A company that places developers in its clients’ teams came to us with a site that Google wasn’t ranking at all at the time. Over 41 months the site grew from zero to 6,961 search visits a month by Ahrefs’ estimate, and most of that traffic comes from non-branded queries.
Results at a glance
Search visits a month
0 → 6,961
Ahrefs estimate, March 2020 → July 2023. For the first nine months the estimate was zero. The peak was 10,834 in November 2022.
Queries in Google’s Top 10
0 → 2,217
434 of them in the Top 3, and in total the site ranked for 30,632 queries. Ahrefs measures positions directly.
Traffic from non-branded queries
85.9%
People arrive through a service or a topic, with no company name in the query.
Traffic and rankings come from Ahrefs’ public data for the period we worked on the site, since we don’t publish screenshots of client analytics. Ahrefs estimates traffic from its own index, so the traffic figures are estimates. They aren’t readings from the site’s own analytics. We don’t quote the client’s enquiries or internal analytics.
Before
Zero visits, zero rankings and a site with no blog
| Client | ProCoders, procoders.tech |
| Niche | staff augmentation and custom software development |
| Markets | US and English-speaking markets |
| Services | SEO, content briefs, link building and outreach, analytics, paid search |
| Period | March 2020 – July 2023, 41 months |
| Status | completed in July 2023 |
| Team | 11 specialists across SEO, marketing, outreach, link building and project management |
ProCoders is an IT company from Kharkiv. At the time, ProCoders sold staff augmentation, meaning developers who join a client’s team for months at a time, plus a discovery phase for new products.
In March 2020 Ahrefs showed zero search visits for procoders.tech and not a single ranking query. The site was static HTML with no blog.
At the start the client filled in a competence map with us, and that’s where the work began.
The goal
Staff augmentation enquiries from people who hire
For the client, a good enquiry meant staff augmentation or a dedicated team on its stack. So the goal was exactly these enquiries, and the start was from absolute zero, with no rankings, no blog and no service pages.
What we did
Competences first, then pages, then enquiries
March – June 2020
The competence map helped decide what to sell through the site, and the answer was staff augmentation
In short, the first months went into the framework (what to sell, to whom, with what site structure and what content), because a static HTML site with no blog had no pages that could rank yet.
The competence map
A competence map puts three scores side by side for each service, technology and industry (how easy it is to sell, how much it earns, whether the market is growing), and only side by side can you see where those scores diverge. We checked market growth across more than ten markets. The choice was staff augmentation, in selected areas.
Messages for three buyers
A startup, a small business and a large company buy staff augmentation for different reasons, so we built the positioning with a separate message for each:
- a startup cares about reaching the market first;
- a small business wants to pull ahead with the software it needs;
- a large company wants market leadership.
A native speaker on the client’s side proofread the messages, and the client signed them off.
A structure on three axes
Someone buying staff augmentation searches by service, by technology or by industry (“dedicated development team”, “hire Vue.js developers”, “healthcare software development”), and each of those queries is a separate way into the site. The competence map already had the same three axes, so we built the site structure on them and gathered keywords for the service and industry pages. The founder ranked the pages by priority from 1 to 9 himself and approved the structure.
Briefs and two reviews
Texts came from the client’s copywriters, who are native speakers, and for each article we provided a brief setting out which queries it covers and what will lead the reader to an enquiry. We built the content plan for the first 8 articles from the competence map, and before publishing each article went through two reviews, a marketing review (persona, hook, sourced facts, a CTA at the end) and an SEO review.
The move to WordPress
On static HTML each new page needs a developer, and there’s no blog at all, so the client’s decision to move to WordPress became the first condition for growth. We ran a technical audit and wrote recommendations for the future blog, plus meta tags for the homepage, which the client put live the same night. The first 15 sponsored and guest posts linked to the homepage, because there were no other pages built for search yet.
What the client did. Decided to move from static HTML to WordPress and prepared a test version with a blog. Filled in the competence map with us; approved the structure and the messages.
Outcome. The Ahrefs estimate stayed at zero for all four months, because there was nothing to rank yet. The stage delivered the framework, meaning what to sell, the structure, the positioning and the content plan.
