NextLeft

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the Social Media and Technology Manager at Helen Woodward Animal Center and Helen Woodward Animal Center is a unique, private, non-profit organization in San Diego County that, for more than 40 years, has been committed to the philosophy of people helping animals and animals helping people. Located on 12 acres in Rancho Santa Fe, our nationally recognized Center provides a variety of services that benefit the community through educational and therapeutic programs for people, and humane care and adoption for animals.

For what projects/services did your company hire NextLeft, and what were your goals?

They assisted us with a variety of content strategy, SEO and Google Ads needs that helped us boost our online presence for potential adopters, donors and event attendees.

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

They were aligned with our values and really saw the importance of advocating for rescue pets. They understood the importance of storytelling and how our online presence shapes our perception to the public.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and campaigns.

Next Left provided the following services to Helen Woodward Animal Center:

• Google Organic Acquisition
  • Monthly Analysis
• Keyword research
• Content/Page Optimization
• Conversion Tracking
• Link Building
• Google Ads support:
  • Google Grant Ads support
  • Ads Management
  • Sitelinks Management
  • Display Ad analysis and opportunities

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

There were about 4 - 5 team members assigned to our project at a time and they would either tackle paid social , SEO or content strategy.

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

• On a high level the support and input we received from NextLeft resulted in an increase in public response to our web site. Our development team recorded an increase in the amount of calls that came in as a result to our partnership forming last May.
• The changes implemented by NextLeft clearly had an impact on our keyword rankings, as demonstrated in our SEO Dashboard reports
• Our Sessions and Revenue reports reflected an increase based on reporting from 2019, as 2020 was a year full of anomalies:
  • Jackie felt that NextLeft was proactive, communicative, strategic and responsive throughout the year. o We stayed on schedule with our monthly meetings that proved to be informative, insightful and important for us in terms of keeping up with the status of our SEO efforts.
  • When there were errors or issues that needed to be resolved, the team was attentive and acted efficiently to bring our site/campaigns back up to speed.
  • They helped us setup new conversion campaigns to help us more accurately track interest in dog and cat adoptions.
• As a result of NextLeft keeping our Google organization score at a high level, our Google ad spend was increased. The team at NextLeft was attentive to our Google Ads account and when we noticed a dip in our ad spend, they made the effort to rework the campaigns in our account to meet the needs of the new Google Ads algorithm and to keep our optimization score high
  • April 2022 saw ad spend of $30.4K compared to April of 2021, where we saw $17.7K ad spend
• NextLeft assisted us in eliminating dated web pages which helped improve our Google standing further. This housekeeping work was necessary in helping the overall optimization of the site and was not previously recommended to us by other partners.
  • By learning the benefits of removing indexing for old press releases and archiving old blogs that were no longer relevant, we were able to focus on the content that mattered and the pages that performed higher than the rest
• Migrating our blog from Word Press to our animalcenter.org site resulted in keeping visitors on our main site versus being channeled to another WordPress site
  • This project has been years in the making but the team at NextLeft made this migration achievable and seamless, given their experience in such projects
• Monthly content brief created a framework for items that would bring traffic to the web site.
  • We utilized these briefs to assign content pieces to our interns that would help us further optimize our website visits and boost our blog views. These briefs were well balanced and the topics were relevant and focused to our industry

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

They were extremely professional, communicative, helpful and always there when we needed their advice. We value their strong work ethic during this project.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

Their expertise and ability to make substantial improvements to our web analytics in such a short amount of time. They taught us a lot about the capabilities of our website and our Google Ads account.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

Not that I can think of.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the Manager of Global Content at Widen, a software company specializing in digital asset management (DAM) and product information management (PIM) software.

For what projects/services did your company hire NextLeft, and what were your goals?

We worked with NextLeft to help with our SEO management. Both overall website SEO and blog content. Our goal was to optimize our existing content and determine any content gaps.

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

NextLeft was referred to us by a mutual, local customer/client. The team presented their plan to help with our determined goals and we appreciated their realistic approach. The team was attentive, honest, collaborative, and able to provide examples of success that helped confirm they'd be able to help us reach our goals.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and campaigns.

