{"id":15793,"date":"2020-01-29T13:30:31","date_gmt":"2020-01-29T19:30:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/?p=15793"},"modified":"2025-12-02T11:07:15","modified_gmt":"2025-12-02T17:07:15","slug":"seo-case-study-charleston-crafted","status":"publish","type":"case_study","link":"https:\/\/www.mediavine.com\/case-study\/seo-case-study-charleston-crafted\/","title":{"rendered":"SEO Case Study: Charleston Crafted"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n
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SEO Case Study: Charleston Crafted<\/h1><\/section>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
Something we say all the time at Mediavine is that yes, ads and SEO can coexist.\n\nTo further back that up, we have a whole blog post dedicated to that exact topic: How Mediavine optimizes ads and SEO together<\/a>.\n\n\n\nWhy? We run our technology on our own sites<\/a>, all of which have search engines as their #1 traffic source. We\u2019d never want to compromise speed or SEO for ad income, so everything we do at Mediavine is with both of these as a top priority.\n\nWe created our SEO Case Study series<\/a> so you can see real examples of how publishers leverage Mediavine\u2019s SEO resources<\/a>, pagespeed tools<\/a> and ad settings<\/a> to try to rank higher in search engines, boost traffic and earn even more with their ads.\n\nWith our next installment in the series, we are excited to introduce you to Morgan McBride of the home decor and DIY site Charleston Crafted<\/a>.\n\nMorgan is sharing about the importance of SEO and the resources<\/a> she uses, how video has positively impacted her site, her love for Mediavine’s award-winning customer service<\/a>, how she has increased her desktop pagespeed<\/a> and more!\n\nWelcome to the blog, Morgan!\n\n\"Charleston\n

How long have you been blogging? When did you join Mediavine?<\/h2>\nI have been blogging since 2012, and I joined Mediavine after the Haven Conference<\/a> in July of 2018.\n

What is your current ad density setting in the dashboard for desktop and mobile? Why did you choose this setting?<\/h2>\nMy current ad density is set at 30% because I’m trying to make that money! But really, I just increase them for Q4<\/a>, and then I may or may not decrease them after \u2014 I haven’t gotten any complaints.\n

What are you currently averaging in pagespeed per Google PageSpeed Insights?<\/h2>\nMy current pagespeed average is 68 on mobile and 98 on desktop. My average was something like 12 when I first started.\n

When did you start focusing on SEO and\/or site speed? How has working with Mediavine impacted your SEO, site speed and site overall?<\/h2>\nI started focusing on these things after joining the Mediavine Facebook group<\/a> and learning what SEO<\/a> was. I honestly had no clue before and would skip those classes at conferences<\/a>.\n\nMediavine taught me what SEO was and the importance of writing content with intention. The Facebook group also drew my attention to site speed<\/a> and simple ideas for improving it by eliminating excess.\n\nMediavine has also pushed me to create more video<\/a>, which is great for my readers, social media and of course ad money.\n

What steps have you taken to improve your SEO and\/or site speed? What resources\/tools have you used?<\/h2>\nThe number one change has been writing with intention. It doesn’t apply to all of my posts, but I really try to find keywords that people are actually searching for. Then I pull up supporting keywords and questions to include in my post as well.\n\nI try to be thorough and link internally<\/a> really well. I use SEMrush, Keywords Everywhere and Google Search Console<\/a>. I also do everything that the Theory of Content podcast<\/a> tells me to do. \ud83d\ude42\n\n\"Screenshot\n

Did you find any Mediavine resources useful as you optimized your site speed or SEO?<\/h2>\nThe post about font sizes<\/a> was helpful, the Summer of Live<\/a> was HUGE and also comment threads in the Facebook group.\n\nI recently audited my plugins<\/a> (again) and actually searched each one in the FB group to see if anyone had commented on it or made recommendations for a more efficient plugin that accomplished the same thing.\n

Have you ever been with another company for full service ad management?<\/h2>\nNo, and I can’t imagine any company with better customer service than Mediavine!\n

Are you using Mediavine’s most valuable content plugin, Create, on any of your posts? What do you like about it?<\/h2>\nYes I am. I love it! I love the way that Create cards<\/a> look in my posts.\n\n\"Kitchen\n

Please link us to your favorite posts using a Create card.<\/h2>\n