How We Helped Better Place Increase Organic Traffic by 3.5x and Drive Up Conversions by 200% in 8 Months
After eight months of strategic SEO execution, we helped Better Place Design & Build more than triple their organic traffic and increase conversion events by 200% month-over-month.
We positioned them as a leading authority in the San Diego ADU market by implementing a data-driven content strategy, acquiring authoritative backlinks, and optimizing on-page elements. As a result, they now rank on page one for highly competitive industry keywords and are generating a steady stream of high-quality organic leads—transforming SEO into a primary driver of business growth.
About Better Place Design & Build
Better Place Design & Build specializes in designing and constructing Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) in the San Diego area. They offer comprehensive services, handling everything from initial design and permitting to the final build. The company emphasizes creating customized, high-quality living spaces that maximize property value and meet the specific needs of their clients.
1
The Challenge
Better Place Design & Build recently rebranded and shifted its focus exclusively to ADUs, garage conversions, and room additions.
Their new website launched in May and The Better Place team has implemented initial SEO efforts, such as keyword research, content creation, and backlink acquisition. However, their lead generation has still primarily been driven by paid ads, and their goal is to ultimately drive the majority of traffic through organic channels.
Better Place sought out an SEO partner to help them scale their organic success.
Their primary SEO challenges included:
- Scaling SEO Efforts – With limited internal bandwidth, the team faced challenges in executing a full-scale SEO strategy and maintaining consistent momentum.
- Building Organic Authority – They needed to improve rankings, domain authority, and organic traffic to establish themselves as industry leaders in San Diego.
- Collaboration Across Marketing Channels – They wanted SEO insights to support social media content and broader brand awareness.
They’ve previously worked with SEO consultants but saw minimal success. The Better Place team came to Socratik when they began to look for an experienced, SEO-specialized agency to refine their strategy, execute high-impact SEO initiatives, and accelerate their organic growth to compete with industry leaders.
2
The Solution
Phase 1: Audit, Analyze, and Optimize
During the first month, we conducted a comprehensive website audit to establish a solid foundation for our SEO strategy. This phase ensured that all technical and content-related elements aligned with best practices, setting the stage for long-term success. Our key activities included:
- Website Quality Audit
- Technical SEO Audit
- Keyword Research
- Content Audit
- Content Strategy
Findings from these audits were compiled into a detailed strategy document outlining our approach for the year.
Phase 2: Acceleration
Ramp-Up of Content and Links Starting in Month 2, we focused on scaling up content production and link-building efforts to drive organic traffic and improve search rankings.
- Link Building – We acquired authoritative backlinks through strategic outreach. A site’s authority was determined by the quality of links pointing to it. Our link-building approach involved analyzing:
- Domain Authority (DA) and Domain Rating (DR)
- Relevance of linking domains
- Anchor text diversity
- Link velocity and natural growth
- Content Development
- On-Page Optimization – We identified existing pages with ranking opportunities and implemented improvements, including:
- Metadata optimization (title tags, meta descriptions)
- Internal linking enhancements
- Keyword targeting based on search intent
- Header tag structure improvements
- Schema markup implementation
- Press Link Acquisition – Press links boosted domain authority by earning high-quality backlinks from authoritative media sources. Our team managed communication with journalists and responded to relevant media queries.
Phase 3: Maintain
Consistent execution with all strategies was successfully implemented, and we have now transitioned into ongoing monitoring and optimization. We continue content production, link-building efforts, and technical refinements while tracking progress with detailed comprehensive reporting integrating data from Google Analytics, Google Search Console, and Ahrefs.
3
The Results
Through these three phases, our approach has successfully driven sustainable organic growth, improved keyword rankings, and increased engagement, leading to higher conversions and overall business success.
In January 2025 alone, month-over-month organic traffic increased by +81% more organic sessions than in December. Overall, we are now receiving nearly 3.5 times more traffic than in August, the first month we began working on the site. Within 8 months, we’ve more than tripled the client’s organic traffic.
We can see the organic growth trends reflected in external tools such as Ahrefs and Semrush as well:
Since beginning work on the client’s site, we’ve seen a +1,500 increase in top-ranking keywords, and an added +95 top-ranking pages in the SERPs.
These numbers collectively demonstrate the effectiveness of our efforts, which have led to higher engagement, increased traffic, and enhanced search engine authority. Our client reports that their organic website inquiries have significantly increased and that the leads are local and well-qualified. During the eight months since beginning work on the site, they are also now ranking on page one for highly competitive national industry keywords (“ADU plans,” “ADU floor plans 800 sq ft) and in the top 3 organic search results for commercial search intent terms
This tremendous growth translates to increased visibility in the search results, increased conversions, and better lead quality.