The NL team provided regular audits of our website and made recommendations to improve SEO. While I was involved in this, the majority of my work with NL was focused on cleaning up our blog articles to better represent our current offerings and to drive organic traffic to our site through the blog. Originally, we started with reviewing the blog articles to determine content gaps and opportunities. We also updated some articles at that point, but the majority of our focus was on creating new content.

NL then provided a content audit of all of our blog articles in Oct 2019 that, as with most companies, continued to get pushed back on our end due to bandwidth...until COVID hit. Having more time at home, I started digging into this audit. With NL's guidance, we redirected over 1300 articles and began updating the remaining articles. Prior to beginning this cleanup, our blog had been seeing a decline in traffic. Organic traffic to the blog was down -12% to LY at the end of April 2020.

However, with our redirect and update efforts, we ended the year up almost +8% to LY. Including increases in the number of keywords on the first page of the search results and more keyword placements in the answer box. This effort is still in the works and will take around two years to complete but the wins we're seeing are steady and encouraging since as any content marketer knows, these efforts require a lot of dedication and attention. They were always attentive, helpful, and responsive throughout the project, just as they were at the beginning.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

I mostly work with an account manager and SEO strategist. Our full marketing team also worked with a PPC strategist.

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

I included some results in the project scope, but the biggest win was culling our blog articles to ensure we're only presenting our audience with relevant, helpful content. As well as redirecting over 1300 articles and recovering from the YoY declines to end up +8% to LY at the end of 2020. This has put us in a much better position for content maintenance and growth. Allowing us to move into a more proactive approach with our content and able to more regularly identify new content opportunities.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

The NL team is always great to work with! They're attentive, detailed, receptive, and helpful. They provided monthly reports for all of our ongoing projects and were quick to dig into anything that we want to explore.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

NL is just a great team to work with. Their SEO knowledge has helped us take our content to another level. I truly looked at them as part of our team.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

The only thing we could have used more help with was optimizing SEO for Europe as we continue expanding in this region. But I also recognize there are multiple factors that go into it that make this effort challenging. Other than that, our SEO efforts were on point and always done at the pace our team could keep up with — which wasn't always fast. But NL was always patient with us. If anything, I'd recommend that teams looking to work on their SEO make sure they have time and resources dedicated to the project in order to get the most out of their work with the NL team because I'm sure they have a lot of other creative ideas that we weren't always able to take advantage of as part of our cleanup efforts.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the marketing manager of a golf swing trainer manufacturer. I also handle operations management for the company.

What challenge were you trying to address with NextLeft?

We needed someone to manage our SEO efforts.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They handle keyword research and make keyword-related recommendations for our blogs. Their team ensures our site is working correctly as well, making sure our pages and links are set up properly. They also occasionally advise us on PPC-related matters.

What is the team composition?

I work directly with Brian (Director of Client Services) and Rob (Director of SEO).

How did you come to work with NextLeft?

We had worked with other companies in the same capacity before them, but we weren’t happy with what we were getting. NextLeft was recommended to us by a third-party logistics provider we were using for fulfillment services. We’ve been working with them ever since.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent somewhere between $30,000–$35,000 with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve worked together since September 2019. They’re our most reliable partner.

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

We’re mostly concerned with site health and making sure our other efforts are being recognized in our online presence. They’ve driven significant increases in organic traffic, with 50% of our sales coming from this traffic last month. Their team has definitely delivered. We’ve been happy with them.

How did NextLeft perform from a project management standpoint?

They’ve been really accommodating of the difficulties in our schedules. They always meet deadlines.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’ve been very helpful and remain flexible in order to meet our needs.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be engaged in your work with them. They’re great at giving recommendations, but you have to follow up on what they tell you to do for everything to truly work.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m co-founder, president, and CEO of ShipCalm. We’re an e-commerce facilities and logistics provider.

What challenge were you trying to address with NextLeft?

We partnered with NextLeft to drive more traffic and leads to our website.

What was the scope of their involvement?

NextLeft began with an assessment and recommendations phase. They analyzed our status, the competitive landscape, and achievable goals for SEO campaigns. Their team then put together recommendations, which included budget recommendations.

