Case Study
Goldey-Beacom College
Goldey-Beacom College
Goldey-Beacom College (GBC) is a private, nonprofit higher education institution in Wilmington, Delaware with a focus on career-ready education. GBC had noticed a substantial drop in organic search performance on its newly-redesigned website. The build, done by a third-party, had modernized the look and feel, but it wasn’t supported by a content and SEO strategy. Many high-value pages lost visibility. GBC brought us in to diagnose what changed and create a path to restore and strengthen their search presence.
Scope of Work
- Discovery & Research
- Comprehensive SEO Audit
- Keyword Research
- Content Strategy
- Technical SEO
- Copywriting
- Google Business Profile Optimization
Uncovering What Was Holding GBC Back
After their recent redesign, GBC’s website was no longer appearing where prospective students were searching, and key pages had lost visibility. The college needed a clear understanding of the issues behind the drop and a plan that identified what to fix first.
Our audit revealed more than five hundred unindexed pages, broken links throughout the site, a program sitemap that had been redirected in error, duplicate or missing metadata, missing H1 tags on core pages, and hundreds of images without alt text. We also identified slow mobile performance, ranking gaps for high-value terms like “affordable colleges in Delaware,” and missed opportunities for program pages to compete in search.
With the full picture in place, we created a clear, prioritized plan that restored technical SEO, strengthened content, and gave GBC a roadmap to improve organic visibility and reach prospective students more effectively.
Turning Insight Into a Clear Keyword Roadmap
We conducted an in-depth keyword analysis across the full student journey to understand how prospective students search and where GBC had opportunities to stand out. Our research showed that the college ranked well for branded terms like “goldey beacom,” but there were clear opportunities to show up more often in the searches students use when comparing schools. These included affordability, campus housing, academic programs, and location-based queries.
We also saw room to grow in search terms related to programs like business, finance, accounting, and international studies, as well as niche searches such as “small colleges in Delaware” that had low competition and high potential return.
Using these insights, we identified the keywords that mattered most for GBC and mapped out exactly where those terms should live on the site. The plan showed which pages needed improvement right away, which new pages to create, and how GBC could grow visibility in the areas students search for most.
Aligning Content With the User Journey
Using insights from the audit and keyword roadmap, we reshaped content across key GBC pages to match how prospective students actually research, compare options, and make decisions. We focused on the terms students search during their college exploration and assigned targeted keywords and phrases to every page.
We rewrote high-impact pages with clearer structure, a more intuitive flow, and stronger alignment to search intent. For example, “college with dorms near me” became a priority on the housing and dining page. This taps into high-value local searches and speaks directly to a major decision factor: quality of life on campus.
To build long-term momentum, we also created a blog content strategy centered on low-competition, high-relevance queries. Topics like “Should You Get an Undergraduate Certificate?” and “Top Growing Jobs in the Business Administration Field” serve both high school prospects and adult learners. Meanwhile, posts such as “Tips for Your Student Visa Interview” and “Best On-Campus Events for International Students at GBC” support international students searching for institutions that understand their needs.
Together, these blog topics give GBC months of impactful content. Each recommendation was designed to strengthen rankings, meet student needs, and keep the college visible at every step of the search journey.
