Tortoise Construction
Tortoise Construction is a Portland-based remodeling company that needed to strengthen its online presence to compete in a highly saturated market. Their website had a basic structure but lacked SEO fundamentals, keyword strategy, and content built for long-term growth. With a clear goal of increasing visibility, improving rankings, and generating quality leads, I partnered with them to lay the foundation for sustainable digital success.
Objectives:
Establish a keyword strategy targeting high-intent, local remodeling searches
Benchmark performance data to measure ongoing improvements
Optimize existing site pages for SEO and usability
Build new content pathways to strengthen topic authority
Launch a blog as an engine for long-term organic growth
Key Contributions
Keyword Research: Conducted extensive research to identify high-volume, low-competition keywords relevant to Portland homeowners, with a focus on basement remodeling, kitchen updates, and ADU conversions. Used tools including Ubersuggest, SEMrush, and Moz to validate opportunities, analyze competitor gaps, and shape a data-backed keyword strategy.
Baseline Metrics: Collected and documented site performance data (rankings, impressions, clicks, insights) to benchmark progress.
On-Page SEO: Optimized existing service pages with keyword-rich copy, updated headings and metadata, and improved internal linking for stronger site structure.
New Page Builds: Created and interlinked new service pages that expanded the site’s topical coverage and improved user navigation.
Blog Launch: Added a blog hub and published the first article, “Basement Remodeling in Portland: A Complete Homeowner’s Guide,” targeting a cornerstone keyword phrase.
Content Strategy: Drafted a content roadmap for future blog posts to build topical authority across remodeling categories.
Google Business Profile Optimization: Coordinated efforts to update and verify their profile after an address change, ensuring NAP consistency across local search. In addition, optimized the profile to strengthen visibility by uploading recent high-quality photos, adding FAQs, building out services and products, rewriting the bio with SEO-focused language, and publishing Google Updates.
Analytics & Tracking Setup: Implemented Google Analytics, Search Console, and Tag Manager to gather baseline performance data, track user behavior, and identify keyword opportunities. Combined with insights from SEO tools (Ubersuggest, SEMrush, Moz), this data shaped the SEO roadmap and informed both website optimizations and blog strategy.
Results After the First Month
Search Insights: 77 percent increases in impressions, clicks, and visibility in local search.
Keyword Rankings: Began ranking for competitive terms in the Portland remodeling market earlier than projected.
Content Engagement: The first blog post has already started indexing and bringing in impressions from long-tail searches.
Foundation for Growth: With optimized pages, a clear content plan, and a blog engine in place, Tortoise Construction is positioned for steady month-over-month growth.
Next Steps
Continue publishing high-quality, SEO-optimized blog posts targeting long-tail remodeling queries
Develop pillar content around “kitchen remodeling Portland” and “ADU construction Portland”
Expand backlink strategy with local directories, industry citations, and partnerships
Monitor and refine based on Google Search Console and Analytics insights
In Depth Planning & Research
To support Tortoise Construction’s growth in Portland’s competitive remodeling market, I conducted extensive SEO research and created a content roadmap designed to position the brand as a trusted local authority. This included a comprehensive keyword analysis, a competitor SEO audit, documentation of starting metrics, and the implementation of Google Analytics, Search Console, and Tag Manager. These tools provided the foundation for tracking performance and guided all optimization and content decisions from page structure to blog strategy.
Highlights how Tortoise Construction compares to top Portland remodeling companies, including keyword visibility, service area strengths, and gaps in competitor content strategies.
Competitor & Positioning Overview
An in-depth look at high-intent keywords in the Portland area, content clusters to target (basement, kitchen, ADUs), and a phased blog roadmap to build topical authority and drive organic leads.