Case Study: Growing Authority for a UK Sustainability Certification
In six months, SEO helped a national sustainability body increase visibility for its certification schemes, strengthen authority in forestry and woodland management, and grow engagement with its online directory.
The Challenge
The organisation wanted to:
Increase awareness and sign-ups for its certification schemes
Drive more relevant traffic to its directory and scheme pages
Improve rankings for non-branded searches (not just its name)
Build authority in sustainable forestry and woodland management across the UK
With only three hours a month, the work needed to focus on the biggest wins.
The Approach
I honed in on content and structure issues that were holding the site back:
Reviewed and expanded certification pages to align with search intent
Fixed keyword cannibalisation and duplicate copy issues
Updated titles, meta descriptions, and on-page copy for target keywords
Improved structure and internal linking for discoverability
Added weekly Google Business Profile posts to boost visibility
Advised on content gaps for pages like woodland creation, processors, coppice workers, and Christmas trees
The Results (in six months)
1,876 new users via organic search — their biggest traffic driver
Improved keyword rankings across core certification pages
Certification pages now pulling higher engagement and sign-ups
Longer time on site (1.47 minutes on average) and higher engagement signals
Directory pages showing early growth after optimisation
The Impact
By tightening content, fixing technical SEO, and aligning pages with search demand, the organisation:
Increased awareness of its certification schemes
Improved non-branded visibility in sustainable forestry and woodland management
Attracted more relevant traffic to high-value pages
Strengthened its authority in a highly specialist sector
All achieved on a lean monthly budget, with clear room for further growth.
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