Case Study: Overcoming Google Penalties for a Child Care Center:
Small Miracles owns and operates five pre-school and daycare centers in Arizona. As a client since the fall of 2010, Small Miracles more recently partnered with our SEO Team to help increase their online visibility and attract new students.
Prior to engaging Deep Footprint’s SEO Team, Small Miracles made a common mistake by placing their trust in a third party SEO firm whose tactics included various black hat SEO measures, including creation of inappropriate backlinks to the Small Miracles’ website and development of a ‘spammy’ content scheme. As a result, when Google’s Penguin search algorithm updates went into effect, penalizing websites with unscrupulous link building and content specifically developed for search engines, Small Miracles’ search result rankings took an immediate hit.
Realizing that it was time to search for a new SEO Team, Small Miracles turned to their trusted web host and support team for guidance – us. With an existing relationship in place and the recent roll-out of ePageCity’s SEO program, Deep Footprint, Small Miracles transitioned their SEO initiatives into the capable hands of the new Digital Marketing Team and began the process of repairing their website’s standing with Google.
Alongside the headaches caused by their previous SEO team, Small Miracles was also facing obstacles put in place by their competition. A large, national competitor had taken an aggressive (and shady) SEO approach by claiming Small Miracles’ online listings as their own, even going so far as to change the Small Miracles’ contact details to their own!
Overcoming Search Rankings Obstacles
With a plan in place to remedy the Penguin violations and competitor efforts, we took action both on and off the Small Miracles website. Initial efforts focused on the removal of content that been excessively stuffed with keywords and the disavowal of website backlinks from both purchased and irrelevant sources (We identified links to the Small Miracles website from gaming community sites!).
After bringing the Small Miracles website back into compliance with Google’s current rankings algorithm, the focus of the SEO program shifted to on-page, keyword specific efforts to help to elevate rankings and overall site traffic. In addition, following a round of competitive and market research, Deep Footprint identified a new set of keywords to help drive ranking efforts and a new direction for the website content.
Over the course of Small Miracles’ ongoing SEO campaign with Deep Footprint, they have reported a hefty increase in form submissions (conversions) via the site along with a healthy increase in traffic from local searches. The new influx of site visitors also represents a more engaged audience – time spent on the site is up 31%, page views are up 15% and the bounce rate has decreased by 35%. With this increased contact between Small Miracles and potential customers, including a more robust online local presence and website content plan, business is bound to improve.
Here’s a look at some of Small Miracles’ most impressive SEO metrics of the last 6 months:
- 15 of the 25 targeted keywords are now on page one of search results
- The number of impressions (how often people see Small Miracles in search results) went up 70%, with the click through rate for those impressions up 38% and the average position of those results up 12% – indicating a lift in existing rankings and an increase in the number of terms ranked for
- Traffic overall has increased by 36%, with organic search referrals up 25%, and local search up 34% from Google, 55% from Yelp and 75% from Yahoo respectively
- Keyword referrals went up 69%
- The search visibility of Small Miracles website is up 78% – a clear indication of the impact increased rankings and a wider range of keywords ranked for can have on site traffic
- Conversions (completed contact forms submitted through the website) increased by 41%
New SEO Opportunities
Moving forward Deep Footprint will focus on the development of content for parents and children and help position Small Miracles as a leading local preschool for both Arizona based families and search engines alike. The expansion of site content will also allow Small Miracles to realize untapped keyword potential, encourage repeat visits to the website and maintain parity with competitor website content. As the content development and expansion continues, we expect to ramp up Small Miracles’ social media presence to assist with increasing the visibility of the business, website and content.
“I was not very familiar with SEO going into the project, but their team took the time to tailor their narrative to my background, and understand how to tailor a successful campaign to my business. Most of all, they have evoked trust in their work. Other companies may mislead you and use underhanded ‘black hat’ SEO techniques that cause more harm than good in the long run. They have proven themselves to be up-front, sincere, reliable and competent in what they do. I would recommend this team to anyone looking for a partner in their SEO campaign.”
-Keir Cochran, Owner and CEO of Small Miracles, LLC
