How We Helped Instatus Boost Traffic by 1,500% and MRR by 833%

Instatus is a tool that delivers beautiful, functional status pages without breaking the bank.

In a niche filled with bloated, expensive options, Instatus’ offer of a lightweight, customizable alternative was definitely compelling. The team just needed to get it in front of the right audience of DevOps, SaaS, and IT teams.

To do this, the Instatus team decided to partner with Embarque for a comprehensive SEO and content marketing campaign.

What We’ll Cover

In this case study, we cover the exact strategy we used to compete against giants like PagerDuty and Atlassian for lucrative keywords and boost Instatus’ organic traffic by over 1,500% in less than 2 years.

The Problem –  Instatus Was New to SEO

Instuses biggest problem when they partnered with us back in October 2021 was the complete lack of an SEO strategy. The founders simply hadn’t found the time to focus on SEO.

But still, they were excited about the potential of a solid SEO plan.

Why? Because their direct competitors were almost entirely focused on PPC.

At the time, standalone status page builders were rare. They were typically bundled into bigger, bulkier products and ecosystems like Atlassian. As a result, not many companies were ready to devote serious resources to ranking organically for keywords related to status page tools.

This meant PPC was quick, competitive, inefficient…

…while SEO was filled with untapped potential.

The Instatus team correctly recognized this potential. They just needed an experienced partner to guide them in the right direction. 

That’s where Embarque came in.

The Solution – Finding Instatus’ Topics

Our strategy for Instatus started by identifying three segments that were most likely to become customers—SaaS, developers, and DevOps.

We quickly realized that while the former two segments were overserved with content, DevOps teams and professionals were often overlooked. To capitalize, we identified four verticals to build content around:

  • DevOps (guides)
  • Status pages (alternatives, product listicles)
  • Incident management (guides, alternatives, product listicles)
  • Monitoring (guides, alternatives, product listicles)

To get more specific, we looked for keywords within these verticals that met a few criteria:

  • Low-competition (KD > 20)
  • Mid- to high-volume (GSV > 500)
  • Commercial and informational (60/40 split)

Instatus already had a great domain rating thanks to a solid backlink profile, so we could theoretically target higher-competition keywords. However, we still stuck with the low-competition approach to maximize quick wins and revenue for Instatus.

We also prioritized “jobs to be done” keywords searched by DevOps, like “how to create a status page” and “incident triage” to connect with ICPs.

The Results – +1,500% Organic Traffic and +833% MRR

How did the strategy perform? Pretty darn well.

Here’s a quick summary of the key results:

  • Instatus’ organic traffic has increased by 1,536% since we started creating SEO content for them. Over time, we’ve adjusted the SEO strategy to accommodate search algorithm changes. 
  • Instatus is ranking top five for 348 lucrative keywords with a combined monthly search volume of more than 88,000. Expand this to include top ten keywords and the number jumps to 633 keywords with a combined monthly search volume of over 195,000.
  • Instatus’ MRR increased by 833% in just 11 months. This is down to our focus on low-competition, high-ROI keywords and creating authoritative, comprehensive content that brings in targeted traffic.

Takeaways

  1. When paid search becomes crowded and ineffective, it’s often a sign that your competitors aren’t focusing on SEO. That might be a good opportunity for you to take advantage of and increase your organic presence.
  2. Don’t blindly target all customer segments with SEO—prioritize. That doesn’t just mean looking at revenue attribution data. Prioritize segments that are important and underserved with content.
  3. Take a systematic approach to content. You may be able to see a few short-term gains from a piecemeal strategy, but long-term SEO success comes when your strategy is organized around your strengths.

Capitalize on Opportunities With Embarque

Is there an opportunity for SEO success in your niche that you want help capitalizing on? Not sure (and want to find out)? 

At Embarque, we help startups build SEO strategies that maximize revenue in the short term while still looking out for long-term success. Our team will help identify the right segments to target, create high-quality content that resonates, and develop a comprehensive SEO strategy that makes your traffic hockey stick.

Source: Marketplace SEO: 16X YoY Revenue Growth through SEO w/ a 3-Year Client

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