They then began putting together the technical aspects of SEO in our WordPress website. Their team put tracking and reporting measures in place. That was the first phase. During the second phase, they updated our website. Their efforts primarily focused on backend optimization.

Our engineers now manage the code while NextLeft makes technical SEO recommendations. They’re writing content for our website and managing our link building strategy.

What is the team composition?

I’ve worked with 5–6 different people from NextLeft. On a regular basis, I’m on a call with at least three people from their team.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent $60,000 in 2019 and committed $220,000 to the partnership in 2021. So far, we’ve spent $120,000 this year.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began the engagement around January 2019 and paused it during 2020 for internal budgetary reasons. As soon as possible, I brought them back on board in January 2021 and doubled our monthly commitment to the campaigns.

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

We ran campaigns with NextLeft for all of 2019 and saw great results. We, unfortunately, had to pause the partnership for all of 2020 due to budget constraints but their team’s work carried us through the year. We probably quadrupled our organic traffic without lifting a finger because of NextLeft’s work.

Since we started working with them, our organic monthly visitors have grown from about 400 to at least 6,000. Their SEO work continues to yield the best return on our marketing dollars.

How did NextLeft perform from a project management standpoint?

NextLeft’s extremely communicative and timely. Their team presents data in tools where I can easily access it. Our monthly calls, however, are most valuable to me. During the calls, we review the previous month and the analytics NextLeft pulls together. By reviewing the analytics, their team gathers valuable insights and ideas for what influenced the results.

They’re phenomenal with project management, so their team’s efficient and productive. Compared to any past service provider, NextLeft has done the best job reporting, tracking, and giving answers to questions. They do a fantastic job presenting the data and requesting information from me. Their team doesn’t create a burden on me to be constantly providing them with materials.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their hiring distinguishes them from other vendors. They spend more time than other agencies hiring the right teammates. I'm working with the same team members who worked on our account in 2019. That consistency isn't common with agencies. NextLeft hires and retains talent. They’re also good at telling us when their team doesn’t have the bandwidth to take on another initiative. NextLeft will say no in the interest of ensuring they have the best people on board.

NextLeft also has a laser focus on SEO services. They’re not a jack-of-all-trades agency. Instead, their team has a core discipline.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, other marketing companies should act more like NextLeft.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Trust NextLeft and the process. If you have patience, you’ll be rewarded.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the marketing manager of Klover. It’s a new dispensary in San Diego, California.

What challenge were you trying to address with NextLeft?

We wanted to resolve the mistakes that our previous SEO service provider created. We not only needed to create a content marketing strategy but also give us more of a presence with certain keywords and directories.

What was the scope of their involvement?

NextLeft reevaluated and reconfigured our keyword strategy. Their team focused our SEO efforts on the most accurate and strong keywords. Their team gave me an understanding of the importance of keywords. They gave us a list of keywords that I approved. Then, NextLeft placed them on our website. They made a lot of structural changes to the site and helped with Google Ads.

What is the team composition?

I worked with four people from NextLeft. 

How did you come to work with NextLeft?

A colleague recommended John (CEO and Technology Director) and his team at NextLeft. We had at least three meetings together before I made my decision. He performed an SEO audit, which was clear, concise, and accurate. From there, I felt like their team was confident in their ability to take care of us. As we’re local, I also felt that we’d get the attention that we needed.

They provided these services to companies on a national scale. We wanted a company with a broad mindset because the majority of our clientele is based on the tourism industry. We want to be known internationally and that’s what made my decision.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent $4,000 on everything, which included a lot of services.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in March 2019. Unfortunately, we paused the engagement due to external circumstances. We reduced our overall funds but haven’t dropped them as a service provider because we love their service and performance.

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

In a matter of one month, we went from page seven to page two with NextLeft’s guidance.

How did NextLeft perform from a project management standpoint?

We had biweekly video chats that included a presentation with slides, metrics, and graphs. In addition to that, we emailed back and forth or texted daily. The communication was prompt. Their team was amazing.

What did you find most impressive about them?

