Client Success Story

Full-Funnel SEO & PPC: Improving Lead Generation, Search Visibility, and Website Authority for a Subscription-Based Grant Research Platform

+29.81%

PPC
Conversion Rate

+300%

Top-10
Keywords

+157%

Quality
Backlinks

+100%

On-Site
Conversions

Service

  • Google Ads Management
  • Keyword Optimization
  • Technical SEO

Platform

  • Google Ads
THE CLIENT

A Subscription-Based Grant Research and Funding Intelligence Service

The client is a leading grant research and funding intelligence platform serving nonprofit organizations across North America. The platform helps nonprofits, charities, educational institutions, healthcare organizations, faith-based organizations, and social service agencies identify funding opportunities, research grantmakers, analyze funding history, and connect with potential foundation funders.

Project Requirements

Building an Integrated PPC and SEO Growth Strategy to Improve Search Visibility and Lead Quality

The client needed digital marketing services that could improve visibility across both paid and organic channels. The objective was not only to increase traffic or lead volume, but to attract more qualified nonprofit prospects with stronger intent.

The project required Google Ads optimization for better lead generation and SEO improvements to strengthen organic visibility, keyword rankings, website authority, and user experience.

Key Requirements:

  • Improve qualified lead generation through Google Ads

    The client wanted more form submissions from relevant organizations, especially nonprofits, charities, educational institutions, healthcare organizations, and faith-based groups looking for grant research solutions.

  • Reduce irrelevant paid search traffic

    The account was attracting search queries that were not aligned with the client’s target audience. This was increasing wasted spend and affecting lead quality.

  • Improve campaign structure and budget efficiency

    Google Ads campaigns needed better segmentation by nonprofit categories, stronger keyword grouping, and more efficient budget allocation toward campaigns with higher conversion potential.

  • Optimize keywords and negative keywords

    The project required ongoing keyword research, expansion of high-intent search terms, and regular negative keyword updates to prevent irrelevant clicks.

  • Improve conversion tracking and lead quality analysis

    The team had to go beyond basic conversion numbers and evaluate CRM lead-status data to understand which campaigns and keywords were generating qualified leads.

  • Strengthen organic search visibility through SEO

    The client needed improvements in on-page SEO, technical SEO, internal linking, keyword targeting, content freshness, and backlink quality.

  • Improve website crawlability and user experience

    The website required fixes for broken links, 404 errors, duplicate content, weak internal linking, slow page speed, and outdated content areas.

  • Build authority with quality backlinks

    The SEO strategy also required competitor backlink analysis and quality link building to improve domain authority, page authority, referral traffic, and organic ranking potential.

PROJECT CHALLENGES

High Competition, Irrelevant Traffic, and Declining Organic Visibility

The client operated in a competitive search environment where keywords such as nonprofit grants, grant database, foundation grants, grant writing, and fundraising solutions attracted both relevant and irrelevant audiences. The challenge was to improve visibility without compromising lead quality or budget efficiency.

Advertising Challenges:

  • High volume of irrelevant search queries pulling in low-intent traffic that never converted.
  • Rising Cost Per Conversion (CPA), driven by underperforming keywords consuming spend inefficiently.
  • Budget wastage from low-intent clicks, limiting the impact of every dollar.
  • Inconsistent lead quality across campaigns, with limited audience segmentation.
  • Need for improved campaign structure and targeting to align spend with the right nonprofit sectors.

SEO Challenges:

  • Declining organic traffic, alongside reduced direct and referral visits, eroding overall visibility.
  • Under-optimized content, with many pages lacking properly optimized meta titles and descriptions.
  • Outdated content and missed keyword opportunities from irregular updates.
  • Technical issues—slow page load speed, weak internal linking, duplicate content, broken links, and multiple 404 errors, impacting user experience and crawlability.
  • A limited backlink profile compared to competitors, weakening search authority.
  • High keyword competition for core terms like "nonprofit grants," "grant database," and "grant writing."
OUR SOLUTION

Executing a Full-Funnel PPC and SEO Growth Strategy

Our digital marketing team built a full-funnel strategy: continuous Google Ads management & optimization to capture high-intent demand efficiently, paired with a technical and on-page SEO campaign to rebuild organic visibility.

PPC Management: Google Ads Optimization

1

Campaign Structure Optimization

We reorganized the Google Ads account to align campaigns with the client’s target nonprofit sectors.

  • Segmented campaigns by audience categories such as Education, Health, Religion, Social & Human Services, and General Nonprofits.
  • Reviewed performance at the campaign level to identify stronger and weaker segments.
  • Reallocated budgets toward campaigns with better conversion potential.
  • Created more focused ad groups to improve keyword relevance and Quality Score.
2

Keyword Research and Search Term Optimization

We conducted continuous keyword research to refine reach among high-intent prospects & and improve the quality of paid search traffic.

  • Added high-intent keywords such as nonprofit grants, grant database, foundation grants, grant writing, philanthropy funding, faith-based grants, grants for churches, and more.
  • Reviewed Google Ads search terms to identify irrelevant traffic.
  • Paused high-CPA, underperforming keywords, and expanded long-tail coverage.
  • Added negative keywords regularly to reduce irrelevant clicks.
3

Audience and Geographic Targeting Optimization

We refined audience and location targeting to reach organizations with stronger intent for grant research and fundraising solutions.

  • Analyzed location-level performance to identify stronger markets.
  • Prioritized high-value states with stronger nonprofit funding activity.
  • Added observation audiences to gather audience insights without restricting reach.
  • Used audience signals for Performance Max testing.
4

Ad Copy and Asset Optimization

We improved ad messaging to attract more qualified prospects and increase engagement.

