If you want your site to generate as much relevant traffic as possible, all of your pages need to be optimized for search and for your target audience. 

This means updating URLs, analyzing search intent, focusing on readability, and more. What it doesn’t mean is creating a bunch of new content and entirely discarding everything that already exists.

By optimizing existing content and producing high-quality, new content, we helped Miro skyrocket up the search engine result pages (SERPs). Now, they rank favorably for tons of long tail keywords (making it into the top 5 for 47 keywords with a single post). In this Miro and Codeless case study, we’ll walk you through how we did this.

“Codeless improved rankings and increased our organic traffic from blog posts and content optimization work. They integrated with our project management tools for a smooth workflow delivered outlines and drafts on time and incorporated our feedback seamlessly.

We were impressed by their skilled and dedicated writers. They were adaptable to our needs, provided well-researched content, and demonstrated a strong understanding of our unique angle and audience.” – Anonymous SEO Content Manager at Miro

About Miro

Miro is a digital, visual collaboration platform that empowers teams to communicate and collaborate from anywhere in the world. Cross-functional teamwork is effortless with its integration capabilities, asynchronous collaboration, templates, and more.  They’re trusted by more than 50 million users across the globe—and 99% of the Fortune 100 are customers. Miro is the new way of working for hybrid, remote, and in-person teams.

The challenge

When Miro came to Codeless in September 2021, they had a lot of content, but it wasn’t ranking well on the SERPs. Much of the content on their blog wasn’t optimized for search. A lot of the URLs had existed for a while—without doing the content any favor in the SERPs—and pages were missing high search volume key phrases.

The challenge was not only to optimize these existing pages but also to create a large volume of new, high-quality content to help Miro continue to rank higher and reach a larger audience.

The strategy

Miro needed a holistic content plan to achieve the goals they had set for themselves, so we got to work creating a comprehensive strategy that would allow us to cover all their bases. We wanted to make sure that first, their existing content got the refresh it needed. Then, we moved on to creating new, high-quality content to help them rank higher and cement their authority in the space.

Here’s the process we followed:

1. Optimized existing content

Miro already had a lot of great content before they came to us. The first step was to ensure all their existing content was properly optimized so they were getting the most traffic possible from the SERPs.

Miro is known for their templates, so we started by optimizing their templates library first with the creation of template pages. We created new content for these template pages to help them rank better for high-search volume key phrases. This included writing FAQ sections, conducting keyword research, and producing valuable, helpful content for these pages.

Next, we looked at their blog posts. The URLs had existed for a while, but they were hindering the posts’ search-friendliness. We went in and optimized each URL for search so these pages could start generating more traffic.

2. Focused on new, long-form blog content

Long-form content is necessary for ranking high in the SERPs and boosting a brand’s reputation. It requires intensive keyword research, a focus on readability, and—of course— quality writing.

With Miro, we wrote a lot of long-form blog content that complemented their templates. For example, we wrote a blog post titled “How to hold a strategic planning meeting” that ranks number one on the SERPs. At the end of the post, we link to their free “Strategic planning meeting” template for extra exposure.

It’s crucial to create high-quality, valuable content. Clicks mean nothing if they’re not converting, which is why we made sure that every piece we wrote for Miro was carefully written and then edited before publishing. Not only is every long-form blog post optimized for search, they’re all extremely informative and well-written. They deliver true value to Miro’s target audience.  

3. Targeted long-tail keywords

Long-tail keywords tend to be less competitive due to their specificity. It’s easier to begin ranking for these phrases, and since they’re relevant to what certain users are searching for, they’re more likely to result in a conversion.

We used tools such as Ahrefs and Frase to make sure we understood users’ search intent and then catered the content toward those findings. This ensured our content was relevant and also gave us key insights about which keywords to target.

Don’t rule out the value of long-tail key phrases, especially if you’re looking to drive targeted traffic.

The results

We began working with Miro in September of 2021. For the first 12 months, we worked with Miro, we focused on optimizing their existing content. From September 2021 to September 2022, we produced around 40,000 words of work every month. For the second half of our process, we wrote roughly 20,000 words each month, which was primarily long-form blog content.

During our nearly 3 years of working together, we boosted the SERP rankings for nearly all of their existing content. Their current, best-performing pages were created by us.

One of the blog posts we wrote, “Plot Diagrams: Why They Matter and How to Create One,” ranks on the first page of SERP for 47 different key phrases. This brings Miro a considerable amount of traffic as a post in the top 5 results for 47 different search phrases.

Other high-performing blog posts we wrote include:

• The blog post “Complete Stakeholder Mapping Guide” ranks for 56 keywords in the top 10 positions of the SERPs

• The blog post “What is the Strategic Management Process? + How to Get Started ” ranks for 19 keywords in the top 5 positions of the SERPs

• The blog post “An affinity diagram is a powerful tool to organize your team’s ideas — and make them easier to act on  ranks for 68 keywords in the top 10 positions of the SERPs

Final thoughts

Don’t underestimate the power of your current content, even if it’s not currently driving any impressive traffic. Consider refreshing and optimizing existing pages before you start churning out new content. 

We worked with Miro for almost two years, and in that time we optimized multiple articles and delivered a slew of new, high-quality content. 

When you’re looking for an agency to help you generate more traffic, make sure you pick one that understands the benefits of (and how to actually create) a holistic content plan. 
Need help optimizing old pages as well as generating high-quality, long-form content at scale? Get in touch to learn more about how we can help.