NextLeft cares about what they do. That’s a corny answer, but when you feel safe, that solidifies a long-term friendship. Their team was always honest. We had a horrible experience with our previous SEO provider to the point where they held our accounts. Before we signed on, John made sure that we acquired all of our accounts at no additional cost. That included backing up our entire website for the safety of our company. It was a game-changer how much John cared about getting the ownership right.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Everyone can improve. I’d like them to feel like that they could come on-site anytime, which NextLeft did their best to do. It’s important to us that a service provider makes their presence known and feels like a part of the team. I want our partners to know our staff on a first-name basis.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

If you’re unhappy with your current service provider, have everything prepared before you drop them. Have your numbers ready because NextLeft knows what they’re doing with data. It saves them time and work on their end if you’re prepared.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the digital production specialist with Fiskars brands, which includes a subsidiary watering brand called Gilmour.

What challenge were you trying to address with NextLeft?

Most of their work has been done for Gilmour.com. We wanted to optimize our website for organic search. Also, our website didn’t have its own CRO or CRM built-in.

What was the scope of their involvement?

NextLeft has done a number of different projects for us. They started by supporting our SEO work for product launches and for our website.

Their team performed keyword research and links products to different articles. NextLeft researched our consumers to understand what they want. They looked at product lines and categories to help us determine terms for internal use and as keywords to maximize our results. Their team created content in terms of products for us. On top of that, they created optimize content. Their team provided micro-integrations, so trying newly built features into standalone content based on products we offered.

They’ve provided other services including CRO, which their team’s currently managing. They built an external CRO service into our website.

What is the team composition?

My main point of contact now is Andy Kelly (Senior SEO Specialist, NextLeft). There are anywhere between 2–4 people working on our account at a time.

How did you come to work with NextLeft?

Some of their employees worked at a company that previously provided us with many services, especially SEO. That company dissolved and formed NextLeft, so we were on board with them immediately.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent between $50,00–$200,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working together in March 2015, and it’s an ongoing partnership.

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

Their SEO efforts have a powerful impact on our website. Year over year, our growth increases. They’ve rewritten our articles and needed to review them to make sure that the associated metrics weren’t fake.

NextLeft has done a great job taking content we’ve wanted to highlight and getting eyes on it. Their research abilities are top-notch. They’re excellent at looking at the consumer base and the website metrics to determine strategies for getting people to the content then to products and then through the sales funnel.

How did NextLeft perform from a project management standpoint?

They manage projects like nobody else. I have a standing meeting with NextLeft every week, but I talk with them multiple times a week usually. They’re fantastic communicators and are ahead of our internal teams in terms of helping us optimize the sites.

They excel at being a great collaborative partner. NextLeft not only comes to us with plenty of ideas but is also really good at sparking ideas within our team. We’re pitching ideas back and forth constantly. Their team’s always ready to listen, take our creative ideas, and make them work with our platform. They’re understanding, taking what we have and working around those parameters.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their team finds opportunities for growth in businesses where it wasn’t thought possible. The people that work for NextLeft makes the company stand out. You create personal relationships with them. Their team takes the time to know you and your business including what you expect to achieve, how you work, and the challenges you’re facing. When you work with NextLeft, it’s like they’re working with you in the office.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, NextLeft doesn’t leave anything to be desired. They’re always working to improve and come up with smart, new ideas.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I recommend NextLeft to everyone. Give NextLeft your money and do what they say.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of marketing at Paper Mart, a family-owned and operated business that’s been around for almost 100 years. We sell packaging supplies, and we’re strictly e-commerce. Our products range from mailing and shipping supplies to gift packaging, crafting, DIY ribbons and bows, tissue paper, and other similar items.

What challenge were you trying to address with NextLeft?

We’d noticed over the last year and half that our organic traffic was declining, and the other agencies that we were working with didn’t have the right strategy to turn that around. 

What was the scope of their involvement?

We launched a brand new website last year, and NextLeft helped us prepare all of that content. They also revised our URL structure. We have over 26,000 products, which makes for a large number of URLs and redirects. They also built a site map for the new site and helped us revamp our navigation menu to be more targeted for specific keywords.

