SEO Case Study
How a Wedding Photographer Grew Organic Traffic 5x in 12 Months
Masha Sakhno, a luxury wedding and elopement photographer in Oahu, Hawaii, had a strong editorial brand but weak search visibility. In 12 months, monthly organic users grew from 220 to 1,400 and 12 core service keywords reached positions 1 to 3.
Google Search Console, 16 months of organic performance
Client
Masha Sakhno Photography
Industry
Luxury wedding and elopement photography, Oahu, Hawaii
Timeline
12 months
Services
Technical SEO, service and location pages, content, local SEO, link building, AI search visibility
5x
organic traffic growth, from 220 to 1,400 monthly users
12
core service keywords in positions 1 to 3, with 30+ on page one
1,200
monthly clicks, up from 213, with impressions up from 23.7K to 90K
20+
service keywords featured in Google AI Overviews
The Brief
Beautiful work, hard to find
MashaSakhno.com is a luxury wedding and elopement photography brand in Oahu known for its editorial style. The site struggled with low visibility because of missing service pages, limited content and technical issues. The goal was to improve discoverability, strengthen the site structure and add service and location content as a foundation for long-term growth.
The problem
Only 220 monthly users and very few keywords on page one. Technical issues slowed the site, key service pages were missing, content was thin or outdated, internal linking was poor and there were no location pages. Most traffic came from referrals, not search.
The challenge
The Hawaii wedding photography market is crowded with established photographers who have years of online presence and large content portfolios. The site needed fixing, a clear keyword structure and pages that match what couples actually search for.
What I Did
The strategy, step by step
Six workstreams delivered through a structured 12-month SEO roadmap.
01
Audit and roadmap
A full audit with Google Search Console, Screaming Frog and Ahrefs found missing service pages, slow load times, weak internal linking and keyword gaps, which became a 12-month roadmap.
02
Technical SEO
Improved site speed and mobile responsiveness, removed broken links, optimised image sizes, cleaned up unused plugins and added essential schema.
03
Keyword research
Mapped intent-led terms such as Oahu wedding photographer, elopement photographer and couples photography, and found opportunities for location pages and planning-stage blog topics.
04
Content and on-page SEO
Created and refreshed service pages, wrote new location pages and optimised titles, meta descriptions, headings, alt text and internal links across the site.
05
Local SEO
Optimised the Google Business Profile with service details, photos and FAQs, kept NAP consistent across citations, and built location pages for Oahu, Kailua and Waikiki.
06
Authority and reporting
Earned backlinks and citations from local wedding directories, photography blogs and partner sites, with monthly reporting from Analytics, Search Console and rank tracking.
The Results
What the campaign delivered
Figures come from Google Analytics and Google Search Console across the 12-month engagement.
- Monthly organic users up 5x, from 220 to 1,400
- 12 core service keywords in positions 1 to 3 and 30+ keywords on page one
- Monthly clicks up from 213 to 1,200, impressions up from 23.7K to 90K
- 20+ service keywords featured in Google AI Overviews
- Better map visibility, more qualified enquiries and steady booking growth
Key Takeaways
What this means for your business
Build the missing pages
Dedicated service and location pages gave Google and couples something specific to rank and click.
Fix speed and structure early
Technical clean-up made every later content and link investment work harder.
Treat AI Overviews as a ranking channel
Clear, structured service content earned AI Overview placements ahead of many competitors.