Lowcountry Crawl Spaces
SEO Case Study
I took on this client after about a month of back-and-forth. We started talking early May. I ran a full audit for his site, identified the failings of the previous SEO provider, and pitched him my strategy to get to the top of those search results. Sure enough, in only three months, we got to page 1 in Google. Typically we dont see results as good as these until about month 6, but surely enough within 3 months we were able to increase his monthly form subimssions by 80% See all the details below!
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Increase of monthly form submissions compared to last quarter.
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Increase of Organic Traffic Compared to Previous Month
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Increase of Keywords Grown to Top 3 Positions of Google
Picture of keyword positions when I began
managing the account Jun. 5th, 2024
Picture of current ranking positions as of Aug. 15th 2024 – They are still making steady climbs in the rankings!
Total Number of Keywords Managed: 115
13 Charleston Focused Keywords Increased Ranking Positions to Page 1 in Google Search Results.
Total Time Managing Account: 6 Months
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Who/What is Lowcountry Crawl Spaces?
Lowcountry Crawl Spaces is a local company in the Charleston area. It is owned and operated by its fearless leader, Travis. Travis began working in the industry right after high school, starting with a company focusing on water disaster restoration. After working there for 8 years, he thought it was time to branch out into a subset of the industry, specifically crawl spaces. Lowcountry Crawlspaces was founded in 2018. His first job came from him starting his entire new chapter through a Facebook Marketplace post. He landed his first job and nearly 6 years later has over 20 crawlspace service technicians and a fleet of 7 vehicles.
What Locations does Lowcountry Crawl Space Service?
Lowcountry Crawlspaces services the entire Lowcountry. Everything from Awendaw to the outskirts of Summerville and everything in between.
The Process
Before contacting me, they had been paying another provider (whose name will not be named) for about three years. Originally, Travis told me they were doing great and had a decent number of leads coming in from SEO efforts, but over the last two years, those leads had slowed to a trickle. I ran a very, very in-depth audit (my audits typically take around 5-7 hours to build out, no automated reports, just 5-7 hours of research and strategy) on the site and identified the key issues that were leading to those decreases in rankings and overall traffic. Once I identified those issues, I built an SEO strategy to capitalize on the highest priority needs and built out a roadmap to show him how I would fix his site and get him back to the top of those results.
Some Issues I Found During My Audit:
1.) Decrease in Organic Traffic
While conducting my audit the first thing I identified was his decrease in his organic traffic had declined. In July of 2022 his site was receiving about 350~ users to his website vs when I ran the audit, his current organic traffic users was 110~ in May of 2024. This was a decrease of 68% compared to where he was 2 years ago.
2.) Decrease in Page 1 Keyword Rankings
The next issue I identified was his ranking declines for his most important keywords. His page 1 keywords had fallen by 79% compared to June 2022. (You can see the reporting in the image below)
3.) Ranking for Keywords that Brought Zero Business
There’s a saying in the SEO industry that only Good SEOs understand and adhere to. “It’s not about the quantity of keywords, it’s about the quality”. This couldn’t have been more true for the current state of his website. He had a ton of keywords his website was ranking for at the top, but were these keywords beneficial and would these keywords bring new leads into his website? Unfortunately, the answer was no.
I rank a full keyword report and showed him which keywords would bring in the most business, which ones were questionable, and which ones were outright bad.
Green keywords are some of the best. They are highly relevant to the services offered on the site and typically garner high conversions. These are the keywords that Good SEOs typically target and build content around. Blue keywords are good, and it helps because people know your brand + it’s a locational keyword, so people will search it even without knowing about you. Orange Keywords could be good, but these keywords are typically informational related, they don’t typically yield high conversions. Red Keywords are bad, especially with Google’s recent “Helpful Content Update”& “EEAT Update.” Google sees this content as irrelevant to his industry. You can see in the image his site is ranking for “camping on capers island”. This keyword has zero relevance to his business or industry. Google’s algorithm is smart enough to understand relevance in conjunction with the main topic of the site and services he provides.
4.) Google EEAT Update & Helpful Content Update
Google launched its EEAT update in December 2022, which is exactly when we started seeing keyword declines on the website. What is the EEAT Update? It was basically Google’s attempt to eliminate the spam content found on websites. Due to the nature of the content on the site, Google saw that the site lacked both its EEAT standards and its Helpful content standards. This led to a detrimental decline in his business.
The company handling the site’s SEO at the time did absolutely nothing to fix or address the issues until two years later, but by then, the damage had already been done. But yet, they still continued to charge him $2300/m for the next two years.
