Boosting visibility for esports news
Doubling monthly visitors after the relaunch
A strong URL, sleek branding, a rapidly growing market, excellent content, and a dedicated team behind the scenes - at first glance, these factors are a recipe for success in online journalism. However, our partner's esports news website was struggling. The growth in monthly visitors was too low, and the bounce rates were too high. But with a well-thought-out UX concept and technical optimization of the site, the numbers skyrocketed after the relaunch.
The Challenge
Strong content requires a solid framework. We quickly realized that the content itself didn't need much reworking. Instead, the focus was on how to organize it thematically and technically to ensure it is discoverable. When we talk about "discoverable," we mean by search engines, but most importantly, by the readers themselves, as they are the ones the content is created for.
We soon discovered that very little from the old website could be carried over to the new one, aside from the strong brand identity. It became evident that a completely redesigned and restructured website was necessary. Even the underlying content management system and operations needed a thorough overhaul to ensure a successful relaunch without technical issues.
The Solution
Based on user data from Google Analytics, heatmaps, and A/B tests, we developed a new user interface that made much more content easily accessible. Start and overview pages were divided, and internal linking within the website was expanded. Previously hidden content found its rightful place. The improved interlinking of content now corresponded to the scale of the website. Readers were directly guided to related pages and offerings, enabling better navigation throughout the site.
In addition to landing pages, the focus for search engines was on Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMPs), which are crucial for news articles. These pages were optimized and now consistently appear on the first search result pages for esports-related topics.
To make the website more reliable, secure, and faster, we opted for a headless architecture hosted on AWS. Extensive caching mechanisms ensure quick response times despite the sometimes complex content assembly.
The Result
The goals were ambitious, expecting a growth rate of around 70% within a year. We surpassed these expectations. Within a few months after the relaunch, we had already achieved 100% growth - the number of monthly visitors had doubled. Other metrics, such as the average session duration and bounce rate, also exceeded expectations.
Thanks to the new architecture and hosting, we successfully handled peak loads, eliminating any fear of our own success.
We knew we couldn't rest on the achievements brought by the relaunch. Additional formats, such as image galleries, were gradually introduced, receiving positive feedback from readers. SEO efforts were also continued. A combination of new content formats like Q&As and technical measures ensured that top positions in search engines were maintained.
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