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Crypto Exchange SEO Case Study: 3.2× Clicks, #1 Above Binance

SEO case study · Crypto exchange

Crypto exchange SEO case study: 3.2× organic clicks and #1 for its top buy keyword

A leading crypto exchange asked for two things: double its organic traffic and get one buy-intent keyword onto page one of Google. In 15 months clicks grew 3.2 times and the keyword reached #1, ahead of Bitcoin.com and Binance.

  • Crypto
  • Fintech
  • 8 languages
  • Technical SEO
  • Content
  • Link building
3.2×Organic clicks per 28 days15.4K in March 2019, 48.6K in June 2020
#1For its top buy keywordKD 72, about 25,000 searches a month
+27%Conversions from organic searchFeb to Jul 2019 against the 6 months before
+43%Conversion value from organicWhole site in the same period: +13%

01 · The problem

Buy-bitcoin searches belong to the biggest names in crypto

People who search for a way to buy bitcoin with a card are ready to spend money, so every exchange wants those results. Our client was a leading crypto exchange with a strong product, but its traffic from Google had stopped growing and the keyword that mattered most sat just off the top of page one.

1

Giants own the results

The page was up against Bitcoin.com, Binance, CEX.IO, Coinmama and buybitcoinworldwide.com. Every one of them had a stronger domain and more backlinks than our client.

2

The money keyword is “super hard”

The focus keyword has a difficulty of 72 in Ahrefs and about 25,000 searches a month worldwide. Ahrefs estimated links from about 224 websites just to reach the top 10.

3

Growth had stalled

Before we took over in March 2019, organic traffic was barely moving. More content alone had not changed that.

4

A big, multilingual site

90+ product pages in 8 languages, including Korean and Arabic, and more than 3,000 redirects to review. Every fix had to work across all of them.

02 · Our solution

Agree two targets, then plan every week

The client asked for exactly two things: double organic traffic and get one page onto page one of Google for a specific buy keyword. We checked that both were realistic before we started.

  1. 01

    Agree the targets first

    Three meetings before any work: the business goals for the next six months, who the buyer is and what a customer is worth, then a proposal and a week-by-week plan with a forecast of traffic and rankings for each month.

    6-month planWeekly Gantt chartMonthly forecast
  2. 02

    Fix the technical debt

    We reviewed 3,000+ redirects and cut every chain, made each important page reachable in 3 clicks or fewer, moved stray HTTP pages to HTTPS, removed unimportant pages from the index and fixed broken pages, speed and mobile issues.

    RedirectsCrawl depthIndex management
  3. 03

    Match every page to its intent

    Titles, descriptions and H1s were reworked across 97+ product pages in 8 languages. Transactional pages were kept to transactional keywords, and pages that competed with each other were fixed.

    On-page SEOCannibalization8 languages
  4. 04

    Out-build the competitors on links

    Competitors gained about 43 links a week, so we planned for 60+. The link-building side of this campaign has its own case study.

    Link buildingOutreachGuest posts

03 · Results

Both targets hit, and traffic more than tripled

The target was to double organic traffic. The 28-day comparison below, from Google Search Console, shows it grew 3.2 times.

Metric28 days, March 201928 days, June 2020Change
Clicks15.4K48.6K3.2×
Impressions496K1.36M2.7×
Click-through rate3.1%3.6%+0.5 pts
Average position29.929.2Steady while reach grew
+27%Conversions from organic searchFeb to Jul 2019 against the previous 6 months
+43%Conversion value from organic searchSame period. Whole site: +10% conversions, +13% value
Google Search Console comparison: 15.4K clicks in March 2019 and 48.6K clicks in June 2020
Traffic, before and after. Search Console, 1 to 28 March 2019: 15.4K clicks. Last 28 days to early June 2020: 48.6K clicks.
Search Console chart of buy-intent queries with position rising in May 2020
Buy keywords. Queries containing “buy”, 29 Sep 2019 to 9 Jun 2020: 6.81K clicks, average position 7.6, climbing towards the top in May 2020. Client page redacted.
Ahrefs keyword difficulty 72 and 25K global volume
The focus keyword. Ahrefs keyword difficulty 72 (“super hard”), about 25K searches a month worldwide.
Google Analytics organic users with notes for joining, page issues and strategy redesign
The honest version. Organic users in Google Analytics, June 2018 to May 2020. The notes mark when we joined, a period of issues with the page, and when we redesigned the SEO strategy.
Google Analytics conversion comparison showing +27.67% conversions and +43.03% value
Conversions. Google Analytics, 1 Feb to 31 Jul 2019 against 4 Aug 2018 to 31 Jan 2019: conversions from organic search +27.67%, conversion value +43.03%.