The Google E.E.A.T Update (Simplified Explanation)
E-Expertise, E-Experience, A-Authoritativeness, T-Trustworthiness. These are the standards for content moving forward. E-Expertise – Websites must show that you have expertise in what you’re talking about within the content. (Is the content showing Knowledge, Qualifications, & Credentials?) E-Experience – You must show what experience you have within the industry with your content. (Is the content showing Years spent within the industry, & quality content within the subject matter?) A-Authoritativeness – It is a bit harder to get, but it’s typically done over time by becoming an authority within the content subject matter. Basically, by way of organic backlinks, or having other professionals within the industry writing content about your business. T-Trustworthiness – Does the content on the site have a trustworthy source of information (Author Bios, Deep “About Us” page, no pay-walling, does it site trustworthy sources within the industry?)
5.) Terrible Content/Website Structure
I identified that his current content is not structured well for the Search Engine. Google needs to see parent page content (Main services pages talking about the specific service you offer) A simple way to think about website content structure: Think of content structure like a filing cabinet. And Google LOVES a well-organized filing system. Right now, the website is similar to a ton of documents just thrown into a drawer with no real organization to them. Google wants the website to be built in a way where it can “open” that filing cabinet, easily find the specific folder, and easily find the correct document.
The images below show his current structure vs my proposed update to his structure.
Image of poorly optimized site structure
Image of optimized site structure
The SEO Strategy for Lowcountry Crawl Spaces:
After the audit was done, I knew exactly what needed to be done to fix the website and get his traffic and visibility back. (I obviously can’t share all my strategy, but here are a few of the action items that were high priority)
- Fix what’s broken – Phone numbers, broken links, so on
- Update ALL form submission notifications
- Discovery Call: To confirm the most profitable & popular service and then identify high-priority target locations
- Onboarding Process
- Finalize Keyword Research & Approval
- Full Website Audit: Needed to conduct another audit to identify which pages are hurting the site, remove them & set up redirects to good quality pages
- Fix Entire Content Structure: I need to build out the correct content structure to ensure its relevance and set up corresponding Parent and child pages.
- Recode & Rewrite Content for Parent Pages & Child Pages in accordance to Google’s EEAT & Helpful Content Standards
- Begin Blog Content for High Priority Service & Location Targets
The Impact of SEO for their Business:
Securing a spot on page 1 translates to increased website traffic, more leads, and ultimately, heightened revenue. A staggering 83% of all clicks on Google occur on the first page, underscoring the immense value of this achievement for his business.
You might be thinking, “That’s excellent, but did these SEO efforts actually translate into more leads?” The answer is a resounding yes. In the earlier sections of this case study, I highlighted that they were receiving approximately 10 leads per month through their website. Fast forward to the last 3 months, and they are now averaging an impressive 18 leads per month, marking a remarkable 80% increase in form submissions within just 3 months. Since I took over the SEO at the beginning of June, they have accumulated over 86 leads, with more than 60% attributed to the impact of SEO efforts.
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Increase of Form Submissions Compared to Previous Quarter
Screenshot taken from just a few days in August on the influx of leads. (Green circles show how many leads came in that day)
Image of Lead Submissions coming in. (Data hidden for obvious reasons)
Google Analytics Data
Shockingly enough, the previous SEO provider never set up Google Analytics to monitor how his organic traffic was performing. So we don’t have all the years of data before… But here is the data we have accumulated, as you can see its trending upward. The data below is the growth we’ve seen in organic traffic over the last 30 days compared to the previous.
Jul 16- Aug 14 2024 VS June 18 – July 17. Source: Google Analytics. (54% Increase in Organic Traffic compared to last month.) – This data will be updated as more data is accumulated.
The Wrap Up for Our Crawl Space SEO Case Study
SEO isn’t easy. It takes a ton of work and attention to detail. It takes taking a step back, identifying the issues, and then building a strategy that prioritizes the most important changes and optimizations that need to be made. It takes someone willing to put in the hours and hours of work to build effectively. I’ve personally poured around 80 hours into this client’s site over the last 3 months, and as you can see, the results have paid off massively. SEO isn’t cheap, and it’s not typically the fastest way to get leads, but if it’s done correctly and by the right person, this kind of result can completely turn a business around. Here’s a screenshot from a conversation with the company’s owner, Travis, and his review of my work. Don’t trust anyone for SEO; trust the people with the results to back up their work. Give me a call, you won’t be disappointed.
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Insurance Company Transformation in Goose Creek
I collaborated with an insurance company in Goose Creek for approximately six months. Their primary focus was on commercial and equipment insurance, but our collaboration started with their desire to expand personal insurance offerings, specifically in home and auto insurance. The concerted efforts led to a significant 14% increase in organic traffic compared to February 2023. Additionally, our dedication resulted in a notable 217% surge in their focus keywords, securing top-tier positions in Google’s search results. These impressive outcomes emphasize the effectiveness of our SEO Marketing in Summerville, SC strategies.
The Bottom Line: SEO as a Critical Investment
In summary, SEO serves as a fundamental investment for businesses in Summerville, SC. It significantly impacts online visibility, web traffic, brand recognition, and the generation of qualified leads. A commitment to effective SEO strategies is vital for businesses aiming to expand and thrive in an increasingly competitive digital landscape.
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