Background 

Culinary Crafts, an award-winning catering company from Utah, partnered with The HOTH in 2025 to build durable, long-term online authority to:

1. Outrank competitors 
2. Gain AI visibility 
3. Maintain rankings during core updates 

Speaking on that last note, 2025 was infamous for several highly volatile Google algorithm updates that affected countless websites. 

For many, March’s Core Algorithm Update spelled outright disaster for their SEO. 

It was typical for websites to lose 30 to 40% of their traffic if they were impacted by the algorithm. 

Our client?

They showed steady improvement for 6 months straight, despite all the volatile Google updates occurring at the same time. 

Thanks to our efforts, they achieved a 63% increase in top 3 keywords, 21% more monthly traffic, and acquired 130 AI citations. 

This case is proof that high-quality, by-the-book SEO always yields great results, even during algorithm updates. Continue reading to learn how we developed an update-proof SEO strategy for Culinary Crafts. 

The Challenge

There were two primary challenges for this client. 

First, local catering companies face strong competition in the search results, and they aren’t only up against other caterers. 

Instead, they also find themselves competing with wedding venues and directories for crucial keywords like ‘Salt Lake City wedding catering’ and ‘luxury wedding caterer.’ 

That meant Culinary Crafts needed to outrank three different types of websites to gain top 3 visibility for money keywords, which is easier said than done.

Secondly, 2025 was one of the most volatile years in recent memory for Google updates. In particular, the Core Update in March shook up local rankings in a big way, and it caused severe visibility drops for scores of businesses. 

The update punished low-quality, thin content, especially pieces that were generated by AI (and not disclosed as such). 

Conversely, it rewarded brands with stronger authority, real-world expertise, and truly helpful content.  

Two more highly volatile updates would follow in June and December of 2025, meaning SEO success could only come through building genuine authority and not short-sighted tricks. 

The Strategy 

We’ve been in the SEO game long enough to know what yields lasting results versus what’s quick and easy. 

As a result, the wins we generate for our clients are earned the hard way and don’t rely on cheap, short-term tactics. 

The primary link-building tactics we used were:

• Targeted link outreach

  We prospected and reached out to Utah lifestyle sites, wedding blogs, and popular local directories for relevant, contextual link placements.

• Link insertions

  By identifying high-quality existing content on wedding venue sites, we were able to pinpoint areas where adding a backlink would benefit both our client and the site owner. The editorial insertions we secured appeared naturally on relevant, topically aligned websites. These are the types of links that Google encourages and does not penalize.

• Topical authority clusters

  With any link-building strategy, over-optimization is always a risk. To avoid concentrating too many links on one page, we distributed the links across key service and location pages to reinforce E-E-A-T (experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness) signals.

These tactics follow all search engine guidelines, so our client wasn’t at risk of getting penalized or losing rankings.   

The Results 

Despite taking place during 6 months of volatile Google updates, our campaign yielded steady improvements for Culinary Crafts. 

While many competitors saw 30 - 40% drops in organic traffic, our client gained 53 new keywords in the top 3 (a 63% improvement) and 21% more traffic overall. 

In other words, while other catering companies were pulling their hair out, Culinary Crafts was soaring to new heights completely unscathed by Google’s ranking changes. 

At the same time, they acquired 130 new AI citations across platforms like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google’s AI Overviews. This is further proof that the authority we built was what modern search systems want to see. 

Want to Improve Your Visibility on Google and AI Search Tools?

If you want to level the playing field in your industry’s SERPs, book a free call with our team to develop the perfect search strategy for your needs.  

Also, don’t wait to try out HOTH X, our fully managed SEO service, to enjoy hands-free success.   

Book a Call Now 

The Proof 

The client’s traffic improved steadily over a 6-month period, despite several major Google updates:

They acquired 53 new keywords in the top 3:

Here are some examples of #1 keywords:

Improvements to the client’s backlinks and referring domains:

The AI citations acquired during the campaign: