Case study: Keyword Research
Brand Voice Agency evaluates keywords targeted with The Sarky Type’s approach to keyword research
Company:
Brand Voice Agency.
Founder:
Graham Pugh.
Industry:
Digital marketing.
Company overview:
Brand Voice Agency provides organisations with brand voice exploration, research and development.
The problem
Graham wanted to know how his website ranked on Google, so he booked my Free Keyword Audit. He thought he was SEOing right (the Yoast plugin said as much), so he couldn’t understand what was happening. The audit revealed his ranking issues:
The top 5 ranking keywords were for a particular client project (Newcross Healthcare). All web traffic was navigational (users visiting a specific webpage they’d googled). None of his targeted keywords got a look in.
The solution
Because the keyword audit had been so eye-opening, Graham scheduled fresh keyword research.
“Sarah is a potty-mouthed whirlwind. An idiosyncratic workaholic and an obsessive genius. I told her on Tuesday I’d like to contract her for keyword research. She said she could probably start on Monday. But by Thursday she’d done the job.”
Graham PUGH, BRAND VOICE AGENCY
The goal
“I’d like it to attract clients (sound familiar?).”
Graham PUGH, BRAND VOICE AGENCY
Well, it did sound familiar. Most businesses hope to attract potential clients to their websites. However, Graham was targeting keywords, so I had to figure out why his website wasn’t ranking for them.
The results
After looking through the homepage and service pages of the Brand Voice Agency website, I instantly noticed the problem.
The focus (main page) keywords weren’t great:
Yes, ‘Brand Voice Agency’ as a keyword makes sense. It’s a two-for-one deal, a business name plus a ‘what I do’ keyword, but monthly Google searches for ‘brand voice agency’ were a measly 20 hits.
That’s pitifully low.
Choosing keywords with low search volumes can be an SEO strategy as part of a wider keyword portfolio. The thing was, Graham expected ‘brand voice agency’ to do the heavy lifting in terms of search traffic (it was his homepage keyword, FFS!). A low search volume homepage keyword, coupled with service pages assigned generic page name keywords like Service or Core Services, meant the chances of being found on Google were almost zero.
Outcome
“I received a thoroughly researched, actionable plan of what I need to do to change from keywords no one is googling (duh) to those someone might actually be looking for (yay).”
Graham PUGH, BRAND VOICE AGENCY
I supplied a detailed keyword report and a spreadsheet of new keywords (with mid to low competition and much healthier search volumes).
Next steps
Eureka moment: users expected brand voice work to be a service provided by digital marketing agencies, not a stand-alone service.
Luckily, Graham’s business didn’t only do brand voice development. Brand Voice Agency was, in reality, a one-stop shop—a digital marketing agency offering loads of services for branding and marketing.
My recommendations:
- Consider all services of Brand Voice Agency
- Use keywords that reflect all services
- Create more content for further keyword opportunities
The result of new keyword research allowed Graham to widen his horizons in terms of organic traffic potential.
“She really cares about making sites better and her fingers seemed to itch to get on with the work. But the speed belies the quality. No corners were cut, or steps skipped, or tasks skimped. It must be because she knows her stuff so well that she can so speedily provide such sage advice. Sarah is fun, fast, and fantastically knowledgeable. And if you want another f word (and who f*cking doesn’t?), funny too. Which always brightens up a day, even ones that begin with other letters.”
GRAHAM PUGH, BRAND VOICE AGENCY
Is your business like Brand Voice Agency, targeting the wrong keywords? Get in touch…