How SEO & Content Made Explore The Trades a Trusted Resource
Gemini Agency’s custom organic search strategy made Explore The Trades a name that search engines rank, AI tools cite, and people trust.
Project Summary
Explore The Trades came to Gemini with an underoptimized site and almost no AI search presence. In just over a year, Gemini’s combined SEO and content strategy nearly doubled organic traffic, grew AI Overview appearances by over 6,000%, and boosted total SERP features by 263%.
The approach combined AI-informed keyword research, blog consolidation, seasonal content planning, metadata optimization, site health fixes, and a full navigation rebuild, positioning ETT as a source that both search engines and AI tools recognize as authoritative.
Explore The Trades (ETT) is a nonprofit dedicated to closing the technical talent gap in plumbing, HVAC, and electrical trades through classroom resources, apprenticeship guidance, and career content. Reaching over 3,200 school districts and more than a million students, their mission depends on their content being found, trusted, and shared.
The Challenge: An Underoptimized Site Within a Changing Search Landscape.
When we began organic search services for ETT in December 2024, the site had a real foundation to build on with plenty of room to grow. With outdated content, missed SEO best practices, and a 72% site health score—short of the 90% benchmark that separates an optimized site from one with real technical issues—their website wasn’t positioned to compete for the visibility their mission deserved. Plus, the search landscape was shifting fast, changing what “visibility” even meant.
AI Overviews were becoming a bigger part of how people found answers online. And they didn’t work independently of traditional SEO. AI tools drew on the same signals that determined traditional rankings: site health, structured content, authority, and relevance. ETT had almost no AI Overview presence yet, with just six appearances.
The goal wasn’t just to rank on Google. It was to build a foundation solid enough that traditional search and AI search tools would recognize ETT’s content as authoritative, and its target audience would see it as trustworthy and helpful.
The Approach:
Custom SEO & Content Working in Tandem
1. AI Search Insights Built Into Keyword Research
This allowed the content team to write proactively for how AI tools surface and cite information, not just how Google ranks it. This became a formal part of the process, with AI-specific search data (like mentions and cites) tracked alongside traditional keyword volume for key pages.
2. Blog Consolidation
The content team combined duplicate, thin posts into single, stronger resources instead of leaving them to compete with each other. For example, five separate ‘Myths Around the Trades’ posts were consolidated into one comprehensive piece. It was built to rank for high-volume terms and to make the case for trades careers as recession-resistant and automation-resistant work.
The team repeated the approach on other topic clusters of overlapping content, consolidating six posts on college enrollment, eight on student debt, and four on Women in the Trades.
3. New & Optimized Content Built on Seasonality & Results
Rather than publishing on a generic schedule, the content team built a monthly editorial calendar around seasonality and data. For example:
- A homepage conversion dip triggered optimization
- A trade schools blog was refreshed to align with when high school graduates were researching next steps
The same process filled content gaps, too. A new Connections page gave school-business partnerships a home of their own. A new blog, “The Toolbelt Generation: Why Gen Z Likes Working With Their Hands,” reached an audience ETT hadn’t fully prioritized.
4. Metadata Optimization
Meta titles and descriptions were rewritten around the same keywords integrated into the content, so search engines and readers saw a consistent signal from title to page.
5. Site Health Fixes
The team repaired broken links, updated alt text, cleaned up 404 errors, and made internal linking improvements across the site.
6. A Full Navigation Restructuring
We rebuilt the site’s navigation to make ETT’s career and resource content easier to find and crawl.
The Results
Overall, organic traffic to the website nearly doubled year-over-year:
- Active Users grew from 3,028 to 6,481, a 114.04% increase
- New Users grew from 2,842 to 6,361, a 123.82% increase
- Sessions grew from 736 to 3,805, a 416.98% increase
Optimized pages and blogs saw strong, consistent session gains:
- Homepage grew from 3,796 to 8,083 sessions, a 112.93% increase
- Top Trade Schools blog grew from 235 to 590 sessions, a 151.06% increase
- Women in the Trades page grew from 229 to 582 sessions, a 154.15% increase
- How to Become an Electrician page grew from 292 to 574 sessions, a 96.58% increase
Keyword rankings improved across the board:
- Top 3 positions grew from 176 to 365, a 107% increase
- Positions 4-10 grew from 157 to 442, a 181% increase
- Positions 11-20 grew from 131 to 339, a 159% increase
- Positions 21-50 grew from 459 to 553, a 20% increase
- Positions 51-100 declined from 507 to 433, a 14% decrease
- Total keywords tracked grew from 1,602 to 2,756, a 72% increase overall
SERP and AI search visibility grew the most dramatically of all
ETT’s SERP feature presence overall grew 263%, from 172 to 624 total features, driven largely by AI Overviews.
- People Also Ask appearances grew from 94 to 232, a 147% increase
- AI Overview appearances grew from 6 to 367, a 6,017% increase
- Knowledge Panel appearances grew from 1 to 2, a 100% increase
- Total SERP features grew from 172 to 624, a 263% increase overall
That AI visibility is translating into real traffic, not just impressions. AI referral sessions grew from 22 to 87 between January 2025 and January 2026, a 295.45% increase. It’s a strong proof point that ETT’s content isn’t just ranking on Google, it’s being cited by AI tools as a trusted source for trade careers, the kind of authority that compounds over time.
What These Results Mean
These metrics translate directly into ETT’s mission. More organic traffic and AI visibility means more students, parents, and educators discovering trade careers as a real option. Every session gained is a potential poster download, donation, or shared resource that keeps the message reaching people who need it. And because AI tools are now citing ETT as a trusted source, that visibility compounds, showing up in more searches, more AI Overviews, and more of the moments when someone is deciding the next step in their career.
“Working with Gemini has been a very positive experience for our organization. While some SEO and marketing vendors rely on templated plans for clients, Gemini provides a custom approach. It’s been a very cohesive partnership that continues to serve our business needs well.”
— Kate Cinnamo, Executive Director, Explore The Trades
A Foundation Built for Growth
ETT’s search foundation is stronger than it’s ever been. Traffic is up, rankings are up, and ETT’s content is already showing up when people ask AI tools about careers in the trades. That’s the kind of visibility that keeps building on itself.
Ready to see what a custom SEO and content strategy could do for your organization? Get in touch with Gemini Agency.
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