Now that the site is up and running, NextLeft uses reports to find items that we’ve missed. From there, they can correct links, implement redirects, and clean up any bugs. For example, if we find content missing on a page, they’ll come in and make the necessary edits.

What is the team composition?

I’ve worked with a total of three individuals from NextLeft. Casey (VP of Client Services, NextLeft) is my project manager.

How did you come to work with NextLeft?

We’d gone through several different agencies before we happened upon NextLeft. They came through as a peer referral from a friend in the industry.

How much have you invested with them?

We’re spending $6,000 per month for their services.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started in March 2019, and the partnership is ongoing.

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

NextLeft has been crucial in getting us through our site launch. We’ve watched some of our products move to the first page of search results, which leads to more traffic and higher revenue. Those numbers dropped initially when we launched the new site, but now we’re seeing consistent growth.

How did NextLeft perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re very organized, which makes a huge difference for me. They set call agendas, they follow up in a timely fashion, and they do so without being pushy or overbearing. That project management piece—their ability to keep track of everything—is one of their best qualities.

In terms of tools, we use Google Docs to share data. They’ll run their reports and put their findings on a document that we can access and edit. Occasionally, we’ll ask for unanticipated reports, and they’re always upfront with us about the results and what they mean for the project. This allows us to work together with them on deciding what our focus will be. It’s a fluid partnership.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’ve taken the time to get to know us, to the point where we feel like they’ve taken ownership and want us to win. Other third-party vendors don’t bring that level of investment.

Even during the pitching stage, they showed us a relatively simple fix to a problem that we hadn’t yet identified. We could tell early on that they knew their stuff. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can’t think of anything.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Let them know what’s important to you. List out your company objects, and let them adjust their approach to your specific account. Giving them as much information as possible—even the history of your firm and the products that you offer—will help.

For example, there was a situation where they wanted us to focus on a specific product because it garnered a lot of traffic. We decided against that because the product is being sold at such a low price that it doesn’t make a significant impact on our revenue. Working with a vendor is a two-way street, and you need to be able to share information and concerns.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the assistant director of marketing and social media at Gwynedd Mercy University.

What challenge were you trying to address with NextLeft?

Overall, we were looking to increase traffic to our website and in turn increase conversions and applications.

What was the scope of their involvement?

NextLeft continues to provide help in all things SEO related. Their team stays up to date with Google search changes and is constantly in touch with us on how we can improve our website. They give us all the information we need to know to create new content. 

We create learn pieces such as pieces and they use social media to drive traffic to those pages. They assist us with content creation for our main website. NextLeft builds our organic traffic using both on and offsite SEO.

What is the team composition?

We work primarily with Casy (VP of Client Services, NextLeft), Jason (Director Earned Media, NextLeft), and Brian (Senior Client Services, NextLeft). Casey is our project manager and she makes sure we’re all on the same path and keeps us moving forward.

How did you come to work with NextLeft?

We had worked with Casey and Jason when they worked for a prior company. When they went over to NextLeft, we decided to continue our relationship with them.

How much have you invested with them?

We have invested about $700,000–$800,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our ongoing engagement with NextLeft began in 2014.

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

Thanks to NextLeft, our organic traffic has nearly doubled. From October 2016–October 2019, organic traffic has increased by 127%. I’m constantly raving about the whole team at NextLeft.

How did NextLeft perform from a project management standpoint?

NextLeft keeps us in line with that we need to deliver and they never let projects go by the wayside. If we haven’t circled back to a project in a while, they’ll always remind us and keep us on track. 

It’s really helpful that they come out to meet us in person once a year in summer to talk about our goals. That helps us set our path forward for the rest of the year. 

NextLeft provides a monthly report on our SEO. They go over our goals, traffic, keywords, and what they are working on that month. We also have a monthly call about the report and another separate project-based call.

What did you find most impressive about them?

NextLeft really understands their clients. They don’t just make changes in practice based on Google, instead, they take a deep dive into what will and won’t work for your organization. Their team crafts their services based on your goals and needs. They don’t provide one blanket service.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, they’ve been fantastic and have done everything we needed them to. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make yourself available to learn. NextLeft is willing to teach you the in and outs of SEO. They really take the time to invest in your team. Ask questions and invest the time needed.

