SEO case study: how to release a new website and attract 380K monthly users!

In May 2022, we began SEO optimization for an online games catalog. At the start of our work, the site was still under development, so our primary task was to prepare it for release. This involved pre-release optimization and setting up basic SEO to avoid indexing issues at the initial stage and to start generating early traffic from Google.

Project initiation and plan approval

We started working on the website from the very beginning with the idea of what the resource should be and what its naming should entail. With this in mind, and in close collaboration with the client, we developed the following plan for the release and ongoing work on the website:

• Domain selection
• Analysis of the current market situation 
• Development of a promotion strategy 
• Pre-release optimization
• SEO support during the release
• Technical audit of the website
• Ongoing website content updates and further SEO work

After the plan was approved, we moved on to the first and most fundamental step — recommendations for domain selection.

Domain selection

We considered both existing and new domains. The options for existing domains were quickly dismissed as none of them adequately matched the project’s name, and combining different names could potentially confuse users. Therefore, we decided not to rely on old domains and opted to develop the site on a domain without any history. 

Although this approach is more challenging than working with an established domain, the naming was a decisive factor for the client in this case. If a domain name doesn’t suit your needs or doesn’t synergize with your company’s name, it’s not necessary to stick to old domains; you can explore working with a new one. While more complex, it is still possible, and in 1-2 years, your site will have established a history in the domain that aligns with your brand. Moreover, the absence of history allows you to build it yourself from scratch.

Simultaneously with selecting the domain, we began analyzing competitors and the market niche.

Analysis of the current market situation 

To develop an effective promotion strategy, we first needed to understand the client’s goals and analyze the niche. The primary objective was to drive traffic to game pages, with the aim of monetizing this traffic through advertising.

With this in mind, we focused on identifying the websites that receive the most traffic from organic Google searches in the needed field. In addition, we reviewed a list of competitors provided by the client to ensure that we accounted for them in our analysis.

Once we identified the key competitors, we began analyzing how they generate traffic, how they optimize their pages, and other relevant factors. 

Conducting such an analysis during the website development phase is crucial for SEO. This is why we recommend involving an SEO specialist early in the development process. By doing so, we were able to design the correct structure for the future website, even at the prototyping stage. 

For example, after analyzing competitors and their website structures, we were able to determine what the structure of the site should look like:

Competitors typically generated the most traffic on the following pages:

1. Homepage. This was usually driven by branded keywords but also included important high-frequency keywords like “online games,” which we also needed to target for the homepage. 
2. Game pages. These were a crucial part of the website, as games were the main source of non-branded traffic and served as the primary pages for monetization. 
3. Tag pages. Another important aspect of the site, tag pages, allowed us to create listings based on user queries related to specific game types. 
4. Game categories. These are classic collections of games organized by genre (shooters, strategy, action, RPG, etc.). 

Overall, this structure is similar to that of an online store, where traffic is distributed between product pages and listings. At this stage, we were able to provide the design and development teams with recommendations on the types of pages that should be included on the site and how they should be interconnected.

Knowing the types of pages that attract traffic, we needed to identify:

• Which games attracted the most visitors

• Which categories were most frequented

• Which specific tags generate traffic

This targeted approach helped us pinpoint where to allocate resources, specifying which games to feature and which categories and tags to emphasize for optimal user engagement. 

Additionally, as we approached the site’s release, we conducted an analysis of the competitors’ backlinks profile. This involved examining everything from the number of domains linking to their sites to how these backlinks were distributed across different types of pages, the anchor texts used, and other relevant factors.

Based on this information, we developed an off-page SEO plan to build a high-quality backlinks profile for the site.  

After completing the competitor analysis, we moved on to preparing the promotion strategy. 

Development of a promotion strategy 

When preparing the promotion strategy, it was important to consider that the website was still in the development phase. Therefore, all tasks were divided into pre-release activities and post-release ongoing promotion. 

