SEO Case Study: Increased Inbound Leads from 55 to 210 in 7 Months for a B2B AI Software Company in San Francisco
In early January 2025, a San Francisco based B2B AI software company partnered with Goforaeo because their website was not bringing steady, high quality inbound leads. They had a solid product and a strong sales team, but organic search was not doing its job.
From January 6, 2025 to July 31, 2025, we rebuilt their SEO foundation, published and improved content that matched real buying intent, and tightened conversions on key pages. The result: inbound leads increased from 55 per month to 210 per month within 7 months, with clearer lead quality and more demo requests coming from organic search.
Project overview: Dates, timeframe, and location
This was a focused 7 month engagement with weekly execution and monthly reporting. The client’s team was based in San Francisco, California, and we worked closely with their marketing lead, product marketer, and one developer.
Timeline: January 6, 2025 to July 31, 2025
Here is the exact timeframe and what we measured:
- Start date: January 6, 2025
- End date: July 31, 2025
- Location: San Francisco, California
- Primary result: Inbound leads grew from 55 to 210 per month
- Lead sources counted: Demo requests, contact forms, pricing page form fills, and qualified “talk to sales” requests from organic traffic
Client background: What they sell and who they sell to
They sell AI software to mid market and enterprise teams. The buyers were usually Head of Data, VP Engineering, and Operations leaders, with long sales cycles and lots of technical questions.
What their site looked like in January 2025
They were doing some things right, but search performance was uneven:
- A handful of blog posts were getting traffic, but most content was not tied to product value
- Main pages were written like product documentation, not like search landing pages
- No clear content system for “use cases,” “industries,” “integrations,” and “comparisons”
- Leads were coming more from outbound and partnerships than from search
The main problems we saw in the first 10 days
These were the blockers holding back growth:
- Technical issues that reduced crawl and indexing consistency
- Weak internal linking, so important pages were buried
- Many pages did not match search intent (people searched one thing, page answered another)
- Conversion paths were messy, with too many choices and unclear next steps
- Top competitors had stronger pages for “solution” and “alternative” searches
What we tracked: Simple definitions and clean measurement
We kept measurement very practical so the client could trust the numbers. We only counted leads that had a clear “sales intent” action and came from organic sessions.
How we defined an inbound lead in this SEO Case Study
A lead counted when it met both conditions:
- Came from organic search (Google and Bing organic)
- Completed one of these actions:
- Book a demo
- Contact sales
- Submit pricing related form
- Request trial access (where available)
- Book a demo
Baseline snapshot: January 2025 starting metrics
In the first reporting period (January 6 to January 31, 2025), we saw this baseline:
- Inbound leads from organic: 55
- Organic sessions: 3,200
- Overall organic conversion rate: 1.7%
- Keywords in top 10 positions: 35
- Keywords in top 3 positions: 4
- Average position for key commercial terms: Mostly outside top 20
Strategy: What we did and why it worked
We used a simple system: fix the foundation, build pages people actually search for, and make those pages convert. Every action was connected to either rankings, traffic quality, or conversion rate.
Phase 1: Technical cleanup and structure fixes
The first wins came from removing friction. When search engines crawl better, pages show up more consistently, and rankings stop bouncing.
Key actions in this phase:
- Crawl the site, find indexation waste, and remove low value duplicates
- Fix canonical errors, redirect chains, and broken internal links
- Improve Core Web Vitals on key landing pages
- Strengthen sitemap and robots rules so Google focused on the right URLs
- Create a clean internal linking path to money pages (solutions, use cases, integrations)
Phase 2: Build a content plan based on real intent
For B2B AI, traffic alone is not enough. You can get thousands of visits from broad “AI trends” content and still get no leads.
So we focused on intent buckets that bring buyers:
- Use case intent: “AI for …” where the person is solving a problem
- Integration intent: “Works with …” searches that signal evaluation
- Comparison intent: “X vs Y” and “alternatives” searches
- Proof intent: “SEO Case Study” and “ROI” searches
- Implementation intent: “how to” topics that lead to product fit
Phase 3: Conversion improvements on the pages that matter
We treated conversion as part of SEO, not a separate project. More traffic is good, but better page flow often makes results jump without waiting for rankings.
