Service

SEO audit, SEO promotion, Link building

Project

SAAS programming platform for children and teenagers

Objective

– To restore positive dynamics of traffic growth from IPs
– Increase the number of requests through Google organic traffic

Niche

Specialization in programming courses for Minecraft, Roblox, Scratch, JavaScript, and development with HTML and CSS for children online

Period

February 4, 2022  - present

Region

USA

Challenges of the project

About the project:

SAAS platform was created to teach 7-14-year-old children the basics of programming and website development. It develops technical skills and creativity through interactive, hands-on learning methods.

Main goals of the project:

  • To teach the basics of coding: Children learn to code using popular and accessible platforms such as Scratch, which is ideal for introducing coding concepts thanks to its intuitive interface.
  • To develop skills through games: Minecraft and Roblox platforms teach programming in a more complex interactive environment where children can create their simple programs.
  • Web Development: Children are taught the basics of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript to help them understand website structure and design.
  • To encourage creativity and problem-solving: The program aims to stimulate creative thinking and develop problem-solving skills through programming.

This platform is designed to inspire children to learn technology and coding, giving them a foundation for further education and even possibly a future career.

Project analysis before cooperation

Project Challenges:

  • Lack of elaborated landing pages;
  • A sharp drop in traffic from search engines;
  • Errors in the technical part of the site;
  • Outdated site design.

We were approached by a project that in September 2021 sharply began to lose traffic. The screenshot shows the sharp negative dynamics of traffic on the site.

When we at RegisTeam encounter a sudden drop in traffic on Google, we immediately check for the latest algorithm updates. We analyze Google Search Console to see if there's a penalty notice there that could explain the drop in traffic. The next step is to analyze the site's analytics to see if there are changes in user behavior or technical issues, such as changes in bounce rates or session lengths. Be sure to check the site's robots.txt and noindex tags to make sure nothing is blocking search engines. We also analyze any significant loss of backlinks or increase in broken links that could affect traffic. If everything seems fine, we need to consider whether increased competition and improved SEO tactics from other sites are diverting traffic, which will force us to reevaluate and improve our own SEO strategies.

Conclusion of an SEO specialist

Traffic analysis:

Low website traffic can be due to several factors:

1. Low position in search results: the project is located in the lower positions in search results, so it is unlikely that users will see it.
2. Limited use of keywords: The site needs to be optimized for keywords frequently used by the target audience, reducing its likelihood of appearing in search queries.
3. Low-quality content: Sites with low-quality, irrelevant, or unoriginal content often receive less traffic from search engines.
4. Technical problems: Problems with site indexing, loading, or adaptation for mobile devices can negatively affect search engine traffic.
5. Lack of external links: Lack of external links to a website reduces its authority and visibility.

Conclusion of an SEO specialist

Distribution of keywords by position:

All queries are outside the top 20 in search results; this is due to several factors:

Insufficient SEO optimization: Specific pages are not optimized for important keywords, resulting in low rankings in search results.

Keyword Competition: Some keywords are highly competitive, and sites with higher authority or better optimization rank at the top.

Localization and geographic factors: Search results may vary significantly depending on the user’s geographic location and search engine localization settings.

Achieving results

Project Problematics:

  • Lack of optimization of metadata for relevant key queries:

Step 1: Optimizing Meta Tags for SEO

Optimizing meta tags for SEO is adjusting key meta elements of a web page to improve its ranking in search results and increase its appeal to users. Key optimization aspects include:

1. Keyword analysis:

  • Research and selection of target keywords that match the content of the promoted pages.
  • Using keyword analysis tools to determine the most effective and relevant queries.

2. Optimization of Meta Title (page title):

  • Create a unique and attractive title for each page.
  • Include the main keyword at the beginning of the title.
  • Limit the length of the title to 50-60 characters so that it fully fits into the search results.

3. Optimization of Meta Description (page description):

  • Writing a concise and precise description of the page content.
  • Adding keywords.
  • The description length is limited to 150-160 characters for optimal display in search engines.