July 2020 – May 2021
The nine months of zero went into the move to WordPress and the first service pages, without which there was nothing to rank
In short, the site was moving to WordPress, and the first service pages appeared in the second half of the stage. We prepared the briefs, tracking and links for them, and the first visits came right after the “Hire …” pages went live.
“Hire … Developers” pages
People looking for staff augmentation search for a developer in a specific technology (“hire Vue.js developers”, “hire Node.js developers”), and each technology the company sells needs its own page. Choosing the technologies also means choosing who the company can actually provide (for us, the mainstream was Node.js and Vue). We wrote briefs for “Hire … Developers” pages covering the company’s stack (Node.js, NestJS, Vue.js, TypeScript, React, JavaScript, PHP, WordPress, HTML), and later for service pages with a shared structure. The client published Hire Web Developers first and built the rest on its template.
What to measure before there’s traffic
A new page first gets indexed, then picks up impressions at distant positions, and only after that starts getting clicks, while Ahrefs shows zero at the start even though impressions already exist. So while the Ahrefs estimate sat at zero, the thing to track was impressions and positions in Search Console. We set up analytics in advance, because “Check availability” and booking a call with the founder signal different readiness to buy, and each CTA became a separate event in Google Tag Manager and a separate goal in analytics.
Links to where the pages are
Links to the homepage strengthen the domain as a whole, but for a “Hire Vue.js Developers” page to become the answer to its query, links to that page work best. Once those pages existed, sponsored and guest posts pointed to them (almost half to technology and service pages, slightly fewer to articles, and some to the homepage too, since for a site that’s new to search those links matter as well). We also added targeted outreach to editors with the client’s texts, and the number of placements grew further.
Ads and remarketing
Until organic traffic arrives, paid search brings people in straight away, so we launched Google Ads and remarketing. Remarketing picked up where the reading left off, so someone who had read “Laravel Interview Questions” saw “Hire Laravel team”. Later we added campaigns for “services” queries.
What the client did. Published the first service page (Hire Web Developers) and the rest on its template, from HTML, Node.js and React to Vue.js; the blog grew from ~5 to ~35 articles. Added the first case study and a new enquiry form.
Outcome. The first visits (~20 a month) came right after the “Hire …” pages, and by the end of the stage the Ahrefs estimate reached ~160. For a new site, the Ahrefs estimate runs low at the start.
June 2021 – March 2022
Pages and articles added up, and the Ahrefs traffic estimate grew 18-fold
Pages, articles, links and all the work of the earlier stages added up, and traffic grew 18-fold. We shifted the priority to other stacks that matched the market situation at the time, and started tracking regularly which pages brought in the right people.
Enquiry tracking
We set up tracking of successful form submissions so that no enquiry gets lost.
A persona from enquiries
Using tools alone, it’s almost impossible (apart from a few specific cases) to tell from traffic how well a potential client fits the target. So each month we matched enquiries to pages together with the client, and used them to describe the buyer persona and its objections. A persona like that shows who really arrives, what they ask and what they’re afraid of, which tells you what to write about and which objections to answer.
What the client did. Published 5–8 articles a month (the site grew to ~90); launched the Solutions pages.
Outcome. The Ahrefs estimate grew from ~380 to ~6,900 visits a month, 18-fold. This was the combined effect of two stages (the site, the blog and service pages, links).
March 2022 – January 2023
The redesign went through without traffic loss, and the Ahrefs estimate peaked at 10,834 (mostly on queries with other brands’ names)
ProCoders redesigned its site, and we took the site through the redesign without losing traffic, scaled up outreach according to our calculation and rebuilt the briefs around the persona. The Ahrefs traffic estimate peaked.
A redesign without losses
The new design brought a new service-page structure and language versions, and a redesign is one of the most common causes of a sudden traffic loss. The main thing was to keep the URLs of pages that already ranked, and the service pages moved into a separate post type with the same URLs. We checked the new design while the site was being re-uploaded, and the client implemented the fixes in full.
A consolidated page table
A monthly review shows what happened that month, while telling apart the pages that bring the right people consistently from those that produced one lucky enquiry takes several months of history. So we kept a consolidated table of which pages bring relevant enquiries.
What the client did. Launched the new design (a Solutions / Technologies menu, service pages as a separate post type with the same URLs, German versions of three service pages and Solutions, a Swedish version of one, a case studies section) and implemented each fix from our check.
