SEO Case Study: Improved Core Web Vitals and Lifted Leads 32% in 3 Months for a B2B SaaS in Austin
In April 2025, an Austin based B2B SaaS company partnered with Goforaeo after noticing a pattern: their pages were ranking, but leads were not rising at the same pace as traffic. The product was strong, the messaging was clear, yet the site experience felt slow on mobile and the marketing team kept hearing the same feedback from prospects.
Over the next three months, the work focused on speed, stability, and smoother interactions across the website, then matching that improved experience with smarter on page conversion flow.
Project snapshot and dates:
This campaign ran for three months from April 2025 to June 2025, with March 2025 used as the baseline month before changes were pushed.
Key details:
- Location: Austin, Texas
- Business type: B2B SaaS
- Timeframe: April 2025 to June 2025
- Primary lead action tracked: “Request a Demo” form submissions and “Book a Demo” calendar completions
- Result: Total tracked leads increased from 125 in March 2025 to 165 in June 2025, a 32% lift
The client background and what was happening before:
The company sold a SaaS platform used by operations and finance teams. Their buyers were busy, and many first visits happened on mobile during travel, between meetings, or while comparing tools.
The marketing team already invested in content and SEO, but results started to plateau because the site experience was holding visitors back right before conversion.
What the site looked like in March 2025:
In March 2025, the site had several good things going for it: clear positioning, strong feature pages, and a steady flow of organic traffic. The problem was hidden in performance data and user behavior.
Baseline performance in March 2025:
- Organic sessions: 18,400
- Total leads from all channels: 125
- Organic leads: 72
- Conversion rate from organic sessions to leads: 0.39%
- Mobile bounce rate on key landing pages: 62%
Core Web Vitals baseline signals in March 2025:
- Mobile Good URLs in Search Console Core Web Vitals report: 42%
- Mobile LCP: 4.2 seconds on key pages
- Mobile INP: 320 milliseconds
- Mobile CLS: 0.25
What was causing slow and unstable pages:
After the initial audit, Goforaeo found that the biggest issues were not one single thing. It was a stack of small problems adding up.
Top blockers:
- Heavy hero images and no proper preloading on the pages that mattered most
- Too much JavaScript on marketing pages, including scripts that were not essential
- Layout shifts from late loading fonts, cookie banners, and a sticky header resizing
- Slow server response during peak hours for visitors outside Texas
- Tracking tags and third party tools loading early, even when the user never scrolled
How we measured results and made sure the numbers were real:
Before changing anything, Goforaeo made sure tracking was clean. That way, the performance work could be tied directly to business outcomes, not just speed scores.
We tracked three groups of metrics every week:
- Core Web Vitals: LCP, INP, CLS plus the percentage of URLs marked as Good
- Behavior metrics: bounce rate, scroll depth, and time on page for key landing pages
- Lead metrics: demo form submissions, demo booking completions, and lead quality notes from the sales team
What counted as a lead:
To keep reporting honest, a lead was counted only when one of these happened:
- A “Request a Demo” form was successfully submitted
- A calendar booking reached the confirmation step
- A tracked phone call from the website lasted longer than 45 seconds
Strategy overview: how we approached Core Web Vitals and lead growth:
This campaign worked because the plan was practical. It was not just “make the site faster.” It was “make the pages that generate demos feel fast, stable, and easy to act on.”
The approach had four parts that ran in parallel:
- Fix the biggest Core Web Vitals issues first on the highest intent pages
- Reduce script weight and improve interaction speed on mobile
- Remove layout shifts that hurt trust and increase drop offs
- Improve conversion flow so the speed gains turned into more demos
Part 1: Prioritize the pages that produce pipeline:
We did not try to improve everything at once. We chose the pages that were closest to purchase intent:
- Pricing page
- Product overview page
- Solutions pages for core industries
- Comparison pages
- Demo landing page
These pages were treated like money pages. Every change was tested against both Core Web Vitals and lead rate.
Part 2: Improve LCP with real fixes, not just score tricks:
LCP improved when we made the main content load earlier and lighter.
Key actions used:
- Compressed and resized hero images and moved to next gen formats
- Added correct image dimensions to prevent reflow
- Preloaded the main above the fold image on top pages
- Reduced render blocking resources by cleaning up CSS delivery
- Improved server response time using caching and CDN support
Part 3: Improve INP by cutting unnecessary scripts:
INP improved when interactions became more responsive. This mainly meant reducing how much JavaScript the browser had to handle.
Changes included:
- Removed unused analytics and old pixels
- Delayed non essential scripts until after user interaction
- Reduced tag manager clutter and simplified triggers
- Split some heavy scripts so they did not load on every page
Part 4: Reduce CLS by stabilizing layout:
CLS is a trust killer. If a button moves when someone is about to click, you lose them.
Main CLS fixes:
- Reserved space for cookie banners and chat widgets
- Fixed header height so it did not resize after load
- Adjusted font loading so text did not jump
- Set consistent image and embed dimensions across templates
Month by month work and metrics:
Below is the month by month breakdown from April 2025 to June 2025, including what was done and the measured results.
April 2025: audit, quick wins, and LCP improvements:
April 2025 was about finding the biggest leaks fast and fixing them without risking design or tracking issues.
Work completed in April 2025:
- Ran a full Core Web Vitals audit across top landing pages
- Identified the top LCP elements per template and prioritized fixes
- Compressed hero images on top pages and replaced oversized assets
- Preloaded key images and reduced render blocking CSS where possible
- Cleaned up obvious tag manager bloat and removed unused scripts
- Improved server caching rules for marketing pages
Metrics in April 2025:
- Organic sessions: 19,600
- Total leads: 138
- Organic leads: 80
- Mobile Good URLs: 55%
- Mobile LCP: 3.4 seconds
- Mobile INP: 290 milliseconds
- Mobile CLS: 0.18
Notes from the sales team in April 2025:
- More demo submissions came from mobile
- Fewer complaints about the site feeling slow during the first call
May 2025: INP work, script reduction, and conversion path cleanup:
In May 2025, we focused on interaction speed and reducing friction from click to demo booking.
