How a Live Streaming Platform Grew Traffic by 441% in 6 Months
https://restream.io/
Stats
351.3K to 1.9M Monthly Visits
Industry
SaaS
Niche
Live Streaming
Reporting Date
February 2024
Restream is a streaming solution where users can live stream across 30+ platforms at once. It was founded in 2015 and recently achieved its highest monthly traffic ever—an incredible 1.9 million organic visits.
This traffic would have cost an astounding $922K if Restream were to have used a paid campaign through Google Ads.
In this SaaS SEO case study, we'll share which strategies sparked this organic growth and share tips for replicating their wins on your site.
In This Article
The Catalyst: How Restream Reached 1.9M Monthly Visits
1. New Tools Subfolder Generates 68% of Site Traffic
In October, Restream added a new Tools subfolder to its website.
A subfolder, or subdirectory, is a folder within the root domain. It helps organize your website and its content.
For Restream, this subfolder's URL looks like this:
https://restream.io/tools/Between October and February, Restream added around 70 pages to this new subdirectory.
It gives content creators access to an array of free video and audio tools.
In February, 3 out of the top 4 pages were from this Tools subdirectory.
Furthermore, the top landing page (MP3 converter) generated 40.32% of all U.S. traffic, Restream’s top traffic-driving country.
Ultimately, the addition of these tools has been pivotal in Restream's organic visibility.
They ranked for over 25K keywords in February for these pages alone, generating 68% of all site traffic.
Why this matters:
Restream's organic traffic from this new subfolder highlights the impact of a strong SEO content strategy.
By offering free tools that benefit its audience, Restream enhances the user experience while also attracting new users to its site.
This strategy showcases how curating your content to your audience can be a powerful way of engaging users and driving traffic.
How to create an SEO content strategy:
Having a content strategy is critical for creating content that resonates with your target audience. It will also help you from wasting time on content creation that doesn't match your users' needs.
This tutorial shows you how to create an effective content strategy.
Here's an overview of the steps:
- Invest in an SEO tool.
- Know your target audience.
- Understand search intent.
- Pick your content types.
- Use topic clusters to build authority.
- Have an on-page SEO strategy.
- Make sure your pages are indexed.
- Select your distribution channels.
- Monitor SEO performance.
Tools for creating and executing an SEO content strategy:
All in One SEO (AIOSEO) is the leading WordPress plugin for SEO. It has over 3 million active installs and comes with a suite of tools to streamline your SEO.
While there are many features you can use to aid in your content strategy, we'd like to highlight the Cornerstone Content tool.
Cornerstone content refers to the most important pages on your website. These pages serve as building blocks for your overarching content strategy. (A good example of cornerstone content is Restream’s tools page.)
By marking content as cornerstone within the WordPress editor, you can strengthen your site's internal linking structure and, consequently, enhance the visibility of these pages.
2. Schema Markup Won Review Snippets for the First Time
Over the course of 5 months, Restream went from having 0 review snippets to 23.4K.
Review snippets are enhanced search listings that show customer ratings and reviews directly on the SERP. They can also display additional software or product details like the price, as shown below.
The debut of these rich results coincides with the launch of Restream's Tools subfolder in October.
And come February, we weren’t surprised to see that 99.6% of all review snippets were directing traffic to these tool pages.
So, how did they get these click-worthy search results?
That’s the power of schema markup.
Schema markup is a form of structured data that lives within a web page’s HTML code. It communicates important details about your content in a way that's easy for search engines to understand.
And the easier it is for search engines to understand your content, the easier it is for you to rank.
Restream uses software schema markup on all its tool pages.
We were able to confirm its implementation using the free All in One SEO Analyzer Chrome Extension.
Why this matters:
While schema markup doesn’t guarantee a rich result, it’s considered an SEO best practice and can increase the likelihood.
Rich results are one of the highest drivers of traffic, winning 58% of all clicks, making schema markup an invaluable tool for maximizing visibility and organic traffic.
How to implement software schema markup in WordPress:
This article shows three ways of adding schema markup in WordPress without a plugin. Each method uses JSON-LD and will require you to get SoftwareApplication schema to complete the process.
We also recommend checking your code before going live by running a rich results test.
Tools for software schema markup:
Not sure what JSON-LD is? Or don’t have time to obtain software schema and test the code?
You’re in luck because you don’t have to.
Schema markup plugins make it easier than ever to add software schema with the click of a button. Just select Software from AIOSEO’s Schema Catalog, and we’ll format the structured data properly for search engines.
3. FAQs Put Restream in Google's People Also Ask Box
The third strategy we noticed when analyzing Restream’s growth is how they include FAQs on each tool page.
Take the screenshot below as an example. They use an accordion style to address common questions related to that specific tool and its use.
In addition to providing an informationally rich user experience, these FAQs also helped Restream appear in Google’s People Also Ask (PAA) box.
The PAA box is a prominent section in search results. It aims to answer the user’s query directly on the SERP.
And while you can’t force Google to display these results, Restream follows two best practices to get them:
- Including FAQs in your content.
- Implementing FAQ schema markup.
