Case Study
SEO-led content marketing for a science communication agency — from one brand keyword to page-one authority in a year.
| Metric | Before | After | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Organic clicks (3-month window) | 280 | 1,950 | ~7× growth |
| Search impressions (3-month window) | 18.4K | 72.3K | ~4× growth |
| Click-through rate | 1.5% | 2.7% | +80% |
| Average search position | 26.4 | 19.4 | +7 positions |
| Page-one keywords | 1 (brand only) | 5–6 non-brand | New rankings on high-value terms |
| Moz Domain Authority | — | 18 / 100 | +29% growth |
| Backlinks / Referring domains | — | 553 / 44 | Earned organically |
The Challenge
Impact Media Lab is brilliant at the work itself: branding for research labs, science films, documentary production, websites that make academic work shine. The problem was discoverability. Almost no one was finding them through search.
When we started, IML was ranking for exactly one keyword: their own brand name. Average position sat at 26.4 — page three of Google, well past where anyone clicks. Inbound leads were heavily dependent on referrals and word of mouth, which made growth lumpy and hard to forecast.
They wanted compounding, sustainable visibility — the kind that keeps working after the campaign ends.
Goals
Strategy
We clustered dozens of keywords by intent, difficulty, and traffic potential, then prioritized the ones where IML already had genuine authority: lab branding, research website design, science filmmaking, and science communication.
We published a steady cadence of long-form, expertise-driven posts — lab logo and branding guides, best research lab websites, building a user-friendly research lab website, science branding and storytelling, lab social media playbooks, science filmmaking essentials, documentary production for academics, best modern science documentaries, and what is sci-comm and why it matters.
Every post got the full treatment: clean H-tag structure, schema-friendly formatting, internal linking, optimized media, and metadata tuned to the target query.
Quarterly newsletters (Q4 2024, Q2 2025) tied campaigns to seasonal moments, kept subscribers warm, and pushed traffic back to the new content.
The content was good enough to attract links on its own. No paid link schemes, no spammy outreach. Just useful, substantive writing that other sites wanted to reference.
Execution Timeline
| Phase | Focus | Key Deliverables |
|---|---|---|
| Q4 2024 | Audit, foundation, first wave | SEO audit, keyword research, editorial calendar, lab branding and top lab websites posts, Q4 newsletter |
| Q1 2025 | Topical depth | Research website design, science branding, lab social media, sci-comm fundamentals, science filmmaking |
| Q2 2025 | Expansion + authority | Academic documentary production, best science documentaries, internal link revamp, Q2 newsletter |
| Through 2026 | Compounding | Ongoing optimization, refreshes, link earning, performance reporting |
The Results
The practical translation: IML's website is now a genuine source of inbound leads, surfacing in front of researchers, lab directors, and institutions who didn't know the agency existed twelve months ago.
“This marketing actually works! I was blown away by how quickly the traffic to the site started to grow and we were getting new leads.”
What We Learned
A steady publishing rhythm did more than any single hero piece. Google rewards cadence and topical depth over one-off swings.
Grouping content around branding, websites, film, and sci-comm gave search engines a clear signal about what IML is genuinely expert at.
553 backlinks across 44 referring domains came in without paid placements or aggressive outreach. The work spoke for itself.
Doubling CTR meant the work wasn't just ranking — it was being chosen on the SERP. That comes from titles, meta descriptions, and matching searcher intent.
What's Next
With organic traffic now flowing consistently, the next phase shifts toward conversion.
Kayser Marketing builds SEO and content systems that turn websites into compounding lead engines. Stop relying on referrals. Start owning your category in search.