Outcome. The Ahrefs estimate rose from ~6,050 to a peak of 10,834.
February – July 2023
From “hire a developer” to “hire a team”, and Top 10 queries almost doubled
We shifted the focus from “hire a developer” to “hire a team”. The number of queries in the Top 10 almost doubled.
Teams ahead of single developers
Similar queries bring different people. The “Hire … developers” pages were already doing very well. So “hire development team” and teams for a specific industry or stack got priority.
Topics for the SVB hypothesis
After the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, early-stage startups started cutting costs. We assumed that, having cut their own teams, they’d look for cheaper ways to finish a product or a feature, and that’s where they’d need an outside team. For this hypothesis we proposed topics on finishing a product on a smaller budget and “develop + …” queries where a team is clearly needed, plus articles under the founder’s name with outreach to niche media and podcasts. That way the copywriters get first-hand expertise, and the founder builds a name in the niche.
New directions through pages and series
A new service in search starts with a page that sells it and articles that answer the questions around it; a cluster like that creates entry points at each step of the choice and builds Topical Authority. So we prepared briefs for seven service pages and launched an e-commerce series.
Re-optimisation
Most of the implemented re-optimisations improved positions.
Outcome. Ranking queries doubled (15,007 → 30,632), in the Top 10 they went 1,261 → 2,217, with 434 in the Top 3, and the non-branded share of traffic grew proportionally. The traffic estimate grew from ~5,000 to 6,961, 1.4 times.
What was hard
Rankings grew before traffic did
Nine months of zero
From March to November 2020 Ahrefs showed zero, even though pages and articles went out every month. We analysed what grows before traffic does, meaning impressions and positions in Search Console, and confirmed that the chosen strategy was the right one. The client kept up the pace.
Meanwhile positions kept growing. Between November 2022 and July 2023 ranking queries doubled (from 15,007 to 30,632), and the Top 10 grew from 1,261 to 2,217 queries.
After
People find the site by service and technology
| Before | After |
|---|---|
| 0 search visits | 6,961 visits a month, Ahrefs estimate |
| 0 queries in Google results | 30,632 ranking queries, 2,217 of them in the Top 10 and 434 in the Top 3 |
| A static site with no blog | WordPress, a blog, and pages for technologies and industries |
procoders.tech/ — Avg. organic traffic
Ahrefs · 1 Mar 2020 – 31 Jul 2023
Organic traffic to procoders.tech, Ahrefs estimate, March 2020 – July 2023. Nine months of zero, a takeoff in the second half of 2021, a peak in November 2022 and 6,961 visits in July 2023.
Why it worked
Three things that kept the traffic from being just traffic
Competences ahead of search volume
The plan was built from what the company wants and is able to sell, meaning staff augmentation and the stack it hires for.
Enquiries matched to pages
Each month we knew which pages brought the right people, and acted on it.
A client who worked alongside us
The client approved the structure and messages, provided native-speaker writers and gave regular feedback.
Takeaways
Three lessons for IT outsourcing and staff augmentation
- The easiest sale is no reason on its own to invest there. Sometimes the best-selling line is in a shrinking market. A mismatch like that shows when all the scores sit side by side.
- A new site starting from zero needs a year. Nine months of zero were the price of starting from a blank page in IT outsourcing. Until traffic arrives, watch impressions and positions.
- Look for the pages that bring the right enquiries. A page with good enquiries should be strengthened in several ways, and its copy and messaging should become the model for other pages.
Questions
What people ask about this case
How long does it take to see results when a site starts from zero?
Here Ahrefs showed zero for nine months, and the first visits appeared in December 2020. Noticeable growth started in June 2021; by December the estimate had reached about 4,100 visits a month, and by March 2022 about 6,900.
Can these numbers be checked?
Yes. Traffic and positions come from Ahrefs for procoders.tech, March 2020 – July 2023, and the domain’s history shows the same curve. The case covers exactly that period, the time we worked on the project. Ahrefs estimates traffic and measures positions directly.
Why a competence map if you already have keyword research?
Keyword research shows what people search for, and the map shows what the company wants and is able to sell and where it makes money. Without it, the growing market looks like the logical move, even if the company doesn’t want to go there.
