An interior design studio was competing with contractors twice its size. A semantic map and its own market data put every single tracked keyword on the board — and lifted conversion 55%.

The problem

The studio launched with a strong portfolio, a new domain and a site that described the work in adjectives. There was nothing for Google to attach to a topic: no service definitions, no sector pages, no pricing guidance, and no distinction between design, fit-out and turnkey delivery — while contractors twice its size had years of indexed content.

What we did

The entity audit showed a visibility gap against contractors publishing far more specific content. We built a semantic map of the design category — residential, commercial, hospitality, joinery, turnkey — and gave each a page with a defined scope and deliverables.

Information gain came from the studio’s own project economics: realistic budget bands per square metre, typical programme lengths, and what changes a scope mid-project. No competitor was publishing any of it. Technical execution then tied every page to the studio entity through schema and internal linking.

All sixty primary commercial keywords now rank at an average position of 3.4 — and the enquiries arriving are scoped, because the pages set expectations before the first call.

SEO strategy for interior design

Design studios describe themselves in adjectives and then wonder why contractors outrank them. Google cannot index "bespoke". The strategy replaced every adjective with a number, a scope or a deliverable.

1. 01Define the scope boundariesDesign, fit-out and turnkey are three different contracts. Separating them gave each a page Google could attach to a topic.
2. 02Publish the economicsBudget bands per square metre by specification level, plus realistic programme lengths — the information gain no competitor offered.
3. 03Explain what changes the priceThe three decisions that move a fit-out budget most. This single page pre-qualifies more enquiries than the portfolio does.
4. 04Tie everything to the studio entitySchema, entity linking and internal links from the highest-authority guides, so every page compounds the studio’s authority rather than sitting alone.

Organic sessions per month, by reporting window

The site launched from zero. Every "before" figure on this page is the first measurable month after launch, not a legacy baseline.

Long-tail rankings

Month 3

Primary keywords on page one

Month 5

Engagement

8-month engagement

Keyword movement

Published budget bands

No competitor in the studio's set publishes cost per m². This one table earns most of the enquiries.

Where the growth came from

How it unfolded

1. Month 1

   Entity audit

   Visibility gap mapped against the contractors outranking the studio.

2. Month 2–3

   Semantic map

   Residential, commercial, hospitality, joinery and turnkey pages defined and published.

3. Month 4–6

   Information gain

   Budget bands, programme lengths and scope-change guidance published.

4. Month 7–8

   Technical execution

   Schema, entity and internal linking tied every page back to the studio.

Where they rank now

Illustrative SERP layout.