Case study outline
1. Introduction: “Gaining Your First Traffic” (real-time log)
This is a live, time-stamped case study documenting the relaunch of IrishguyDesign.studio and how long it takes to earn meaningful organic traffic after a full content and design reset.
Right now, Search Console shows the site getting impressions primarily for “google workspace” queries, which is not a term we want to be associated with going forward. That visibility is leftover from an earlier phase when Google Workspace-related content stayed live while the site was otherwise inactive.
The goal of this log is to track the shift from those legacy queries to the topics we actually want to rank for, and to record the exact timeline from relaunch → crawling/indexing → impressions → clicks → leads, with monthly checkpoints and notes on what changed.
Baseline benchmark: what Search Console is showing right now
At the moment, the site isn’t starting from a true zero. It has a small amount of branded momentum plus a larger amount of “legacy-topic” visibility.
Here’s the baseline story I’m benchmarking against (before the relaunch content strategy takes over):
A ) Branded / navigational clicks are already happening
The homepage is earning clicks and it’s sitting around page-one visibility on average. That usually means the domain can be crawled/indexed cleanly and that some searches already recognize the brand.
B) A project/portfolio page is performing like a “proof” page
The /project/ area is also pulling clicks with a strong average position. That’s often a sign that existing visitors (or past brand searches) are finding a familiar path into the site.
C) The biggest impression source is a legacy topic we don’t want to lead with
The “Google Workspace” resource page is showing a lot of impressions but no clicks, and it’s ranking deep. That tells me Google still associates the domain with that older topic, but searchers aren’t choosing the result (or the query intent doesn’t match what the page is offering).
D) Some “background pages” are being surfaced (categories, author pages, subdomain pages)
Early on, it’s normal to see category/author pages and the labs subdomain show up in GSC. This baseline matters because part of the relaunch is deciding what deserves to be indexed vs. what should stay in the background.
Baseline takeaway: the starting point is misaligned visibility, not “no visibility.” The goal of this case study is to shift impressions and clicks away from legacy topics and toward the services we actually sell (WordPress builds, maintenance, performance, SEO/AEO/GEO) — and to document how long that shift takes.
2. The asset we’re trying to rank
2.1 Site basics
2.2 Starting pages we’re ranking with
3. Success metrics (what “working” means)
3.1 Visibility
3.2 Traffic + outcomes
4. Baseline snapshot (Day 0 — before publish)
4A. Activation checklist (minimum to “show up”)
Before traffic, you need “indexable infrastructure.” This checklist covers the minimum maintenance setup—updates, backups, security, and stability—so Google can crawl your site and users don’t bounce. Read the full infrastructure checklist → Website-maintenance-infrastructure-checklist
4A.1 Technical / crawlability
Infrastructure stability baseline (updates, backups, security, uptime): Website Maintenance Infrastructure Checklist
Speed baseline (Core Web Vitals — LCP/INP/CLS): Fix Core Vitals
Technical minimums to verify: DNS/SSL/redirects, robots.txt, noindex, canonicals, XML sitemap
4A.2 Search Console
Confirm “URL is on Google” / “Page is indexed” for priority URLs
Submit sitemap + request indexing for Home + top service + case study hub
Record baseline: top queries, top pages, impressions vs clicks, any “legacy-topic” visibility
4A.3 Analytics
GA4 installed and receiving pageviews
Conversions tracked (contact form submit, email click, phone click)
Baseline report captured (traffic sources, engagement, conversions) so month-to-month changes are real, not guesswork