SEO Case Study
The Promise Gardens Estate:
215% More Organic Traffic in Lake George
Results Snapshot
This report covers the search performance of The Promise Gardens Estate of the Adirondacks since the SEO engagement began in February 2025. Every figure below is pulled directly from Google Analytics, Google Search Console, Google Business Profile, Semrush, and our rank tracking platform. Nothing here is estimated.
Figures compare the most recent reporting window against the same period one year earlier, before the campaign began.
The Starting Point
When we began work in February 2025, The Promise Gardens had very limited visibility in organic search across its core market. The venue competes in a busy field of Lake George and Adirondack wedding venues, and most of its website traffic came from people who already knew the brand name.
Search Console showed an average ranking position of 25.6, which means the site was mostly sitting on the second page of Google for the searches that matter. In Semrush, the site was holding roughly 318 organic keywords, with only 20 of those in the top three spots. For a venue that depends on couples discovering it while planning, page two visibility leaves a lot of bookings on the table.
The goal was straightforward. Move the venue onto page one for the high intent searches couples actually use, such as Lake George wedding venues, Adirondack wedding venues, and the garden and barn variations, and turn that visibility into real inquiries.
What We Did
The work followed our standard engagement structure, moving from research and tracking into on-page fixes, content, local SEO, and ongoing monthly work. Since February 2025 the campaign has covered:
- Foundation and tracking. We started with full keyword research, a complete site audit, a backlinks audit, and a technical health review, then set up Search Console, ranking sheets, and Microsoft Clarity so progress could be measured against a clean baseline.
- On-page and technical fixes. We resolved the on-page and technical issues from the audit, fixed heading structure, improved mobile and desktop page speed, and cleaned up the site so the pages that matter could rank. We also ran a disavow on harmful links and continue to monitor toxic backlinks.
- Local SEO and Google Business Profile. We optimized the Google Business Profile, added relevant service areas, set up the review and map snippets on the site, and have kept the profile active over time, since Maps and local pack visibility drive a large share of venue discovery.
- Content and page strategy. We built out the location pages for Lake George, Hudson Valley, Albany, and the surrounding towns, created neighborhood pages, added a brochure page, and reworked the homepage content so the venue could rank for the full range of how couples search.
- Monthly content and schema. We have delivered a steady stream of blog posts every month, added FAQ content with schema, and layered in structured data for reviews, FAQs, and audio so the site communicates clearly to Google.
- Ongoing reporting and refinement. We track website rankings, Google AI Mode rankings, and ChatGPT brand presence every month, and adjust the plan based on what is moving and where the next opportunities are.
Organic Traffic Growth
The clearest signal of progress is organic search traffic, which is the traffic Google sends to the site for free based on its rankings. Comparing the latest reporting window to the same window a year earlier:
| Metric | At Start (Feb–Mar 2025) | Now (Jun 2026) |
|---|---|---|
| Organic search sessions | 1,276 | 4,023 |
| Total website sessions | 3,000 | 7,187 |
| Engaged sessions | 1,745 | 4,717 |
| Engagement rate | 58.17% | 65.63% |
Organic search sessions grew by 215%, and organic search now makes up the majority of all traffic to the site. Just as important, the engagement rate went up at the same time. More visitors and better quality visitors usually move together only when the right people are finding the site, which is exactly what we want to see for a venue that depends on serious planning inquiries.
Google Search Performance
Google Search Console measures how the site performs directly inside Google search results. The trend over the last year shows steady gains across the board:
| Metric | At Start (Feb–Mar 2025) | Now (Jun 2026) |
|---|---|---|
| Clicks from Google search | 2,930 | 3,280 |
| Times shown in search (impressions) | 61,300 | 88,900 |
| Average ranking position | 25.6 | 16.6 |
| Average click-through rate | 4.8% | 3.7% |
The most meaningful number here is average position, which improved from 25.6 to 16.6. In plain terms, the site moved up roughly nine positions on average, which is the move from the bottom of page two toward the top of it and onto page one for many searches. Impressions climbed 45%, meaning Google is now showing the venue to far more couples than before.
Click-through rate looks lower year on year, and that is expected here. As a site starts ranking for a much wider set of broader searches, it appears in front of many more people who are still early in their research, so the raw percentage softens even while total clicks rise. The trade is worth it, because the wider visibility is what builds the pipeline of future inquiries.
Keyword Rankings
Beyond the totals, the keyword by keyword movement shows how the venue is climbing for the exact searches couples use. The tables below show where each keyword started and where it sits now, across both Google search results and the Google Maps local pack, for the venue's core markets. For a wedding venue both surfaces matter, since couples shortlist venues from the map pack as much as from the standard results.
This is the venue's home market. It now holds the top spot on Maps for the core wedding venue searches, and ranks at or near the top of Google search results alongside them.
Adirondack, NY
| Keyword | Location | Where We Started | Where We Are Now |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wedding Venue | Adirondack, NY | 3rd on Maps | 1st on Maps, 2nd on Google |
| Outdoor Wedding Venue | Adirondack, NY | 1st Google, 2nd Maps | 1st on Google, 1st on Maps |
| Destination Wedding Venue | Adirondack, NY | 2nd on Maps | 1st on Maps, 3rd on Google |
| Garden Wedding Venue | Adirondack, NY | 1st Google, 1st Maps | 1st on Google, 1st on Maps |
| Micro Wedding Venue | Adirondack, NY | 1st on Maps | 1st on Maps |
Lake George is the most competitive and most valuable market for the venue, since it is the search couples most associate with the area. The venue has climbed to the top of Maps for the main wedding venue search and now ranks first for destination wedding venue across both Google and Maps.
