In 2022, I joined Prestige Education Foundation as an SEO & PPC Expert.
The challenge was clear.
Multiple institutes.
Different audiences.
Different goals.
One brand reputation to protect.
Most educational websites fail at SEO because they rush.
I didn’t.
I followed the old-school rule.
Fix the foundation first.
Step 1: Website Structure Optimization (The Non-Negotiable Start)
Before touching keywords, ads, or backlinks, I audited every website.
Why?
Because traffic on a broken site is wasted money.
What I analyzed first
- URL structure
- Page hierarchy
- Internal linking
- Navigation flow
- Mobile responsiveness
- Page speed
- Indexing issues
Short truth.
If Google is confused, users are lost.
Common issues I fixed
- Duplicate URLs
- Broken internal links
- Poor category structure
- Missing breadcrumbs
- Thin pages with no intent
- Incorrect canonical tags
This step was slow.
Painful.
Necessary.
Old-school SEO rule still wins:
Structure before scale.
Step 2: Technical Error Detection and Cleanup
After structure came errors.
Not guesses.
Real data.
Tools used
- Google Search Console
- Screaming Frog
- Google Analytics
- PageSpeed Insights
Errors corrected
- Crawl errors
- Indexing issues
- 404 pages
- Redirect chains
- Duplicate meta tags
- Missing H1 tags
- Improper schema usage
Small fixes.
Big impact.
This is where most SEO people quit.
I leaned in.
Because fixing errors improves rankings without creating new content.
Free wins matter.
Step 3: Keyword Research — Done the Right Way
No copy-paste keyword lists.
No generic tools-only approach.
Each institute got its own keyword universe.
Why?
Different students search differently.
A school ≠ institute ≠ university.
Keyword research process
- Seed keyword identification
- Search intent analysis
- Competitor keyword gaps
- Long-tail keyword discovery
- Location-based modifiers
- Course-specific queries
I focused on buyer intent, not vanity traffic.
Examples:
- “best engineering college in [city]”
- “MBA admission process 2022”
- “school admission near me”
- “top institute for [course]”
Short rule.
Traffic without intent is useless.
Step 4: Keyword Sorting and Mapping
Research without organization is chaos.
So I sorted keywords into:
- Primary keywords
- Secondary keywords
- Long-tail keywords
- Informational keywords
- Transactional keywords
Then I mapped them to:
- Homepage
- Course pages
- Admission pages
- Blog content
- Location landing pages
Every page had one job.
No keyword cannibalization.
No confusion.
Google likes clarity.
Users do too.
Step 5: On-Page SEO Implementation
This is where strategy meets execution.
On-page actions taken
- SEO-optimized page titles
- Clean meta descriptions
- Proper H1–H3 structure
- Keyword-focused content
- Internal linking optimization
- Image alt text optimization
- URL optimization
No keyword stuffing.
Ever.
Content was written for humans first.
Search engines second.
That’s how old SEO worked.
That’s how modern SEO still works.
Step 6: Backlink Strategy — Quality Over Noise
Now comes the part everyone talks about.
Backlinks.
But not spam.
Not Fiverr junk.
Not shortcuts.
Backlink approach
- Educational niche relevance
- Authority-based sites
- Contextual backlinks
- Brand mentions
- Local citations
- Guest posting on real sites
Each institute had a separate backlink profile.
No footprint mistakes.
No over-optimization.
Slow growth.
Strong trust.
That’s how rankings stick.
Step 7: SEO + PPC Alignment (Smart Scaling)
SEO is slow.
PPC is fast.
I aligned both.
How PPC supported SEO
- Tested high-converting keywords
- Identified strong search intent
- Reduced SEO guesswork
- Improved landing page conversions
Data from ads improved organic strategy.
That’s advanced SEO.
Most miss this step.
Step 8: Tracking, Measurement, and Refinement
SEO without tracking is gambling.
Metrics tracked
- Keyword rankings
- Organic traffic growth
- Click-through rates
- Bounce rate
- Conversion actions
- Admission inquiries
What worked stayed.
What failed was fixed.
No emotions.
Only data.
Results That Matter
The real win wasn’t rankings alone.
It was:
- Better visibility for each institute
- Cleaner websites
- Higher-quality leads
- Strong brand trust online
- Long-term organic growth
SEO became an asset.
Not an expense.
Key Lessons from This Project
Here’s the real takeaway.
- SEO is not quick
- SEO is not lazy
- SEO rewards discipline
- Structure beats shortcuts
- Fundamentals never die
Trends change.
Google updates come and go.
But clean structure, clear intent, and authority links still win.
Always.
Actionable Steps You Can Apply Today
If you’re running SEO for education or any niche, do this:
- Audit structure first
- Fix technical errors
- Separate keyword research per brand
- Map keywords to pages
- Avoid keyword overlap
- Build relevant backlinks slowly
- Track everything
- Be patient
Simple steps.
Hard execution.
That’s SEO.
Final Word
In 2022, working with Prestige Education Foundation wasn’t about hacks.
It was about respect for the craft.
SEO rewards people who do the work others avoid.
If you want rankings.
Earn them.
Old-school discipline.
Modern execution.
That’s the formula.