This review was updated by Deborah O’Reilly (Digitial Content Specialist, Gwynedd Mercy University) on August 3, 2020. The original star ratings were: Overall - 5, Quality - 5, Schedule - 5, Cost - 5, NPS - 5. New content is below:

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I work for Gwynedd Mercy University, a small university in southeastern Pennsylvania. I am a digital content specialist working in the marketing department.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with NextLeft?

They’re helping us with SEO, making sure that our brand is reflected in Google’s search results as best as possible to support enrollment.

SOLUTION 

What was the scope of their involvement?

NextLeft gives us recommendations for all of our specific programs. They have helped us launch content that supports SEO. The team has also designed exit pops that move people from content to our program pages to help inspire conversions, or requests for more information forms and applications. They have quite a wide range of services in regard to SEO, and we've been quite pleased with them. They use Google Analytics and Tag Manager.

What is the team composition?

We generally work with two people, including one project manager and another specialist. 

How did you come to work with NextLeft?

I started about a year ago, so that predates me.

What is the status of this engagement?

I believe our relationship with them began in 2016, so the fact that we’ve worked with them for several consecutive years speaks for itself. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

We can very clearly measure our success based on their support. They’ve helped us garner higher amounts of traffic as well as requests for information, forms, and applications. They’ve helped us optimize for Google’s Answer Boxes and 3-Packs.

How did NextLeft perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re wonderful in terms of project management. Our project manager is extremely communicative. He keeps us on track to meet deadlines. Like most businesses this year, we’ve been stressed, and they’ve responded accordingly.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They had an idea, which they began a few years ago before I joined the university, to help us build traffic and get new users to our site by creating content. Maintaining that traffic has been critical, especially this year, due to COVID-19. Most people go online to find information on colleges, so ensuring people are still coming to our site is critical.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, not that I can think of. I’ve only been working with them for 11 months, but I have no complaints.

Any advice for potential customers?

Be very clear about what your goals are, whether that is traffic or conversions, and they can help you meet those goals.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I work for an organization called Fiskars. They're most prominently known for manufacturing sewing, crafting, and lawn care tools. We're probably most identifiable by our orange-handled scissors. I head up digital marketing for the Americas.

What challenge were you trying to address with NextLeft?

They're specialists in the SEO space. We look to them for expertise in content strategy, content development, continuous optimization of multiple websites, and technical SEO consultation services.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Given the work that we had been focusing on, I'll break it down into two parts. The first is a global re-platforming project, which is essentially a CMS migration from one enterprise to a new one. Our existing CMS was never managed properly. At one point we had about 0,000 redirects, which was giving us massive headaches with Google and was really detrimental to our organic traffic. Over the course of several months, they took the 10,000 and reduced it to 3,500.

To do that, they formulated a plan that mapped the path to our goals. They examined key metrics like page speed and mobile performance. Their team was a critical part of that long-term plan. 

Secondly, using Google Lighthouse, Crawl, Screaming Frog, different SEO optimization tools, they recommend ways to correct problems with our digital presence. They also pointed us to opportunities to use our deep catalog of articles to benefit the business, taking a very data-driven, customer-focused approach.

For instance, NextLeft did a competitive analysis for one of our brands and found that there was a very significant traffic opportunity related to soil. So, they did some research, finding that the most popular result had not been updated since 2011. We targeted that keyword based on their findings. Their research was instrumental to the project. They were able to synthesize data, identify opportunities, and then execute to meet our customers' needs.

What is the team composition?

We have predominantly two points of contact, Katie (VP Marketing, NextLeft) and Andy (Senior SEO & Content Strategist, NextLeft). We've had occasional inclusion from John (CEO, NextLeft), who comes in for larger strategic planning. They also have a team that does our backlink outreach.

How did you come to work with NextLeft?

NextLeft had actually been with my company prior to my arrival. My predecessor had a wonderful working relationship with them and left our partnership with them up to me when I arrived. I'm actually departing Fiskars soon and I will bring them along to my new position as soon as I'm given the chance.

