How Nexus Grew Organic Sales Qualified Leads by 72% YoY for a School Fundraising Platform

We partnered with a school fundraising platform to resolve technical crawler penalties and capture high-intent organic leads amid shifting search behaviors, increasing their SQLs by 72% YoY.

At a Glance

72%

Increase in YoY Sales Qualified Leads

103%

Increase in Non-Branded Clicks

27%

Increase in Keywords in Top 10 Positions

The Challenge

Our client, an online fundraising platform specializing in K-12 school events, encountered severe technical setbacks during a critical blog migration to HubSpot. Over a six-month period, persistent duplicate content issues confused search engine crawlers, severely penalizing their organic visibility and destabilizing long-standing keyword rankings. A five-month delay in properly redirecting and configuring pages compounded the issue, leading to year-over-year declines in organic sessions.

The rising prevalence of AI Overviews and zero-click search behaviors began capturing traffic that had previously gone to basic educational content, presenting an operational risk. For a $10M–$50M organization that relies on seasonal school timelines to capture district coordinators, prolonged keyword instability led to missed critical lead-generation windows.

Our Approach

We implemented an advanced organic strategy focused on conversion-centric technical fixes and AI engine optimizations to address technical duplicate errors and adapt to changing search behaviors.

Technical Resolution and Crawler Clean-Up

We eliminated duplicate content issues caused by delayed staging and development page configurations. Fixing these conflicting assets allowed search engine crawlers to index primary educational content correctly, stopping the volatility penalties that harmed site authority.

Generative Engine Optimization

We optimized the platform for AI search engines and large language models. Our team implemented a specialized site configuration file (llms.txt) for AI crawlers, added structured schema markup, and integrated targeted FAQs to secure top placements in automated AI search summaries.

Off-Site Sector Authority Building

We expanded the client’s external authority through targeted industry partnerships. By publishing thought leadership content and securing high-quality referral listings with trusted education organizations, we built a strong link profile that lifted baseline domain authority.

The Nexus Difference

For executive leaders navigating a changing search landscape, minor technical fixes are not enough. Our strategy protected long-term market share and accelerated bottom-line pipeline indicators by focusing on high-intent conversions.

Accelerated Bottom-Funnel Pipeline: Achieved a 72% year-over-year increase in Sales Qualified Leads (SQLs) and an 18% increase in organic opportunities during the platform’s peak acquisition season.
Compounded Search Growth: Expanded non-branded search engine clicks by 103% and impressions by 28% over a consecutive three-month period following the resolution of crawler errors.
Market Dominance in AI Search Results: Outranked core industry competitors by a 33% visibility margin, capturing a top mention spot and appearing in 60% of all tracked AI engine responses for elementary school fundraising queries.
Elevated Keyword Authority: Expanded the platform’s keyword footprint, lifting 74% of all tracked terms into page-one positions, representing a 27% baseline improvement.

Through collaborative technical execution and a forward-looking AI visibility strategy, we transformed our client’s volatile blog migration project into a record-breaking lead generation engine.

Want to see these results with your organization?

The Nexus Marketing team brings years of mission-driven experience and technical know-how that can scale your lead generation and drive revenue growth. With expertise in SEO and AI Visibility Optimization, Hubspot Marketing Automation, Content & Design, and Converstion Rate Optimization (CRO), we can help you reach your goals.

Contact Nexus