The average person probably doesn’t think about freight logistics very often, but they’re a vital part of our world. According to one estimate, 11 billion tons of freight are shipped globally each year. This includes everything from food and consumer goods to raw materials used in manufacturing, construction, and more. Freight is the backbone of the international economy – and a process called freight forwarding plays a crucial role.
Freight forwarding is the management of imports and exports through the supply chain. Freight forwarding companies work closely with manufacturers, cargo carriers, port authorities, and customs to help the flow of freight from one point to another. It’s a complex operation that requires precise coordination. Yet many freight forwarding companies struggle with outdated software.
That’s where GoFreight comes in. Founded in 2017 by Trenton Chen, GoFreight is a business-to-business (B2B) startup that created a revolutionary software platform for freight forwarding services. They streamline all aspects of freight forwarding operations, from finance to analytics. In fact, GoFreight’s innovative software solutions have made such an impact on the logistics industry that the startup raised $23 million in Series A funding in 2022.
Despite this success, GoFreight lacked a cohesive organic search strategy. Their website wasn’t ranking for the right keywords needed to connect with customers. They also experienced technical issues that hurt their online visibility. That’s why they approached Redefine Marketing Group for our search engine optimization (SEO) and link building services.
The challenge
GoFreight presented a unique challenge. Their logistics software was making a tremendous impact on the shipping industry, yet potential customers couldn’t find GoFreight when searching critical keywords like “freight forwarding software” or “freight forwarding management software.”
Following a site audit, the Redefine team identified two primary issues affecting GoFreight’s organic growth on search:
- Technical Site Issues: Our on-page and technical search experts discovered 4,400 site errors on GoFreight’s website.
- Lack of SEO Fundamentals: Despite robust blog content, the client had not implemented key SEO tactics such as internal linking and meta title optimization.
With these problems identified, we created a detailed search engine marketing plan to help GoFreight outshine the competition.
Redefine’s solution
Our strategy for GoFreight centered on tried-and-true SEO basics. We implemented a rigorous approach to improve the client’s position ranking, organic visibility, impressions, and SEO health score.
Keyword research
We began with keyword research. As an obvious authority in the freight logistics industry, we sought to position GoFreight as a dominant player online. Our team studied the client’s competitors and leveraged tools like Semrush and Google Trends to identify over 100 high-impact keywords to target. These keywords were sorted into six category buckets:
- Shipping
- Freight management software
- Logistics technology
- Trade + shipping
- Track + trace
- Other
While developing our list, we meticulously analyzed user search intent and refined keywords when Google flipped intent. In addition to boosting brand visibility, we shaped our keyword list to drive highly targeted traffic. This established a foundation for increasing conversions and building long-term success.
Internal linking & technical improvements
Next, we turned to the client’s website. Prior to working with Redefine, GoFreight had accumulated approximately 4,400 technical site errors and content errors. This ranged from misspellings and grammatical issues in content, to broken links and excessive redirects. These errors affected the client’s SEO health score, which is a metric that describes how well a website performs on search engines.
Our on-page and technical search experts repaired the errors on the client’s website while optimizing their content for keywords. After accomplishing this, the number of total site errors was reduced to just two. Overall, we increased GoFreight’s SEO health score by 14 points.
Meta title optimization
Meta titles, also known as page titles, are vital web elements that serve two purposes. First, search engines use meta titles as the name of the link that appears on a search engine results page (SERP). Second, meta titles enhance click-through-rate (CTR). A strong meta title encourages potential customers to click on your site instead of your competitor’s.
Initially, GoFreight was not taking advantage of the persuasive power of meta titles. The team at Redefine optimized their meta titles to include the client’s relevant keywords while adhering to SEO best practices to contribute to the website’s health score. This strategy enabled us to make significant headway on keyword rankings.
Link building
Finally, we supported the client’s SEO campaign with external link building. We found opportunities to feature GoFreight in major industry publications and expert journals. This approach resulted in three key benefits:
- Boosting the website’s authority
- Improving rankability
- Driving referral traffic
Link building also further raised GoFreight’s profile in the freight forwarding vertical. Through strategic placements, we helped boost the startup’s organic reputation.
The result
Our campaign for GoFreight delivered several notable wins. After creating and implementing a cohesive SEO strategy for the client’s website, GoFreight increased total organic keyword ranking from 4,000 to 9,000. Additionally, the client surpassed their primary competitor and secured multiple top-10 placements on SERPs.
Several keywords jumped in position ranking thanks to our efforts:
Among this notable list, the significant advancement of the keywords “scac codes” and “freight forwarder service” resulted in a tremendous boost of monthly search volume of 8,490.
Redefine also achieved success for the client with niche rankings such as “shipping container tracking” and “real time freight tracking.” Although these keywords produced a lower monthly search volume, their relevance to the client’s target audience added to GoFreight’s authority in the freight forwarding market.
In our final analysis, our recommendations and implementations for GoFreight achieved the following key results:
- +80% Organic Visibility
- +22 Average Ranking Position
- +137% Organic Impressions
- +14 SEO Health Score
- +120% Year Over Year Increase of Organic Search Sessions
When GoFreight goes Redefine
By implementing SEO fundamentals, technical site improvements, and external link building, Redefine helped GoFreight achieve its goals of increased organic visibility. Our efforts contributed to the client’s continuing success as a dominant software supplier to the freight forwarding and logistics industry. Looking for help improving your business’ website or online presence? Contact the Redefine Marketing Group team and learn more about our hands-on approach to growth. We’re here to help!