Lake George, NY
| Keyword | Location | Where We Started | Where We Are Now |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wedding Venue | Lake George, NY | 3rd on Maps | 1st on Maps |
| Destination Wedding Venue | Lake George, NY | 6th on Google | 1st on Google, 1st on Maps |
| Outdoor Wedding Venue | Lake George, NY | 6th on Google | 2nd on Google, 1st on Maps |
| Mountain Wedding Venue | Lake George, NY | 7th on Maps | 2nd on Maps, 8th on Google |
| Garden Wedding Venue | Lake George, NY | 1st Maps, 2nd Google | 1st on Maps, 2nd on Google |
| Micro Wedding Venue | Lake George, NY | 1st on Maps | 1st on Maps |
We have also expanded the venue's reach into the nearby towns couples search from, including Bolton, Albany, and Cohoes. Several of these are newly targeted searches the venue did not rank for at the start of the campaign.
Surrounding Towns
| Keyword | Location | Where We Started | Where We Are Now |
|---|---|---|---|
| Destination Wedding Venue | Bolton, NY | 5th Google, 1st Maps | 5th on Google, 1st on Maps |
| Destination Wedding Venue | Bolton, NY | Newly targeted | 3rd on Google |
| Garden Wedding Venue | Bolton, NY | 1st Google, 1st Maps | 2nd on Google |
| Micro Wedding Venue | Bolton, NY | 1st on Maps | 1st on Maps |
| Lake George Wedding Venue | Bolton, NY | Newly targeted | 6th on Maps |
| Barn Wedding Venue Lake George | Bolton, NY | Newly targeted | 7th on Maps |
| Rustic Barn Wedding Venue Upstate NY | Bolton, NY | Newly targeted | 13th on Maps |
| Garden Wedding Venue | Albany, NY | 6th on Google | 4th on Google |
| Garden Wedding Venue | Cohoes, NY | 3rd on Google | 2nd on Google |
Across every market the pattern is the same. The venue is no longer fighting for second page visibility. It is winning the top positions on both Google and Maps for garden, barn, outdoor, micro, and destination wedding searches across Lake George, the Adirondacks, and the surrounding towns.
Keyword Footprint Growth
Semrush tracks the total set of keywords a site ranks for and where each one sits. This is a good measure of how much ground the site covers in search overall. The footprint has more than doubled since the campaign began:
| Metric | At Start (Feb–Mar 2025) | Now (Jun 2026) |
|---|---|---|
| Total ranking keywords | 318 | 713 |
| Keywords in Top 3 | 20 | 24 |
| Keywords in positions 4 to 10 | 24 | 63 |
| Keywords in positions 11 to 20 | 27 | 53 |
| Estimated organic traffic | 1,121 | 1,491 |
The site now ranks for more than twice as many keywords as it did at the start, and the gains are spread across every ranking band. The strong growth in the positions 4 to 10 and 11 to 20 bands matters, because those are the keywords closest to breaking into the top results next. It points to continued momentum rather than a one time spike.
Local Search and Google Maps
For a wedding venue, Google Business Profile visibility is just as important as the website, because so many couples find and shortlist venues directly in Google search and Maps. The profile has grown strongly over the same period:
- People who viewed the Business Profile: the venue profile was viewed 24,420 times, up 44.3% against the prior period.
- Searches that showed the profile: the venue appeared in 7,111 searches, up 66.3%.
The top searches bringing up the profile are the exact terms a venue wants to own:
- lake george wedding venues (907 searches)
- wedding venues upstate ny (722 searches)
- wedding venues near me (567 searches)
- upstate ny wedding venues (493 searches)
- adirondack wedding venues (484 searches)
These are high intent, ready to plan searches. Being shown for them, and increasingly ranking for them, is what puts the venue in front of couples at the moment they are choosing where to get married.
Visibility in AI Search
More couples are now starting their research inside AI tools like ChatGPT and Google's AI results, not just traditional search. As part of the campaign we are tracking and building presence for the venue across these surfaces for the core queries, such as wedding venues in the Adirondacks, barn wedding venues near Lake George, and garden ceremony venues in Upstate New York.
This is an area where visibility is probabilistic and shifts query by query rather than a fixed ranking, so we report on it as a developing channel. The same foundations that drive traditional rankings, strong content, clear local signals, and a well structured site, are what build presence here too, and it is an area we will keep expanding.
What Happens Next
The venue has moved from limited page two visibility to competing for the top spots across its core market in a little over a year. The focus from here is to protect the rankings already won and push the next group of keywords through:
- Convert near misses. Continue moving the positions 4 to 10 and 11 to 20 keywords into the top three, since the footprint is already in place.
- Ongoing content. Keep the monthly content program running to grow topical coverage and capture seasonal planning searches.
- Local presence. Maintain and expand the Google Business Profile activity that is driving local and Maps visibility.
- AI search. Grow presence across AI search surfaces as more couples begin their planning there.
The trend across every data source points the same direction, and the groundwork is set for continued growth through the upcoming wedding season.
Prepared by Del Priore Hospitality
Data sources: Google Analytics 4, Google Search Console, Google Business Profile, Semrush, and rank tracking platform.
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