Project Details and Achievements
Start Date : August 2022
End Date : November 2023 (Website Sold)
Project : On-page (including Technical SEO) and Off-page SEO improvement
Website : BabakFilm.com
Achievement : Achieved 435,000 monthly users and over 1.9 million pageviews purely through organic traffic in a year!
Case Study: The SEO Journey of BabakFilm.com
This case study explores the transformative year-long SEO project for BabakFilm.com, a website dedicated to film enthusiasts. The primary focus was on implementing a comprehensive SEO strategy, combining on-page (including technical SEO) and off-page optimization. The results were remarkable, culminating in the website's sale after achieving exponential growth in organic traffic and user engagement.
Key Results
- Monthly Organic Traffic : Grew to 435,000 users.
- Pageviews : Surpassed 1.9 million per month through organic sources alone.
- Outcome : Sold the website within a year due to its outstanding performance metrics.
1. SEO Statistics Overview
Traffic Growth
Tracking organic traffic was crucial to evaluating success. Using tools like Google Analytics, the steady climb in traffic demonstrated the effectiveness of the SEO efforts.
Keyword Rankings
Monitoring keyword rankings on SERPs provided actionable insights into the website's organic visibility. Targeted keywords showed consistent improvement, reflecting strategic optimization efforts.
Backlink Profile
Building a robust backlink profile contributed significantly to domain authority and organic traffic. Backlinks served as endorsements from high-quality websites, boosting trustworthiness.
Engagement Metrics
Metrics like bounce rate, average session duration, and pages per visit were analyzed to understand user behavior. Improvements in these areas reflected a better user experience and more engaging content.
2. Technical SEO
Structured Data
Structured data markup was implemented to enhance content understanding by search engines, resulting in improved SERP features and increased click-through rates.
SSL Implementation
Ensuring a secure HTTPS connection was a priority. This not only bolstered user trust but also provided a slight ranking boost in Google’s algorithm.
Mobile Friendliness
With the rise of mobile users, optimizing the website for mobile devices was essential. The website adhered to Google’s mobile-first indexing guidelines to ensure seamless usability across all devices.
XML Sitemap & Video Sitemap
Creating and submitting a proper XML sitemap allowed search engines to crawl and index the website more efficiently. A video sitemap was also implemented to ensure that video content was properly indexed and optimized for search.
Robots.txt Optimization
The robots.txt file was carefully optimized to guide search engine crawlers, ensuring that critical pages were crawled and non-essential ones were excluded to enhance indexing efficiency.
Site Speed & Performance
Improving website speed was a critical part of the technical SEO strategy. Techniques like caching, image compression, and JavaScript optimization were employed to reduce loading times. This contributed to a better user experience and was a significant ranking factor in Google's algorithm.
Crawlability & Indexability
Ensuring that search engines could easily crawl and index the website was a top priority. This was achieved by implementing a clean XML sitemap, optimizing the robots.txt file, and ensuring that pages were structured in a way that allowed for efficient crawling. These efforts helped search engines index the site more effectively and improved overall search visibility.
Redirects and URL Redirects
Properly managing redirects, particularly 301 redirects, helped preserve the link equity of important pages that were moved or renamed. This ensured that users and search engines would not encounter 404 errors, preserving site authority and improving the overall user experience.
Fixing Broken Links
Identifying and fixing broken links on the site was crucial for maintaining both SEO and user experience. Regular audits were performed to locate and resolve broken internal and external links, ensuring that all pages were easily accessible and didn't disrupt the site's credibility.
Site Architecture and Navigation
A well-structured site architecture, combined with intuitive navigation, made it easier for both users and search engines to find content. A logical URL structure, clear categories, and internal linking strategy helped to enhance the site's usability and ensured that important pages received the attention they deserved in search rankings.
3. GTmetrix Report on Website Speed
Caching
By caching static resources, the website reduced server response times and improved loading speed for returning visitors.
Image Compression
Images were optimized to retain high visual quality while minimizing file sizes, resulting in faster page loads.
Async/Defer Scripts
JavaScript and CSS files were optimized for asynchronous or deferred loading, prioritizing critical content display.
Using Content Delivery Network (CDN) with Cloudflare
A CDN was integrated with Cloudflare to accelerate website content delivery. By distributing the site’s static resources across multiple servers worldwide, content could be delivered more quickly to users, regardless of their location. This not only improved page load times but also enhanced the website’s scalability and security.
Conclusion
The year-long SEO journey of BabakFilm.com underscores the impact of a strategic and holistic approach to SEO. By meticulously improving on-page and off-page elements, as well as addressing technical SEO challenges, the website experienced exponential growth in organic traffic and engagement.
This success not only solidified the site’s presence in a competitive niche but also led to its eventual sale, highlighting the tangible value of effective SEO.