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  • Boats.com Case Study


  • Client: Boats.com
    Industry: Travel
    URL: www.boats.com
    Campaign Type: Consulting for improved organic search engine rankings
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    Boats.com links boat buyers with boat sellers, with boat model listings from over 375 boat builders and used boat listings from boat dealers and yacht brokers worldwide, all available through one simple search. Once you've found the right boat Boats.com connects you with the best marine financing to help you find the best boat loan rates around, plus insurance and shipping, too.

    Goals:
    Boats.com had some respectable rankings when they contacted SEO Inc. but were not ranked in the Top 10 on Google for several important keywords in a few of their important product categories. While the site ranked very well for keywords like boats, new boats, etc., they had little visibility for highly competitive phrases like “boat insurance”, “boat loans”, and “boat warranty”. Their goal was to get more traffic for these product categories.
    • #9 on Google for “boat loans” which is by far the most search phrase in the boat financing category
    • Not Ranked in the top 50 on Google for “boat insurance”, which is searched more than boat loans
    Boats.com was very clear about their primary goals; to achieve top 5 or Top 10 rankings on Google for their primary keywords. All other rankings increases would be considered a bonus.

    Initial Rankings:
    Boats.com Visibility Statistics September 30, 2003
    First Place Rankings: 26 Top 5: 49 Top 10: 68 Top 20: 99 Top 30: 108
    Keywords: 19 Engines: 19 Same: 114 Total: 142


    Problem:
    Boats.com used java server pages (.jsp) and the site was completely dynamic as soon as the user leaves the home page. In addition, they used SSL for security as soon as the user leaves the home page. This site structure posed two unique problems that made the site’s interior pages inaccessible to search engine spiders. Instead of static URLs, the page address would look something like the following: https://www.boats.com/insurance/index.jsp?src=header_bi. In addition, these pages had very little text content on and even less keyword density in the text content that did exist.

    Solution:
    Since none of the site’s interior pages were getting indexed by search engine spiders, the chances of ranking for keywords targeted on those pages was very small. So the first part of the solution was to build out the front end of the site by using static URLs (like http://www.boats.com/boat-loans/index.jsp) so that pages would get indexed by search engine spiders. In addition, we added keyword-rich content at the proper density levels to each of the pages. Previously each of these pages had little to NO keyword-rich text content. Of course, SEO then completed a themed optimization of each of the pages.

    Accomplishments:
    This client is extremely pleased with the results of the campaign. They have achieved TOP 10 rankings for the 4 most important keywords (boat loans, boat insurance, boat warranty, and boat shipping) without losing their #1 ranking for the keyword “boats”. These new rankings have given the site previously unprecedented visibility for their financial product categories.

    Boats.com is now moving forward with more optimization and a link popularity campaign so that they can move into Top 3 positions on all of their important keywords.

    Final Rankings:
    Boats.com Visibility Statistics January 30, 2004
    First Place Rankings: 32 Top 5: 95 Top 10: 126 Top 20: 173 Top 30: 191
    Keywords: 19 Engines: 19 Same: 144 Total: 224


    Keyword Highlights:
    Keyword 9/30/2003 1/30/2004
    boats 1 1
    boat insurance Not in first 50 7
    boat lons 9 3
    boat transport 37 10
    boat warranty 15 1
    boat finance 39 16
    boat shipping 19 2
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