http://www.enhance.ie

enhance.ie

CLIENT: Irish Stairlifts & BathroomsINDUSTRY: Disability ServicesURL: http://www.irishstairlifts.ieCAMPAIGN TYPE: SEO Strategy

SEO Case StudyIrish StairLifts & Bathrooms

Website & Online Strategy Realignment

http://www.enhance.ie

The Challenge

The last year or so has seen dramatic changes in the way search engines view and assess websites and this has had a big impact on rankings. Old SEO techniques, which often relied heavily upon strategies such as link building, including lots of keywords and so on are no longer enough to assure a good ranking, and in some cases these techniques, if done incorrectly, can have a detrimental effect on a sites ranking

The goal of search engines has always been to return the most relevant results for its users but this objective has often been hindered by spurious SEO techniques, which often meant its users were not getting the most relevant results. However search engines have now become really good at identifying these “black hat” techniques and Google, for example, has rolled out major updates to their algorithms which has resulted in rewards for websites generating interesting and fresh content. This after all is what the search engines have always been looking for and this has underpinned the growth in so-called “content marketing”.

Enhance has been responding to these changes by moving the focus from old style SEO and more towards “'Website Management” which takes a more holistic approach to being online and everything that accompanies an online presence.

http://www.enhance.ie

Gaining a Competitive Edge

Enhance has been working recently with Irish Stairlifts & Bathrooms to try and boost their web presence, taking the above changes into account and adapting accordingly. The work that has been done as a result has delivered major improvements in terms of search engine ranking and visitor traffic.

The first thing we did was to conduct an audit of the website to see if we could make some basic changes to enhance usability and make it easier for the search engines to crawl and index. The site was a few years old but we decided to see what we could with the exiting site rather than go to the expense of a new build. The audit identified some areas, which we could work on immediately such as:

Reducing the size of images to help with download speed and improving the quality of some of the images.

Adding more content and using the promotional banners on the home page more effectively as well as beefing up the content on the home page.

Improving the “Meta Data” within the site to help identify pages better for the search engines. Setting up the business on Google Places to help with local search.

To help add fresh content we added a Blog to the site and also beefed up the FAQ section (another good way of adding fresh useful content).

http://www.enhance.ie

Gaining a Competitive Edge

A big part of this approach is to work closely with the client to help them understand the changing nature of SEO, as it requires a level of “ownership” by the business, particularly as Social Media has become such an important component of SEO.

Meeting with the client and talking all this through can allay many unfounded fears and can also unlock hidden talents of clients such as an ability and even enthusiasm for blogging, which we discovered with our own client, Irish Stairlifts & Bathrooms. After all, the client will have much more passion and expertise about their own business than any third party.

Finally, a key part of any management process is “measurement”. One of many tools we use at Enhance for this is Google Analytics, which provides unbelievably detailed data on visitor behaviour. This has helped immensely with identifying performing and non-performing pages allowing us to take appropriate action.

Google Friendly Structure

Implement Google Services

Creative Content Marketing

Strong Social Media Presence

http://www.enhance.ie

Staying ahead of The Pack

While we are just beginning this new approach it is clear to us at Enhance that several aspects can be identified as key to success in this new world of SEO:

Websites need to be audited on an ongoing basis to ensure that they are in rude health for the search engines.

Social media and blogging are now significant activities with regard to SEO and need to be managed accordingly.

Analytical tools must be utilised to forensically assess performance and identify required action.

SEO cannot be fully sub-contracted out. There must be an involvement by both parties, agency and client, so that business objectives can be aligned with the website and also to convey that resources will need to be allocated for SEO activities to succeed in today’s online environment.

Paul CompelliSEO Specialist Enhance.ie

The days of SEO Specialists trying to

outwit algorithms are over. Now creative

content strategy and valuable, sustainable

strategies are essential, not just tricks and

links.

http://www.enhance.ie

Business Impact

Irish StairLifts has exceeded its initial pre site and strategy realignment targets and goals. During the first six months, site promotions were continually adjusted due to insights and recommendations stemming from analytics data, leading to increased income from these promotions. The measurement of activity on product pages provided invaluable insights into audience behaviour and justified increased budget to be available for future product based promotions both onsite and offsite. Consistent digital campaign tracking and attribution analysis identified key success factors in email campaigns, social media marketing and display campaigns, allowing for optimal budget planning and campaign optimization

The Outcomes After One Year

Revenue increased Year on Year

Bottom of page 1 in Google to the top of Page 1

Total transactions increased

Site traffic up 100% year on year

Email signups increased

Using advanced analytics and measurement programs through Google Analytics allowed Irish Stairs

to quantify its investment in the fresh site and online strategy realignment and accurately measure

and improve all of their internal and external digital promotions.

Growth