The plan for the website development phase included:

1. Enabling the domain for Google indexing.
2. Finalizing the website structure and its pages with the client. 
3. Preparing recommendations for basic optimization to be implemented by developers during the site creation process. 
4. Agreeing with the client on the main categories and tag pages that would be available on the site immediately after the release. 
5. Creating unique content for categories, tags, and game pages. 
6. Populating the test version of the site with games, tags, and categories to ensure it wasn’t empty at the release.
7. Checking the implementation of SEO recommendations on the test version of the site. 

Additionally, we prepared and agreed with the client on a promotion strategy for the first six months following the site release, allowing for regular progress reviews and adjustments as needed.

The post-release plan included the following steps:

1. Release and monitoring of the website. We closely monitored how the site was being crawled during the first few months. While we continued to monitor the site’s status through weekly updates, it was crucial to conduct daily monitoring immediately after the release. 
2. Technical audit of the site. This was done to identify and correct any errors that could hinder the crawling and indexing of the website. 
3. Ongoing competitor analysis and search for new traffic sources for expanding the traffic funnel. 
4. Content creation for new games and other types of pages, and filling the site with new pages. This involved identifying the most promising pages for driving traffic, preparing the content, and creating these pages to expand the site continuously. 
5. Work on building the site’s backlinks profile. 
6. Comprehensive site audit after six months, supplemented by monthly reports with updates on the site’s progress.

Preparing the website for release

Before a website can start attracting visitors, it needs to be set up for success behind the scenes. This step is where the groundwork for SEO happens — ensuring everything runs smoothly from day one. With the online games catalog work progress, we focused on some important preparations.

Enabling the domain for Google indexing

As mentioned earlier, the client chose a new domain without any history, and we based our development strategy on this decision. Achieving initial results for new websites typically takes longer than for domains with an established history, partly due to an unofficial filter known as the “Google Sandbox.”

New sites often remain in this “sandbox” for an average of 3-6 months, sometimes longer. During this period, Google observes the site’s development, including its content growth, user behavior, and trust signals. Only once the site has accumulated sufficient content and demonstrated the necessary behavioral characteristics and trust does Google’s algorithm begin ranking it higher, leading to the first organic traffic. This theory, although unofficial, is supported by the experiences of many sites and confirmed by the practical knowledge of SEO specialists. 

Given this, our first recommendation was to open the site for Google indexing as soon as possible. To achieve this, we placed an announcement on the homepage stating, “We’re coming soon,” informing visitors that the site was under development and would be operational shortly. This allowed us to gain a few months’ head start — Google indexed the domain almost immediately, ensuring that the site was already recognized by Google by the time of its official release.

Recommendations for basic optimization

We already had a clear understanding of the website structure, namely that it would contain:

1. Homepage
2. Game pages 
3. Tag pages 
4. Game categories 

With this in mind, we recognized that, in the future, as new game or tag pages are added, there wouldn’t always be the opportunity to craft optimized titles, descriptions, and H1 tags manually. To address this, we developed templates to be used when creating new pages.

This approach is particularly important for website owners, such as those running e-commerce sites, where it’s impractical to conduct keyword research for every single product page. Templates provide a way to optimize a large number of pages efficiently.

For the key pages of the site, we manually wrote the Title and meta tags. However, for situations where pages were created without direct involvement from an SEO specialist, these templates ensured that the pages would still have basic optimization in place.  

For example template for “categories pages”

If there will be categories other than those agreed upon, they must be produced according to the template:

URL: domain.com/ + [сategory name]

Title: [Category name] Games – Play for Free Online on “Website Name” 

Description: 🎮 Play thousands of [сategory name] games for free on “Website Name” online in your browser! 

H1: [Category name] Games

This is a simple example of a template we developed for the site release. Post-release, as we observed how the site ranked, we adjusted our templates accordingly. The advantage of using templates is that by updating a single template, we can apply changes across all similar pages. 

It’s also important to remember that we always maintained the ability to manually edit each page individually. In cases where manual edits were applied, the template would not be enforced. This flexibility is crucial and should be considered during the project development stage. It ensures that the admin panel includes an editor for standard pages and prevents too rigid templates, potentially blocking manual optimizations for high-priority pages. 

