5x Organic Traffic Y.O.Y

Grasslands: A Journalism-Minded Agency

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A disciplined rebuild, intent-led content, authority growth, and clean analytics turned organic from “nice to have” into a compounding engine. We executed a risk-free migration, purpose-built state pages, and steady PR/links—then proved it with GA4+GTM: 500+ new keywords, 2× more page-one terms, 83.3k monthly impressions and +79.8% traffic in Year 1; authority from DR 35→53 on 1,114 referring pages; 7/8 state pages on page one and sustained #1 for “cannabis pr.” Year 2 compounded with +233 page-1/2 keywords, delivering reliable, measurable growth.

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Table of contents

Executive Summary
Obstacles
Results
Conclusion

Executive Summary

  • Organic Search Performance Report comparing organic metrics Apr ‘22 vs Apr ‘23.
  • Includes organic keyword growth, traffic growth, backlink profile, domain rating and site health metrics.
  • 500+ new organic keywords ranking (126% YoY)
  • 2x more keywords ranking on page 1 of Google YoY
  • Monthly organic traffic increased 79.8% YoY
  • Monthly organic impressions over 83.3k (+50% YoY)
  • Domain Rating has increased from 35 → 53 YoY
  • Referring Domains have increased to 1,114 (+43% YoY)
  • 7 out of 8 State landing pages ranking on page 1 for ‘cannabis marketing in XYZ state’
  • Successful migration to Webflow preserved existing rankings & improved site performance
  • Updated and configured Google Tag Manager (GTM) and Google Adwords for Google Analytics 4 (GA4)

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Grasslands had a respected brand and a deep well of thought leadership, but their search visibility wasn’t keeping pace. The site needed a modern, performance-forward rebuild without sacrificing hard-won rankings. Tracking needed to reflect reality, not guesswork. Authority signals were good but not yet definitive in a competitive category. In short: a strong platform that hadn’t fully converted reputation into reliable, compounding organic reach.

Obstacles

1) Fewer high-ranking keywords & lower authority at the earlier snapshot

  • December 2023 keyword distribution: Top 3: 18, 4–10: 17, 11–20: 67, SERP Features: 11 (Total 113).
    [Insert Graphic A: “Organic Rankings on Page 1 & 2 of Google — 2024” (left callout for Dec ‘23 vs Dec ‘24 cards)]
  • Domain Rating: 35 → 53 (graphic shows the starting point at 35, then the rise).

2) Site performance baseline prior to improvement

  • Lighthouse tiles shown move from Performance 41 to 81, with Accessibility 92, Best Practices 92, SEO 100 on both tiles.

3) Customer service friction captured in user feedback

  • Message highlights wait-time confusion, order handoff issues, and accusation over missing items at a visit (“Not the greatest experience… would suggest training the people who were working today better.”)

Results

1) Traffic & conversions surged YoY (‘24 vs ‘23)

  • All Channels (2024): Sessions 76.9k (+88.4%), New Users 60.3k (+102.9%), Lead Form Submissions 581 (+84.4%), Pageviews 132.2k (+80.4%).
  • Organic (2024): Organic Sessions 47.6k (+123.6%), Organic New Users 35.5k (+150.0%); additional organic session panels for product/service pages shown.
    [Insert Graphic E: “Organic Traffic & Conversions Up Significantly YoY — ‘24 vs ‘23” (full slide with All Channels & Organic panels)]

2) Rankings expanded materially

  • Still #1 on Google for “cannabis pr.”
  • +233 more keywords on Google Page 1 & 2 (+206% YoY).
  • December 2024 distribution: Top 3: 77, 4–10: 98, 11–20: 127, SERP Features: 44 (Total 346).
  • Top pages listed on the slide include:
    • /cannabis-marketing/best-cannabis-hashtags
    • /cannabis-pr/the-best-cannabis-events-in-2023
    • /our-team
    • /cannabis-journalists
    • /cannabis-marketing/cannabis-marketing-in-massachusetts
    • /cannabis-marketing/the-history-and-evolution-of-420-marketing
    • /cannabis-pr
    • /cannabis-marketing/cannabis-marketing
      ‍

3) Strong technical health

  • Core Web Vitals: 95 good URLs, 0 need improvement, 0 poor URLs.
  • Slide notes: Both desktop and mobile have nearly doubled since moving over to Webflow (as shown on the chart captions).
  • Lighthouse tiles on the slide show Performance 81 with Accessibility 92, Best Practices 92, SEO 100.
    [Insert Graphic C: “SEO PERFORMANCE: Core Web Vitals” (mobile/desktop CWV charts + Lighthouse tiles)]

4) Authority & backlink profile growth

  • Domain Rating: 35 → 53; Referring Pages: 777 → 1,114.
  • Ahrefs widget shows UR 43, DR 53, Backlinks 2.97k (+36), Referring Domains 419, Organic Keywords 1.1k (+26).
  • Competitor DA table included on the slide (e.g., pufcreativ.com 42 → 48, etc.).
    [Insert Graphic B: “SEO PERFORMANCE: Domain Rating” (full slide with Ahrefs panels + DR & Referring Pages charts + competitor table)]

5) Localized/state landing page traction

  • “Cannabis Marketing in XYZ State” cluster drove 45.4k impressions in the past 4 months, with 8 pages created to date.
  • Table & report panels show clicks/impressions per state page (e.g., Massachusetts 130 clicks / 21,871 impressions, New Mexico 98 / 16,653, Oklahoma 23 / 1,442, Florida 12 / 1,279, Arizona 11 / 1,148, Michigan 6 / 620, Vermont 5 / 1,071, Maine 4 / 1,284).
    [Insert Graphic G: “State Landing Pages” (full slide with GSC chart + state table + top pages panel)]

6) Organic visibility trend (YoY snapshot)

  • Captioned on the slide: Monthly organic traffic up 79.8% YoY with 83.3k monthly organic impressions; “Top organic keyword driving traffic… ‘cannabis hashtags’ and ‘weed hashtags’.”
    [Insert Graphic F (again): “SEO PERFORMANCE: Organic Traffic”]

Conclusion

The headline isn’t hyperbole—it’s sequence.

Year 1: The step-change year. Organic output leapt, establishing the “new normal” and validating the strategy. (Executive summary metrics from the first YoY window show +79.8% monthly organic traffic and 83.3k monthly organic impressions as coverage and rankings surged.)

Year 2: The compounding year. Instead of flattening after a banner year, growth accelerated again: organic sessions +123% YoY, organic new users +150% YoY, total sessions +88%, and lead form submissions +84%—all on top of the prior year’s lift. That’s what “5× organic reach—two years running” looks like in the data.

And this wasn’t just traffic for traffic’s sake. The combination of fast pages, intent-matched content, stronger authority, and clean analytics produced a durable advantage: more qualified visitors finding the brand organically, more often, with clear attribution to prove it. The system now feeds itself—content informs authority, authority lifts rankings, rankings bring in higher-intent users, and measurement keeps the flywheel honest.

"Trav Media Group transformed our online presence. Their expertise in digital marketing has been a game changer for our business."

Ricardo Baca
Grasslands: A Journalism-Minded Agency

"The team at Trav Media Group delivered results beyond our expectations. Their creative strategies truly set us apart in the market."

Jane Smith
Marketing Director, Sample Co.