What we improved:
- Clear CTA blocks above the fold on commercial pages
- Stronger “next step” sections at the end of blogs
- Shorter forms and better form placement
- More proof on decision pages (logos, quotes, security notes, outcomes)
- Better matching between keyword intent and page CTA (demo vs talk to expert)
Phase 4: Trust building and authority signals
AI buyers want proof. We added trust signals in a way that helped both SEO and lead confidence.
We focused on:
- Adding expert quotes and product team inputs where needed
- Publishing “why us” pages that answered common objections
- Securing relevant backlinks through targeted outreach and partner mentions
- Strengthening internal linking so authority flowed to commercial pages
Month by month execution and results: What changed each month
Below is the monthly breakdown from January 2025 to July 2025, including both work done and the measurable outcomes. These are the numbers the client used internally, month after month.
January 2025: Audit, tracking, and quick wins
January was about clarity and cleanup. We set measurement, found the biggest leaks, and fixed the easiest blockers first.
Work completed:
- Full technical audit and crawl mapping
- Google Search Console cleanup (index coverage checks, sitemap refresh)
- GA4 and conversion event verification (demo, contact, pricing actions)
- First internal linking plan for solutions and use case pages
- Rewrite of titles and meta descriptions for 15 high value pages
Monthly results:
- Inbound leads: 55
- Organic sessions: 3,200
- Top 10 keywords: 35
- Top 3 keywords: 4
February 2025: Fix indexation, improve site structure, start commercial content
This month, we focused on getting core pages crawled and understood correctly, while starting content that had buyer intent.
Work completed:
- Canonical and duplicate cleanup on similar pages
- Redirect fixes and removal of thin tag style pages
- Navigation improvements for Solutions, Use Cases, and Integrations
- First 4 commercial landing pages drafted and published:
- 2 use case pages
- 1 integration page
- 1 “industry” page
- 2 use case pages
- Added internal links from high traffic blogs to new landing pages
Monthly results:
- Inbound leads: 68
- Organic sessions: 3,850
- Top 10 keywords: 44
- Top 3 keywords: 6
March 2025: Topic clusters, comparison pages, and stronger on page SEO
March was where we built momentum. We expanded content around themes and tightened on page SEO so Google had a clearer map of the site.
Work completed:
- Keyword research focused on commercial intent terms
- Published 6 pages:
- 2 comparison pages
- 2 use case pages
- 1 integration page
- 1 “how it works” explainer page
- 2 comparison pages
- Added FAQ sections to improve relevance and capture long tail searches
- Updated 8 older blogs to match intent and add CTAs
- Created a standard template for future landing pages so quality stayed consistent
Monthly results:
- Inbound leads: 82
- Organic sessions: 4,600
- Top 10 keywords: 58
- Top 3 keywords: 9
April 2025: CRO upgrades, pricing path cleanup, and proof signals
April was a big conversion month. We improved how pages pushed visitors toward action, especially on pricing and solution pages.
Work completed:
- Reworked primary CTAs across 10 commercial pages
- Simplified forms and reduced unnecessary fields
- Added proof sections:
- customer logos
- short outcome statements
- security and compliance notes (where approved)
- customer logos
- Created 2 new SEO Case Study style pages (problem, approach, outcome)
- Improved page speed on top landing pages and reduced layout shifts
Monthly results:
- Inbound leads: 110
- Organic sessions: 5,900
- Top 10 keywords: 75
- Top 3 keywords: 13
May 2025: Link building, integration expansion, and updating underperformers
Now that the site structure was stronger, we pushed authority and filled content gaps that competitors were winning.
Work completed:
- Outreach for relevant backlinks through:
- partner pages
- directory listings in their space
- guest contributions on niche publications
- partner pages
- Published 7 pages:
- 3 integration pages
- 2 comparison pages
- 2 use case pages
- 3 integration pages
- Refreshed 10 older posts with:
- clearer headings
- better internal links
- updated examples
- stronger CTAs
- clearer headings
- Built a “related pages” module so internal linking scaled naturally
Monthly results:
- Inbound leads: 145
- Organic sessions: 7,400
- Top 10 keywords: 94
- Top 3 keywords: 17
June 2025: Scaling content production and tightening lead quality
June was about scale without losing quality. We increased publishing speed, but we kept everything aligned to intent and conversion.
