Case Studies
Yarra Valley Grammar.
Can a school really benefit from SEO compared to other means of discovery and traffic? See how SEO helped Yarra Valley Grammar achieve a local top grade!
THE NEED
As Yarra Valley Grammar had been a distinguished institute since 1966, it was time to boost for some topical presence in their already existing organic presence. With no prior knowledge of SEO, they wanted to see what all the fuss was about. After all, not many schools do SEO – so we were prepared to be the figurehead!
The strategy behind this campaign was to become the top organic ranking school in Ringwood and outshine other competitors. The searches and target audiences would be based on parents looking for intakes on the school term basis. As a seasonal industry, keying into this can help build a solid foundation across all their marketing capabilities.
THE PLAN
Here were the ‘marks’ we wished to obtain:
- Implement a concise backlink strategy towards schooling sectors.
- Manage and increase Local SEO Signals, (in GMB), across Melbourne and Ringwood – reaching first page for desired keywords.
- Devise page narratives on dedicated school landing pages for better conversions.
- Educate and train the client on SEO.
- Refine the structure data to associate it as a school.
- Work with web developers to improve the navigation of the site.
THE EXECUTION
After starting the campaign we needed to discover the client’s discipline and develop a plan surrounding which school system would provide the best results over time. We noticed through trends and past experiences that the term ‘Middle School’ was the most optimal sector to address. The second objective surrounded their early learning centre – encouraging parents to stay at Yarra Valley Grammar throughout a student’s schooling life. We set out to add additional headings and information to the fantastic content that was already aligned on the curriculum pages for all of their school disciplines. (ELC, Junior, Middle, and Senior).
We also developed a strategy that involved providing people with the desired discipline to bolster Yarra Valley Grammar as an overall great school. ‘Middle School’, as a keyword, shot up after implementing this new structure.
A Local in SEO
We conducted a Local GMB audit to enrich the service offering of the school. Holding a vic.edu domain, Yarra Valley Grammar had amassed a large local presence across Victoria. We looked at key elements that would enrich their presence, such as adding descriptions to their school services. The continual focus from this point into the future is to assist the team at Yarra Valley Grammar to bolster their presence across every discipline they have on offer to maintain a competitive edge in Ringwood.
Teaching The SEO
As SEO was a new construct for the Yarra Valley team and stakeholders, we set out to be teachers of the actions and theories involved, as well as assistants to their web development team. With a website built for the navigation of parents, we needed to emphasise the importance of user experience to create an end conversion on each seasonal cycle. We set out to update the schema from being an ‘organisation’ to a ‘school’.
Establishing a good relationship with our web developers was critical – especially when it came to conveying that we aimed to assist their already fantastic work.
THE RESULTS
- Goal conversion rate: 257%
- Increase in organic users to the site: 44.6%
- Increase in new organic users to the site: 47.6%
- 99.4% increase in keywords (August 2021 – August 2022).
CONCLUSIONS
There are many different industries that can benefit from the power of insightful Local SEO techniques and practices. Competition is everywhere, even for educational institutes, but obtaining organic traffic and cementing your offering can be certainly achieved with the right support.