140% Organic Growth in 10 Months: How SoGlos Reached 60K Monthly Visits with AI-Driven SEO
Wellington’s AI-first SEO strategy transformed the way we approach content and visibility. His deep understanding of semantic optimization, AI tools, and SERP evolution was exactly what SoGlos needed.
— James Smith
SoGlos
SoGlos is the leading lifestyle and business media brand in Gloucestershire, UK. As a trusted digital publication, SoGlos curates high-quality content covering entertainment, food, family, business news, and events, serving thousands of local readers every day. Despite its strong editorial presence, the site had plateaued in search performance and needed a modern, scalable SEO solution to reach its next stage of growth.
Challenges Identified
When SoGlos reached out in mid-2024, the site was facing common but critical SEO issues:
Flat Growth Curve: Despite publishing new content consistently, organic traffic had stagnated around 25,000 monthly visitors.
Under-Optimized Evergreen Content: High-potential articles weren’t ranking due to poor semantic structure and keyword targeting.
Outdated SEO Practices: No structured approach to SERP intent shifts, Featured Snippets, or AI-generated SERP layouts.
Technical Bottlenecks: Site speed, internal linking architecture, and mobile UX were dragging down performance.
Lack of Authority Signals: Weak backlink profile and missing schema markup limited visibility in zero-click and featured results.
💡 The Process
AI-Assisted SERP Mapping: Analyzed search intent shifts using tools like Outranking and NeuronWriter to align content with evolving Google AI snapshots, “People Also Ask” boxes, and Featured Snippets.
Keyword Intelligence: Built keyword clusters focused on hyperlocal and evergreen content (“things to do in Cheltenham,” “Gloucestershire business awards”) to drive sustained traffic.
Topical Authority Mapping: Created a semantic content map to reinforce E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness).
Metadata + Semantic Optimization: Updated H1–H3 structures, schema, and metadata across 200+ pages using Surfer SEO.
Content Refresh Strategy: Used AI tools (KoalaWriter, Scalenut) to update legacy articles for fresh ranking signals and better UX.
Internal Linking Upgrade: Built a programmatic system to enhance contextual linking between business listings, events, and articles.
Link Prospecting with AI: Built clean, locally relevant backlinks via digital PR campaigns and AI-personalized outreach using Respona and Instantly.
Schema & Rich Results: Implemented structured data across articles and events, boosting visibility in “Top stories” and Events packs.
Tracking and Reporting: Ongoing monitoring with SERP tracking (SEOTesting + Ahrefs) and conversion KPIs aligned with business outcomes.
🏆 Results Achieved
Updated – Jun – 2025
| Metric | Before (June 2024) | After (April 2025) | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly Organic Traffic | ~25,000 | ~60,000 | +140% |
| Organic Keywords Ranking | ~10,800 | ~27,000 | +150% |
| Top 3 Positions (Keywords) | ~1,100 | ~3,800 | +245% |
| Rich Snippets Visibility | Minimal | Multiple Features | ✅ Featured |
| Page Load Time (Mobile) | 4.8s | 2.1s | -56% Faster |
💡 Bonus Win: Legacy content updates led to a 70% boost in session duration and 40% drop in bounce rate — especially on monetized editorial pages.
Testimonial
“Wellington’s AI-first SEO strategy transformed the way we approach content and visibility. His deep understanding of semantic optimization, AI tools, and SERP evolution was exactly what SoGlos needed. We weren’t just looking for traffic — we were looking for meaningful, local visibility, and he delivered exactly that. Our editorial team now thinks SEO-first, and we’ve become the #1 local lifestyle resource again — not by chance, but by strategy.”— James Smith, Editor-in-Chief, SoGlos
Get In Touch
✉ hello@wduarte.online