Dovolena.cz: Boosting organic traffic by over 70% following a website redesign

The results we delivered to the client

• We halted the organic traffic collapse following a redesign that had cost the client 67% of their organic visibility.
• In the subsequent summer season (2023), which was critical for the client, we had already achieved a 72% YoY increase in organic traffic.
• In this year's summer season (2024), we have once again achieved a 72% YoY increase in organic traffic.

But first things first…

The starting point was far from simple

In September 2022, we were approached by the Student Agency team, led by Ondřej Žiška, requesting an SEO consultation following the redesign of the Dovolena.cz website. We immediately set to work on a baseline analysis to identify the primary issues from an SEO perspective.

While working with Proficio, we greatly appreciated their professional approach and deep expertise in SEO. The challenges associated with the Dovolena.cz redesign were substantial, but thanks to their meticulous strategy, we successfully halted the traffic decline and achieved significant year-over-year growth. We are extremely satisfied with the results we have accomplished together. 

Ondřej Žiška, Student Agency

What did we focus on in our analysis?

1. First, we conducted a deep dive into the available data from Google Analytics and Google Search Console. Our primary goal was to reconstruct exactly what had happened on the site, as baseline information was scarce.
2. Web Archive became our go-to resource in our effort to track down every single change that had been made.
3. We performed a fundamental keyword analysis to benchmark the client's positions against competitors across all key topics.
4. We conducted a comprehensive technical site audit to identify every underlying issue.
5. We also evaluated the site from a content perspective, supplementing our audit with strategic recommendations for further content development.

Minor and major glitches on the new site

The primary challenge we had to address immediately involved significant changes to URL structures and site architecture caused by the redesign.

The subsequent page replacements didn't fully match the original site structure, which caused major issues made even worse by inconsistent redirects.

We also had to address a switch in the preferred domain version between the www and non-www variants.

The final piece of the puzzle involved date-specific URL structures. Search engine bots were constantly indexing new content while getting lost in URL loops and discarding outdated pages. This meant the chances of landing on a current vacation offer through organic search results were very slim.

The amount of unmanaged duplicates across the site was massive, and new errors were constantly popping up in Google Search Console.

Unfortunately, indexation on Seznam.cz wasn't smooth either due to the chosen JavaScript solution.

Cleaning up the site and stabilizing its structure

The first step in our process was therefore cleaning up the site and stabilizing its structure. We needed to resolve the URL issues and establish a clear site framework that should be available in search results.

We worked closely with the client's development team to explore ways to achieve this. Unfortunately, a fully automated solution was not feasible within a reasonable time-frame. We had to take a middle ground and look for alternative solutions.

This was partially achieved through a manual cleanup of the landing page structure. We then moved on to adjusting restrictions, whether through indexing and crawling blocks or by managing duplicate content using the canonical element.

Finally, we began to regain control over the site as the number of new errors steadily decreased. The year over year decline started to slow down, allowing us to move into the next development phase.

Michal Kašpar, CEO Keypers

Creating landing pages and content

Following the initial cleanup of the website’s major technical issues, we moved forward in close collaboration with the client’s marketing and content team. For a domain as strong as dovolena.cz, our next steps were clear: the foundation had to be built on high-quality landing pages for individual topics. Only once that was in place could we focus on further fine-tuning.

We introduced the client's team to the core SEO principles and highlighted key areas to watch out for during the process. Our collaboration with Kamila Hrdličková was extremely helpful as she already had foundational SEO knowledge from her copywriting background.

I was extremely satisfied with our collaboration with Proficio. Their professional approach, guidance, and most importantly, visible results at every step… It was simply a pleasure. 

Kamila Hrdličková, Student Agency

The keyword analysis we prepared was also instrumental. In the first phase, it clearly showed where we needed to focus: we required landing pages for individual destinations to break through in search results instead of relying on unsuitable dynamic results. Unfortunately, those dynamic results could not be utilized for our needs within a reasonable timeframe.

Gradually, a new content section began to take shape on the site at https://dovolena.cz/destinace, serving as a clear hub for choosing vacation destinations.

At this point, we owe a huge thank you to the client’s team for the dedication they showed in creating the new landing pages and their content. Thanks to their commitment, the new section grew successfully, giving us the solid framework we needed to direct visitors to relevant destinations.

Trend reversal and a return to growth

By the turn of 2022/2023, we finally hit positive YoY (Year-over-Year) numbers. After just three months, we were already seeing a 10% growth in organic traffic. This allowed us to shift our focus from "recovery mode" to active growth strategies. We continued refining the destination page structure and fine-tuning them based on ongoing performance data.

We built on the destination pages by optimizing pages targeting more general travel-related topics, such as first minute, last minute, family holidays, exotic holidays, or seaside vacations.

Content creation was running at full speed on all fronts, and the dedication from both our team and the client’s side was enormous.