4. Using Meta Keywords (keywords):

  • Despite its decreasing importance, RegisTeam still uses it, and it has a significant impact on this meta tag.
  • Adaptation of Meta tags for social networks (Open Graph and Twitter Cards):
  • Optimize social media tags to make the content look engaging when shared.
  • Uses Open Graph tags for Facebook and Twitter Cards for Twitter.

Example of Open Graph micro markup of an SEO specialist:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
  <title>Your page title</title>
  <meta property=”og:title” content=”Your page title” />
  <meta property=”og:type” content=”website” />
  <meta property=”og:url” content=”https://www.example.com/your-page” />
  <meta property=”og:image” content=”https://www.example.com/path/to/image.jpg” />
  <meta property=”og:description” content=”Brief description of your page” />
  <meta property=”og:site_name” content=”Your web title” />
  <!– Additional tags Open Graph –>
</head>
<body>
  <!– Your Page Content –>
</body>
</html>

In this example:

og:title – The title of your page.
og:type – The type of your object (for example, website for websites).
og:url – The URL of your page.
og:image – The URL of the image that should represent your social media page.
og:description – A short description of the content of your page.
og:site_name – The name of your site.

These tags help social networks better understand your page’s content and display it correctly when sharing links.

Project Problematics:

  • Dynamic reduction of traffic from search engines:

Step 2: Analysis of the content on the site

During the analysis, RegisTeam specialists were able to identify negative factors affecting the effectiveness of a high-ranking project:

1. Duplicate content on internal pages.

  • Pages with the same content and similar keywords competed with each other for search engine rankings. This results in none of the pages achieving high rankings.

2. Republishing old content under a new title.

  • The project regularly published old articles without improvement or revision – the title was simply changed for the current year.

An example of analysis of the Last Modified indicator by the RegisTeam:

The Last Modified field in HTTP headers or page meta tags indicates the date the page content was last modified.

This parameter can play an essential role in SEO optimization for several reasons:

  • It helps search engines determine the relevance of content. When search engines detect that a page’s content has been updated, they can re-index that page, which helps keep the information in the SERPs fresh.
  • Improved crawling and indexing. Search engines strive to use their resources efficiently. If Last Modified indicates that the page’s content has not changed since the last crawl. The crawler may decide not to re-index that page, saving resources. On the other hand, if a recent modification date is specified, this may encourage more frequent crawling.
  • A signal about the freshness of the content. Search engines can consider regularly updated content to be more relevant and up-to-date, which is especially important for topics where the relevance of information is critical.
  • User experience. However, Last Modified does not directly affect the user experience. The relevance and freshness of the content, confirmed by this tag, can increase user trust in the site.
  • Caching management. In web development, Last Modified is used to control content caching. This helps browsers and proxy servers determine whether a new version of the page needs to be loaded or whether a cached version can be used.

3. Insufficient density of key queries in the current content of promoted pages.

*Regarding the number of occurrences of the main query coding, our competitor’s numbers were several times higher than our indicators. A similar situation was observed for individual courses.

Example:

We have 35 mentions of “Roblox”

Our competitor has 52:

Correct keyword density is crucial, but don’t overload your text with keywords. The ideal keyword density varies, but aim for 1-2% – this means keywords should make up 1-2% of the total words in the text. What’s more important is to incorporate them naturally into the content to ensure it’s relevant and useful. Remember, quality is always more important than quantity in SEO.

Step 2: Analysis of the content on the site

Project Problematics:

  • Incorrect configuration of technical files:

Correct setting up the robots.txt file plays a crucial role in SEO for the following reasons:

1. Controlling crawler access: The robots.txt file specifies which parts of your site should be indexed by search engines and which should not. This helps prevent unwanted or irrelevant pages from being indexed.
2. Saving crawler resources: By limiting access to less important sections of the site, robots.txt helps search engines focus on indexing more important and high-quality content, which effectively uses the crawl limit (the number of pages that a search engine can view in a certain time).
3. Avoid duplicate content: Using robots.txt, you can exclude from indexing pages, such as print versions, that may create duplicate content issues.
4. Protecting Sensitive Data: Robots.txt can prevent sensitive areas of a site, such as administrative control panels or directories, from being indexed.
5. Improved SEO Performance: Properly configured robots.txt can help improve a site's SEO performance by guiding search engines to index key pages and improving the overall site structure for search engines.

