The SEO Success Secrets of a 7-Figure Flight Deal Company

Welcome to another week of 'Growth Through Content.'

Today, we're dissecting the remarkable SEO journey of Going.com, previously known as Scott's Cheap Flights. This transformation isn't just a tale of a name change; it's a masterclass in strategic SEO and content synergy.

You'll learn:

• Why versatility in content can be a game-changer in user engagement and traffic.
• The art of aligning a business model with a content strategy for a perfect market fit.
• How to use publicity to increase conversions.

Prepare for takeoff as we explore the heights Going.com has reached through savvy SEO practices.

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Ok, but as always, before we dive in, here's some useful information.

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OK, that's the admin over.

Let's dive in.

What is Going.com?

Imagine stumbling upon a flight deal so good it changes your career path. That's the story of Scott Keyes, who in 2013 found an irresistible deal from NYC to Milan.

His journey from that trip morphed into Scott's Cheap Flights, a platform that would redefine travel deals online.

Today, rebranded as Going.com, the platform is a powerhouse in the travel industry, with a team of 65 and serving over 2 million travellers. The humble beginning with just $350 is a distant memory as they now dominate the digital skies of affordable travel.

You can read about the rebrand here and his about page gives more details here.

Going.com's SEO Metrics: A Closer Look

Let's analyze the numbers.

Going.com's Authority Score stands at 57, a robust indicator of its domain strength and backlink quality, according to Semrush.

The site's organic search traffic hovers around 634.6K, with a keyword arsenal exceeding 383.3K.

This diverse keyword strategy caters to informational, navigational, commercial, and transactional search intents, showcasing their comprehensive approach to SEO. But over 60% of their traffic is informational.

We'll cover more about that shortly.

What's remarkable is their resilience during the rebrand.

Site migrations can be SEO minefields, yet Going.com managed this transition with minimal disruption, reinstating their traffic baseline within four months.

This is no small feat in the SEO world.

A Deep Dive into Going.com's Content Strategy

I'm going to showcase a page of the site that has been hit just to prove that even if you do a great job, you can still get hurt by updates.

Their article on Google flights is good. With over 5200 words packed with 45 visuals, this guide is more than information; it's a user journey.

It contains a collapsed table of contents and even shows first-person experience.

And yet, we can see that it has been on the decline.

You can see their daily traffic has been hugely on the decline for the page.

But it's not all bad.

Yes, they have had some losses, but they've also had some wins.

Their 4000-word guide to finding cheap flights in increasing traffic.

This page brings in 14,000 visitors a month.

This is proof that sites being hit by helpful content updates might be hit, but they can also gain some wins.

Often, the traffic you lose is traffic you should never have had, regardless of how good your content is.

Seamless Integration of Business Model and Content

If there is anything to take away from this week's newsletter, is the actual concept that drives revenue.

In essence, Going.com has a unique business model, they help people to find cheap flight deals.

Admittedly, I don't know if they do this manually or have software, but it's like a large newsletter.

They have a freemium to a premium model, which is why their content is so important to their growth.

With 60% of their content informational, they have over 700 pages of content that is geared directly toward people 'in the market' for cheap flights.

And they have a strong call to action on their pages.

Almost every article that I checked is geared towards flying or travelling.

And because there isn't anyone who doesn't like saving money, the content is a home run.

It's worth spending some mental energy thinking about this.

Their content is geared towards people who are either travelling now or in the future.

But do we trust them?

Using Publicity to Increase Growth and Conversions

The founder, Scott Keyes owes the growth of this site to a viral article titled;

"This gamed the airline industry. so he never has to pay for a flight again"

You can read that here.

That took his email list from around 300 subscribers to over 5000 in a single night.

Since that day, Scott has been featured in the New York Times and on numerous media shows like Good Morning America.

As you can imagine, each link or media appearance fuels the growth of the site further.

What You Can Take From This Article

Ok, so this hasn't been a great edition from a tips and tactics viewpoint.

We've seen that they've lost traffic, survived a migration, and gained traffic.

But what you should take away is the business model.

They solve a great problem.

Helping people to save money.

And their content is all geared around this problem.

The simplicity of blog content to the freemium/premium model can't be ignored.

Talking about the problem you solve might be the best tip that comes from this site.

The other is finding a problem that people will pay to solve.

In blogs, we focus a lot on how to 'do' something. But if that 'something' helps people to save a lot of money, then you'll likely have better results.

Thanks for reading.

Andrew Holland