This article started off as an internal email to my marketing team but thought I’d share it with you.
Have you heard the book called Scaling Up by Verne Harnish? Fantastic book by the way.
I was quite surprised when Verne had dedicated a section to Search Engine Optimisation (SEO).
AWESOME… SEO was one of the strategies he suggested to grow revenue.
Because it can grow your business without having to pay Google (AdWords) a hefty cost per click.
Verne mentioned that SEO helped scaled Vancouver company BuildDirect to become a very successful home improvement business.
I became intrigued by BuildDirect SEO success, so I thought I’d provide some insights and strategies.
Statistics
Here are some basic SEO statistics (estimates):
- Monthly Organic Search (SEO) Traffic: 250,000
- Month Paid Search (Google AdWords) Traffic: 4,000
- Keyword (Top 100 results): 133,000
Note: The above stats are based on US visitors (I’d expect higher global figures) and only estimates (reverse algorithm) as we don’t have direct access to their Web Analytics software.
SEO Strategy
We know they are getting bulk keyword rankings & website traffic to their website, let’s dive into their top marketing plans & strategies.
Answering Searched Questions
Their top keyword (excluding brand name) was “Acacia Wood”.
After further investigation, they created a page called “What is Acacia?”. The reason for their high ranking for this keyword was because their content marketing plan answered searchers’ questions.
When you Google this search query you will notice Google has added the “People also ask” snippets which emphasise the importance of creating content that helps to answer questions.
User Intent Content
Gone of the days of keyword stuffing. Actually, the opposite can be more effective. One of their best-performing pages from an SEO point of view is ‘Wood Flooring’. Instead of having bulk keyword stuffed text at the top of the page, they give visitors what they want: images and links to category pages.
However, they didn’t forget about the keywords; they have included SEO content at the bottom of the page:
Creating a learning centre for the longtail keywords
Did you know that keywords that don’t get much traffic collectively account for 70% of searches?
Well, BuildDirect did, they created a learning centre & blog section to attracted these searches.
A popular page was ‘Travertine vs Marble: What’s the difference” which generated 3,325 visitors per month (estimate). That’s more traffic then what most business websites get with all their pages combined.
Content Promotion
Without going into too much detail, they have over 5,000 websites promoting buildirect.com:
A simple SEO formula is Google Rankings = Relevance x Reputation.
To build Google reputation, Google will look at quality websites linking to or mentioning your business.
A general rule would be to spend more time promoting your content than writing it. Otherwise, your content will be like a billboard in the middle of the desert without any viewers.
Conclusion
I hope this gives you insights into how BuildDirect.com built a successful business using SEO as one of their marketing strategies.
Inbound Marketing Agency offers a competitor audit that identifies the SEO gaps in your strategy. Contact us for more detail.
