SEO case study

New Eyecare Site’s Traffic Skyrockets to Nearly 20k ($5k Value)

Want to learn how effective SEO can be in helping new businesses grow?

Then, this case study is a must-read!

It’s the story of how we took a brand-new, virtually unknown eyecare website that saw next to no monthly visitors and transformed it into an industry powerhouse that regularly sees close to 20k in organic traffic

To put that in perspective, it’s the equivalent of a new band going from playing in their garage to selling out packed arenas in a matter of months. 

The best part is we did it all using tried-and-true SEO tactics, which is a real testament to how effective the practice still is today. 

By building tons of links, creating stellar content, and tweaking crucial on-page factors, we helped our client become a prominent player in their industry.

The sky’s the limit for our client’s eyecare site, and we can’t wait to see what they do next. 

Stick around to learn the tactics we used to ensure resounding success for our client’s website and how we can do the same for you. 

The Client: A Passionate Team of Eyecare Professionals 

Cornea Care is more than an online store selling eye care products; it’s a one-stop shop for everything related to caring for your eyes. 

It contains educational articles, a glossary of terms related to eye care, online courses, and a bustling community of eye care professionals. 

There’s even a free app users can download to keep track of their eye care routines. 

Their products include eye drops, vitamins, wipes, cold compresses, and other dry eye treatments. 

Needless to say, it’s a beast of a site that we knew was destined for great things. 

Yet, even the greatest website in the world doesn’t start ranked at #1, and it’s always a challenge to gain online visibility in a competitive space like health & wellness. 

That’s why they knew they needed expert help with SEO in order to start building an audience.

The Problem: Overcoming ‘New Website Obscurity’ 

When Cornea Care came to us, they were a brand-new website that was completely obscure, and they were generating next-to-no organic traffic at all. 

They had some content going for them, but their link profile was non-existent, so we knew we needed to build lots of links for them as quickly as possible. 

Besides that, they needed a proper keyword strategy in order to start ranking for important terms related to their business. 

We had our work cut out for us, and the client signed up for HOTH X, our managed SEO service. 

As soon as the client signed the contract, we rolled up our sleeves and started the first phase of our strategy. 

The SEO Audit: Figuring Out Where the Client Stands 

Even with brand-new websites, we always start by conducting a thorough SEO audit. 

This involves closely examining several factors, including:

  • The site’s current loading speed and performance on the Core Web Vitals test 
  • On-page SEO factors like keyword usage, metadata, and content quality 
  • The site’s URL structure and site architecture 
  • Any ‘easy win’ keywords we can target 
  • Analyzing the site’s top competitors

During this phase, our goals are twofold. 

First, it’s our opportunity to optimize all their current content, including fixing any SEO no-nos like duplicate pages and content that’s too thin. 

Second, we look for ‘easy win’ keywords, which are search terms the site’s already ranking for, just not very high (think positions 4 – 30). 

Both goals are equally important for setting the client up for success, both now and down the line. 

Regarding the first goal, we ensure the client’s website becomes a well-optimized machine that employs all known SEO best practices. That includes tightening the URL structure if it’s convoluted, adding internal links to orphan pages, and speeding things up if they’re loading slowly. 

In the case of Cornea Care, their site looked pretty good from the get-go, and they even had a team working on creating content that followed Google’s E-E-A-T guidelines. 

They definitely got a few gold stars from us for that. 

Finding ‘easy win’ keywords 

We call keywords ranked in positions 4 – 30 ‘easy wins’ because we know we can give them a significant boost with some quick optimizations. 

By improving keyword usage, upgrading content quality, and building some high-quality links, we’ll start to see SERP ranking boosts in a few weeks or months. 

These easy keywords are great for clients as they get the ball rolling quicker than other SEO tactics, like creating brand-new pieces of content from scratch. 

Our Approach: Long-Tail Keywords & Strategic Link-Building

For Cornea Care, we primarily focused on long-tail keywords that had low difficulty scores. 

It involved a metric ton of keyword research, but it certainly paid off, considering the results. 

We put together a ‘content calendar’ containing a massive list of long-tail keywords, including their search volume, CPC, and keyword difficulty score. 

From there, we created thought-leader-worthy content for each keyword, ensuring we constantly outdid the competition. 

During our SEO audit, we looked at Cornea Care’s top competitors’ link profiles and discovered quite a large gap. 

We knew our client needed to generate a ton of links to be able to compete, so we went into crunch mode and built as many links as possible. DA scores didn’t matter as much initially, as we began to target higher-value links once the site built more authority. 

The Results: Nearly 20k in Organic Traffic, 1,000+ Backlinks, and Over 214 Keywords Ranking in the Top 3 

Once the results started coming in, they didn’t stop – and only compounded on themselves. 

There were a few fluctuations in traffic here and there, but as you can see in this snapshot, the overall trend was up, up, and up:

A screenshot of Cornea Care’s organic traffic performance. 

They now generate $5.3k worth of organic traffic, and they’re ranking in the top 3 for 214 relevant keywords. We also built over 1,000 backlinks for them, closing the competitive gap in a big way. 

Ready to replicate these results for your business? Don’t wait to sign up for HOTH X, our managed SEO service.