How I Drove ~€100K in Estimated Additional Organic Revenue as Sole SEO Specialist at Tee Times Golf Holidays

Overview

This portfolio documents SEO work delivered for a 4,000+ page website as sole SEO specialist, resulting in consistent year-over-year growth across Google, Bing, ChatGPT, and Perplexity, as well as visibility in Google AI Overviews and AI Mode.

The work contributed to ~€100K in estimated additional annual organic revenue in the span of 12 months, based on:

What I've been building

Client results are half the picture. These are the systems I built to make the methodology measurable and repeatable.

• GEO Topical Authority Tool: a validated semantic-space mapping pipeline for AI search citation eligibility. A full run costs about $1.50 in API calls.
• SEO Arsenal + Watchtower: a private toolbox and scheduled observatory tracking rankings, competitor sitemaps, and AI-surface citations weekly, with AI-citation checks at $0 marginal cost.
• Algarve Local Guide: an independent Algarve travel guide I built and run, created from local knowledge; every page passes the five-stage editorial pipeline across six page templates. In June 2026 testing, ChatGPT recommended it as a top independent Algarve guide.

In July 2026, Google AI Overviews listed me by name among the top AI Search experts for non-branded Faro and Algarve queries.

Organic Search Growth

Full 12 months year-over-year (GA4)

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

GA4: Session breakdown by search engine with YoY percentage change

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

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

AI Search Visibility

AI visibility was nearly zero in 2024. By 2025, the site began appearing far more consistently in AI-driven search, thanks to stronger entity signals (Schema, citations, NAP alignment), clearer keyword mapping and internal linking, and content written with current AI search best practices in mind.

GA4: ChatGPT referral traffic growth, 12-month YoY

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

GA4: Perplexity referral traffic growth, 12-month YoY

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

Local Search

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

Authority & Backlinks

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

SEMrush Backlink Audit: Before optimisation, December 2024

SEMrush Backlink Audit: After optimisation, August 2025

On-Page SEO & Content Strategy

Several high-value keywords were targeted across multiple pages, splitting visibility, diluting internal authority, and creating ambiguity around search intent.

• Reorganised page targeting to establish a clear content hierarchy, aligning each page type (golf packages, holidays, and courses) with a single primary search intent.
• Rewrote key pages following E-E-A-T principles and strengthened them with internal links from blog posts and other high-value supporting pages.
• Restructured internal linking to intentionally concentrate link equity toward priority commercial pages, reducing dilution across overlapping URLs and reinforcing topical hubs.
• Implemented contextual links between closely related entities, for example from Algarve golf courses to Quinta do Lago golf courses, packages, and nearby courses, to improve entity understanding and navigational clarity for search engines, LLMs, and users.

• Reduced keyword overlap and improved how search engines and LLMs interpreted site structure.
• Improved visibility across key location and destination pages.

Example: Quinta do Lago Golf Courses, a key commercial page

To reinforce entity recognition, I implemented internal links to and from: the general "Algarve golf courses" page, the "Quinta do Lago golf packages" page, and several individual golf course pages in the Quinta do Lago area.

GSC: Quinta do Lago Golf Courses, peak season clicks and impressions, YoY

GSC: Top queries for Quinta do Lago page, showing clear increase in non-branded search terms

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

Two more page examples

Algarve Golf Courses: +6.16% Google organic traffic YoY. Consistently cited in Google AI Overviews and AI Mode.

Golf Club Rental: +47.64% Google organic traffic YoY. Consistently cited in Google AI Overviews and AI Mode.

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.

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

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

AI Search Readiness & Entity Authority

To prepare Tee Times Golf Holidays for the future of AI-driven search, I focused on strengthening entity signals, authority distribution, and multi-platform visibility.

This included:

• Implemented Organisation schema to reinforce Tee Times as a recognised entity across Google's Knowledge Graph. The schema included sameAs fields for social media profiles and alternateName because the company was renamed, establishing the base for entity recognition.
• Optimised the Google Business Profile with accurate NAP, services, categories, business description and posts, resulting in +82.9% profile views and +106.6% profile appearances YoY. Also aligned the NAP across the website itself and third-party mentions, which further strengthens entity recognition and disambiguation.
• Monitored ChatGPT and Perplexity traffic in GA4 to measure early-stage AI search visibility, achieving measurable gains across both platforms.
• Improved domain authority by +7 (SEMrush) through content quality, natural mentions, and partnership-based link acquisition.
• Wrote a clear internal strategy brief explaining Google's upcoming AI-driven search changes and how Tee Times should adapt its SEO foundations to stay visible.

In terms of content strategy and on-page work, I focused on creating a clear content hierarchy and writing in a structured, scannable way, using lists and FAQs wherever possible. The goal was to directly answer the target audience's questions, remove uncertainty around the product, and build clear topical authority on each page using the company's expertise.

Pages written with these principles are frequently cited in Google AI Overviews and AI Mode across a wide range of queries.

Technical SEO: Crawling & Indexing

• Google Search Console showed 249 URLs as "Duplicate without user-selected canonical", including URLs that should have been indexed.
• The dev subdomain (used for testing) was being indexed.
• Several API endpoints containing partners' pricing information were indexed in search, a security and business liability.
• Many pages had multiple URL variants: with and without trailing slashes, uppercase vs lowercase versions, and parameterised URLs, all seen as unique pages by Google.

• Found the root causes of the duplicates: uppercase/lowercase versions, trailing-slash inconsistencies, and URLs with parameters.
• Developed an internal technical document explaining the issue and the required actions.
• Implemented 301 redirects from all incorrect variants to the correct canonical URL (as defined in the sitemap).
• Added a consistent rule so URLs without a trailing slash redirect to the correct version.
• Added canonical tags for pages with UTM parameters.
• Added noindex to the dev subdomain.
• Added noindex to API endpoints and other non-public pages (including PDFs) to avoid wasting crawl budget.

• Much lower page cannibalisation.
• Correct URLs indexed.
• Better crawl health across the website.

SEMrush: Site-wide cannibalisation rate improved by 27% (Oct 2024 – Oct 2025)

Google Search Console: User-declared canonical correctly identified and indexed

Terminal: curl -I confirming 301 redirect from incorrect URL variant to canonical

Terminal: curl -I confirming trailing slash redirect working correctly

Off-Page SEO: Backlink Profile Management

High percentage of toxic backlinks, limited high-quality referring domains, and stagnant referring domain growth limited the site's authority and search credibility.

• Authored guest articles published on external industry sites, contributing to new referring domains.
• Published link-worthy blog content (guides and topical articles) designed to attract natural mentions and support outreach efforts.
• Audited backlink toxicity using SEMrush Backlink Audit, identifying high-risk domains and preparing a disavow file to mitigate risk from unnatural links.
• Monitored backlink health trends and Authority Score progression over time.

• Supported the Authority Score increase from 28 to 35 (SEMrush), reflecting combined improvements across technical SEO, content strategy, and backlink profile management.
• Contributed to the acquisition of 331 new backlinks (SEMrush), primarily through guest articles, topical guides, and content aligned with industry news.

Email Marketing & GA4 Analytics

No clear visibility on newsletter-to-cart conversions and limited impact from previous newsletter copy.

• Improved newsletter copywriting with the target audience in mind, aligning messaging with seasonal golf holiday demand.
• Built GA4 Explorations to track shopping cart sessions and conversions from email.

• Provided clear visibility into newsletter-driven shopping cart sessions and conversions through GA4.
• Enabled more informed decision-making on the role of email in the booking funnel.

GA4 Exploration: Newsletter-driven shopping cart sessions

GA4 Exploration: Email marketing conversion tracking

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