How I helped a coaching institute fix SEO and increase organic traffic by 111%

The Client

Ivy Pro School is a Data Science and AI coaching institute based in India. They help graduates and working professionals upskill and grow their careers in data-related fields.

They offer online and in-person classes with small batches of 30–40 students, where instructors work closely with learners. They also partner with companies to help teams learn and apply AI in their work.

The Challenge

When I spoke with the founder in February 2024, he shared their business, goals, and challenges. They were doing very well offline, but their online presence was weak.

They were focusing on three channels: SEO, Google Ads, and social media. They wanted to build a more credible online presence, improve SEO, and increase organic traffic.

So I reviewed their website, Search Console, and GA4 data. Here’s what I found:

They were getting around 2.5k organic visits per month, but most of the traffic was not relevant.
Competitors were outranking them for important keywords. This was affecting their growth.
They had over 100 blogs, but most were low quality: boring introductions, shallow content, complex language, long paragraphs, no images, no internal links, no outbound links, and no clear CTAs.
There was no proper on-page SEO. No keyword research. No content strategy. They were creating content without knowing if people were even searching for those topics.
Their course pages were not performing well. The messaging was unclear, and the headings were weak. They did not explain the benefits clearly or answer user questions. They were also not optimized for target keywords.
The site had several technical SEO issues. This made it harder for search engines to crawl and index the site. On top of that, they were following outdated SEO practices, which hurt rankings.
The site also lacked strong EEAT signals, which reduced its chances of ranking for competitive keywords.

What I Did

After understanding their audience and studying competitors, I focused on building a clear SEO system for increasing targeted traffic. Here’s what I did:

Researched keywords using Semrush. Focused on low-competition, high-value keywords with 500+ monthly searches. Choose topics with informational and commercial intent.
Studied user behavior on platforms like Quora and Reddit. Looked at real questions, problems, and frustrations. This helped me create content people actually care about.
Built a content strategy to improve search visibility and attract high-quality traffic. Focused on topics that could build authority over time.
Created high-quality blogs that were clear, useful, and easy to read. Focused on answering user questions directly and building trust through education.
Optimized every blog for search engines and LLMs. Used keywords naturally in titles, headings, URLs, images, and content. Added relevant stats and linked to trusted sources.
Added author sections to each blog to improve EEAT and highlighted the author’s expertise and experience in the field.
Created a keyword strategy for course pages. Focused on high-traffic, transactional keywords to bring in ready-to-buy users.
Rewrote course page copy. Made it clear and persuasive. Highlighted benefits, testimonials, accreditations, and results. Also optimized pages for target keywords.
Audited the website and fixed technical SEO issues. This included broken links, indexing problems, and redirects.
Helped repurpose content for social media without affecting SEO. Shared blogs on LinkedIn to increase reach and visibility.
Tracked industry trends and competitor content regularly. Updated blogs with fresh data and insights to stay relevant.
Shared weekly reports with the team. Covered traffic, rankings, top pages, keywords, devices, and locations. This kept everything transparent and measurable.

The Results

Here’s what we achieved:

Within 7 months, organic traffic increased by 111.2%: from 2,550 monthly visits in March 2024 to 5,386 in October 2024.

2. We ranked in the top 3 positions for 12 high-intent keywords, and on the first page for 59 keywords within 6 months.

3. Blogs started ranking within the first 3 months and began bringing consistent traffic. For example:

- - “Solve this Guesstimate” — 270 visitors/month
  - “How to Solve Guesstimates” — 193 visitors/month
  - “Generative AI Syllabus” — visitors/month
  - “Top 10 Analytics Companies in Mumbai” — 63 visitors/month

4. Some blogs gained social shares, which helped build authority and backlinks. For example, “Solve this Guesstimate” received 20+ shares across platforms.

5. High-quality content was also picked up in AI overviews. For example, “How to solve guesstimate” ranked #1 and brought 190+ visitors/month while I was working there.

6. Repurposing content on LinkedIn increased reach and engagement. It helped build an audience and drove additional traffic to the website.

Course pages started ranking within 3 months and brought high-intent traffic. For example:

- “Pay After Placement Data Science Course” ranked #1 and brought 500+ visitors/month
- “Generative AI Course” (new page) brought ~60 visitors/month

Key takeaway

SEO works. But don’t try to hack the algorithm. Don’t chase shortcuts. And don’t just create content for search engines.

Instead, focus on improving the user experience. Create content that truly helps, answers real questions, and delivers exceptional value. Explain what you offer and why someone should choose you in simple words.

When your content is useful, people will come to you and buy from you.