New Plains Media SEO clients saw huge lifts in their organic search traffic in 2021. Check out our annual summary of organic search traffic to learn more!
From an SEO perspective, 2021 was a tough year for some other search engine optimization companies. With a slew of search engine updates, Google really kept agencies and website owners on their toes.
The key to weathering these types of SEO storms is to stick to best practices. This means no spammy link building, no keyword stuffing, and no black-hat SEO.
At New Plains Media, we focus on Google-approved search engine optimization techniques that are proven to bring real results with steady organic traffic growth.
As a result, 2021 was actually a great year for our SEO clients.
Organic Traffic Across All Clients Grew 115%!
For our Search Engine Optimization clients, we analyze a variety of key performance indicators each month, but one of the most important is organic traffic. This is the number of visitors that come to a website by clicking on a link in a search engine.
Unlike ad traffic, email traffic, and direct traffic (people that type the website name directly into their browser), the organic traffic statistics give us a solid view of how the site is performing from a search engine optimization perspective.
When we compiled the 2021 data from all of our SEO clients and compared it to data from 2020, we were thrilled to see that organic traffic grew 115%!
Organic Traffic Growth in Competitive Niches
Each website niche poses its own unique challenges, but some are more competitive than others. Although we saw a 115% lift in organic search traffic across all clients, we were particularly thrilled with the results of the competitive niches below.
Home Services Website Organic Traffic Grew 176.73%
Business Model: Service Area Business
Niche: Plumbing and HVAC
Plan: Advanced Plan
Services: Keyword Research and Analysis, Website Search Engine Optimization, Content Marketing, Video Marketing
Plumbing is an incredibly competitive niche, especially when it comes to search engines. The key is to get creative and find new ways for potential clients to find your business online.
For this client, we did comprehensive keyword research and analysis to identify both transactional and informational keywords that would bring the most qualified traffic to the site.
Once we had the keywords we wanted to target, we thoroughly optimized the site, adding and rewriting pages as needed to fill any content gaps.
Then, it was on to the blog…Here, we focused on informational terms and questions that users might have as they proceed along the buyer’s journey. Our team of writers creates authoritative content that is published to the site on a regular schedule. Each blog post provides more opportunities for the website to appear in the search engines.
We also did a number of informative videos which were published in a new “Resources” section on the site. Videos are a great way to engage with users, and prepare for the Google MUM update.
Healthcare Website Organic Traffic Grew 89.95%
Business Model: Brick and Mortar
Niche: Cosmetic Surgery
Plan: Advanced Plan
Services: Keyword Research and Analysis, Website Search Engine Optimization, Content Marketing, Video Marketing
SEO for cosmetic surgery presents its own challenges. Keyword research and analysis is especially important because there are medical terms as well as more common search terms that people use when they don’t know the name of the procedure.
On top of that, Google holds health-related websites to a higher standard than websites in other niches. In their quality evaluator guidelines, they specifically talk about Your Money or Your Life (YMYL) pages.
According to the guidelines, “We have very high Page Quality rating standards for YMYL pages because low quality YMYL pages could potentially negatively impact a person’s happiness, health, financial stability, or safety.”
When evaluating YMYL pages, they look for “Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness (E-A-T)”, so that is what we focused on for this client.
In addition to in-depth keyword research and analysis and comprehensive on-site optimization, we added a slew of informational, authoritative content and videos to the site.
When it comes to cosmetic surgery, potential clients have a LOT of questions. They want to know how a procedure works, if it is right for them, what the recovery is like, and more.
We saw this as a great opportunity to not only inform potential clients, but also draw in new prospects through Google with informative blog posts and authoritative videos.
Spa Website Organic Traffic Grew 152.23%
Business Model: Brick and Mortar
Niche: Spa
Plan: Advanced Plan
Services: Keyword Research and Analysis, Website Search Engine Optimization, Content Marketing
The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has had a significant impact on the spa and wellness industry. Restrictions led to sharp decreases in client visits, sensitization and precautionary measures increased costs, and many spas were forced to close their doors.
That is why we were so pleased to see such great results for organic traffic for this client. Even with the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, their website saw an increase of 152.23% in organic traffic compared to 2020.
But wait…Before you say that it isn’t fair to compare 2021 traffic to 2020 because that was the first year of the pandemic, let us compare it to organic traffic from 2019.
As you can see below, when you compare 2021 traffic to the pre-pandemic 2019 numbers, they actually saw an increase of 284.86%!
We achieved these results through thorough keyword research and analysis, comprehensive search engine optimization, and…you guessed it…informative, authoritative content.
By publishing fresh, keyword-optimized content to the site on a regular basis, we were able to set this client up to continue to see organic traffic gains in 2022 and beyond.
Interested in More Organic Search Traffic?
When it comes to search engine optimization, the proof is in the pudding. There is a right way and a wrong way to do SEO, and our team has proven their expertise time and time again, even in the most trying of circumstances.
Contact the SEO experts at New Plains Media today at grow@pioneermedia.me to find out how we can improve your organic search traffic!
