[{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BlogPosting","@id":"https:\/\/www.adamriemer.me\/seo\/seo-recovery-case-study-lead-gen-ymyl-in-finance\/#BlogPosting","mainEntityOfPage":"https:\/\/www.adamriemer.me\/seo\/seo-recovery-case-study-lead-gen-ymyl-in-finance\/","headline":"SEO Recovery Case Study – Lead Gen for YMYL in Finance","name":"SEO Recovery Case Study – Lead Gen for YMYL in Finance","description":"This case study is a client in a highly competitive finance space meaning it is in the realm of credit cards, insurance policies, SBA loans, credit card processing, etc… They are not one of the big brands, but they compete directly against them.\u00a0 The website had a strong presence, but with each core update it […]","datePublished":"2025-04-07","dateModified":"2025-04-07","author":{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.adamriemer.me\/author\/adamriemer\/#Person","name":"Adam Riemer","url":"https:\/\/www.adamriemer.me\/author\/adamriemer\/","identifier":2,"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/fda62f751f2a6c2ec2b079fedff69720852e4a65633212ffb11832454c29160a?s=96&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/fda62f751f2a6c2ec2b079fedff69720852e4a65633212ffb11832454c29160a?s=96&r=g","height":96,"width":96}},"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Adam Riemer Marketing, LLC.","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/www.adamriemer.me\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/arm-logo-2.jpg","url":"https:\/\/www.adamriemer.me\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/arm-logo-2.jpg","width":600,"height":60}},"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/www.adamriemer.me\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/seo-case-study-lead-gen-website-in-the-finance-space-scaled.jpg","url":"https:\/\/www.adamriemer.me\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/seo-case-study-lead-gen-website-in-the-finance-space-scaled.jpg","height":1091,"width":1920},"url":"https:\/\/www.adamriemer.me\/seo\/seo-recovery-case-study-lead-gen-ymyl-in-finance\/","about":["Press Room","SEO"],"wordCount":2377,"articleBody":"This case study is a client in a highly competitive finance space meaning it is in the realm of credit cards, insurance policies, SBA loans, credit card processing, etc… They are not one of the big brands, but they compete directly against them.\u00a0 The website had a strong presence, but with each core update it fell a bit more.\u00a0 They came to us to see if we could reverse the trend and since we started in November 2024 we’ve been doing just that.The following case study walks through how we diagnosed the website and the steps we’re actively taking to get it growing.\u00a0 Just like other case studies I’ll continue to update the screenshots as time progresses and share learnings while they keep us as their SEO company.\u00a0 Just like the other SEO case studies from the past four or five years, we’re doing zero link building.Backlinks are important, but they no longer matter nearly as much as they used to.\u00a0 If you create good content and can help ensure it does not sound like or resemble AI and LLMs, people start to give you backlinks organically.\u00a0 These are the valuable ones that boost content, product pages, categories\/collections, and service pages.Let’s jump in with the screenshots and then the step-by-step process for traffic recovery and growth.ScreenshotsHere are the original screenshots from when I first wanted to publish in late February 2025.In this first screenshot you see things are looking good, there’s an increase beginning after stagnation and decreasing traffic.\u00a0 A 16 month timespan shows a consistent decline. We were able to begin turning this around.In the screenshot above from search console you can see that revamping the content is bringing life back to what was either outdated, needed proper sourcing and citations, or was created for SEO vs. for the user.\u00a0 But we aren’t out of the weeds yet.In this third screenshot you’ll see other pages are continuing to fall and some lost all of their traffic completely.\u00a0 Sometimes in a recovery there is less traffic or equal traffic, but that doesn’t mean you’re falling.\u00a0 The first few months look flat, but we saw new traffic and high-intent traffic coming in while older content continued to fall.\u00a0 The result was an even balance that showed no net-gain as the falls were now equal to the gains.\u00a0 Other times the layout of the search result change, so even if you’re in the top three positions, traffic decreases because of AI Overviews, more PPC ads, and rich results like forums and people also ask.We’re continuing to implement more tech SEO changes and increase the quality of the content as we’re seeing the results and patterns we’re hoping for.Update March 2025I’m writing this case study in late March 2025, so its been a month since I took the first screenshots and figured why not do an update to show progress with apples to apples.\u00a0 Here is how the site is progressing.New and revamped content with some more of the tech changes is taking effect.\u00a0 We now have about five months of changes to study so we know what is and is not working.