04 · Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. March 2019We take over SEO. 15.4K clicks in the first 28 days. The focus keyword moves between positions 8.5 and 12.8.
  2. 2019Technical fixes, page rework across 8 languages and link building ramp up from 1 to 5 links a week towards 60+.
  3. Late 2019A period of issues with the page, then a redesigned SEO strategy. Two growth cycles in 15 months.
  4. 13 May 2020The focus keyword reaches #1 on Google, ahead of Bitcoin.com and Coinmama in Ahrefs’ position history.
  5. June 202048.6K clicks in 28 days, 3.2 times the starting point.

05 · Who we beat

A smaller domain, ranked above the giants

When the page reached #1, every competitor below it had a stronger domain. Ahrefs data for the top results, May 2020:

SiteDomain RatingBacklinks to domain
Our client65632.9K
buybitcoinworldwide.com761.4M
Bitcoin.com8415.5M
Binance8629M

Source: Ahrefs via the SEOquake bar on Google results, May 2020.

06 · What to copy

What other crypto and fintech brands can take from this

  1. Agree two measurable targets. Double traffic and page one for one keyword is easy to check every month. Vague goals are not.
  2. Plan the weeks, not just the quarter. A weekly plan with a monthly forecast shows early when something slips.
  3. Clean up before you build. 3,000+ redirects and pages buried deep in the site waste the links you earn later.
  4. Count the competitors’ links. If the top pages gain 43 links a week, 10 a week will never catch them.
  5. Expect a dip and plan for it. Traffic did not rise in a straight line. Reviewing the strategy when the page had issues is what restarted the growth.

FAQ

Questions about this crypto SEO case study

Can a smaller crypto exchange outrank Binance and Bitcoin.com?
Yes. Our client had a Domain Rating of 65 against 76 to 86 for the sites below it, and far fewer backlinks, and still reached #1 for its main buy keyword in May 2020. Relevance, clean technical SEO and a steady flow of quality links closed the gap.
How long did it take?
We started in March 2019. The focus keyword reached #1 in May 2020, and organic clicks per 28 days were 3.2 times higher by June 2020.
What was the starting point?
15,400 clicks from Google in the first 28 days of March 2019, flat organic traffic before that, and the focus keyword moving between positions 8.5 and 12.8.
Why did conversion value grow faster than conversions?
Organic conversions grew 27% and their value 43%, so the average organic order got bigger. Buy-intent keywords bring people who are ready to spend, not just readers.
Is SEO for crypto harder than for other industries?
Usually. The top results belong to very large brands, crypto is a financial topic that Google treats with extra care, and paid search for crypto is restricted in many markets, so the organic results matter even more.
What does keyword difficulty 72 mean?
It is Ahrefs’ score for how hard it is to reach the top 10, on a scale of 0 to 100. At 72, Ahrefs estimated links from about 224 websites would be needed just for page one.
Did traffic grow in a straight line?
No. Analytics shows a period of issues with the page in late 2019. We redesigned the SEO strategy, and growth picked up again. The campaign went through two growth cycles in 15 months.
How many backlinks did you build?
We built 954 backlinks by hand for this client over about 1.5 years and raised the rate from 1 to 5 links a week to 60+. The link-building case study explains how.
Why is the client not named?
Some clients, especially in crypto and finance, prefer competitors not to know who runs their SEO. We keep the numbers and the screenshots and redact the name.
Do you work with other crypto and blockchain companies?
Yes. See our blockchain SEO service.

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