Recovering from a website migration that cost them their traffic
- Revenue up 75% The rebuild's second year saw revenue jump sharply, and it's stayed at that higher level ever since.
- Revenue per visitor up 52% Visitors convert into revenue far better than they did in year one, proof the SEO work is bringing in the right people, not just more of them.
- New Enrolments Enrolments took a big step up in year two and have kept coming in at that rate ever since.
UK Open College provides online and distance-learning courses across a wide range of subjects, from childcare and teaching assistant qualifications to business, health, science and professional development. We’ve worked with UK Open College since 2019, when a previous website rebuild had quietly cost them a significant share of their organic traffic. We rebuilt the site on WooCommerce and have run their SEO ever since.
- Partnership running since 2019, starting after a previous agency's rebuild cost the business a significant share of its organic traffic
- Site rebuilt on WooCommerce to properly support online course sales, not just present them
- Ongoing SEO focused on the specific qualifications and careers students are searching for, rather than broad education terms
- Revenue up 75% in the rebuild's second year, and has held at that higher level since
- Revenue per visitor up 52%, showing search traffic converting into enrolments far more effectively than before
- Enrolments took a big step up in year two and have kept coming in at that rate ever since
The challenge
A website rebuild should grow a business, not shrink its visibility. When UK Open College came to us in 2019, that’s exactly what had happened: a new site went live, and with it, years of built-up rankings and organic traffic disappeared. With a course catalogue that was already large and continuing to grow, the business also needed a platform that could actually operate as an online college, handling enrolments and course sales reliably, not just present information and look right.
What we did
- Rebuilt the website on WooCommerce, replacing the previous platform
- Investigated what the previous rebuild had cost the site in rankings and traffic, and worked to recover it
- Structured course and category pages around how students actually search, not how the business is organised internally
- Ran ongoing SEO targeting the specific qualifications, careers and questions prospective students search for
- Supported the systems behind the site as the course catalogue and enrolments continued to grow
- Continued developing the site and its SEO as the business expanded
The result
We rebuilt the site on WooCommerce and took over SEO going forward, treating recovery as an ongoing job rather than a single fix. Revenue grew substantially in the rebuild’s second year and has held at that higher level since. Just as importantly, as the site has matured, each visitor now converts into revenue far more effectively than in year one, evidence that the SEO work is bringing in the right people, not just more of them. Enrolments took a similar step up in year two and have increased every year ever since.
“After being left in a complete mess by our previous developer, we turned to Richard and his team for help. They are a breath of fresh air. Friendly, proactive and quick to act. We have found Webforward nothing but professional and approachable. We also now have a plan of action in place to move forward. Something our previous developer had great difficulty in achieving. A big thumbs up so far.”
