SEO & GEO Case Study

When Seattle was selected to host six matches for the 2026 soccer tournament in Seattle, the opportunity for Kitsap County was clear: turn this ferry-accessible region into a top travel pick for fans looking to stay outside the city.

The Starting Line

StayKitsap26.com launched from scratch with no backlinks, no page history and no SEO momentum. That offered a clean slate providing the opportunity to speak directly to modern search engines and large language models. That meant structuring the content to align with GEO (generative engine optimization) best practices—so it could surface in both search and AI-generated responses.

Our SEO/GEO Process

Establish Performance Metrics

After Discovery which included identifying two primary audiences and establishing featured Lodging as the core experience, we defined the measurable audience touch points that would be built out including: click-throughs to offsite lodging websites, newsletter signups, itinerary click throughs, itinerary PDF downloads.

Focusing on key performance indicators early in the process helped keep the strategy focused on measurable results and opportunities for audience interaction. After launch, we built out Looker Studio reports to track these and other metrics.

Keyword Research

Identifying performance metrics gave us ideas for the structure and focus of the website. Using MOZ, the industry standard for SEO research and strategy, we identified two overarching sets of keywords: low difficulty and medium difficulty. Keyword selection was further complicated by having to avoid legally protected terms (example: fee fuh 🌐 cup).

Since the website would launch with no authority, our strategy was to build up rankings for low difficulty keywords and then build out landing pages and Itineraries featuring our medium difficulty keywords which would then put us in competition with established competitors.

Content Mapping

Finally, instead of building out unrelated pages stuffed with every term, we structured the site around clusters tied to user intent. Each cluster supported a unique search journey:

• Lodging Cluster: city-specific accommodation options, comparisons with Seattle prices
• Travel Planning Cluster: routes, ferry info, SeaTac access
• Family Travel Cluster: things to do with kids, quiet neighborhoods, multi-room rentals
• International Visitor Cluster: transit tips, cultural experiences
• Event Experience Cluster: watch parties, local happenings, match-day travel planners
  

Every cluster was tied to primary and secondary keywords, with internal links that helped users (and crawlers) move through the content naturally. This also boosted relevance scoring for LLMs.

To show up in those answers, we made sure the site:

• Answered full-sentence FAQs in plain language

• Matched headings and page titles to high-intent keywords

• Used schema where possible to help define context

• Built hierarchical pages that reflected a navigable topic structure

Built for Fans. Found by Engines.

Each page of StayKitsap26’s site structure is part of a strategic content plan built to answer a specific question a traveler is likely to ask. View the website here.

The website launched recently and we're still building content and momentum, but we'll update this post as we see results. Stay tuned and as always, feel free to leave your comments below.