Gradually, we removed additional errors from the site. We refined the internal linking structure, consolidated various historical subdomains, and continued addressing technical fixes in close collaboration with the developers.

As we looked toward further growth, we hit a roadblock: we lacked landing pages for individual hotels. Their dynamic versions simply couldn't break into search results. Fortunately, we were able to leverage the client’s upcoming project focused on dedicated hotel pages and user reviews.

In collaboration with Zuzana Glierová, who oversees the client’s IT, we successfully launched the first version of the hotel section at https://dovolena.cz/recenze in April 2023. This provided us with dedicated landing pages for these topics, allowing us to start capturing search engine results.

We also tackled site speed optimization together, although it was no easy challenge. The website operates as an aggregation platform that pulls in highly dynamic external data, and the entire solution is built on JavaScript.

The 2023 summer season and met expectations

Even before the start of the 2023 summer season, organic visitor numbers were climbing steadily. By June 2023, we were able to celebrate a massive 72% year-over-year (YoY) growth in traffic.

Michal Kašpar, CEO Keypers

If we hadn't started creating the landing pages and developing content as early as autumn, this success would never have been possible. In the world of SEO, planning with a 6-month to 1-year horizon is absolutely essential—especially in such a highly seasonal industry.

Even during the summer season, content creation didn't stop. We stuck to our roadmap and continued identifying further opportunities for improvement.

Our work continues.

Summer came to a successful close, but our work was far from over. We seamlessly transitioned into deploying and fine-tuning pages that are in high demand during the winter season. Exotic holidays, Advent tours, and skiing trips became our new focus. Naturally, destinations offering an escape to warmer climates were a top priority in our strategy.

In this spirit, we moved through the turn of 2023/2024 and began strategizing on how to elevate the website even further for the 2024 summer season.

New content section

As we approached the completion of the destination section, we wanted to start preparing a more comprehensive content section for the website as well.

The system didn't support such a solution at the time, so we had to weigh whether investing in the development of a completely new section was worth it. We decided to start with a test; thus, the initial seed of the blog section on dovolena.cz was created using manually built landing pages.

The initial data confirmed our hypothesis: even these manually published articles started generating clicks almost immediately. This "proof of concept" was exactly what we needed to greenlight the development of a fully-fledged, automated content section.

The developers began programming based on our specifications. In the meantime, we mapped out the topics, and the client's copywriters were stockpiling content to bypass the headache of manual entry into our temporary solution.

We never stopped looking for further improvements—even though the development capacity available to us was significantly limited due to work on the company’s other projects.

We continued to improve the content of both thematic and destination pages based on ongoing performance data, while also focusing on increasing the click-through rates of key high-interest sections.

At the very last minute, but just in time

Our plan to have the content section ready before the 2024 summer season was fulfilled in June 2024, when we were finally able to launch the first live version of https://dovolena.cz/blog.

Even in this first version, we are working with content structuring, author profiles, and other advanced features. However, this is not the final version, and we intend to keep pushing for further improvements.

The start of the 2024 summer season

As of the current 2024 summer season, the website is once again seeing an average growth of 72% YoY in terms of clicks from Google Search Console (based on June 2024 data).

The newly launched content section is already beginning to contribute to the website's performance, and it is expected to play a key role in our journey forward.

We are not letting up; we are carefully monitoring our position to refine our content topics as needed.

And how do these results appear in publicly available data? According to Ahrefs, the changes in estimated traffic are significant. The pace of growth remains substantial, even despite all the updates Google has already implemented in the travel sector this year.

In terms of keywords ranking on the first page of search results, we are seeing a continuous upward trend. We are appearing for an ever-increasing range of topics, and we intend to maintain this growth momentum moving forward.

We are systematically moving our next batch of topics from the second page of search results to the first. Often, topics on the second page represent a significant opportunity for traffic gains; with targeted refinement, they can be pushed to the first page to unlock their full potential.

What was the key to our success?

The project would certainly have run more smoothly with earlier oversight from an SEO consultant—ideally during the redesign and especially during the launch. As it was, we had to spend the beginning of our collaboration refining the website’s initial state before we could move on to development and growth steps.

In terms of website development, it was crucial to establish a clear landing page structure based on keyword analysis and to focus on both content creation and the elimination of technical issues.

An equally important part is a clear long-term plan and goals for the website’s future direction, including the timely planning of necessary implementations.

Michal Kašpar, CEO Keypers

The final piece of the puzzle for the success of any SEO project is collaboration with a client team that respects our advice, follows it, and actively participates in its implementation. Fortunately, Student Agency is exactly that kind of partner, and it is a pleasure to work with them.

The SEO development of the dovolena.cz website is far from over; there are still many opportunities to develop further content and optimize the pages. SEO is a continuous activity, but one that pays off in the long run.

Do you also want to optimize your website to the very last detail?

Just get in touch with us, and we can discuss your specific needs.