In the world of landscaping supply, businesses often cater to both consumers and other businesses. On any given day, they might sell decorative stones to a homeowner while simultaneously delivering bulk materials to a contracting company. This dual focus means that their marketing strategies must resonate with both audiences, creating a unique challenge.
Adding to this complexity is the local aspect of their business. For landscaping supply companies, being visible in the specific states, cities, and towns they serve is crucial. With 97% of customers using search engines like Google to find local businesses, search engine optimisation (SEO) becomes an essential marketing tool for landscapers and supply companies alike.
Moreover, 89% of B2B researchers, such as head contractors at landscaping firms, rely on the internet to research their purchases. This means that effective SEO is vital for landscape supply companies to reach both consumer and business clients.
However, SEO can be overwhelming, often requiring more expertise than landscaping companies have in-house. That’s why many businesses choose to outsource their SEO efforts to experienced agencies, like Clout, which is the focus of this case study.
The Client: A Newcomer in the Landscape Supply Industry
The client we worked with had been operating for about three years. Being a relatively new company in a bustling city like Chicago posed significant challenges. With numerous landscape supply companies vying for attention, establishing a foothold in the local market was no small feat.
Despite having a well-designed website, the client struggled to attract visitors and was falling behind competitors in search rankings. They provided exceptional service, competitive pricing, and even offered same-day deliveries, but these strengths weren’t enough to drive traffic to their site.
Understanding the Importance of Backlinks and Local Keywords
For a landscape supply company, ranking for localised keywords related to landscape supply in the suburbs of Chicago is essential. These keywords are highly competitive and often dominated by established companies with high domain authority and numerous backlinks.
In the realm of search engines like Google, backlinks serve as endorsements of the quality and relevance of your content. A backlink is simply a link from another website that points back to yours, making it vital to have a diverse and high-quality backlink portfolio to compete effectively.
Our analysis revealed that the client was being outperformed in search results due to two main factors:
- A lack of backlinks
- Insufficient quality content targeting local keywords
After the client reached out for a free SEO consultation, we quickly identified these critical issues. They had discovered us through one of our ads on social media and decided to explore what we could offer.
To address their challenges, we proposed a comprehensive campaign through Clout, our fully managed SEO service. This approach combines all our SEO products into a cohesive strategy, complete with a dedicated campaign manager.
Conducting an SEO Audit: Identifying Quick Wins
Every Clout campaign begins with a thorough audit of the client’s website. We focus on identifying and rectifying any major issues that could hinder our strategy. Key elements we examine include:
- Indexing errors
- Duplicate content
- Thin content (content containing fewer than 1,000 words)
- Orphan pages (pages with no internal links pointing to them)
- Slow site speed
Once we ensure the site is healthy, we analyse the client’s current SEO performance. We request access to their Google Search Console and Google Analytics accounts to assess their SEO metrics.
Our primary goal is to identify easy-win opportunities—keywords for which the site already ranks on Google but not in the top three positions. Keywords ranking between positions 4 and 30 are particularly promising as we can often optimise them for higher visibility in a short time frame.
This client had several easy wins that we quickly capitalised on, providing an immediate boost in traffic. From there, we moved on to the core elements of our strategy.
The Strategy: Regular Blogging, Link Insertion, and Link Outreach
We recognised that the client needed two crucial components: high-quality backlinks and fresh content optimised for local keywords. Here’s a detailed look at our approach:
- Monthly Blogging: We committed to writing one high-quality blog per month for the client. Each blog would cover relevant topics based on keyword research and include high-resolution images to enhance readability. These blogs played a significant role in helping the client achieve the local keyword rankings necessary to attract more business.
- Link Insertions: We identified numerous existing landscaping blogs where our client’s products and services could add value. By requesting the site owners to include links to our client’s mulch delivery and location pages, we were able to secure a substantial number of backlinks without needing to create entirely new content.
- Link Outreach: We didn’t shy away from creating original content either. Through targeted outreach, we sought out relevant landscaping websites that accepted guest posts. This strategy allowed us to secure numerous guest articles, further enhancing the client’s backlink profile.
For the backlinks we built, we specifically targeted the client’s location and mulch delivery pages. Why? Because we knew these pages would generate the most business and were in dire need of high-quality backlinks to improve their rankings.
The Results: A Remarkable 2.5k Traffic Increase in Just 6 Months
Thanks to our strategic planning and careful execution, our efforts yielded impressive results for the client. Over the course of six months, their website traffic surged by 2.5k visitors, and this growth shows no signs of slowing down.
Additionally, the website now consistently generates $5.4k worth of traffic and ranks for an astonishing 302 keywords in the top three positions. The increase in referring domains is also noteworthy, indicating the effectiveness of our backlink strategy.
The links we built and the content we created will continue to provide value for the client well into the future.
Do you want to achieve similar impressive results for your landscape supply company? Clout is your solution for simplified SEO success. We’ll manage the entire process for you, allowing you to sit back and watch as traffic—and revenue—rolls in, just like our client experienced. Don’t hesitate to reach out for a consultation!
