Objective:

Our client had invested in search engine optimization (SEO) for a couple of years, with a primary focus on link building. We needed to diversify our SEO strategy in order to remain competitive in the organic search results and acquire new customers that were not familiar with the client’s brand.

A provider of seating and furniture, they relied on a few key search terms for traffic and conversions. Maintaining rankings for these terms while also diversifying organic traffic was critical in acquiring new customers.

We identified the client’s blog as a vehicle to reach new, brand-agnostic users in the information-seeking stage of the buyer journey. The blog would answer users’ questions, provide information, and establish the client as an authority in their industry. In a competitive vertical, quality content would allow us to stand out among other seating suppliers and build trust among new users. Finally, our content would ideally nurture readers further down the conversion funnel.

Strategy:

The client’s blog had not been updated for several months and posting was inconsistent. Much of the content was very product and brand specific; ideal for loyal customers or users who already knew what seating products they needed. Our team needed to develop a strategy to reach those brand agnostic users seeking information or help with their buying decisions. This strategy consisted of some key elements:

  • Strategic topic ideation
  • Publishing frequency
  • Content optimized for SEO
  • Content amplification
  • Content authorship
  • Topic Ideation

We researched topics intended to target users at each stage of the content marketing funnel: awareness, consideration, decision, and advocacy.

We focused primarily on consideration and decision topics in the initial phase of our content strategy, such as:

  • How to budget for a furniture purchase
  • How to determine the amount of chairs to purchase
  • Financing options

The ideation process heavily involved keyword research. Our team identified search queries that correlated with different stages of the buying funnel. For example, a query like “how to finance wholesale furniture” indicates a user who is at the decision stage of the funnel and ready to purchase. In contrast, a search like “types of event chairs” indicates a user who is still in the awareness or consideration stage. This user clearly doesn’t know what to buy yet.

Publishing Frequency

Once we had a sufficient amount of topics brainstormed, we created a rough posting schedule for the next year. We started with 1-2 blogs each month, a schedule that allowed us to be consistent without sacrificing content quality.

Blog Writing and Optimization

Keyword research and competitor research guided our writing process. We looked at content currently ranking well for our target keywords, and then did additional research to make our client’s content unique and informative.

Additional optimizations included relevant calls-to-action, internal linking structure, optimized metadata, and Featured Snippet targeting.

Content Amplification

We published blog content to the client’s social media channels, using paid social media tactics to reach a wider but relevant audience.

Content Authorship

We used the company CEO as the author of the posts. The intention behind this was to help Google connect the blog content to the external content placements our client had published on other industry websites. An authoritative author can boost a domain’s rankings indirectly by signaling that the website content is high-quality (since it was written by that same author).

Results:

The blog has grown into an important source of traffic and conversions for the client’s domain. In the first two years of our strategy, blog content accounted for nearly half of the website’s organic entrances. On average, the blog accounts for nearly 1,500 organic sessions per month. This is a significant improvement from the previous two years, where blog entrances accounted for just 15% of organic traffic and about 480 sessions each month. In sum, blog entrances increased 504% when compared to the previous two years.

Traffic growth from September 2018 to September 2020. The dip in early 2020 was due to COVID-19.

Not only were we able to acquire new users, but importantly, these users were qualified and interested in purchasing from our client. The blog contributed 112 form submissions and quote requests, a 70% increase versus the previous two years. The blog accounted for 8% of the domain’s goal completions. Note that our client’s website generates leads, while orders are managed offline through their sales team.

Additionally, we acquired new keywords, increasing the domain’s visibility in the organic search engine results. The blog ranked for 526 search terms, with 14% of those terms ranking on the first page of Google’s search results. Before we started the new blog strategy, the client’s blog ranked for a total of 92 keywords and 8.7% of these were on the first page.

Keyword growth for the domain since 2012. Note the increased growth in 2019, one year after we implemented our blog strategy.

Finally, the client’s blog content appeared in 13 Google featured snippet results.

Case Study Highlights

Industry: B2B furniture supplier

Goals:

  • Introduce new users to the client’s brand through educational content that provides value for the reader.
  • Nurture leads down the conversion funnel with relevant blog content.
  • Grow the client’s expertise, authority, and trust in the industry.

Results:

  • Earned 34,878 organic entrances to blog posts (48% of all organic traffic)
  • Increased conversions from blog entrances by 70%
  • Earned 74 keywords on page one of Google search results
  • Obtained 13 featured snippet results