It is important to remember that a robots.txt file does not guarantee complete privacy or prevent indexing; search engines may ignore its instructions, especially if the content is available through other links. Additionally, incorrect use of robots.txt can result in important content being excluded from indexing. Therefore, it is important to consider and check the robots.txt settings for your site carefully.

Opinion of a search engine optimization specialist at RegisTeam

Project Problematics:

  • Lack of important pages in the search engine index:

The lack of pages in the search engine index was due to several factors:

  1. Content quality: Low-quality, duplicate content has been partially excluded from indexing by search engines.
  2. Lack of external links: there were no external links on the internal pages of the project. External links help search engines find new content.
  3. Noindex meta tags: noindex meta tags were used on the pages, as a result of which search engines did not index the pages.
  4. A large number of duplicate metadata.
  5. Errors with 301 redirects and canonical. Example:

When a site experiences errors with 301 redirects or the canonical attribute is used incorrectly, this can seriously affect its visibility in search engines. Such errors can make it difficult for users to access the pages they need, impacting the user experience and potentially reducing traffic. For search engines, such errors can create confusion about which pages should be indexed and how they relate to each other. And this can lead to incorrect indexing or even the exclusion of pages from the search index. In turn, incorrect indexing can negatively affect the site’s ranking in search results. Additionally, using these elements incorrectly can dilute the authority of a page by spreading link power and rankings across multiple URLs, reducing the overall effectiveness of your SEO efforts.
Therefore, it is very important to carefully manage redirects and use the canonical attribute correctly to ensure optimal site performance in search engines.

Project Problematics:

  • Low-quality link profile:

Conclusion: The main increase in links comes from India. Typically, these links are of low quality, non-regional and harm the site more than they benefit.

Analysis of the dynamics of the link profile:

Conclusion: There is a negative dynamic among donors when there is an increase in the number of pages linked to the project. This indicates that the links are placed on the same sites, which is not welcomed by search engines.

Link building is an integral part of a successful SEO strategy. Effective link building not only increases the authority of your site in the eyes of search engines, but also helps improve the visibility of your content in search results. High-quality backlinks from relevant and authoritative sources can significantly improve your site’s ranking, increasing traffic and, as a result, the commercial viability of your online project. Don’t forget that the goal of link building is not only the quantity but also the quality of links that keep your link profile natural and relevant.

Step 3: Cleaning the link profile. Getting links from quality donors

After the start of work, the growth dynamics of the link profile has positive indicators:

Step 4: Optimization and expansion of semantics

An example of a basic semantic core prepared for the project:

Work was carried out to expand the number of landing pages by implementing Local-SEO. Example of suggested pages for implementing the strategy:

An example of the implementation of the main key + region strategy:

An example of the implementation of the strategy category Classes Near Me + region. An example of its implementation:

Step 5: Redesign

The main problem was updating the design; this process took a long time. At this stage of work, recommendations were developed for developers to launch a new website in order to minimize traffic drops.

Example:

Preserving the URL structure (since structure optimization was planned)

Each CMS has its own rules for generating addresses and often several options are available.

If this is not possible, you need to set up a forced 301 redirect, which will automatically redirect to a new address.

Setting up redirects:

You need to manually configure a 301 redirect for all old pages. The easiest way to do this is to set up a redirect in htaccess, but there are many other ways to set up a redirect. A redirect map will be prepared for this item.

Title and meta:

Each page should have a title, meta description, etc. for the purpose of SEO optimization of the site.

These SEO attributes and site page metadata not only help you rank in searches for your target terms, they also help convert the user into a site visitor.

All optimized meta must be transferred to the new site.

