Our Work · Tourism and Hospitality
From 37 keywords to 1,700.
A safari camp on the edge of the Okavango Delta was invisible at exactly the moment travellers decide. Twelve months later it ranked for 1,700 search terms and drew 312 non-branded organic visits a month, having started from 6. The gain was content-led, and this study claims nothing for links.
- SEO
- Content Strategy
- AI Search
Project overview
- Client
- Khwai Expeditions Camp
- Sector
- Tourism and Hospitality
- Service
1700organic keywords, up from 37
The full story is belowBackground
Big cat country, invisible online.
Khwai Expeditions Camp sits in the Khwai community concession, on the north eastern edge of Botswana's Okavango Delta. It is big cat and wild dog country, and the camp has the product to match: guided game drives, mokoro trips, and a location most operators cannot offer.
What it did not have was a way to be found. In December 2023 the site ranked for 37 search terms across every regional database Semrush tracks, and drew 6 organic visits a month. Bookings arrived through agents and word of mouth.
In a category where travellers research for months before they commit, the camp was invisible at exactly the moment the decision was being made.
Project overview
Project overview
- Client
- Khwai Expeditions Camp
- Industry
- Location
- Okavango Delta, Botswana
- Window
- December 2023 to December 2024
- Service
- Website
- khwaiexpeditionscamp.com
Results
The numbers, counted.
Khwai Expeditions Camp, Okavango
From 37 keywords to 1,700, without a paid click.
The problem
Outspent by bigger names on the terms that matter.
Khwai had the guiding and the location but not the search presence. Competing lodges with larger marketing budgets owned the terms travellers actually search, and a camp ranking for 37 mostly branded keywords cannot compete for a booking it never appears in front of.
Enquiries therefore depended on repeat guests and agent referrals rather than on being found, which caps growth at whoever already knows you.
Our approach
What we actually did.
We mapped the position first
We mapped how Khwai genuinely competes: guiding quality, camp size, and its location inside the Khwai and Moremi concession. That became the position, rather than a slogan bolted onto the existing site.
We structured the site around intent
The site was organised around what a traveller researching an Okavango safari actually searches for, not around the camp's own org chart. Every page was given a job in that search journey.
We published content that answers the real questions
We wrote for what travellers and agents ask before booking, tied back to the position. Nothing was published without a reason to exist and a term it was meant to reach.
We kept the technical base sound
Site health was brought to 87 of 100 and held there, so the content had a clean foundation to rank from.
ArrivalThe team welcomes guests with a song at the gate.
CommunityAn evening with the local community around the fire, the story behind the pages.
Wild dogAn African wild dog, one of the species pages that now carries search traffic.
Where the rankings landed
The footprint at the end of the window.
| Position band | December 2023 | December 2024 |
|---|---|---|
| Page one, positions 1 to 10 | 3 | 47 |
| Positions 11 to 20 | 6 | 116 |
| Total ranking keywords | 37 | 1,700 |
| Non-branded organic visits a month | 6 | 312 |
International discovery
Where the visits came from.
| Market | Monthly organic visits | Share |
|---|---|---|
| United States | 170 | 54% |
| Other markets | 68 | 22% |
| India | 28 | 9% |
| Türkiye | 17 | 5% |
| Canada | 15 | 5% |
| United Kingdom | 14 | 4% |
Share of the 312 non-branded organic visits a month, December 2024. Every one of these markets was at zero in December 2023.
Search Console
What Google's own data showed.
Google’s own Search Console confirms the picture over a window Semrush cannot see: impressions and clicks recorded by Google itself, from real searches, on the site’s own property.
Deliverables
What we shipped.
- Brand position and messagingThe one true thing about the camp, written down and agreed, so the content had something to be about.
- Website rebuilt around search intentNew structure and copy, every page with a job in the booking journey.
- Content programmePieces answering what travellers and agents ask before booking, published to rank.
- Technical SEO and reportingSite health to 87 of 100, and Search Console read against the position every month.
The site, live
Honeymoon special
Kitchen
Twin room
The chef
Tented balconyWhat changed
The position at the end of the window.
- The camp ranks for 1,700 search terms, up from 37, having started almost entirely branded.
- 312 non-branded organic visits a month, up from 6, means people are finding the camp without knowing its name.
- 47 keywords sit on page one, with a further 116 in positions 11 to 20 ready for the next round.
- Six international markets that were at zero now send monthly traffic.
- After the window the footprint peaked at 2,111 keywords in July 2025 and sits at about 1,200 today, still more than thirty times the baseline.
An earlier edition of this study cited 5,314 backlinks. That figure came from a different tool, could not be reproduced on Semrush, and has been withdrawn.