Concern

Testimonial

Through working with Heraghty Internet [now called User Journeys], we were able to develop a more consistent approach to search engine optimisation.

We have subsequently achieved much better search engine rankings and an impressive increase in visitor numbers.

– Kieran O’Hea, Internet Manager, Concern.

Background

Concern is an international organisation dedicated to reducing suffering and working towards the elimination of extreme poverty. The website is an important part of the organisation; it creates awareness of Concern’s work, and attracts donations.

In 2007, Concern had appointed a new Internet Manager and was planning a major website redesign. In preparation, they wanted to examine their existing site and identify elements that could be improved. Additionally, Concern wanted to increase visitor numbers across its family of websites.

Challenge

Concern invited Heraghty Internet Consultants to analyse the search engine performance of its existing website, and to work with its developers to ensure SEO problems were eliminated in the new website.

Concern also wanted us to work with its staff to help increase visitor numbers to the redesigned site.

Solution

We produced a detailed SEO Audit of the Concern website. The report identified issues, and gave solutions for problems, in the following areas:

• Site structure and technical issues
• Keyword targetting
• On-page optimisation

The audit compared/contrasted the performance of Concern’s website with those of peer organisations.

We discussed the results of this report with the client. We made it available to Concern’s web team, as well as relevant partners involved in building the new site.

Workshops

We conducted two workshops with Concern staff.

In the first, we showed the Dublin-based Concern web team how to optimise website content for search engines. We demonstrated how to get better value from Google Adwords, and how to use Google Analytics to set goals and measure performance.

In the second workshop, we looked at other Concern websites such as Concern Fast and Concern Corporate Gifts. Staff members from other offices joined us. Together, we devised innovative ways in which to increase visitor numbers.

Results

Concern’s design and development partners implemented the recommendations in our SEO audit. The new website went live in April 2007.

Between 1 Oct 2007 – 31 Dec 2007, the number of visitors from organic Google listings was up by over 140% on the same period in 2006.

The website showed up in Google for a far greater number of search queries than before. The keywords that brought these visits were more relevant to its target audience than before.