\u00a0 We’re using these learnings and applying them to the older pages that are continuing to slip.\u00a0 The benefit now is that we have control groups and data to back up our decisions.\u00a0 This makes it easier to know what to change and how to prioritize the next steps.There’s no shortage of things we want to do, the data tells us which order we should do them.\u00a0 We can combine this into the content team’s queue and work with the IT team based on launches and so we don’t add to the technical debt that almost all companies face.So far we’ve added over 1 million impressions over the past three months YOY and increased website traffic.\u00a0 This includes the lead gen pages that drive revenue for the company and is measurable.\u00a0 So far its a big win all around and we’re excited to keep going.The Steps to Recover the Finance Client’s SEOTo get traffic to recover we did five main things after the SEO audit in the first month:Rebuild part of the template so it follows best practicesLocate and update evergreen and seasonal contentFix sources and citationsUpdate internal linksNew content and add whistles and bellsRebuild the TemplateThe template wasn’t bad, but it didn’t do everything we needed it to do.\u00a0 For example H tags were being used to style elements on a page vs. define what the topic of the content in a section is.\u00a0 There were some excess scripts that didn’t need to be on the site, and a couple of rendering issues that needed resolved.Talks were already in the works for a redesign, or partial redo, so we figured why not.\u00a0 Multiple teams including us in SEO, PPC, and content were all on board so the stars aligned.\u00a0 Nothing drastic or major was done, but we did redo some of the URLs and site structure, recoded the templates themselves to follow SEO and other best practices, and we took the opportunity to add some calls to action in places where we had pre-sold users on why they should trust the brand.Locate and Update Content That Needs ItAs with every site that has been around for a while, there is no shortage of content that has outdated information, thin copy, things done because of previous team members that don’t make sense now, non-evergreen topics to take care of, etc… So we put a game plan into place.Find evergreen topics that have or had trafficLocate seasonal topics that will be relevant in 3 or 4 months to see if we can get that traffic backDeal with non-evergreen topics and articlesLook for entity based topics that are not covered or aren’t covered wellDo a GAP analysis and see what competitors show up for or write about that we don’t or haven’tLook at what is hot, trending, or people are asking in forums and communities, and add them to our mixThe first step in the content evaluation was simple, find pages that used to have traffic or conversions and no longer do, or pages that are slipping in positions for important keywords.\u00a0 You can do this in search console by searching for a 3 or 6 month comparison YOY, click on pages, and sort by loss in clicks.\u00a0 If you use a different tool like quicksite, looker, etc… you can potentially go back further.We found content that lost traffic but drove revenue and built a plant to get it back.\u00a0 This starts by looking at what was missing or not formatted well in the content and mapping out how to improve it.\u00a0 Some of it was formatting the content differently so it is easier to absorb like flipping paragraphs to bullet lists or tables, and other times it was deleting entire sections of content because it was there for SEO and not to back up the topic.Next we looked for what people look for seasonally and found topics that could use a refresh for the upcoming season.\u00a0 If it is holiday shopping, we updated the content in late Q2 or early Q3 so it can rank during the important season.\u00a0 For content about taxes we update in late Q3 or early Q4.\u00a0 Updating before the season gives you time to monitor how the changes impact rankings before you need the content to perform.While doing this we looked for content that should have been evergreen but is dated.\u00a0 Changing it to evergreen, or deleting it if it serves no value to current users and customers is almost always a good move.\u00a0 If the non-evergreen is there for a purpose and can get backlinks because of its historic value, keep it and archive it.Last we knew that we still have to publish new content to start building new business and develop readership.\u00a0 We did not focus on keywords, we focused on what would help our users and included topics that we hadn’t covered yet.\u00a0 Much like we’ve seen elsewhere, creating content for a user vs. an SEO keyword can result in traffic.\u00a0 This is part of entities in SEO.We scanned forums and used research tools to perform a content GAP analysis.\u00a0 From there we looked at what entities have search volume and created content to meet the needs of the user.\u00a0 For others we made sure the topics would help the end user make a decision, and these have the potential to get into Google discover or get backlinks and social shares.