Case Study

How Structured SEO & AI Visibility Work Drove ~€100K in Estimated Additional Organic Revenue for a Travel Company

Industry: Travel & Tourism Site size: 4,000+ pages Timeline: 12 months

A 4,000+ page travel website with no structured SEO process in place. Pages competing against each other for the same keywords, hundreds of duplicate URLs confusing Google, and zero visibility in AI-generated search results.

Within 12 months of structured SEO and AI visibility work, the site saw consistent year-over-year growth across Google, Bing, ChatGPT, and Perplexity, as well as citation in Google AI Overviews and AI Mode.

The estimated revenue impact: ~€100K in additional annual organic revenue, based on:

~23,000 Additional organic sessions YoY (GA4)

~0.7% Conversion rate

~€600 Average order value

AI referral traffic grew from near-zero to over 1,700 sessions, with ChatGPT alone increasing by 11,850% year-over-year.

Organic Search Growth

Full 12 months year-over-year (GA4)

+10.89% Total organic sessions (205,858 to 228,277)

+10.19% Google (197,571 to 217,697)

+24.1% Bing (7,435 to 9,227)

+52.05% DuckDuckGo (659 to 1,002)

+72.5% Yahoo (240 to 414)

GA4 graph showing all organic traffic sources year-over-year comparison across 12 months

GA4: All organic traffic sources, 12-month year-over-year comparison

GA4 metrics table showing organic session breakdown by search engine with year-over-year percentage changes

GA4: Session breakdown by search engine with YoY percentage change

Peak Business Months: Google Search (Jul-Sept YoY)

+16.7% Clicks (36.5K to 42.6K)

+39.4% Impressions (2.41M to 3.36M)

+7.1 pos Average keyword position improvement (26.1 to 19)

Google Search Console showing peak season clicks, impressions, and average position year-over-year for July to September

Google Search Console: Peak season clicks, impressions, and average position, Jul-Sept YoY

AI Search Visibility

AI visibility was nearly zero before this work began. Within 12 months, the site started appearing consistently in AI-driven search results, driven by stronger entity signals, clearer content structure, and content optimised for how AI systems source answers.

+11,850% ChatGPT traffic (14 to 1,673 sessions)

+854.55% Perplexity traffic (11 to 105 sessions)

Consistent Citation in Google AI Overviews and AI Mode

GA4 graph showing ChatGPT referral traffic growth over 12 months year-over-year

GA4: ChatGPT referral traffic growth, 12-month YoY

GA4 metrics showing ChatGPT referral sessions: 14 sessions in prior year rising to 1,673, an 11,850% growth

GA4: ChatGPT session breakdown, 14 sessions in prior year to 1,673

GA4 graph showing Perplexity referral traffic growth year-over-year

GA4: Perplexity referral traffic growth, 12-month YoY

GA4 metrics showing Perplexity referral sessions: 11 sessions in prior year rising to 105, an 854.55% growth

GA4: Perplexity session breakdown, 11 sessions in prior year to 105

Local Search

+82.9% Google Business Profile views

+106.6% Profile appearances in search results

Google Business Profile: Profile views and search appearances, May-Sept YoY

Authority & Backlinks

28 to 35 Domain Authority Score (+7 over 12 months)

331 New backlinks acquired through guest articles, topical guides, and content outreach

SEMrush graph showing domain authority score trend growing between September 2024 and July 2025

SEMrush: Domain Authority Score trend, Sep 2024 to Jul 2025

Page-Level Results

The approach works at both site level and individual page level. Here are three examples of commercial pages that saw measurable growth from the combined content, technical, and entity work.

Quinta do Lago Golf Courses

+29.92% Organic traffic YoY

+34.7% Clicks during peak season

+49.2% Impressions during peak season

Algarve Golf Courses

+6.16% Google organic traffic YoY

Consistent Citations in AI-generated answers

Golf Club Rental

+47.64% Google organic traffic YoY

AI systems are non-deterministic and results vary by query and user. However, these pages demonstrate consistent and repeated presence in AI-generated answers related to their content.

Google Analytics 4 showing Quinta do Lago Golf Courses full 12-month organic traffic with 29.92% year-over-year growth

GA4: Quinta do Lago Golf Courses, full 12-month organic traffic, +29.92% YoY

Google Analytics 4 showing Algarve Golf Courses Google organic traffic with 6.16% year-over-year growth

GA4: Algarve Golf Courses, Google organic traffic, +6.16% YoY

Google Analytics 4 showing Golf Club Rental page Google organic traffic with 47.64% year-over-year growth

GA4: Golf Club Rental, Google organic traffic, +47.64% YoY

How Was This Achieved?

This work covered three interconnected pillars: content and search intent alignment, technical SEO foundations, and entity authority building for AI visibility. Most actions contributed to multiple search ecosystems simultaneously.

Structured data (Schema)

AI Search Organic

Keyword mapping

AI Search Organic

Internal linking and site hierarchy

AI Search Organic

Supporting blog posts for commercial pages

AI Search Organic

On-page optimisation (search intent, E-E-A-T, AI best practices)

AI Search Organic

301 redirects

AI Search Organic

Canonical tags on parameter/UTM pages

AI Search Organic

Backlink profile: toxic cleanup and quality placements

AI Search Organic

NAP alignment and citation building

AI Search Organic Local

Google Business Profile optimisation

AI Search Local

The Approach

Content and Search Intent Alignment

The site had dozens of pages competing for the same keywords, diluting authority across URLs that should have been working together. The content architecture was rebuilt so every page targeted a single clear search intent, with internal linking structured to flow authority toward the pages that drive bookings.

Keyword architecture rebuild and search intent mapping
Internal linking hubs connecting related commercial pages
Content rewritten to E-E-A-T standards and AI citation best practices

Technical SEO Foundations

249 duplicate URLs, an indexed dev subdomain, and exposed API endpoints were wasting crawl budget and sending conflicting signals to Google. A full technical remediation brought the site's indexing under control.

301 redirects consolidating URL variants to correct canonical versions
Canonical tags for parameterised and UTM pages
Noindex on dev subdomain and non-public pages
URL consistency rules enforced across the site

SEMrush cannibalisation report showing site-wide keyword cannibalisation reduced by 27%

SEMrush: Site-wide keyword cannibalisation reduced by 27%

Entity Authority and AI Visibility

To appear in AI-generated answers, a brand needs to be recognised as a trusted entity. This meant building consistent signals across the website, Google's Knowledge Graph, and third-party platforms so that Google, ChatGPT, and Perplexity could confidently recommend the brand.

Organisation schema with sameAs and alternateName fields
NAP alignment across website and all directories
Google Business Profile optimisation
Content structured for AI citation

The takeaway

These results came from understanding the business goals and developing a structured, repeatable system: technical foundations, search-intent alignment, entity authority, and AI visibility. The same principles transfer across industries and team contexts, anywhere being found in search and AI-generated answers impacts the business.

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