Creating unique content 

While unique content is typically a standard requirement, we faced the question of whether it was necessary for the website, given its specific nature. Additionally, we had to determine the appropriate content volume — could we rely on templated informational blocks with variables?

Our competitor analysis revealed that many were publishing pages with minimal content, often templated or even without any content at all. It might seem logical to follow their example, but we knew from experience that this approach could lead to problems with Google indexing the pages. The situation with competitors was an exception rather than the norm; they might have been able to forgo substantial content due to other factors like domain trust or backlinks. Since the site was new, we needed something that would set it apart from the competition, both for users and for Google. Unique content became that differentiator.

After agreeing on the necessary pages, we began preparing content for them. Initially, we developed several content templates. These templates outlined what needed to be included in the text for game pages versus what should be included for tag or category pages. 

After the content was finalized, we began adding it to the website and preparing for the release.

Pre-release testing of the website

A month before the release, we thoroughly checked the test version of the website to ensure that all our templates were correctly implemented and that the prepared content was properly integrated. Key steps in this process included: 

• Crawling the test version of the website (we used Netpeak Spider to scan the test site). 
• Ensuring there were no empty Titles, no pages without content, and no duplicate content. 
• Checking that all URLs were correctly formatted.
• Configuring the robots.txt file.
• Configuring the sitemap.xml file.
• Setting up canonical links.
• Securing the site with HTTPS and ensuring it functions correctly across all pages. 
• Testing the mobile version of the site for any errors or issues. 

Whenever we identified a problem, we immediately communicated with the development team to make the necessary corrections.

This highlights another reason why having an SEO specialist involved from the start is beneficial — it’s much easier to make adjustments while the site is still in development. After the release, the responsibility typically falls to a single developer, who might not have the resources or knowledge to address all SEO-related tasks effectively, especially if the original development team has moved on.

In our case, the development team continued working on the site alongside the SEO department even after the release, which greatly contributed to our success in achieving the desired results.

Website release

The Big Day finally arrived — the developers released the website. At this critical moment, the most important thing for an SEO specialist is to be responsive and quick to act. Immediately after the release, we worked alongside the testers to ensure that all our recommendations had been correctly transferred from the test version to the live site. If any issues were identified, we were prepared to implement hotfixes immediately. During this period, we also set up and verified all monitoring and analytics systems to ensure they were functioning correctly. 

Post-release website promotion

With the website live, the real work of gaining visibility and traction began. Post-release efforts were key to ensuring the site performed well and reached its target audience. Our approach focused on optimizing every technical detail and setting the stage for steady growth in traffic from search engines.

Technical audit of the website

After the website was released, we immediately began a technical audit and checked all the same points as we did with the test version. We did this to ensure that everything was transferred correctly. 

Why is this important? Sometimes, errors that were not present in the test version slip through at release, which is normal. Therefore, it’s crucial to check that everything is in place.

However, it’s important to make these checks and corrections in the first few days to fix all critical errors before Google detects them.

As part of this audit, we recheck everything: 

• How the site is scanned, whether there are any service or auxiliary pages open for indexing;
• Presence of a robots.txt file;
• Presence of a sitemap.xml;
• Presence of canonical links;
• Whether there are any broken links on the site;
• Along with various other checks to ensure optimal site performance.

In the beginning, no critical errors were detected, and everything was going according to plan, so we started the ongoing SEO process. As I mentioned earlier, we kept a close watch on Google’s indexing of the site. In general, if your site currently has no technical issues, we recommend conducting a full technical audit at least once every three months and more frequently for new sites. You never know when issues might arise, especially if the site is actively developing and being updated – which is precisely our case. 

Initial challenges 

As we actively populated the site with games that had similar structures, Google scanned them but was reluctant to rank them. As mentioned earlier, the privilege of posting such pages without content was reserved for older sites. We needed high-quality content, and we were not mistaken. However, even the content we prepared for the game pages did not appeal to Google. 

Google started marking the game pages as “Discovered - currently not indexed” because we were adding many of them continuously, and they were very similar in structure.

