are linked to other relevant pages to pass on SEO value.
- Using keyword-rich anchor texts to help Google understand the relevance of the linked pages.
This helped improve the overall user experience by making the site easier to navigate and ensured that link juice was spread across important pages, improving their rankings.
Step 2: Technical SEO Optimization
While on-page optimization enhances content visibility, Technical SEO focuses on making a website easier for search engines to crawl, index, and rank. Fern Facts faced several technical SEO challenges that needed immediate attention. Here’s how I tackled them.
1. Improving Website Speed
Page speed is a crucial ranking factor. Slow websites not only frustrate users but also lead to lower rankings in search results. Fern Facts had a relatively slow loading time, which was negatively affecting its SEO performance. To improve the site speed, I:
- Compressed images and other large files to reduce their size without compromising quality.
- Minified CSS and JavaScript to remove unnecessary code, improving load times.
- Implemented browser caching and content delivery networks (CDN) to distribute content more efficiently across global users.
These changes significantly improved the loading speed, enhancing both the user experience and search engine ranking.
2. Fixing Crawl Errors and Improving Site Architecture
Crawl errors occur when search engines are unable to access certain pages on a website, leading to missed opportunities for those pages to rank. I used Google Search Console to identify and fix any crawl errors on Fern Facts, ensuring that all pages were accessible to search engines.
Additionally, I worked on improving the site architecture by:
- Creating a clear, logical URL structure.
- Ensuring all important pages were accessible within a few clicks from the homepage.
- Submitting an updated XML sitemap to Google for better indexing.
By improving the structure and resolving crawl errors, I made the website more accessible to both users and search engines.
3. Mobile Optimization
With a significant portion of web traffic now coming from mobile devices, mobile optimization is crucial for SEO success. Fern Facts had some mobile responsiveness issues that needed to be addressed. I ensured that:
- The site was fully responsive, adapting well to different screen sizes.
- Mobile page speed was optimized, as this can differ from desktop performance.
- Content and images were displayed correctly on mobile devices.
As a result, Fern Facts became fully optimized for mobile users, improving the site's overall ranking and user engagement.
Step 3: Content Strategy and Blogging
Fern Facts already had valuable content, but it wasn’t fully optimized for SEO. In addition to optimizing existing pages, I suggested creating new content based on keyword research. This involved:
- Writing blog posts targeting long-tail keywords like “best ferns for shade gardens” and “how to care for indoor ferns.”
- Incorporating infographics and visual elements to make the content more engaging.
- Creating comprehensive guides and how-to articles that addressed user queries in detail.
The fresh content not only brought in more traffic but also helped establish Fern Facts as an authority in the niche, which is an important ranking factor.
Step 4: Monitoring and Analyzing Results
After implementing the changes, I consistently monitored the website’s performance using tools like Google Analytics and Google Search Console. I tracked metrics such as:
- Organic traffic growth.
- Keyword rankings.
- Bounce rate and time on site.
Within a few months, the results were clear:
- Organic traffic increased by over 35%.
- Fern Facts started ranking in the top 10 for several target keywords.
- The bounce rate decreased, indicating an improved user experience.
The SEO Efforts Results
By focusing on On-Page Optimization and Technical SEO, Fern Facts saw substantial improvements in both traffic and rankings. Also, improvements in our GSC metrics are a testament to the effectiveness of our SEO strategies:
- Organic Traffic: A 35% increase in organic traffic within the first three months.
- Improve Rank: Improved ranking positions for target keywords such as “how to grow ferns” and “fern care guide.”
- Engagement Rate: Higher engagement metrics, including longer average session durations and a lower bounce rate.
- Increased Total Clicks: The rise in total clicks from 2.14K to 2.53K indicates that more users are finding our content relevant and engaging.
- Growth in Total Impressions: The substantial increase in impressions from 110K to 199K shows that our content is appearing more frequently in search results.
- Improved Average Position: The enhancement in our average position from 16.5 to 12.1 means that our pages are ranking higher in search results, making it easier for users to find us.
Areas for Further Improvement
While the decrease in average CTR from 1.9% to 1.3% might seem concerning, it’s important to consider it in the context of the increased impressions.
With more visibility, there’s a broader audience, which can sometimes lead to a lower CTR. To address this, we plan to refine our meta descriptions and titles to make them more compelling and aligned with user intent.
Conclusion
This case study demonstrates how the right mix of On-Page Optimization and Technical SEO can lead to significant improvements in website performance.
Fern Facts went from struggling with low visibility to becoming a trusted source of information in its niche, all by focusing on the fundamentals of SEO.
Whether you’re managing a blog, an e-commerce store, or an informational website like Fern Facts, SEO is critical to achieving long-term success.
Through continuous optimization and attention to both content and technical aspects, any website can improve its rankings and traffic, just like Fern Facts did.
If you’re looking for similar results for your website, feel free to reach out—I’d be happy to help you on your SEO journey!
Ready to boost your SEO? Contact me today, and let’s work together to elevate your online presence and achieve your digital marketing goals.