Dougarie Estate SEO Case Study

Enhancing Website Performance and Visibility for a Scottish Wedding Venue and Country Estate

Client: Dougarie Estate
Industry: Scottish Wedding Venue & Country Estate
Project Duration: 6 months
Objective: Improve website visibility, organic traffic, and conversion rates for Dougarie Estate’s wedding venue and estate services.

Background

Dougarie Estate is a picturesque Scottish estate offering a unique venue for weddings, events, and country pursuits on the Isle of Arran. Despite its charm and potential, the estate’s website was not performing to its fullest in terms of attracting relevant traffic, converting visitors into bookings, or ranking well on search engines. As part of their broader marketing strategy, Dougarie Estate engaged us to optimise their website and boost online visibility, specifically for their wedding services and estate offerings.

  1. Low Search Engine Visibility: The site had limited visibility for critical keywords related to weddings and country estate experiences in Scotland.

  2. Slow Site Speed: The website had slow loading times, impacting both user experience and search rankings.

  3. Mobile Responsiveness Issues: The site wasn’t fully optimised for mobile devices, resulting in high bounce rates on mobile traffic.

  4. Unoptimized Content: Website content was not optimised for SEO, lacking targeted keywords and meta descriptions.

  5. Competition: Competing with well-established Scottish wedding venues and estates meant we had to improve Dougarie Estate’s unique position in search results.

Challenges

Approach

1. Comprehensive SEO Audit
We began with an in-depth SEO audit of Dougarie Estate’s website, identifying technical SEO issues, content gaps, and performance bottlenecks. This involved reviewing:

  • Keyword rankings for targeted search terms like “Scottish wedding venue,” “Isle of Arran estate,” and “luxury wedding venue Scotland.”

  • Site architecture to ensure that search engines could effectively crawl and index all important pages.

  • Page speed analysis, especially on mobile devices, using tools like Google PageSpeed Insights.

2. Keyword Research and Strategy Development
We conducted detailed keyword research to understand what potential customers were searching for, focusing on high-intent keywords related to weddings and country estate services in Scotland. Key terms such as "exclusive use wedding venues Scotland," "Isle of Arran events," and "luxury estate weddings" were identified and prioritised for optimisation.

3. On-Page SEO Optimisation
We improved on-page SEO elements for the most important pages, including:

  • Title tags and meta descriptions were rewritten to include target keywords and improve click-through rates (CTR).

  • Headings (H1, H2s) were optimised for clarity and keyword relevance.

  • Internal linking structure was revamped to guide visitors through wedding venue-related content and estate services more effectively.

  • Mobile optimisation was enhanced, ensuring that pages loaded quickly and displayed properly on all devices.

4. Content Enhancement
We developed new, keyword-rich content targeting specific customer queries, including:

  • Creating detailed blog posts on topics like “How to Plan the Perfect Scottish Wedding” and “Top Attractions on the Isle of Arran.”

  • Expanding service pages to include more in-depth descriptions of wedding packages, venue features, and accommodation options at Dougarie Estate.

  • Adding FAQs and testimonials to build trust with potential clients and improve on-page engagement.

5. Technical SEO Improvements
We made technical improvements to the website’s performance, including:

  • Site speed optimisation through image compression, browser caching, and reducing server response time.

  • Fixing broken links and improving URL structure for better crawlability.

  • Enhancing schema markup to improve rich snippet results for wedding-related queries.

6. Off-Page SEO and Local Search

  • We improved Dougarie Estate’s presence in local SEO by optimising Google My Business and building local citations.

  • Targeted link-building efforts helped increase the site’s authority, focusing on wedding directories and Scottish travel blogs.

Result

After implementing the SEO strategy, Dougarie Estate’s website experienced significant improvements:

  • Increased Organic Traffic by 60%: Organic search traffic to the website grew substantially, driven by higher rankings for competitive wedding venue and estate-related keywords.

  • Improved Keyword Rankings: The website achieved first-page rankings for key search terms such as "Scottish wedding venue," "luxury estate weddings Isle of Arran," and "exclusive use venues Scotland."

  • Enhanced Conversion Rate by 35%: Increased traffic from targeted keywords led to a rise in inquiries and bookings for weddings and estate events.

  • Faster Load Times: Page speed improvements resulted in a 40% decrease in bounce rates, particularly on mobile devices.

  • Boosted Mobile Traffic: With a fully optimised mobile experience, mobile users accounted for 55% of the website’s total traffic, up from 35%.

Conclusion

Through a well-rounded SEO strategy combining technical enhancements, content optimisation, and local SEO, Dougarie Estate was able to improve its online presence and attract more visitors interested in weddings and country estate experiences. By focusing on key performance indicators and continuously optimising, Dougarie Estate now stands as a top choice for luxury weddings in Scotland, poised for further growth in the coming years.