The international school sector in Hong Kong is one of the most competitive landscapes in education. With parents constantly searching online for the best opportunities and “international school” being one of the most sought-after keywords, every institution is racing to the top of Google’s rankings. My collaboration with ESF began in early 2023. From day one, their team was engaged and open to strategic SEO innovation. Together, we set out to strengthen ESF’s digital presence—uniting 22 schools under one powerful online ecosystem.
The Problem
Stagnant organic traffic, fragmented online visibility, and the challenge of ranking for ultra-competitive education keywords.
Despite its status as Hong Kong’s largest international school group, ESF faced stiff competition from dozens of schools, all eager to capture high-conversion queries like “Hong Kong international school.” With a network of 22 individual school websites and a main ESF portal, SEO efforts were spread thin. The main join-us page, essential for conversion, lacked sufficient authority and internal support. Without a focused, unified digital strategy, ESF risked losing its leadership position online.
The Brief
Drive more traffic, improve search engine rankings for the most valuable educational keywords, expand the organic keyword reach, and ensure strong, steady growth in leads and applications.
Simple, ambitious, and essential for long-term success.
The Results
- Organic Keywords: Increased from near zero to nearly 900 ranking keywords
- First Page Positions: Significant gains in top 3 and top 10 keyword ranks for “international school” and location-specific terms
- Referring Domains: Climbed to over 240 high-quality referring domains, with a focus on educational and regional authority sites
- Organic Traffic: Monthly organic traffic soared to over 8,000
- Domain Authority: Domain Rating (DR) rose to 60 for the join-us page, a clear sign of elevated trust and prominence
Today, ESF’s online presence powerfully mirrors its offline reputation. The group is now a digital benchmark for international schools in Hong Kong.
Ongoing Servicing: A Consistent Growth Engine
Following our annual strategy session, our focus was clear: reinforce internal linking from each of the 22 school sites to the main join-us page, while continually developing quality content and acquiring authoritative backlinks.
Ongoing keyword research, technical audits, and analytics reviews kept us agile and responsive to both market and algorithm shifts—helping ESF maintain its lead.
In-Depth Keyword Research & Analysis
We started by conducting in-depth keyword research using Ahrefs, mapping the entire competitive landscape across international school, location, and curriculum-based terms.
Each school site was optimized for its unique location and program offering, creating tailored landing pages that targeted high-intent, local queries. This was complemented by an in-depth pillar content strategy for the ESF main site, focusing on broad, high-volume topics like “international school Hong Kong,” “IB schools Hong Kong,” and “best private schools.”
Comprehensive On-page and Technical Auditing
Our audits revealed opportunities to streamline and unify all 22 school websites and the main portal:
The On-page SEO Elements Enhanced and Improved
- Title tags & meta descriptions (localized and optimized)
- Header structure and internal linking
- Content enrichment for location and program relevance
- Site structure and canonicalization
- Mobile optimization and page speed
- Schema markup for school and education entities
- Improved sitemaps and crawlability
High-Quality Content & Strategic Link Building
To build authority, we focused on earning high-value backlinks from educational resources, regional publications, and parenting blogs. Our outreach efforts were complemented by thought leadership articles and press releases highlighting ESF’s achievements, events, and unique curriculum.
At the same time, we developed a robust internal linking system, channeling SEO value from the 22 schools to the main join-us page—amplifying its authority and conversion power.
Duration & Achievement Milestones
| Duration | Achievement |
|---|---|
| 1-3 months | 10% of target keywords reached first page |
| 3-6 months | 30% of keywords on first page (including top 3 positions) |
| 6-9 months | 60% first-page coverage; strong increase in organic traffic |
| 9-12 months | 90% of focus keywords on first page; surge in leads |
| 12+ months | Ongoing traffic and conversion growth; sustained top rankings |
The Results
Over 18 months, ESF achieved:
- Organic keywords: Up to 900 ranking terms
- Monthly organic traffic: 8,100+ visitors
- Referring domains: Over 240, with high educational value
- Domain Rating: 60, cementing ESF’s authority
- First page dominance: For critical and competitive “international school” queries
Today, ESF stands as the clear digital leader in Hong Kong’s international school sector, thanks to a unified SEO strategy, in-depth keyword targeting, and a powerful internal linking ecosystem.
Locke Lee High Quality SEO Services Provider
The only way to secure a top-tier SEO specialist is to work with someone who has a proven portfolio—one whose clients have consistently achieved page 1 rankings.
With my combined experience in technical website development and decades of privately curated SEO resources—including thoroughly audited and personally tested backlink assets—I have the expertise to accurately diagnose your site’s challenges and unlock its full potential.
Having witnessed the tangible results of my work months after implementation, I am confident in my ability to help your service excel in its industry. You can expect your website to begin ranking for agreed-upon keywords as early as the first month.
