Achievements
continuous accurate ecommerce and revenue tracking with zero downtime
improvement in organic impressions and 31% increase in organic clicks for the new website within 6 weeks of launch
URLs redirected to ensure user journeys remained intact
browser variants tested, along with 20+ devices and 6 network latencies
seasonal microsites incorporated into the main website for consolidated traffic
Page meta data migrations
Opportunity
In early 2023, the team at the internationally acclaimed living museum, Sovereign Hill, faced a unique challenge. Despite drawing around one million visitors annually, their website was visually outdated, and its back-end functionality limited.
Operating in the competitive realms of Australian and Victorian tourism, Sovereign Hill’s team recognised the necessity of maintaining a marketing edge. It was time to launch a new website designed to significantly boost brand awareness, enhance technical and organic search optimisation, and improve event tracking, all while supporting a range of current and future activities.
Services
Approach
Sovereign Hill had established their brand on organic search over many decades, earning brand recognition, trust and authority as a not-for-profit tourism attraction and a standout Australian icon.
A new website was commissioned, with an aim to increase traffic, attract new visitors and enhance the online profile of Sovereign Hill by supporting the increased website visitation stemming from an uplift in tourism and migration to the state.
At first, SEO migration was not factored into the planning for the new website. This created a potential risk for ticket sales, revenue and visitation – undoing years of work to optimise SEO in a highly competitive tourism and events landscape.
As a trusted partner, the Sovereign Hill team engaged us at KLIQ to work with their web development agency to ensure user experience, digital ticketing and e-commerce tracking were spot on during the website refresh. Sovereign Hill also relies on KLIQmetricsâ„¢ reporting to help them define campaigns and understand audience trends so they needed the confidence that any changes to the website would not interrupt the comprehensive reporting they were used to.
“Especially with high traffic and e-commerce sites, clients often worry about potential drops in revenue and engagement during a new web build. We recognised the hard work the Sovereign Hill team had put into improving their organic search rankings. Our SEO migration service provided was crucial in providing peace of mind, ensuring that their website’s visitation and engagement remained intact,” explains Shaun Thaddeus, Agency Director at KLIQ.
We collaborated closely with both the Sovereign Hill team and their appointed web development agency, implementing a comprehensive SEO migration plan that included our 88-point checklist approach. This approach involved a meticulous analysis of existing organic rankings and keyword strategies, alongside a seamless transition plan to ensure the new website maintained its visibility and discoverability using known search keywords.
Thanks to the concerted efforts of our SEO experts, the Sovereign Hill marketing team, and the web development agency, the new website was successfully launched without a drop in search rankings. The careful SEO migration strategy ensured that the organisation maintained its existing online visibility seamlessly throughout the transition.
The strategic approach not only preserved the site’s visibility but also set the stage for significantly improved search engine performance. Within just six weeks of going live, the new website saw a dramatic 306% increase in organic impressions and a 31% rise in organic clicks, marking a substantial boost in digital engagement and reach.
The success of this project led to our engagement for another significant endeavour—an SEO Migration project for The Australian Centre for Rare Arts & Forgotten Trades. This not-for-profit organisation, dedicated to preserving and celebrating Australia’s rare arts and trades, reflects the continued trust in our expertise under the Sovereign Hill banner.
Testimonial
We wanted to preserve traffic to our website, ensure that we’re ranked highly in organic search rankings, and optimize our site for search engines. We can see from the quality of deliverables and data provided that KLIQ has helped us accomplish that. We have developed a great relationship with KLIQ and see them as part of our team. Looking forward to continuing working together.
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