Cash for Cars Removal — From Page Two to the Top of Google

The challenge

The client operates in one of Australia's most competitive local service niches: car removal and cash-for-cars in Melbourne. It's a high-intent market where the businesses that own the first page of Google capture the overwhelming majority of enquiries.

When the campaign began, the site was stuck. Its core commercial keywords sat mostly on page two, and several valuable, ready-to-buy search terms — including "damaged car buyer" and "damaged car removal" — weren't ranking in the top 50 at all. That meant strong buying-intent traffic was flowing straight to competitors. This campaign was delivered by our Melbourne team, in the Melbourne market.

Our approach

We built the campaign around a simple principle: fix the technical foundation, then earn authority for the terms that actually drive enquiries.

• Technical SEO foundation — resolving crawlability, indexing and site-structure issues so Google could properly access and understand the site.
• On-page optimisation of the homepage and core service pages, sharpening messaging around each high-value service.
• Dedicated landing pages for untapped, high-intent terms such as damaged car removal, targeting demand the site wasn't capturing at all.
• Off-page authority building — growing the backlink profile and referring domains to compete with established players.
• Ongoing keyword targeting and content work to widen the range of terms the site ranks for.

Results — keyword rankings

Across the tracked keyword set, 10 of 12 terms improved, and the number of keywords ranking in the top 10 climbed from just one to seven. Two brand-new landing pages broke into the rankings from nothing, including a jump straight into the top 10 for a key buyer-intent term.

Positions shown are Google organic ranking, before vs. during the campaign. "Not ranked" = outside the top 50 at the start.

Results — traffic & authority growth

The ranking gains translated into compounding organic traffic. Monthly organic visits grew to roughly 3.7K — around triple the level at the start of the tracked period — with the steepest climb coming as the newly-ranked pages matured and authority built.

• 663 organic keywords now ranking, up 8.7%, broadening the site's total search footprint.
• 473 backlinks across 114 referring domains, giving the site the authority to hold competitive positions.
• 44% share of organic traffic within its Australian category set.
• 92.5% of the site's visibility now comes from standard organic results, with the remainder from SERP features.

Emerging AI search visibility

Beyond traditional search, the site has started to surface in AI-powered results — an increasingly important channel. It's now picked up 16 times across AI search, cited by ChatGPT, Google's AI Overviews, Google AI Mode and Gemini, positioning the business ahead of competitors as search behaviour shifts.

In summary

A structured, foundations-first SEO campaign moved a stuck site from page two into the top of Google for its most valuable commercial terms, roughly tripled its organic traffic, and opened up entirely new sources of high-intent enquiries — while establishing early visibility in AI search. It's a clear example of how targeted technical, on-page and authority work compounds into durable organic growth in a fiercely competitive market.