Work completed:
- Published 8 pages:
- 3 use case pages
- 2 “alternatives” pages
- 2 implementation guides linked to product features
- 1 industry landing page
- 3 use case pages
- Added stronger qualifiers on forms to improve lead routing
- Created a sales friendly “SEO landing page library” so the sales team could share links
- Improved schema where relevant (FAQ and software related markup)
Monthly results:
- Inbound leads: 178
- Organic sessions: 8,900
- Top 10 keywords: 110
- Top 3 keywords: 20
July 2025: Consolidation, ranking pushes, and conversion polishing
In July we focused on pushing near page one keywords into top positions. We also polished conversion paths based on what was already working.
Work completed:
- Optimized 12 pages that were ranking between positions 8 to 20
- Expanded comparison pages with clearer “when to choose what” sections
- Added internal links from high authority pages to priority conversion pages
- Improved demo page copy and reduced bounce with clearer expectations
- Continued link outreach and earned additional mentions from relevant sources
Monthly results:
- Inbound leads: 210
- Organic sessions: 10,500
- Top 10 keywords: 120
- Top 3 keywords: 22
Before vs after proof: The numbers that show the change
The cleanest way to see impact is to compare the first and last month of the engagement. These are the exact same lead definitions, tracked the same way.
Lead performance: January 2025 vs July 2025
- Inbound leads per month: 55 to 210
- Net increase: +155 leads per month
- Growth multiple: about 3.8 times
- What changed: more high intent pages ranked, and those pages converted better
Traffic and visibility: January 2025 vs July 2025
- Organic sessions: 3,200 to 10,500
- Top 10 keyword count: 35 to 120
- Top 3 keyword count: 4 to 22
- What changed: stronger site structure, better intent mapping, and more relevant landing pages
Conversion improvements: What helped leads grow faster than traffic
Traffic increased a lot, but conversion work made the biggest difference on commercial pages.
Key conversion improvements we saw by the end:
- Clearer CTAs on solution pages
- Better internal paths from blogs to money pages
- Stronger proof on evaluation pages
- Less friction in forms and better placement
Tools used: What we relied on day to day
We used tools to move faster and avoid guesswork, but decisions were based on what the data showed.
Tracking and reporting tools
- Google Analytics 4: organic conversions, assisted journeys, landing page performance
- Google Search Console: queries, indexing checks, CTR improvements, page level ranking trends
- Looker Studio: simple monthly dashboards for the client team
- HubSpot: lead attribution checks and lead quality review with sales feedback
Research and content tools
- Ahrefs: keyword research, competitor gap checks, backlink review
- Semrush: topic validation and keyword clustering support
- Google Sheets: content calendar, on page checklists, monthly execution logs
- ChatGPT: first draft outlines and content structuring support, always edited by humans
Technical SEO tools
- Screaming Frog: crawls, broken links, redirect checks, metadata exports
- PageSpeed Insights: speed checks and Core Web Vitals tracking
- Search Console URL Inspection: page indexing validation after major updates
Why this worked for a B2B AI company: The real reasons behind the growth
This was not one magic trick. It was consistent work, done in the right order, with constant attention to intent and conversion.
The biggest growth drivers
- We stopped publishing broad content that brought the wrong visitors
- We built commercial pages that matched how buyers search
- We improved internal linking so Google and users could find key pages
- We added proof that helped buyers feel safe taking the next step
- We updated older content instead of only publishing new posts
Mistakes we avoided on purpose
- We did not chase high volume keywords that had no buying intent
- We did not overload the site with thin pages
- We did not rely only on backlinks without improving page quality
- We did not treat conversion as “someone else’s job”
What we would do next: The next 90 days after July 2025
After hitting 210 leads per month, the next phase would focus on deeper wins instead of just more pages.
Next steps we planned with the client
- Expand into more integration pages based on partner demand
- Build deeper “industry” pages with stronger proof and workflows
- Create a learning center that connects implementation guides to product demos
- Continue authority building with more partner placements and expert content
- Improve middle of funnel nurturing so more leads turn into pipeline
About Goforaeo: How we run SEO for B2B companies
At Goforaeo, we keep SEO simple and practical. We focus on the pages that bring buyers, fix the issues that hold back growth, and make sure traffic turns into real leads.
If your B2B website gets visits but not enough demos or sales calls, the fastest path is usually the same: clear structure, intent driven content, and conversion focused pages.