Contents
Background
Ly Private Investigators, formerly known as Ly Detectives PI Services, had to change domains from .lydetectives.com to .lyprivateinvestigators.com. The biggest challenge was that it was impossible to access old social media accounts, which were required in order to compete with already established online profiles that had built authority over a period of more than ten years. This case study examines the SEO strategies implemented with the view of overcoming such challenges and quickly gaining a strong online visibility for the rebranded business.
Challenge:
- Migration to new domain while retaining brand visibility.
- Previous online existence would compete with the current one for brand keywords in search engines.
- Since the access to previously used social media profiles would not be available, new profiles were to be created and optimized.
The lack of access to the old domain, considering it had been online for 12 years, had a great effect on rebranding and SEO efforts.
Years of backlinks had given the old domain online authority, trust, and visibility to search engines that should have been utilized and helped to increase the ranking of the new domain with a proper 301 redirect in place.
We could have passed much of the link equity and authority to the new site by redirecting the old domain to the new one and, in turn, hastening the ranking process. In its absence, the new domain has grown authority from scratch, thereby making it tough to outrank the old entities. Moreover, it automatically engages one in more aggressive SEO efforts with a view to regain lost ground.
Goal:
The new website and Google Maps were to be ranked within a short span of time using brand keywords and simultaneously gain authority for a new social media profile.
Solution:
Website Development and On-Page SEO Optimization:
First, a new website was built on the new domain with optimization for the brand’s core keywords-including “private investigators,” “PI services,” and variations associated with Ly. The major on-page SEO practices included:
- Keyword Research and Integration: Extensive research was conducted with a focus on high-intent phrases related to private investigations. These keywords were then integrated, with a lot of strategy, into the website in titles, meta descriptions, headers, and content.
- SEO-Friendly URLs: Websites have undergone structuring with relevant keywords while keeping it concise for enhancing click-through rates and enhancing visibility.
- Optimization of Meta Tags: The writing and rewriting of titles and meta descriptions were necessary to be more relevant and appealing in search engine results pages.
- Internal Linking: A solid internal linking strategy was implemented, including better site navigation, reduced bounce rates, and distribution of page authority throughout the site.
- Technical SEO: The website was optimized for speed, mobile responsiveness, and proper indexing to ensure a seamless user experience across devices. Configuration of XML sitemaps and robots.txt files would be required for efficient crawling.
Google Maps and Local SEO:
A new Google Maps listing was created with the intent of capturing the search queries that are location-based. This included:
Adding accurate NAP.
Business location verification for better local search results.
Listing optimization, including keywords, photos, and customer reviews.
New Content Creation and Social Media Account Optimization:
Since access to social media profiles was lost, the following have been created on big platforms like Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook.
- Content Creation: We created engaging content for the website as well as social media platforms, which included articles, images, and videos. Each of the different types of content was optimized for search, having keyword-laden descriptions, hashtags, and image alt text.
- Authority Building: Emphasis was given to building authority of the new social media profiles through consistent engagement, optimizing posts for it, and interacting with industry-related accounts.
Press Release and Backlink Strategy:
The rebranding was announced to all members of the public through a press release worldwide. This served as an important strategy for high-quality backlinks to the new domain and social media accounts, where additional authority building was required.
Backlink Acquisition:
The distribution of the press release to authoritative news websites developed a strong backlink profile for the new domain. These backlinks served as an indication to the search engines that the new domain was a credible and relevant source concerning the brand-related searches.
Results:
-In under 14 days, Ly Private Investigators’ Google Maps listing took position one for key terms-a big success indicator for local SEO efforts.
-The new domain received huge exposure; nevertheless, it kept on facing extreme competition with the old entities because of the considerable amount of backlinks each one of them had built up over time.
Ongoing Strategy:
Since the old domain and social profiles hold high authority, further SEO work to setup the new domain and its social profiles will definitely be needed. It involves ongoing development of content for outreach to generate more backlinks and further engagement on social platforms to build greater authority over time.
Conclusion:
Ly Private Investigators overcame the rebranding challenge and shifting to a new domain successfully; also, with rapid ranking improvements through on-page SEO, Local SEO, creation of content, social media optimization, and strategic press releases, further SEO would ensure that the new brand maintains its competitive edge in search results.