Images, article structure:

The situation is approximately similar to the point above. After the work of SEO specialists, without approval, it is not recommended to change the structure of the content and delete any text blocks; this can lead to drops in traffic.

Everything on the page must be in the same form on new pages. When transferring text, pay attention not only to its presence but also to how it is marked up, whether the headings are set correctly, and whether the code is not clogged with styles. In this case, check very carefully the transfer of texts, headings, tables, and images on all landing pages.

Step 6: Effective Content Marketing

There were a lot of old, irrelevant blog articles on the project:

Why is it important to update old articles?

Research conducted by major marketing blogs shows the following:

  • By removing the publication date of an article, organic traffic increases by 10% on average.
  • Updating the publication date of an old article without changing it and without posting links on social networks leads to an average 66% increase in organic traffic within a month.
  • Updating an article and re-promoting it can increase monthly organic traffic by an average of 106%, and the number of generated leads doubles.

These results are achieved subject to two conditions:

  1. The article must attract at least minimal organic traffic from search engines before it is updated.
  2. At least two months must pass from the date of publication to the date of update.

Two strategies were chosen for working with old blog articles: updating old articles with an automatic change in the publication date, and completely deleting the old article with updating, adding and setting up 301 redirects to a new version of a similar article topic.

Results

Increase in traffic dynamics after the design change in the first weeks:

Increased site visibility:

Elimination of numerous technical errors, correctly chosen strategy for working with current semantics and development of a strategy for expanding the language. The implemented effective content plan also increased the visibility of this project in search engines, improved the user experience and began to attract the target audience. Regular publication of relevant and valuable content has increased the authority of the site and improved the ranking of the site. This, in turn, had a positive impact on SEO performance.

Summary

Thanks to a competent strategy, including content optimization, link building, and focusing efforts on promoting the most key queries, the project has grown in search results noticeably. This increased visibility to the target audience and increased traffic to the site.

An important aspect was filling the site with relevant content that answered questions from parents and children interested in programming. Regularly updating and optimizing content for SEO helped improve user engagement and retention.

We managed to increase the number of registrations and payments for courses, increase brand awareness, and strengthen our position in the niche of educational services for children in the programming field.

*Within the framework of this case, only information is disclosed that corresponds to the parameters approved within the framework of the Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) concluded between the parties

PM-Casebook: Negotiations, Deadlines, Success

In Project Management, there are no simple tasks, especially when dealing with projects that have high client demands. A recent experience working on a complex project once again proved how crucial it is to maintain a balance between client interests, expert recommendations, and technical limitations. Let’s break down this case in more detail.

Project Challenges: Content and SEO

The project was ambitious but demanding: the client was very picky about the content on their website. At the same time, SEO optimization requirements often conflicted with their expectations regarding content and topics. Convincing the client to follow our recommendations was not an easy task.

Additionally, the developers were transferring the website without considering our requirements, which complicated the process and required extra efforts to control each phase. The lack of coordination between teams could have led to serious problems with the final project efficiency.

Solution: Clear Control and Constant Communication

The key to success was strict control over all processes. We regularly explained to both the client and the developers what could and couldn’t be done, justifying it not only from an SEO perspective but also in terms of the overall success of the project. The developers gradually began to take our recommendations into account, and despite initial doubts, the client agreed to move in the direction we set.

Active negotiations and the ability to defend our position with well-founded arguments became the main tools in our work. It’s important to remember: professional SEO specialists know what they’re doing, and if clients always knew exactly how to optimize content correctly, our profession simply wouldn’t exist! 😊

Results: Redesign and Traffic Growth

Thanks to persistence and proper expectation management, the project was successfully completed. The website underwent a redesign, traffic increased several times, and the client eventually recognized the effectiveness of the approach we proposed. This case once again proves that competent project management is not just about meeting deadlines but also about negotiation skills, diplomacy, and strategic thinking.

In the end, our experience once again showed that flexibility, process control, and persistence are the key to success in project management. And when a client sees the results, they become the best advocate for solutions that previously seemed questionable.

Get the same results with RegisTeam!