Recovering from a major Google update. How UTI leveraged AI and content to reclaim critical search visibility
Almost overnight, most of UTI’s national organic rankings were immediately pushed down the result’s page.
Problem
In Q2 of 2023, Google started prioritizing local “map-pack” results above the campus pages on UTI.edu.
Almost overnight, most of UTI’s national organic rankings were immediately pushed down the result’s page (often below the fold), causing significant decreases in organic sessions and new student inquiries from organic search across all UTI’s Core programs. Local plays a critical role in performance because there is significantly higher propensity to convert near their campuses
UTI tasked NP Digital (NPD) with recapturing the lost organic search visibility, sessions, and inquiries for their Core Programs. In addition to the Core Programs, we were asked to grow search awareness and consideration for all New Programs and UTI’s campus expansion efforts.
THE SOLUTION
NPD partnered with the UTI marketing team to develop a holistic SEO and local content strategy.
Almost overnight, most of UTI’s national organic rankings were immediately pushed down the result’s page (often below the fold), causing significant decreases in organic sessions and new student inquiries from organic search across all UTI’s Core programs. Local plays a critical role in performance because there is significantly higher propensity to convert near their campuses
UTI tasked NP Digital (NPD) with recapturing the lost organic search visibility, sessions, and inquiries for their Core Programs. In addition to the Core Programs, we were asked to grow search awareness and consideration for all New Programs and UTI’s campus expansion efforts.
THE RESULTS
In under 3 months, total organic sessions and inquiries bounced back, above pre-Google update levels.
Our focus on local results and their associated pages increased organic search inquires by +18% year-over year. Location and program pages that were hit the hardest (Houston, Orlando, Sacramento, Dallas, and Long Beach) saw session increases of 75%+ from their lowest levels in April of 2023.
Our holistic local strategy increased the number of non-brand position #1 rankings on Google by 20%. While many of the national rankings were still below the map-pack, more of them existed and were helping to fill up the funnel. Additionally, all location and program pages saw significant increases in Top 10 rankings (up 66% on average).
The locally focused strategy was also able to bolster the New Program Expansion efforts. Despite a lack of awareness in the marketplace, organic search sessions increased by 411% year-over-year.
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