\u00a0 By doing this we were able to start ranking for keywords in a competitive space, even when we don’t mention the keywords in the headers, etc…Fix Sources and CitationsThis is one of those little things that doesn’t move the needle on its own, but does build user confidence.\u00a0 When it is added with other little things can move the needle, that is when your site can climb in a core update.\u00a0 Other little things include fixing canonicals to make sure they match perfectly with trailing slashes or www and non www, a cleaner crawl via robots.txt and meta robots, undoing overoptimizations in content, and updating site structure.Here’s my guide to sourcing and citations for SEO if you’re curious how we do it.These are things in SEO that you can control because it is your website and you decide where you link too.\u00a0 For sources and citations we made sure:The page still exists and is not a 404 or 3XX.\u00a0 If it is a redirect, we linked to the new official page or picked a new source.We did not link to definitions or explanations.People already know what something is, they want to know the reason why or how it is related to the topic.This is the same reason we deleted headers and definition sections from other posts.All citations and sources to definitions and explanations were deleted unless there was a reason to keep it.If you’re sourcing a topic and it is in your entity, create a resource that explains and details it and use an internal link instead of an external source.Linking to definitions means you’re not providing the resources, so add a quick definition in after the jargon or concept and keep the person on your own page.Double checked the resources are still valid and accurate.Studies are up to date.Calculations and tables are correct and have been updated.Formulas are presented in easy-to-understand and use formats or have calculators to assist.The information on the page we sourced is still factual, and if it has been updated the updated content matches our claim.People will always argue if you need to give backlinks vs. only get them.\u00a0 I will almost always say you need to source things that don’t make sense for you to create, and to make sure they are trustworthy and reliable resources.\u00a0 The sites where we do give backlinks regardless of domain authority, time in existence, etc… tend to rank better and do better because we’re concerned with the end user, not with giving backlinks.Update Internal Links and Site StructureI’ve talked about this a million times on this website, so will keep this section short.\u00a0 We made sure internal links that would normally compete did not by basing internal links off of user intent.\u00a0 It is similar to this post about how you can have two pages dedicated to the same SEO keywords and not have them compete.Next we looked for internal links that go to dead pages and daisy chains redirects, and fixed those.\u00a0 Last we made sure the blog posts, menus, etc… all has the right keywords to the correct pages based on intent and phrase.\u00a0 Blogs can cannibalize conversion pages, so when looking at topics and categories, ask if they support the main products and services or if they compete.\u00a0 If they compete then rename and refocus them.New Content and Whistles and BellsWe have the site in good tech shape now, older content is climbing, and new content is working.\u00a0 Our next step is to begin on things that are not vital for SEO but can help, and new content ideas to bring in users while building the strength of the website.\u00a0 Whistles and bells for me are things like schema.Schema isn’t going to help you rank if you don’t have a strong site.\u00a0 Once your site does have strength and rankings, schema can help you get rich snippets and featured results.\u00a0 That is where this website is at now.\u00a0 We used crawlers and AI via LLMs to find topics that people ask about each year whether it is year round or seasonally in communities, and added in that nobody has answered it well.\u00a0 If there are no good solutions and resources, this is a great opportunity for our client.We began creating resources for these, and when relevant we added calls to action to our content.\u00a0 The article builds trust by providing solutions.\u00a0 Once we’ve earned the trust of the visitor we give them the option to try out our services.\u00a0 Some of them do become customers because we built their trust and gave solutions without pitching services unless it was directly relevant.\u00a0 The rest go to a remarketing funnel for the social, PPC, and possibly email\/SMS teams if they opted in.For now we’re going to continue creating new content, doing quarterly audits to look for changes and watch how they impact performance.\u00a0 I’ll update the screenshots on the top of this case study throughout the year and hopefully for many years to come.\u00a0 If you’re curious to see how the site performs, I share when the case studies are updated on my LinkedIn page and sometimes through my newsletter which you can subscribe to below."},{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Seo","item":"https:\/\/www.adamriemer.me\/seo\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"SEO Recovery Case 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