How I helped an online exam preparation platform to drive +167% TOFU keywords for demand generation

This project began with an online exam preparation platform. During the initial consultation, it became clear that their Go-To-Market strategy was limited, primarily focusing on keywords related to DSE (Diploma of Secondary Education) and tutoring. Online exam preparation wasn't a widespread practice at the time, which presented unique challenges.

Upon examining AfterSchool's keyword portfolio and traffic sources, I discovered that their strategy was too narrow. More than half (51.56%) of their total organic traffic came from keywords in the “Study Guides and Materials” cluster. This approach wasn't maximizing their potential reach or visibility in search results.

Furthermore, while the company measured growth by daily active users, they weren't fully leveraging features like their community, trial courses, and online exam materials to keep users engaged and drive organic growth.

To address these issues, I developed a comprehensive SEO strategy focused on two main objectives:

Diversify the keyword portfolio: I expanded the focus beyond DSE and tutoring to include topic clusters related to various academic subjects. This approach aimed to capture a broader audience and increase overall visibility.

Emphasize top-of-the-funnel keywords: Given our primary goal of maximizing student awareness of the platform, we targeted high-volume, top-of-funnel keywords to attract more potential users at the beginning of their search journey.

I worked closely with their team to implement these changes, optimizing existing content and creating new pages to target the expanded keyword set.

As of October 2024, the SEO campaign has delivered significant results:

167% increase in demand-generation keywords

281% rise in keywords ranked within the top 5 positions

The number of keywords ranking on page 1 increased from 626 to a peak of 1916, stabilizing at an average of 1867 in the final four months of the campaign