  • Developed and tested Responsive Search Ads with keyword-focused headlines and descriptions.
  • Highlighted the client’s grant database, funding history, and fundraising solutions.
  • Reviewed asset-level performance and removed low-performing assets.
  • Improved calls to action for nonprofit decision-makers.
5

Budget and Bid Strategy Management

We optimized budget allocation and bidding based on campaign performance instead of spreading spend evenly across all segments.

  • Monitored campaigns limited by Search Lost Impression Share due to budget.
  • Increased budgets on campaigns with stronger conversion performance.
  • Reallocated spend from low-performing campaigns to high-performing segments.
  • Adjusted bidding strategies to improve conversion opportunities and scalability.
6

Conversion Tracking and Lead Quality Analysis

We reviewed conversion tracking and evaluated lead quality using client-provided CRM data. Instead of optimizing only for more conversions, we focused on the sources that were generating better nonprofit prospects.

  • Checked conversion tracking setup to ensure form submissions were measured accurately.
  • Analyzed CRM lead-status data shared by the client.
  • Evaluated qualified leads, sales-assigned leads, and nonprofit validation status to identify the highest-performing campaigns and keywords.
7

Performance Max Testing

We launched a controlled Performance Max test to explore additional lead-generation opportunities.

  • Set up a Performance Max campaign with a controlled budget.
  • Added relevant search themes and audience signals.
  • Monitored performance against Search campaigns.
  • Evaluated whether the campaign could support incremental lead generation.

SEO Support: Technical, On-Page & Off-Page Optimization

Alongside Google Ads optimization, we worked on SEO improvements to support organic visibility, improve authority, and reduce long-term dependence on paid traffic.

1

SEO Audit and Opportunity Mapping

We began with a detailed SEO audit of the client’s website. The audit helped identify the issues affecting organic performance. It also created a clear roadmap for technical fixes, content improvements, and authority building.

  • Reviewed meta titles, meta descriptions, heading tags, and page content.
  • Audited internal linking, crawl depth, broken links, and 404 errors.
  • Identified duplicate content and indexing risks.
  • Reviewed page speed and user experience issues.
  • Studied competitor keyword and backlink gaps.
2

On-Page SEO Optimization

As part of SEO services, we optimized key website pages for target keywords and search intent.

  • Updated meta titles and meta descriptions.
  • Optimized heading tags according to SEO best practices.
  • Improved page content with relevant keywords.
  • Added image ALT tag recommendations.
  • Suggested updates to outdated website content.
  • Recommended new SEO-focused pages and blogs based on shortlisted keywords
3

Internal Linking and Crawlability Improvements

We improved the website’s internal linking structure to distribute authority across important pages. It also improved website navigation and crawlability.

  • Interlink relevant pages using strategic anchor text.
  • Reduced over-interlinking on selected pages.
  • Identified orphan pages and recommended links to connect them.
  • Improved crawl depth so important pages were easier to access.
  • Strengthened navigation paths for users and search engines.
4

Technical SEO Fixes

We provided technical recommendations to improve website performance and indexing.

  • Reviewed mobile usability and user experience issues.
  • Improved page load speed by removing unnecessary content and compressing images.
  • Audited and fixed broken internal links and recommended corrections for 404 errors.
  • Recommended canonical tags to improve indexing and prevent duplicate content conflicts.
5

Competitor Keyword and Backlink Analysis

Our SEO team reviewed competitor activity to identify new search opportunities.

  • Analyzed competitor keywords for ranking gaps.
  • Reviewed backlink sources used by competitors.
  • Identified relevant websites for referral and backlink opportunities.
  • Used competitor insights to guide content and link-building recommendations.
6

Backlink Quality and Authority Building

We worked on improving the website’s backlink profile to strengthen the website’s authority & visibility.

  • Built backlinks from relevant and authoritative sources.
  • Performed competitor backlink audits to capture referral traffic opportunities.
  • Reduced dependency on low-value sources.
  • Supported improvements in Domain Authority, Page Authority, and referring domains.

Project Outcomes

The combined PPC and SEO strategy helped the client improve campaign performance, organic visibility, keyword rankings, website engagement, and backlink authority.

PPC (Google Ads) - Jan to May 2026

Metric Before After Change
Conversions 154 194 +25.97%
Cost per Conversion $35.60 $32.51 -8.68%
Conversion Rate 5.30% 6.88% +29.81%

SEO-Rankings & Visibility

Metric Before After Change
Average SEO Score 64/100 92/100 +43.8%
Average CTR 2.30% 4.80% +108.7%
Average Ranking Position 28.5 11.4 ~60% better
Top-10 Keywords 12 48 +300%
Organic Keywords Ranking 85 210 +147.1%

SEO - Website Authority

Metric Before After Change
Domain Authority 18 34 +88.9%
Page Authority 24 42 +75%
Referring Domains 65 142 +118.5%
Quality Backlinks 420 1,080 +157.1%
Spam Score 9% 3% -66.7%

SEO-User Engagement

Metric Before After Change
Avg. Session Duration 1m 45s 3m 05s +76.2%
Pages per Session 1.8 3.2 +77.8%
User Engagement Rate 38% 64% +68.4%
On-Site Conversion Rate 1.90% 3.80% +100%
CONTACT US

Drive Qualified Leads Across Both Paid and Organic Search

Partner with our digital marketing team for a full-funnel PPC and SEO strategy built to drive qualified leads, stronger rankings, and lasting search authority. Share your requirements with us at info@suntecindia.com.