Snapshot:
- Ling app
- Language Learning
- Increased Monthly Active Users (MAU) by 489%
- Increased sessions by 454%
- 282 pages ranking #1 on Google
The Challenge
Ling App is a trusted language-learning resource for millions of users worldwide. Ling operates a language app that prides itself on offering over 60 languages, among them dozens of less common languages not available on other language apps.
While Ling App has been up and running since 2017, our website and language blog had limited content and needed to be built-out. The aim was to build new content and repurpose old content using on-page and off-page SEO strategies to become a trusted authority in the language acquisition market.
The Ultimate Goal: Increasing Monthly Website Traffic To Increase Users of the Ling app
- Our language blog serves as the top of the funnel of our language app
- The app exists on Android, iOS, and the Web.
- Language learners interested in our blog content are likely to be interested in a language app as well
- Through strategically placing CTAs in the header and in the articles themselves, we are able to achieve a good click-through rate, leading to more app downloads, and ultimately, more in-app revenue.
The Solution
Using this SEO strategy we wanted to EAT (Expertise, Authority, and Trustworthiness) our way to the top! In order to achieve this, the following steps were undertaken by our content marketing team.
- SEO Content Strategy – Analysis Of On-Page Inventory
The first step was to generate a content inventory in order to identify content gaps, define where our user interests and intent lie, and ultimately improve SEO content planning.
We identified a list of top articles that were pulled out from Ahrefs and Google Console and optimized the articles to ensure they stay on top and don’t drop from page one SERPs. Then we selected articles that are ranking the lowest, rewrote and re-optimized them.
2. Improve Existing And Future SEO Content Through Keyword Optimization
We achieved this by making a number of changes. First, we edited titles of existing content by adding the focus keyword at the beginning or middle of the title. We also ensured that each title had a ‘power word.’ Then we ensured that at least one subheading included the focus keyword.
In addition, we trolled through the ‘People Always Ask’ and ‘Related Searches’ sections on Google search to find what information should be added to the content. Paragraphs would be purposely added to articles to answer people’s questions and trigger a greater potential for the content to be a featured snippet on Google.
Next, we employed the powers of SurferSEO which generates a list of recommended keywords and phrases and suggests the number of headings and images each piece of content should have. All old and new content has SurferSEO scores above 68. Once articles meet our SEO standards in this software, the drafts are input into WordPress where we utilize RankMath, another powerful SEO tool.
Through RankMath we ensure all content has an SEO score of above 80. This includes the process of image optimization, analysis of inbound and outbound links, heading and title analysis.
3. Improve On-Page SEO Through Image Optimization
Through streamlining the process of creating images on Canva, all images are now the
same file type (jpg) and size. Images from older content were resized or replaced with
new images to improve website speed.
All older images were given updated meta descriptions and must use the keyword or phrase at least once. Other image meta descriptions should use different variations of the keyword or phrase or related based on user search intent in the ‘People Always Ask’ and ‘Related Searches’ sections on Google search.
4. EAT – Build Topical Authority With Supporting Content
Through the use of Google search intent research and analysis of competitors using Ahrefs or other similar tools, we decided to implement an SEO Hub and Spoke Model to improve SEO content planning.
We began writing evergreen and skyscraper content to build out our site and to remain a constant and accessible resource for language acquisition. Within those articles, we linked to relevant internal content.
Regular content was then planned using the hub and spoke model. For example, a hub article, ‘How To Get Around Paris’ could then be linked to spoke articles relating to that topic such as, ‘How To Ask For Directions in French,’ ‘French Phrases To Use At The Airport,’ and ‘Transportation Vocabulary in French.’
- Internal Link Building
To further out EAT and hub and spoke strategies, we conducted an anchor text analysis within our content and set out to improve internal link building. The aim was to build a correlation with similar articles with the same language to provide further value to our users.
- External Link Building
To better position Ling as an authority to our readers, external links at the beginning of all articles were removed. Only valuable links were used later in the content and each piece of content has at least one external link to build our outbound link profile.
All existing permalinks were analyzed and redirections or replacements were made if necessary.
- Outreach Strategy – External/Backlink Link Acquisition
To further strengthen our EAT strategy, we began creating our own campaigns to promote Ling and also get valuable backlinks. These are our campaigns so far. We also released press releases and plan to run more campaigns in the future.
- Ling Scholarship: We offer a scholarship to students who study abroad. We reached out to a popular university scholarship platform.
- Ukraine Campaign: Since the invasion of Ukraine began, Ling has been offering our entire platform for free to all Ukraninans and also offering the Ukrainian language free to all.
- Arabic Campaign: to gear up for the World Cup 2022 in Qatar, Ling is offering a free all-access pass to Arabic lessons.
In order to further boost our backlink profile to build EAT, we also signed up to be a
source with HARO and Terkel.
6. Ensure The Site Is Technically Sound – On-page SEO Improvements
Finally, using Google’s PageSpeed Insights, the Ling app was analyzed for:
- Site structure
- Structured data
- Page speed optimization with technical auditing
All recommended changes were made by the development team.
The Results
Since implementing our EAT strategy, the results have been far and above what we hoped for.
Over a period of one year since we began this journey in July 2021
- Our monthly user rate has increased over 489%
- Sessions have soared over 454%
- Pageviews are up over 141%
We’ve also been able to attract new users as Ling gains more authority and reaches new people through our marketing campaigns at an astounding rate of 489%.
Also fairly impressive is that Ling’s blog now has 282 articles ranking #1 in SERPs with 1,184 pages ranking on the first page.
Our outreach campaigns and connections made through HARO and Terkel have resulted in over 3,700 valuable referring links!
Site performance was also increased by twelve points for mobile to meet Google’s new standards.
Conclusion
Making these small adjustments and reimagining our strategy has made all the difference in a relatively short period of time.
Ling is well on its way to establishing its dominance in the language learning space and we expect to see close to one million users by the end of the year 2022.