We quickly identified the problem and concluded that the content we were preparing for these types of pages needed further refinement. Although the content was unique, it was too generic and SEO-focused, so we decided to change our approach to content preparation radically. 

Content creation intricacies

Every expert understands that content is a fundamental and essential part of any SEO efforts. This project was no different. We had 3 types of content to work with: tag and other utility pages, guest posts to create a powerful backlink profile and bring traffic to the site, and individual descriptions for hundreds upon hundreds of games. 

While working on standard page content and guest posts was straightforward — you just performed an analysis, drafted the content brief, and gave it to a writer — creating game descriptions was much more involved. We had to ensure that each game page had its own high-quality description, and so we got to work.

First, these descriptions had to be truthful and accurate. How do you go about it? You get a dedicated copywriter and have them play the games first of course! Another interesting aspect of this task was that the copy needs to be engaging, fun and, above all else, “gamey.” This meant the copywriter had to have a solid grasp of gaming terminology, slang, genres, mechanics, and so on. Since in our in-house content team, only the editor was a fellow gamer, we chose to find the most fitting writer for the job outside of the company. Luckily, we managed to find just the person quite quickly and entered into a long-term collaboration — with them playing and writing and our editor verifying, correcting, and approving.

During our work, we encountered a dilemma. Our descriptions had to be honest because there’s nothing worse than falsely advertising something, so then a user ends up utterly disappointed. “Fool me once”, as the saying goes. But not all games are made equal. Some are fantastic and are pure works of art while others can be more leaning into arthouse or actually want to be terrible. However, every product has its audience and it wasn’t up to us to decide, so we chose the most direct path — being upfront in setting up correct expectations in our descriptions. Naturally, our writer had their own gaming preferences and found it difficult to praise games he didn’t like, so we worked on sticking to honest language without turning a blind eye regarding drawbacks. This led to balanced and fun-to-read descriptions.

After we made adjustments and prepared new content according to new requirements, the problem was resolved:

Currently, the number of unindexed pages sometimes increases, especially when we add many new games, but this issue usually resolves itself within a few days. 

As of the moment of writing this case study, we have played, written, and checked 870 game descriptions. More to come.

Website promotion and initial results

Now that the site is live, we continue to populate it actively, and thanks to the work done initially, we understand which categories need to be prioritized and which can follow. 

In addition, we periodically check the site’s optimization and technical condition and work on improving the backlink profile.

Over two years, we have built a high-quality backlink profile from scratch using thematic resources, having previously agreed on a more lenient, non-aggressive strategy with the client. And it is yielding results.

Thanks to our efforts, after the website’s release in September and the subsequent bug fixes, we began seeing the first steady stream of traffic by January 2023, with the initial 400 users coming from Google:

By March, the number of users on the site had already grown to 3,500:

This all indicates that the strategy we chose at the beginning of the project was the right one. While it can take some new websites up to six months just to get out of the “Google Sandbox,” we were already generating traffic. 

The initial goals were achieved, and from that point on, our focus was on maintaining momentum and continuing to develop the site in a high-quality and natural manner. By May 2024, the site had already attracted 383,000 users.

Over the two years we’ve been working on this project, we’ve gained a deep understanding of the niche and the competitors, which has significantly contributed to our continued success. 

This is why it’s crucial to analyze competitors’ websites and establish a solid SEO strategy from the development phase, especially when dealing with a new site. Promoting a new site is generally more challenging than an established one.

This also explains why SEO professionals often say that SEO is a long-term game, particularly if you aim to work exclusively with white-hat methods. Creating unique and high-quality content and filling a site with valuable information takes time, and Google needs time to start trusting your site. Finding the right copywriter for the project also takes time. Building a quality backlinks profile requires time as well. Achieving all of this within 3-6 months is nearly impossible, but once everything is in place, the site begins to grow, and you gain a clear understanding of how to scale operations naturally without running into issues with the search engine.

Currently, we continue to work on the project and are actively seeking new sources of traffic! 

Inspired to boost your own site’s performance? Fill out our contact form today, and let’s start building your success story together.