These optimizations have proven fruitful, with tools pages ranking for 1.9K keywords in February's PAA results.
Why this matters:
Ranking in the PAA section provides an array of benefits, including:
- Greater visibility
- Enhanced credibility
- Higher clickthrough rates (CTR)
- Increased organic traffic
How to optimize for PAA results:
High-quality content is at the core of winning PAA results.
To help guide your content creation process and optimization efforts, follow these steps:
- Perform keyword research for question-based queries.
- Craft content that fulfills search intent.
- Add FAQ schema.
For a detailed explanation of each step, this guide shows exactly how to optimize for Google’s PAA section.
Tools for PAA results:
You can use AIOSEO’s FAQ blocks to write popular questions and answers in WordPress. It’s as simple as locating the block and adding it to your post or page.
Once you’ve written your question and answer, we’ll implement FAQ schema behind the scenes so you have a higher chance of winning a PAA result.
Standout SEO Wins
Before we wrap up, there's an additional technique we'd like to highlight that Restream uses to support its overall SEO.
They have a robust internal linking strategy.
Restream displays an understanding of the importance of internal linking. They are generous yet natural with hyperlinks that connect related pages. This approach ensures users can seamlessly navigate the site while also helping with content discoverability by search engines.
Here are some ways they optimize their internal linking:
- Sitemap footers that direct users to Restream’s cornerstone content
- A related tools section at the bottom of each tool page
- Blogs feature internal links with natural anchor text
Tool: Link Assistant can help you locate and add internal links in no time. With link suggestions that populate directly in the WordPress editor, it’s as easy as clicking Add Link.
Takeaways
In our analysis of Restream.io, we've discovered the far-reaching effects of its new subfolder and a few key optimizations.
Now, let's see how you can use the strategies on your website. We'll also mention a few areas we noticed that could use improvement.
Top 3 Strategies to Emulate
- Create a comprehensive SEO content strategy. Develop a plan that focuses on creating high-quality content targeted to your audience's interests and needs. Keyword research will help you discover what your audience is looking for and allow you to tailor your content accordingly. By having a strategy, you'll invest time in content that resonates with your audience, boosts engagement, and drives qualified traffic to your site.
- Implement schema markup to win rich results. Schema markup provides search engines with helpful information about your content. It can also increase your chances of winning rich results on the SERP. Rich snippets boast higher clickthrough rates than non-rich results, making them a powerful driver of traffic.
- Leverage FAQs to rank in Google’s People Also Ask box. Identify common questions related to your industry or niche and use FAQs throughout your website. FAQs provide dual benefits for users and search engines. They make it easy to find information quickly and, when coupled with FAQ schema, can generate results in the PAA box. This section of the SERP can boost brand awareness while establishing credibility.
Bottom 3 Strategies to Reconsider
- Not showcasing author bios in blog posts. Based on all the blogs we visited, it appears that Restream attributes authorship exclusively to the “Restream Team.” While this approach works, it doesn't foster a personal connection with your team and audience. Instead, we recommend using individual author bios in your blog posts. You can highlight their expertise and experience to send strong Google E-E-A-T signals, establishing authority and trust. Plus, they’re easy to include using an author SEO plugin.
- Neglecting to include a meta description on every indexable page. Some of Restream’s pages do not have meta descriptions. This oversight can have negative effects on clickthrough rates and traffic. Instead, you should have a meta description for every indexable page. This copy acts like a preview of your content, compelling users to click. To streamline the writing process, you can use a meta description generator.
- Excluding title tags when optimizing images. Image title tags play an important role for users and search engines. They appear when users click or hover over an image, providing additional context. They also help search engines understand the image’s content, which makes it easier for the image to rank. AIOSEO’s Image SEO tool can automatically create image titles for you.
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Become an SEO Success Story With AIOSEO
Do you want to join the winning ranks of websites like Restream?
All in One SEO is your trusted ally to dominating the SERP and growing your organic traffic.
Trusted by over 3 million website owners and marketers, AIOSEO makes it easy to optimize your website for users and search engines. You’ll get a powerful suite of tools that streamline SEO to save time and, more importantly, get results.
Here are a few of our favorite features:
- Cornerstone Content: Mark your most important pages as cornerstone content to make internal linking a breeze. This tool works with Link Assistant to streamline your link-building strategy.
- Rich Snippets Schema: AIOSEO offers various schema markup options to help you claim more rich results on the SERP. It’s as simple as choosing the schema you want; then, we’ll format the structured data for Google.
- FAQ Blocks: Add FAQs to your content to increase the likelihood of appearing in Google’s People Also Ask box. These results help boost brand awareness and increase clickthrough rates.
- Author SEO: Create powerful author bios that showcase your experience and expertise. This addon aligns your content with Google E-E-A-T guidelines and helps readers trust what you’re sharing.
- Image SEO: Turn on automatic image alt text and title attributes with a single click. You’ll save time from manual entries while helping users and search engines understand your images.
- AI Title & Description Generator: This time-saving tool creates compelling metadata for any page on your site. With the click of a button, you’ll harness the power of AI and get options for unique meta titles and descriptions.
