Case Study: Unlocking Unprecedented Growth Through Strategic SEO

Overview

An iconic hotel in the heart of Key West, Florida, partnered with Cogwheel Marketing to revitalize its online presence. Facing limited visibility in organic search, we undertook a comprehensive SEO campaign that would transform the hotel’s digital footprint. Despite initial hurdles, including low keyword rankings and minimal referring domains, our strategy led to a monumental increase in keyword rankings, organic traffic, and domain authority.

Challenges

A baseline domain stat showing the organic search traffic, keywords and backlink stats in January 2024— Source: Cogwheel Marketing

The Hotel struggled with low keyword rankings, minimal backlinks, and limited organic traffic. They had only 198 ranking keywords when we began, with just 12 referring domains, resulting in minimal visibility and an underperforming SEO profile. Our goal was to significantly improve these metrics and increase the hotel’s organic traffic.

Solutions

SEO Strategy Implementation

1. Keyword Research & Baseline Discovery

We began with an in-depth keyword research process to identify six primary keywords that aligned with the hotel’s offerings, location, and target audience. Our goal was to capture highly relevant traffic by focusing on search terms that aligned with Key West’s unique attractions and experiences. A thorough analysis of search volume, keyword difficulty, and relevance led us to prioritize specific keywords for each of the hotel’s key pages.

Image showing the suggested keywords for each of the Marriott core pages— Source: Cogwheel Marketing

2. Title & Meta Description Optimization

With the keyword strategy in place, we reworked the title tags and meta descriptions for key pages. Each title and meta was optimized to ensure it not only aligned with the brand guidelines but also improved search engine visibility for the selected keywords. These updates were submitted through the necessary channels for approval before implementation.

3. Off-Page Optimization & Backlink Strategy

In month 4, we shifted our focus to off-page SEO, conducting a comprehensive backlink gap analysis. We targeted local business directories, tourism websites, and hospitality-related associations to secure high-quality backlinks. This strategy led to a dramatic increase in referring domains, boosting the hotel’s domain authority and further enhancing its visibility.

(t): before - (b): after / Before and After Comparison of the hotel’s off-page SEO Stats, Including Backlinks, Referring Domains and Types— Source: Cogwheel Marketing

4. UNAP Audit & Optimization

We conducted a detailed UNAP (Name, Address, Phone) audit to ensure that the hotel’s information was consistent across all platforms, including Google My Business (GMB), TripAdvisor, Expedia, and local directories. This helped improve local SEO rankings and ensured La Concha’s presence in all relevant searches.

A UNAP Audit Report with Recommendations— Source: Cogwheel Marketing

5. Ongoing Monitoring & Adjustments

Throughout the project, we continuously monitored keyword rankings, traffic, and the hotel’s backlink profile. We adjusted the strategy as needed, ensuring that we maximized the impact of our efforts and captured the highest-value traffic for this hotel.

Results

By the end of the 8-month SEO campaign, our efforts had transformed the hotel’s online presence:

Keyword Growth: The number of ranking keywords skyrocketed from 198 to 1,700, representing a 758.6% increase.
Top 10 Keyword Rankings: Keywords ranked in the top 10 increased by 165.6%, from 93 to 247.
Organic Traffic: Monthly estimated search traffic grew by 922.1%, from 1,197 to 12,230.
Interior Page Traffic: Traffic to interior pages surged by 18,788%, from just 8 to 1,511 monthly visitors.
Backlink Growth: Referring domains increased dramatically, from 12 to 178, elevating the hotel’s domain authority and organic rankings.

(t): before - (b): after / Before and After Comparison of the hotel’s SEO Stats, Including Organic Traffic, Number of Keywords and Backlinks— Source: Cogwheel Marketing

Organic Traffic and Keyword Trends— Source: Cogwheel Marketing

Conclusion

The SEO success of this case study demonstrates how a well-executed strategy can transform a hotel’s online visibility, even in highly competitive markets. By focusing on targeted keywords, optimizing meta tags, securing high-value backlinks, and ensuring local SEO consistency, Cogwheel Marketing delivered exceptional results. The growth in keyword rankings, traffic, and domain authority showcases the potential for long-term, sustained growth through effective SEO practices.

About Cogwheel Marketing

Cogwheel®️ Analytics is a hotel digital marketing reporting and business intelligence tool for hotel management companies and ownership groups of both branded and independent hotels. It aggregates data from multiple sources to allow companies to identify trends and opportunities, in both portfolio and individual hotel level views. It provides an online scorecard with benchmarks against other hotels to identify gaps in your total online presence, similar to a STAR report. With one-click reports, owners and operators can understand the efforts made towards gaining more exposure across the customer journey. Unlike most tools in the hospitality industry, Cogwheel Analytics primarily focuses on booked revenue, not consumed, to map the various data points up to the point of conversion. Sample data points include channel mix, website performance, social media and paid efforts including OTA Ads, MetaSearch and Google SEM.

Stephanie Smith
Founder and Digital Matriarch
+1 540 239 1052
Cogwheel Marketing

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