How much have you invested with them?

We've spent about 300,000 between our two brands.

What is the status of this engagement?

It's been over seven years since we started working with them. Our collaborations are ongoing.

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

As a result of their SEO improvements, we've had triple-digit organic growth over the last two years each year.

Their research landed us the first Google search result for targeted keywords and phrases. That's been instrumental in boosting our conversions. 

They've been swimming upstream, dealing with all sorts of technical difficulties. However, they've still been able to increase organic search traffic by almost 5%, even though total traffic is down. It's been impressive to witness the increases in sales and e-commerce conversions, regardless of total traffic decreases. That tells me that they're bringing the right people to the site.

How did NextLeft perform from a project management standpoint?

They're very strong in that regard. Katie is an outstanding project manager and an even better communicator. Nothing gets left uncovered. Even when we've worked triangularly with other agencies, they easily handle communication over email. When my internal team decided to switch to BaseCamp, they jumped right in with us. That way, communication has been even more seamless and organized than before.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We have our project manager's attention at all times. Our team knows that she's only a phone call away with a remedy for our situations. Additionally, many agencies position themselves as a one-stop-shop without really being able to deliver on everything.

NextLeft knows they're SEO experts, and there have been instances where they will say that a task isn't right for their team. The self-awareness and maintained focus are really strong and positive. On top of that, they're extremely talented and client-focused.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, not really. They're like an extension of my team with really strong and positive intentions. They've probably given us the greatest ROI our team has seen. They're great.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I actually referred them to another contact. When they asked me for advice, I told them that they don't do pay-per-click. They've experimented with it, but it's not their primary focus. I wanted them to understand that their specialty is in SEO.

Similarly, they're capable of development work, but it's not their area of greatest expertise. Understand your goals. If they're organic search-related, then they're perfect for them.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am a senior marketing manager for a large media company.

What challenge were you trying to address with NextLeft?

Our company had been putting a lot of resources into digital paid strategies, but we hadn’t focused much on SEO. We engaged NextLeft to help us find improvements that could likely be had in organic search.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We’ve worked with NextLeft for five or more years, but because of turnover and lack of resources, we never implemented a lot of their recommendations. It wasn’t until about two years ago that we took a fresh look at what we discussed in the past. At that time, we worked with them to identify the strategy and actions we should be taking—such as link building—and we developed a roadmap for our success.

We now have a standing SEO-based engagement. They have helped us improve our keywords, title tags, and meta descriptions across the site. We conducted a substantial audit of our site and took advantage of the increased character limits for title tags and such, and we implemented several changes based on their recommendations.

What is the team composition?

NextLeft supplies an account manager supported by two SEO strategists. They’ve helped explain the technical complexities of our efforts. They’ve proven that they’re experienced in this field.  

How did you come to work with NextLeft?

Our company’s engagement with NextLeft predates my hiring, and I am unsure of how we found them.

How much have you invested in them?

We invest approximately $125,000 per year.

What is the status of this engagement?

Though we’ve had a relationship with them for several years, we began taking their recommendations in earnest in October 2017. We’ve had an ongoing engagement since then.

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

After implementing NextLeft’s changes, we’ve seen our traffic and sales increase exponentially. When looking at the graphs of our growth, it’s quite obvious how well this engagement has paid off.

How did NextLeft perform from a project management standpoint?

We have a very healthy working relationship. NextLeft is responsive whenever I have questions, and I often tap into their expertise for information about different industries. They have been impressively thorough in all of their reports during our weekly calls when we discuss the various digital channels we manage.

NextLeft has integrated well to the point that they now feel like an extension of our team. They make us aware of relevant tests or algorithm changes and what we should be doing to position ourselves better. They remain ahead of the curve and are always pushing us to think about our future.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They are personable and knowledgeable. We can tell they are committed to being responsive.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I can’t determine anything that needs improvement.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Because they have been working with our company for quite a while, they know the business. They understand the seasonality of our business, our products, and our priorities. We have brought them very much into the loop as far as what our goals are. We figured that the more they know about our company, the more they can help us.