CASE STUDY
Area Agency on Aging Grows Organic Traffic +92%
See how our digital marketing team helped grow organic sessions, users, and keyword rankings for Age Well, a nonprofit dedicated to keeping northwestern Vermont’s older adults healthy and independent.
Main Objectives
Our SEO project with Age Well started during their website redesign with us. By layering SEO into the website build process, our digital marketing team helped to inform the new website build from the ground up, ensuring that the final product would follow SEO best practices in every way, including the sitemap, navigation, page structure, and metadata. Post-launch, our team then continued with ongoing SEO management, primarily focusing on optimizing on-page content, blog posts, and new page buildouts along with technical cleanup.
Age Well had a few main goals that fueled their decision to add SEO to their new site build and ongoing digital strategy. Together, these goals support Age Well’s mission by helping more Vermonters discover, access, and benefit from the essential services they provide:
- Optimize the Site Structure for Scalable, Long-Term SEO Success
- Improve Visibility on Key Services & Programs
- Grow & Sustain High-Quality Organic Traffic Over Time
Overarching Challenges
Age Well faced multiple interconnected website issues that significantly impacted their online visibility. Their site contained duplicate pages with outdated content that competed against each other, they struggled to gain visibility against well-funded government organizations, and their content didn’t align with how their target audience actually searched for services.
Duplicate Pages With Outdated Content
Age Well’s website contained multiple pages addressing similar topics, many with outdated information that caused them to compete against themselves in search results. This duplicate content was undermining their search rankings and creating confusion for visitors seeking specific services.
High Competition with Other Organizations
Age Well was experiencing high competition in search results, against not only fellow local agencies on aging, but also well-established government entities who dominated search results. While Age Well also had strong domain authority, it needed to be leveraged effectively alongside on-page content optimizations.
Content & Search Behavior Disconnect
The language used throughout Age Well’s website didn’t match how their target audience actually searched for services online. Without properly optimized content that reflected real user search behavior, they were missing opportunities to connect with the people who were actively seeking their services.
Strategy & Solutions
To address Age Well’s challenges and achieve their long-term SEO goals, we implemented a comprehensive approach that tackled both site structure and content issues. Our strategy focused on creating a clean, scalable website foundation while optimizing content to better match user search behavior and improve competitive positioning. These solutions were designed to work together to build sustainable organic growth over time.
Website Redesign & Structure Optimization
To start, our team first conducted a complete redesign of the Age Well website that focused on both refreshing the design and restructuring the site for better user experience and SEO performance. The new structure simplified the navigational structure and eliminated duplicate content pages that were cannibalizing each other in search results. This created a clean foundation built to support long-term SEO success, making it easier for users to find relevant content and for search engines to rank it.
Strategic Content & Blog Post Optimization
During the site build, we developed a data-driven content approach by conducting comprehensive keyword research to guide service page optimization. After the new site was launched, service page content was optimized to better match actual user search terms, including reincorporating terms like “senior” despite brand preferences for “older adults” in order to help Age Well rank higher in search results. Our team also helped to guide blog post creation and the buildout of new service pages through additional research, content reviews, and technical audits to ensure each piece of content on the Age Well website was optimized to perform.
Competitive Analysis & Local SEO Strategy
During the content optimization process, we also analyzed local competitors – state government organizations and other Vermont area agencies on aging – to identify opportunities for Age Well, particularly for overlapping services. While each area agency on aging does have its own distinct service area, they still often end up competing indirectly on state-level keywords. To better compete with both local agencies and state government pages, we incorporated local SEO elements into our strategy, including optimizing pages and metadata with “Vermont” and other local service keywords, and optimizing their Google Business Profiles according to best practices.
SEO With Real Results
Growth, Even With Gaps
In just over two years, Age Well has seen improvements in both organic sessions and conversions, with continued increases even after compliance updates required us to remove tracking from selected pages for data privacy purposes.
Organic Traffic Increases Over Time
Over the course of two years, Age Well has experienced significant growth in both organic traffic volume and user acquisition. This ongoing upward trajectory in organic search performance reflects the compound effect of our optimization strategies, continuing to build momentum even in today’s world of zero-click search.
After 1 Year
Increase in Sessions From Organic Traffic
After 2 Years
Increase in Sessions From Organic Traffic
After 1 Year
Increase in Users From Organic Traffic
After 2 Years
Increase in Users From Organic Traffic
Continued Improvements in Visibility
In addition to increases in organic sessions and users, our SEO efforts have also delivered consistent improvements in Age Well’s search visibility, with notable increases in high-performing keyword rankings. The organization has seen significant growth in the number of keywords ranking in positions #1-3, positions #1-10, and positions #1-20, demonstrating strengthened competitive positioning and improved service visibility.
Since Project start
Increase in Total Keywords Ranking in Positions #1-20
Since Project start
Increase in Total Keywords Ranking in Positions #1-10
since project start
Increase in Total Keywords Ranking in Positions #1-3
Hear From Age Well
Tracey Shamberger
Before partnering with Bytes.co, Age Well was looking for ways to strengthen our digital presence and raise awareness of our mission. The Bytes.co team not only guided us with clear strategy and expertise, but also delivered measurable results—improving our SEO, driving more traffic to our website, and ultimately helping us reach more Vermonters with the services and support they need. Their partnership has been invaluable in elevating our brand and impact.
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