Case Study: How Swanky Nearly Doubled this B2B Website’s Domain Authority

In this case study:

• About the client
• The challenge
• The solution
• The results

About the client

With over 20 years of experience in the photography industry, Spencer Cobby clearly demonstrates his passion for storytelling through images. His photography consistently conveys meticulous attention to detail and the ability to deliver exactly what his clients want.

Specialising in product and commercial photography, Spencer now has an impressive portfolio under his belt – one of his most recent clients being Nkuku, the home of artisan-crafted home and lifestyle products.

One of Spencer’s lifestyle photography shots for Nkuku.

And most impressively? He has trained in, taught and currently practices underwater photography, most notably with Water Babies UK for the past six years.

In fact, Spencer was selected as a finalist for this year’s Association of Photographers (AOP) Open Awards, one of the UK’s most prestigious photography accolades. Three of his monochrome underwater shots were displayed in the Stills Category of the AOP Awards Exhibition in Canary Wharf for seven weeks during April and May, as well as being printed in the ‘Awards Book’ of finalists.

One of three underwater stills shot by Spencer and displayed in the AOP Awards Exhibition.

The challenge

Managing a service business (one that provides a service rather than a tangible product) whilst managing online content is not an uncommon tension to navigate.

Spencer came to Swanky with just this conundrum: he couldn’t put enough time and concentration into looking after his website content whilst carrying out back-to-back photoshoots for clients across the UK.

He approached us after hearing about our range of SEO (search engine optimisation) services.

Spencer was looking for experts who could manage his online content and social media accounts. His website domain authority ranked low at 12 and online traffic wasn’t what he wanted. He needed a way to monitor traffic, analyse keywords, manage the blog content and work towards increasing his Google rankings.

As is the dream for any small-medium business, Spencer wanted to see an increase in traffic to his website, an increase in the number of repeat customers, and the opportunity to work on bigger and more dynamic projects.

Swanky: Our solution

Over the following 12 months, Swanky’s SEO team created a tailored marketing, content and keyword strategy. This allowed for the creation of informative, engaging articles for publishing on Spencer’s blog and social media channels.

Typically, search engine optimisation is a slow process, with results taking several months or even years to materialise. Using analytical software, we created a long-term keyword strategy that targeted some location-based keywords, and other keywords that had a particularly high search volume. We wanted to answer questions that people were actually asking about photography.

An example of a blog post we created for Spencer’s website, based on keyword research.

We also connected with some local businesses to create backlinks, which add significant value to an SEO strategy.

We collaborated with local blog Exploring Exeter, who featured this post from Spencer about Exeter’s indie scene.

The results: a 75% increase in Domain Authority

Whilst we were not anticipating an immediate impact due to the slow nature of SEO, Spencer Cobby Photography has already achieved some great results.

The site’s domain authority has risen from 12 to 21 in just 10 months! Domain Authority, or DA, is a means of predicting how well a website (an entire domain) will rank on search engine results pages (SERPs). Higher scores correlate with an increased ability to rank. Multiple factors are taken into consideration when evaluating the ‘ranking strength’ of a site. A 75% increase is a real SEO success story!

An increase in Domain Authority has meant that www.spencercobby.co.uk has become increasingly reputable and, in turn, more visible to potential clients searching for photography services or for a local photographer on Google.

Additionally, as a direct result of our content strategy, social media interaction around some of our articles has significantly increased. A typical post on Facebook would normally reach between 20-30 people. One of our blog posts about a lifestyle photography shoot reached 430 people with 77 engagements! We were able to make several connections with reputable organisations over social media, which enhanced the interaction with and visibility of our client.

The Facebook post in question – demonstrating tangible improvements in social media interaction as a result of Swanky’s content strategy.

Spencer Cobby Photography continues to track 20+ keywords ranking #1-10, with the search term ‘commercial photographer Exeter’ holding an impressive first position national ranking. This has had a hugely positive impact on the business’ search visibility.

Looking ahead, we are excited to be providing a continued SEO service for Spencer Cobby Photography, working together to attain even more positive results in the future.

If, like Spencer Cobby Photography, you are looking to increase traffic to your website, the Swanky team are here to help. Please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us if you would like to find out more about our digital marketing services.