Blast Analytics and Marketing

Blurb: International SEO Leads to 174% Increase in Traffic and Huge ROI

Supporting Leaders to EVOLVE

Overview

Blurb was not ranking well internationally and had a limited share of International Organic Search Traffic. They were missing out on opportunities to drive large volumes of visitors at a lower cost and create sustainable traffic throughout all stages of the customer journey.

Challenge

Blurb was at a competitive disadvantage for acquiring and retaining customers at a lower cost due to over dependence on paid search and other channels. If changes weren’t made, competitors would continue to dominate search engine results and eventually drive Blurb out of the organic search market.

Solution

Blurb partnered with Blast Analytics & Marketing to implement a digital marketing strategy that would maintain existing traffic levels, minimize user frustration, ensure existing SEO value was properly transferred to the new domains, and ensure that the new domains were set up for long-term International SEO success.

Through a strategic consulting partnership with Blast, Blurb was advised to transition from sub-domains to Country Code Top Level Domains (ccTLDs) to:

  • Increase user and search trust
  • Earn greater search visibility
  • Gain higher rankings
  • Increase traffic and ultimately generate more sales

Prior to the transition, Blast performed in depth competitor analysis, risk and benefit assessments, forecasted revenue impacts and provided detailed technical, user interface and content marketing instructions to improve country specific SEO and user experience. During the transition Blast closely monitored the results, tracked progress and site performance, provided ad hoc analysis and offered strategic guidance.

Results

As a result of the successful transition, Blurb saw huge increases in non-branded organic search traffic year over year as shown in the graph below. The domain authority increased for all ccTLDs, ranking improved for top keywords for all international domains, and user frustration was greatly diminished as the country-specific domain became the preferred domain for that country’s SERP.

As a result of implementing country specific TLDs, international SEO efforts now have much more value because of:

  • Increased country specific SEO authority (improve potential to rank)
  • Increased Organic Search Impressions (improved share of non-branded search which increases exposure to people unfamiliar with Blurb)
  • Increased CTR for paid, organic, and other traffic sources
  • Increased conversion by demonstrating relevant commitment to the country
  • Increased Average Order Value (AOV)

Ongoing Prioritization & Strategic SEO Guidance Fuels Future Success

Blast manages ongoing efforts in link building and content optimization to further differentiate the domains and make the content more specific to the individual international audiences. Blast continues to work closely with Blurb to prioritize, create, and optimize valuable, user-centered content that outranks competitors. Through content auditing, performance monitoring, ongoing analysis and strategic guidance, Blurb will be able to compete against much larger companies in a highly saturated industry.

Blurb hit a wall in International SEO. The ccTLD project that Blast led increased overall YoY non-branded organic visitor growth by 174%; with more than a 90% increase in the EU and the rest of the world. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate the support, insights and help you and your team have provided us!

Alexei Kulberg, Technical Project Manager
Blurb