Chicago-based futures brokerage RJO Futures was already seeing strong organic returns from its ongoing SEO strategy with Marcel Digital. By refining their martech stack, optimizing on-page and off-site SEO, and shifting to a more targeted content strategy, we exponentially increased their ROI.
Why Did We Start the Project?
The Challenge
Marcel Digital has been RJO Futures’ trusted SEO partner for over a decade, serving as an extension of their marketing team. Through a deep understanding of their website performance and technical challenges, we implemented an integrated SEO strategy that drove a 317% increase in organic traffic from 2018 to 2020 (compared to 2015-2017). More importantly, this traffic was highly qualified, resulting in over 1,500 new leads in the same period.
While these results were impressive, we knew that ongoing SEO optimizations alone wouldn’t maximize ROI. To unlock the full potential of our SEO efforts, we needed to shift our focus to an in-depth content SEO strategy. This required presenting RJO’s marketing team with data-driven projections that showcased the impact of a content-first approach on lead generation.
What’s Going On?
The Analysis
With RJO Futures’ technical SEO foundations firmly in place, we turned our focus to content - both developing new high-impact assets and optimizing existing content for greater visibility and conversion potential. Our research leveraged industry-leading SEO tools, including:
- Google Analytics - Traffic and conversion performance analysis
- SEMRush - Competitive keyword tracking and ranking insights
- Google Search Console - Indexing and search performance evaluation
- Moz Link Explorer - Backlink profile assessment
Our approach was twofold:
- Identify and create new content opportunities based on keyword gaps and search demand.
- Optimize existing content to improve rankings, visibility, and engagement.
We first analyzed “striking distance” keywords - terms with strong search volume where RJO Futures ranked on pages 2 or 3 of Google results. These presented high-value opportunities for improved rankings and increased inbound traffic. Competitive analysis also revealed content gaps where key industry players outranked RJO Futures, giving us a clear roadmap for content creation and optimization.
To further enhance RJO’s visibility, we:
- Conducted a historical content performance audit to identify underperforming pages.
- Improved outdated content to increase ranking potential and click-through rates.
- Implemented structured data (schema) to optimize content for rich snippets and featured search results.
- Conducted competitor backlink analysis to uncover link-building opportunities that would strengthen RJO’s domain authority.
With these insights in hand, we developed a content roadmap that aligned with search intent, audience needs, and lead generation goals.
How Did Marcel Digital Help?
The Solution
Once we outlined our data-driven strategy to the RJO Futures team, they were fully on board. We built an editorial calendar prioritizing key content areas that would drive engagement and conversion growth, including:
- Learning Center Guides - Educational content designed to nurture potential traders and answer common industry questions.
- Futures Trading Resources - In-depth content on trading strategies, market analysis, and key trends.
- Futures Markets Page Expansions - Optimized pages covering individual futures markets, ensuring high relevance for searchers.
- FAQs - Expanded and enriched FAQ content to capture long-tail search queries and enhance user experience.
By focusing on informative, high-value content, we positioned RJO Futures as an authority in the industry while also ensuring search engine optimization best practices were met.
To maximize content performance, we:
- Collaborated closely with RJO Futures’ marketing team for seamless content creation and distribution across digital channels.
- Optimized all content for SEO best practices, including title tags, headers, internal linking, and clear calls to action.
- Implemented schema markup to enhance search engine understanding and visibility.
- Launched a targeted link-building campaign, securing high-authority backlinks from reputable financial and trading websites.
- Updated the XML sitemap and monitored indexing in Google Search Console to ensure fast discovery of new content.
What Happened After Launch?
The Results
Our content-driven SEO strategy delivered massive gains in organic traffic and conversions. In 2020 alone, we saw:
- 181.64% increase in overall organic traffic, adding over 45,000 new users from search.
- 861.23% increase in Learning Center traffic, bringing in 31,000 additional users year-over-year.
- 470% increase in Futures Markets page traffic and a 283% increase in conversions.
Additionally, our optimizations secured rich snippet placements for high-value search terms, including:
- “10-year treasury futures” – Securing top search visibility for key industry terms.
- “Heating oil futures” – Enhancing click-through rates from Google search results.
- “Durable vs. non-durable goods” – Capturing searchers in the early research phase.
As of 2024, we continue to develop new, strategic content to sustain RJO Futures’ competitive edge in search rankings. With an ongoing focus on industry trends, keyword opportunities, and evolving SEO best practices, our work ensures that RJO Futures remains a leading voice in the trading industry while driving consistent growth in organic traffic, lead generation, and customer acquisition.
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