A redesign that made JCA findable in search
In June 2019, JCA launched a complete redesign of jcacompanies.com, with new information architecture, rewritten service pages, and a rebuilt technical foundation. Before the redesign, the site drew effectively no organic search traffic: an estimated 10 visits across all of 2017 and 2018. Within months of launch it ranked for more than 100 keywords, and for the next three years it brought in a steady stream of organic visitors whose search value kept climbing.
~1,650
organic visits, June 2019 to June 2022, up from 10 in 2017–2018
101
ranking keywords at the September 2019 peak, up from a pre-2019 high of 14
25–45
organic visits nearly every month from late 2019 through mid-2022
~$45
estimated monthly traffic value in early 2022, up from ~ $2 in 2020
THE CHALLENGE
A website search engines couldn't find
In 2017 and 2018 combined, Semrush estimates jcacompanies.com received just 10 organic search visits. In all of 2018, it received none. The site never ranked for more than 14 keywords in that period.
JCA also ran no paid search, so prospects looking for JCA's core services online had no realistic way to find thecompany. The challenge was turning the website into something search engines could find, understand, and rank.
THE APPROACH
Rebuilding the site for discovery
New site architecture & navigation
Complete site redesign
Rewritten service pages
Launched June 2019
New site architecture & navigation
- Rebuild the structure. New information architecture and navigation gave the site a clear, logical organization.
- Redesign the site. JCA replaced its previous website with a complete redesign.
- Rewrite the service pages. JCA’s service pages were rewritten as part of the relaunch.
- Fix the technical foundation. Technical SEO fixes, a CMS migration, page speed improvements, and schema markup addressed how search engines crawl, load, and interpret the site.
- Launch in June 2019. The new site went live in June 2019, and organic traffic arrived the same month.
Why this matters: JCA had no paid search traffic before or after the redesign. Every search visit in this case study came from organic rankings the new site earned.
THE RESULTS
Organic traffic arrived, and it stayed
Monthly organic traffic
Estimated monthly organic visits to jcacompanies.com. Source: Semrush Overview Trend, January 2018 to June 2022; values are modeled estimates.
THE RESULTS, CONTINUED
The traffic kept getting more valuable
Average monthly organic visits rose from about 28 in 2020 to about 39 in 2021. Over the same period, Semrush’s estimate of what that traffic would have cost in paid search grew much faster.
| Year | Avg. monthly visits | Avg. ranking keywords | Avg. monthly traffic value |
| 2017 | 1 | 1 | $0 |
| 2018 | 0 | 5 | $0 |
| 2019 (launch year) | 55 | 57 | $5 |
| 2020 | 28 | 58 | $2 |
| 2021 | 39 | 63 | $13 |
| 2022 (Jan-Jun) | 32 | 59 | $45 |
Source: Semrush Overview Trend. 2019 averages include the five months before launch.
| Metric | Before (2017–2018) | After (Jun 2019–Jun 2022) |
| Organic visits | 10 in 24 months | ~1,650 in 37 months |
| Typical month | 0 visits | 25–45 visits |
| Ranking keywords | 14 at most | 50–100 most months; peak 101 |
Source: Semrush
WHY IT WORKED
Three signals connect the redesign to the gains
Timing. Organic traffic was zero in every month of 2018 and arrived in June 2019, the month the redesign launched.
Durability. The gains were not a one-time launch effect. Traffic held at 25 to 45 visits nearly every month for two and a half years, and the 2021 average beat 2020’s.
Value. Ranking keywords stayed several times above the pre-2019 high, and the estimated value of organic traffic rose from about $2 a month in 2020 to about $45 in the first half of 2022, suggesting JCA was ranking for more commercially valuable searches.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Lessons from the redesign
A redesign is a search investment, not just a visual refresh. JCA went from zero organic visibility to a channel that delivered visitors every month for three years.
Judge a launch by its baseline, not its spike. The summer 2019 surge was striking, but the durable 25 to 45 visits a month is what lasted.
Organic value compounds. Traffic volume grew modestly, while its estimated search value rose from about $2 a month in 2020 to about $45 in early 2022.
Methodology. Data: Semrush Overview Trend export for jcacompanies.com (root domain, worldwide), January 2017 through June 2022; later data is excluded. All traffic, keyword, and traffic-value figures are Semrush’s modeled estimates, not site analytics. Organic traffic value is Semrush’s estimate of what the same traffic would have cost in paid search. Semrush shows no paid search traffic for jcacompanies.com in the period. Percentage changes are not reported because the pre-redesign baseline is at or near zero. The findings show correlation between the redesign and JCA’s organic search gains, not proven causation; other factors, including search engine algorithm changes, may also contribute.
