Turning SEO into sales: Pilote Consulting slashed ad costs and grew hotel bookings by 38%
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The hotel’s organic traffic tripled from 3,200 to over 9,500 visits/month in 7 months.
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The hotel’s paid search budget reduced by approximately 30% in 6 months.
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Booking volume went up 38% with increased direct bookings.
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43 targeted keywords started to rank in the top 10 positions, up from 5.
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Improved business sustainability due to stronger brand recognition, higher return visitor rate, and better marketing ROI.
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Pilote Consulting used an end-to-end SEO strategy with SE Ranking to power each step.
Meet Pilote Consulting: A close-knit marketing team with a strategic vision and operational expertise
Pilote Consulting is a French digital marketing agency that uses custom SEO and digital strategies to help brands take control of their online growth. With a close-knit team of 8 experts in SEO, SEA, content, design, and development, the agency stays agile, responsive, and laser-focused on delivering personalized, high-quality service.
The team’s core expertise, as SEO agency, includes local, national and technical SEO, content strategy and optimization, link building, digital PR, Google Ads, social media strategy, website creation, and UX optimization.
Though Pilote Consulting serves clients across many industries, it specializes in healthcare and wellness, real estate and construction, ecommerce, and tourism.
Meet the client: A major European eco-hotel company
In need of Pilote Consulting’s help was a European hotel group offering eco-friendly retreats and wellness resorts. With a focus on sustainable tourism and holistic experiences, the client envisioned happy guests from all around the world, but it wasn’t doing so well in organic search. It had a unique offering and good reviews, just not enough online exposure.
The Client’s Challenge: Low visibility, high competition, and a heavy reliance on paid ads
When the client approached the digital communication agency, it had a long way to go SEO-wise:
🛑 Low visibility for high-converting queries, with only 5 keywords ranking in top 10 positions.
🛑 Organic traffic hovered around just 3,200 visits per month, and most visitors came through branded searches or third-party referral links.
🛑 Poor SEO structure, lack of internal linking, and various technical issues like slow load times.
🛑 Little to no content strategy, poor keyword targeting, and few backlinks.
🛑 Fierce competition from national hotel chains and large booking platforms.
The client even tried to manage SEO in-house at one point despite lacking a dedicated specialist and expertise to make progress. It also didn’t use reliable tools for automation and efficiency’s sake.
Pilote Consulting stepped in to turn things around:
- Increased bookings through organic search.
- Improved brand visibility in a highly competitive tourism niche.
- Worked on location-based and experience-based keywords.
- Reduced the client’s reliance on paid ads for customer acquisition.
Pilote Consulting’s Solution: Create a scalable SEO plan fueled by SE Ranking
Pilote Consulting crafted a multi-phase SEO roadmap, using SE Ranking as its central platform.
Here’s how the process unfolded:
Technical SEO foundation
Pilote Consulting used SE Ranking’s Website Audit tool to conduct a full site audit. It uncovered over 200 technical issues, including slow page load speeds, broken links, duplicate meta tags, missing alt texts, etc. The team prioritized these issues and fixed them promptly to establish a clean, optimized foundation for future growth.
The client’s Website Audit health score started at 56. This improved significantly (to 91) after Pilote Consulting fixed each issue. The client’s website had become much healthier and SEO-friendly.
Data-driven keyword strategy
Pilote Consulting used SE Ranking’s Keyword Research and Competitor Comparison feature in the Competitor Research Tool to conduct keyword research. The team identified high-volume search terms that the client’s competitors targeted, shaping content clusters to build a new content (and SEO) strategy.
Content and page optimization
Pilote Consulting created and optimized 12 new landing pages that targeted specific resort locations. The team also used insights from SE Ranking’s topic research features to launch a structured blog content calendar. It also produced long-form content to capture broader search intent.
SE Ranking’s On-Page SEO Checker guided improvements for existing and newly created pages. Pilote Consulting wanted every page to hit technical and content performance benchmarks. The team also enhanced the site’s structure with internal linking and siloing to improve user navigation and keyword relevance.
Local SEO and GBP optimization
Pilote Consulting did local SEO work for the client, using SE Ranking’s Local Marketing tool to optimize the client’s Google Business Profile. The team:
- Tracked the client’s local rankings in multiple locations.
- Audited GBP listing for completeness and accuracy.
- Identified and fixed missing information (categories, descriptions, services, photos).
- Benchmarked the client’s visibility against local competitors.
Additionally, Pilote Consulting helped the client boost engagement by gathering and responding to customer reviews and posting regular updates.
Targeted backlink outreach campaign
The team’s backlink strategy centered around securing placements with high-quality travel and wellness blogs, building over 40 backlinks from relevant websites with 30+ Domain Trust scores. SE Ranking’s Backlink Checker helped the team identify the client’s gaps and link-building opportunities.
Real-time monitoring and iteration
Pilote Consulting used SE Ranking’s Rank Tracker to monitor keyword performance, enabling real-time position-change informed content adjustments. The team scheduled monthly website audits to maintain technical consistency and help the client see progress.
Pilote Consulting used SE Ranking’s Marketing Plan tool to stay on track. It helped the team structure tasks, prioritize actions, and track project progress.
Pilote Consulting’s Impact: More organic visibility in search and more client bookings
Pilote Consulting’s SEO strategy, powered by SE Ranking, delivered remarkable SEO results:
✅ Organic traffic grew from 3,200 to over 9,500 visits/mo in 7 months.
✅ 43 targeted keywords started to rank in the top 10 (up from just 5).
In addition, bounce rates dropped by 18% and page load times improved by 46%.
These SEO improvements translated into outstanding client business results, which became noticeable in 4-5 months:
✅ Booking volume increased by 38% year-over-year, which meant increased revenue and market share.
✅ Less reliance on paid ads. The client reduced its paid search budget by approximately 30% in 6 months and reallocated it to organic content development and client experience initiatives.
✅ Stronger brand recognition and repeat visitors. Customers still remember and identify with the brand and use the hotel group’s services. This contributes to a more sustainable business model.
✅ Better ROI across all marketing channels. Better-performing marketing channels helped the client use its marketing budget more efficiently.
Pilote Consulting is still working with this client on a long-term basis. Following the success of this SEO project, the client created new project opportunities for Pilote Consulting by referring its services to two other businesses in its professional network.
Takeaways
This case study proves that with the right strategy, tools, and execution, even brands in competitive verticals like tourism can break through and achieve real business growth.
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