Dolphin Safari

Overview

Dolphin Safari is a five-star, eco-friendly, and award-winning dolphin and whale watching safari company. Customers can enjoy seeing dolphins and whales up close in the waters of Dana Point from a fleet of vessels. Visitors can reserve a safari tour or rent private boats online. In September 2019, the client contacted Coalition to assist them with growing their brand. In March 2020, the client paused SEO services due to the COVID-19 pandemic. After California state and local restrictions were lifted, the client resumed their operations and returned to us in May 2021 to improve their ranking position and grow organic traffic.

See how our team helped Dolphin Safari grow leads, traffic, and revenue, and improve their keyword ranking positions for hundreds of keywords.

Problem

The client began using our marketing services in 2019. We helped them achieve strong ranking positions for many of their keywords, including priority terms such as “Dana Point whale watching”. The client was happy with the results of the strategy our team implemented in 2019. Following the temporary closure of Dolphin Safari due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the client saw their rankings slip as competitors who continued their SEO efforts during the lockdowns began outranking them. The client wanted us to implement our proven SEO strategies to help them outrank their competitors and improve their priority terms’ ranking positions, organic traffic, organic bookings, and revenue.

Solution

Some of the tasks we have completed for Dolphin Safari include writing optimized copy, improving page load speed on their site, local optimizations on their Google Business Profile, and implementing conversion rate optimization strategies for a better user experience.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Our audit revealed that the website had duplicate Google Analytics (GA) tags installed. We removed the duplicate tags and set up Google Analytics to correctly capture the website’s data. We set redirect URLs for missing pages and added internal links to resolve 404 errors and missing pages. We also created an XML sitemap for the website.

Local SEO

To further analyze Dolphin Safari’s Google Business Profile ranking across local areas, we installed a geolocation rank tracker. This tracker highlights the brand’s local rankings and how that varies depending on where a user is located. Additionally, our team was able to compare Dolphin Safari’s recent ranking performance with that of its closest competitors, determine what strategies were working best for them, and make improvements as needed. We implemented strategies that allowed them to dominate rankings in key competitive local markets.

Results

Within the first three months of our partnership, Dolphin Safari’s organic sessions increased by 15% and organic new users by 17%. Organic search accounted for 33% of all sessions. Moreover, organic revenue increased by 17% and overall sessions by 7%, leading to overall revenue growing by 18% compared to the previous year.

17%

Increase

In organic revenue

33%

Increase

In organic search

18%

Increase

In overall revenue

After our partnership restarted, the client saw more outstanding results. Users increased by 149% within the first eight months. Likewise, sessions grew by 129%. Goal completion improved by 10%, and revenue increased by almost 15%.

Dolphin Safari saw impressive results for their Google Business Profile’s performance too. Year over year, organic revenue from their Google Business listing increased by 22% while transactions grew by 15.6%.

149%

Increase

In users

129%

Increase

In sessions

10%

Decrease

In goal completions

Several keywords saw improvement in their ranking positions. When the client restarted their partnership, they were in the top 3 positions for 115 keywords, top 4-10 for 366 keywords, and second page ranking for 506 keywords. Eight months later, they were enjoying top 3 rankings for 195 keywords, top 4-10 rankings for 559 keywords, and second page rankings for 831 keywords.