Work completed in May 2025:
- Audited JavaScript by page to see what was loading and why
- Delayed non essential scripts until the user scrolled or clicked
- Removed or replaced heavy third party tools that were not being used
- Improved the demo form experience on mobile by reducing load and improving field behavior
- Simplified tracking so conversions were recorded consistently without extra scripts
- Fixed internal linking so high intent blog posts pushed visitors to solutions pages and the demo page
Metrics in May 2025:
- Organic sessions: 21,200
- Total leads: 151
- Organic leads: 91
- Mobile Good URLs: 73%
- Mobile LCP: 2.8 seconds
- Mobile INP: 210 milliseconds
- Mobile CLS: 0.12
What changed in user behavior in May 2025:
- Bounce rate on the pricing page dropped from 62% in March 2025 to 54% in May 2025
- Visitors reached the demo page more often from solutions pages
- Demo form completion rate improved because the page stayed stable while loading
June 2025: CLS cleanup, final Core Web Vitals push, and scaling what worked:
June 2025 was about getting more pages into the “Good” range consistently and making sure conversion elements stayed stable and fast.
Work completed in June 2025:
- Fixed the biggest layout shifts caused by banners, header resizing, and late loading elements
- Reserved space for UI components that were loading after the main content
- Improved font loading behavior to reduce text jumping
- Tuned image lazy loading so above the fold images did not wait too long
- Continued pruning scripts and tightened loading priority for key pages
- Built a repeatable checklist so future page launches would not break Core Web Vitals
Metrics in June 2025:
- Organic sessions: 22,900
- Total leads: 165
- Organic leads: 103
- Mobile Good URLs: 88%
- Mobile LCP: 2.3 seconds
- Mobile INP: 170 milliseconds
- Mobile CLS: 0.06
Sales and marketing feedback in June 2025:
- Higher quality demo requests, with clearer notes and more serious intent
- Fewer prospects asking basic questions that were already on the website, because pages loaded smoothly and content was easier to scan
Before vs after proof:
The cleanest comparison is March 2025 as the baseline and June 2025 as the after month, because the full set of improvements was live and stable.
Lead growth:
- Before in March 2025: 125 total leads
- After in June 2025: 165 total leads
That is a 32% increase in three months.
Organic lead growth, which was the most important segment:
- Before in March 2025: 72 organic leads
- After in June 2025: 103 organic leads
Core Web Vitals improvements:
Core Web Vitals improvements were tracked using Google Search Console and verified with page level testing.
Mobile Good URLs:
- Before in March 2025: 42%
- After in June 2025: 88%
Key Core Web Vitals metrics on primary landing pages:
- LCP improved from 4.2 seconds to 2.3 seconds
- INP improved from 320 milliseconds to 170 milliseconds
- CLS improved from 0.25 to 0.06
What changed in real user experience:
These numbers mattered because they matched what users felt:
- Pages showed key content faster, so visitors did not bounce as often
- Buttons and forms responded quickly, so visitors completed actions instead of giving up
- The layout stopped shifting, so the site felt more trustworthy
Why performance improvements increased leads:
This is the part many teams miss. Faster pages do not automatically create leads. They create the conditions for leads, especially in B2B SaaS where trust and clarity matter.
Here is the simple chain reaction we saw:
- Faster loading pages reduced early exits on mobile
- More visitors reached the pricing and demo pages
- Stable layout reduced mis clicks and frustration
- Better interaction speed reduced form drop offs
- Improved internal linking guided visitors to the right next step
- The result was more completed demo actions without needing a big redesign
Tools used during the campaign:
Goforaeo used a small set of tools consistently to diagnose issues, track changes, and prove outcomes.
Core Web Vitals and performance tools:
- Google Search Console Core Web Vitals report: tracked Good URLs and issue types
- PageSpeed Insights: page level performance testing and opportunities
- Lighthouse: repeatable audits after each release
- Chrome DevTools Performance tab: found long tasks and interaction delays
- WebPageTest: verified load behavior and waterfall details for key pages
SEO and site health tools:
- Screaming Frog: crawling, template checks, and asset discovery
- Google Analytics 4: conversion tracking and landing page performance
- Tag Manager review: cleaned triggers and removed unused tags
- Looker Studio: monthly reporting dashboards for the marketing team
Delivery and workflow tools:
- A shared release checklist: prevented future pages from reintroducing the same issues
- Weekly sprint planning: kept dev work aligned with the pages that mattered most
What we delivered each month:
To make this SEO Case Study useful for other B2B SaaS teams, here is the delivery pattern that kept the work moving while still protecting the site.
Monthly rhythm used by Goforaeo:
- Week 1: audit, prioritize, and choose pages for improvement
- Week 2: implement fixes and test on mobile first
- Week 3: verify with tools and watch Search Console updates
- Week 4: optimize conversion flow and report results with next steps
Lessons for other B2B SaaS companies in Austin:
If your SaaS is getting traffic but not enough demos, performance can be the hidden limiter. It is not always your messaging. Sometimes users are simply not patient, especially on mobile.
Key lessons from this campaign:
- Fix Core Web Vitals first on pages closest to conversion
- Reduce scripts aggressively, but keep tracking clean and simple
- CLS fixes often deliver quick wins because they improve trust fast
- Pair performance work with small conversion improvements so the business impact is visible
- Build a checklist so new pages do not undo the work