How Visit Kingston topped TripAdvisor with seo
With some savvy, on-page SEO optimization, we helped Visit Kingston (visitkingston.ca) push their content to the top ranks of the Google results — even beating TripAdvisor.
The client
Visit Kingston showcases and promotes all things cultural, cool, historical and tasty in Kingston, Ontario through blogs, attraction guides, listicles and more.
The goal
Visit Kingston (visitkingston.ca) was looking to have their content rank higher in search engine results pages (SERPs) and thus be more easily discovered by folks seeking a range of fun things, including “things to do in Kingston”, “Kingston Penitentiary Tours,” “Vegan Restaurants in Kingston,” and “Kingston Weddings.”
Why are higher search rankings important? The vast majority of users will look at pages that appear within the first 10 results. So, when your page ranks within the first 10 results on Google, clicks and views go up dramatically. It’s also a sign that Google sees your page as serving up relevant, authoritative and high quality content that answers a user’s search query.
The method
Two words: search optimization. What does that mean? Well, many things! We worked on a total of 11 visitkingston.ca pages over the span of eight months. Here’s a quick peek at the optimization process.
First, set about reducing and removing duplicate page content that was competing for the same keywords – i.e., “things to do in kingston” or “things to do in kingston ontario.”
Next, we added new keyword-rich content to boost each page’s relevance to Google, and provided additional content suggestions for blogs that the Visit Kingston team could use to support their main pages.
In addition to keyword-rich content, we revisited and rewrote each page’s meta description tag, so that they now provide a more concise, easily-digestible description along with a compelling call-to-action.
Another key part of the process was improving each page’s internal linking structure. In other words, providing links to other relevant pages and external websites. This not only improves the user experience by giving folks more places to go and easier access to detailed info, but also boosts search engine rankings by making the page that much more authoritative and credible to Google.
Finally, we identified page performance issues – like slow load speeds – and provided several recommended fixes.
In the client’s words
“We’ve benefitted from working with Search Warrant for several years now and, as tourism continues to recover from the effects of COVID-19, our SEO rankings have been a priority. Search Warrant works with us to identify priorities and provides expert, technical guidance working alongside our in-house team who develops content with SEO in mind and implements the recommended back-end changes,” says Alison Migneault, Chief Marketing Officer for Visit Kingston. “The results are impressive and are driving awareness, referrals, and bookings for our hotel, restaurant, and attraction partners.”
What were the results?
So where did all this SEO work land us? Well, first, we saw organic traffic growth in the form of clicks – from 3,011 in 2022 to 4,600 in 2023, and then 9,285 in 2024.
Increased search engine visibility also meant that impressions – or, the number of times a user sees the page in their results – were also up from 165,934 in 2022 to 211,274 in 2023, and then 617,793 in 2024.
Another key improvement:
The amount of organic traffic – people discovering visitkingston.ca content by searching the top 24 Kingston-related keywords – increased from 647 visits in 2022 to 1,858 visits in 2023, and then 3,607 in 2024.
What’s more, visitkingston.ca pages went from an overall search engine ranking of 6.6 to 4.2 for the top 24 Kingston-related keywords.
Now, for the pièce de résistance
When it came to the keyword that generated the most organic traffic – “things to do in Kingston” – VisitKingston.ca ranked number one in the search results above the likes of TripAdvisor.
That’s a climb from sixth to top position in just a few short months from March to August 2023!
Search Warrant delivered a highly successful search optimization program for their client, Visit Kingston.
Tourism Kingston’s website www.visitkingston.ca
Holiday-goers and visitors to Kingston
Action Needed
- Improve and refine on-page SEO to increase organic traffic across 11 Visit Kingston (visitkingston.ca) content pages.
- Reduce and remove duplicate content competing for the same keywords.
- Add new, keyword rich content and improve each page’s internal linking structure.
- Improve the quality and effectiveness of Visit Kingston’s meta tags and descriptions.
Identify and provide suggested fixes for page performance issues.
Results
- in the form of clicks: From 3,011 in 2022 to 4,600 in 2023.
- from 165,934 in 2022 to 211,274 in 2023.
- increased from 647 visits in 2022 to 1,858 visits in 2023.
- Visitkingston.ca pages went from an overall for the top 24 Kingston-related keywords.
- For the top, traffic-generating keyword – “things to do in Kingston” – visitkingston.ca .
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