How EdTech SEO helped Online Manipal tackle Ghost Organic Traffic | Case Study

The brand that is visible to its audience will definitely get the maximum leads from its domain.

But can visibility be harmful as well?

Well, there is a thing called Ghost Organic Traffic that has been bugging a few brands for some time.

Wildnet’s latest EdTech digital growth case study highlights such a scenario faced by Online Manipal and how we solved it via our EdTech SEO services.

Online Manipal is one of the most recognized EdTech platforms in India that helps the students or eager-to-learn folks with UGC-approved online certifications and degrees.

It has made learning easier and accessible for people living in remote parts of India, giving them a chance to be represented in the mainstream.

They started in 2021 and have since helped 100,000+ learners get 100% online certifications for online-only courses.

They have three universities, i.e., Sikkim Manipal University, or SMU; Manipal University Jaipur (MUJ); and Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE).

Online Manipal has NAAC A+ and A++ recognitions and UGC & AICTE approvals.

Online Manipal had a massive website of 19,500 pages (approx.) and was pulling in fair enough organic traffic.

But, they faced issues like,

Ghost Organic Traffic

Ghost organic traffic, or ghost spam, is the latest kind of issue in terms of organic traffic.

Brands will see heightened traffic stats in Google or any other analytics platform, but in reality that traffic is fake and doesn’t result in user footfall.

It hampers accurate data collection, analysis and future planning; in other words unable to justify the ROI.

High Competition on Relevant Keywords

Online Manipal wanted to rank on high-intensity keywords such as online BBA, online BCA and online MBA to sell their digital courses & certifications better.

Due to higher competition in the EdTech sector, they were finding it difficult to get the desired footfall and subsequent leads as well as conversions.

Lesser Organic Traffic

The organic traffic that they were garnering without Wildnet’s AI-powered SEO services was below their target.

This hampered their overall business plans, which were based on a required organic traffic per day and month.

In short, they need the latest and customized SEO for EdTech companies from a reliable SEO company.

Thus, they contacted us in April 2024.

Our SEO experts understood the client’s ask and proposed a tailor-made EdTech SEO plan for Online Manipal.

The SEO team started off with a comprehensive audit to find the relevant search intents and landing pages to link them with for the three keywords mentioned above to craft the online education SEO strategies needed for them.

MBA Keyword Ranking

• We found out that Online Manipal’s main MBA page was not even indexed; rather, their US-focused MBA page was being prioritised by Google.
• First and foremost, the MBA page was indexed and got it ranked on SERPs or search engine result pages.
• Since users leverage Google AIOs or AI Overviews and Featured Snippets a lot these days, EdTech SEO was used along with AEO or answer engine optimization to ensure Online Manipal’s visibility as well as to boost the CTR (click-through rate).

Ghost Organic Resolution

• To resolve the ghost traffic issue, our EdTech SEO marketers started off with an IP-based study to find the source of traffic.
• Some malicious IPs were found which were linked to an untrustworthy SEO audit website.
• These IPs were blocked with immediate effect, and the SEO audit website was formally contacted to remove the EdTech client’s website from their database.

Website Content Optimization

• A few blogs that were underperforming due to SEO-focused content were optimized to make them user-friendly.
• Topical authority was built around upcoming exams for the BBA, MBA and BCA courses by writing relevant guest posts, blogs, press releases, articles & more using SEO for eLearning platforms.
• This further boosted the client website’s CTR.

Technical EdTech SEO

• URLs that were dead (404) and yet still part of the Online Manipal’s site map were removed as they were decreasing the site score.
• The revised website structure and schema were updated in Google, and the web content was updated accordingly to feature in the Quick Answer Box of Google.

Link Building

• Internal linking amongst the 19k+ pages was improved to allow proper navigation and ease of access for the visitors.
• A massive link-building exercise was carried out to get Online Manipal visibility in forums like Reddit & Quora and a few microblogging sites as well as Tier 2 backlinking websites.

CRO or Conversion Rate Optimization

• To ensure the best possible conversion rates, CTAs, or call-to-action buttons, were optimized to make them user-friendly.

Are you ready to know the results our EdTech SEO delivered after a period of 6-7 months?

In October 2024, Online Manipal saw

Increased Organic Traffic

33% boost to the organic traffic, which was all real and trackable.

Sample Keyword Rankings

Fig 1: A tabular representation of Online Manipal’s website ranking in Google’s search results.

As you can see, even after 7 months of taking our EdTech SEO services, the edtech company is visible on the first page of the SERPs.

Website Domain Authority

Fig 2: A tabular representation of Domain Authority, or DA, of Online Manipal’s website.

The domain authority was increased by 2 points (directly) by our EdTech SEO and 1 point (indirectly) over time.

The Online Manipal SEO case study is a great example of how EdTech SEO services are quite effective and reliable even in the AI era.

You just need to find the right digital marketing partner to implement your education marketing strategies effectively. Contact Wildnet to leverage digital marketing for EdTech startups …