Case Study: How Content Strategy Beat the Algorithm
When our team was tasked with taking over a well-known international website targeting the highly competitive travel sector in English-speaking countries, we knew from the outset that this was a complex and demanding project.
Organic traffic in this space is of immense importance, as not only are visitors highly likely to convert into customers, but each conversion also means significant revenue.
However, because the travel sector is so competitive, an SEO approach must be broader, aiming not only for rankings but also for content quality, which in turn leads to building authority and a relationship of trust with the audience.
✅ The Problem
When we took over the website in early October 2023, it had been significantly affected by the August, September, and October 2023 algorithm updates.
As shown in the diagram below, the site’s average position had dropped to between the 3rd and 4th pages by October 2023, with a significant decline that seemed unstoppable.
✅ The Solution
It’s a fact that in the “jungle” of international travel sites, many never recover from such a severe algorithm hit, as they are quickly overtaken by others and lose momentum. From this perspective, our primary goal was to stabilize the site as quickly as possible, address the main issues that led to its decline, and, of course, improve its rankings.
Content quality and strengthening topical authority are currently the two most effective best practices in SEO for travel brands and formed the core of our actions. Combined, of course, with thorough technical SEO that fortified the site against future algorithm updates.
Our approach was based on the following pillars:
⭕ Content Research: We conducted in-depth research of the site’s content to identify areas for improvement, replacement, and development.
⭕ Deletion and Correction: The goal was for the content that remained on the site to comply with Google’s guidelines and meet user needs. In this context, poorly written texts, AI-generated content, and pages that didn’t serve SEO or user needs were deleted. Similarly, articles and pages that could be improved were adjusted to meet modern search engine and user requirements.
⭕ Content Creation: The focus of our targeted actions was creating useful, industry-relevant articles that address the target group’s needs, helping to build authority and loyalty.
⭕ Content Structuring: Since content on travel sites can be diverse and rich, it’s crucial to structure it in a specific way to answer users’ questions simply and coherently. Thus, we created pillar pages for various significant sections and subtopics for each, with a comprehensive content plan.
⭕ Technical Fixes: We addressed various technical issues the website had, such as pagination, canonicals, interlinks, deadlinks, and low-content pages.
⭕ New Landing Pages: We identified opportunities to create new landing pages that would increase organic traffic.
⭕ Backlink Management: Quality backlinks are paramount in off-page SEO, and with this in mind, we corrected, removed, or disavowed several backlinks from suspicious sources. Additionally, we identified opportunities for link building and link earning.
✅ What We Achieved
Our goal was for our actions to yield results in approximately 6 months, a timeframe considered not just acceptable but also short in SEO.
The results of our work began to show in just 2 months, as by December 2023, as shown in the previous diagram, the average position started to rise. By April 2024, six months after taking over the website, the average organic position had not only recovered but surpassed previous levels.
We observed the same upward trend from December 2023 in organic clicks, further validating the site’s recovery from the algorithm updates.
Our strategy also delivered in another area where many sites face significant challenges: the Click-Through Rate (CTR).
Because what’s the point of high rankings if they don’t translate into clicks?
The impressive increase in CTR is a result of the emphasis placed on useful and significantly improved content that attracts users, answers their questions, and builds a relationship of trust, thereby strengthening the brand.
It is also a result of the rise in positions for value keywords, i.e., keywords with high search volume and user intent to transact, leading to a higher likelihood of the user converting into a customer.
This is a highly representative case of the value that good content now offers, which is also one of the main trends in SEO today.
