Organic Enquiries
+15%
Non-branded Clicks
+28.6%
The Client
Founded in 1557, Repton is a co-educational independent day and boarding school for children aged 3 to 18 in the heart of England. With around 650 pupils, the school maintains an ideal size – large enough to create a ‘buzz’ yet small enough for students to flourish and connect.
From Nursery to Sixth Form, Repton encourages a conscious equilibrium in all things, encouraging pupils to adopt a healthy balance between their studies, sport, activities of all kinds and rest, so that they can emerge as rounded, multi-faceted individuals.
We started working with Growthack SEO in March 2025, and the results in such a short time have been nothing short of amazing. From the outset, they took the time to really understand our organisation and industry, and provided exceptionally comprehensive plans and templates to support ongoing SEO work.
– Harriet Boyles, Marketing Manager
The Challenges
When we began our partnership, the website struggled with fundamental issues that prevented it from capturing high-intent searches from prospective parents. They were losing visibility to competitors.
Limited Regional Visibility
The school ranked poorly for critical commercial search terms that drive admissions enquiries. Searches like ‘independent school derby,’ ‘boarding school east midlands,’ ‘private school derbyshire,’ and ‘sports boarding school’ were dominated by competitors with weaker reputations. During our audit, while the website is appearing in search results for more keywords, this hasn’t translated into more visitors to the website.
Confusing User Experience
The website’s hero section featured striking imagery but lacked context, clear messaging, or immediate calls-to-action. New visitors faced an unclear journey with no obvious next steps for booking open days or beginning applications. Which were critical conversion points in the admissions funnel.
Positioning Opportunity
Despite established sports programmes in hockey, cricket, football, and tennis, the website ranked at position 15 for ‘sports school’. This was a significant missed opportunity given the school’s genuine expertise and facilities.
Technical SEO
With over 250 pages across multiple domains, the site suffered from duplicate content, high-value pages with zero internal links and inefficient crawl paths for search engines.
Our Approach
We developed a three-phase strategy focused on immediate impact through foundational improvements while building towards long-term sustainable growth.
Phase 1: Competitive Intelligence and Journey Mapping
We began by analysing regional competitors to identify opportunities to dominate local searches through better intent alignment and user experience. Using internal stakeholder insights combined with external research, we mapped the parent journey from initial research through to booking an open day.
This research revealed key motivations, concerns, and the specific language families use during their decision-making process, enabling us to understand where reassurance and practical guidance were needed most.
Phase 2: Quick Wins
Hero Section Redesign
We restructured the hero section to include three critical elements:
- H1 heading targeting primary search intent
- Contextual description explaining Repton’s unique positioning
- Prominent CTA for immediate next steps (Book Open Day, Apply Now).
This simple change immediately improved user clarity and conversion potential.
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Local SEO Fundamentals
We optimised meta titles and descriptions across key pages to capture local search intent. We created location-specific, action-oriented copy that improved click-through rates from search results.
Internal Linking Audit
We identified and fixed critical internal linking issues, ensuring high-value commercial pages had at least one inbound or outbound link, improving both user navigation and search engine crawl efficiency.
Schema Markup Implementation
We implemented ‘EducationalOrganization’ schema markup via Google Tag Manager to address the website’s initial lack of a crucial technical SEO foundation.
Phase 3: Strategic Content Development
Collaborating with Repton’s internal team, we developed a content plan designed to address parent decision-making questions and establish thought leadership. Each brief covered topic selection based on search demand and admissions journey stages, keyword targeting, structural recommendations, and internal linking opportunities to commercial pages.
The strategy was designed to capture traffic at every stage from early awareness and exploration through to application, transition, and post-enrolment advocacy.
The Results
Following the implementation of changes by the end of May, the senior school website achieved:
- +15% increase in organic search enquiry events year-over-year
- +28.6% increase in non-branded organic clicks
- +55.5% increase in non-branded impressions
Notably, organic search performed strongly even as overall sessions declined, indicating improved traffic quality and better audience targeting.
Their attention to detail, expertise, and willingness to go above and beyond have truly set them apart. We couldn’t recommend them more highly!
– Harriet Boyles, Marketing Manager
Keyword Rankings Breakthrough
The school achieved first-page rankings for over 94 new sports and location-based keywords that previously had no visibility, including:
- best sports schools in UK
- independent schools derbyshire
- top sports schools UK
- private schools east midlands
- tennis schools UK
- independent schools hockey
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We’ve received multiple awards and recognitions for our team, clients, and partners.
“This went beyond SEO and aligned positioning, messaging, content, and design to drive business growth. Real results with direct SEO-attributed revenue and acquisition. Growthack delivered a comprehensive approach, including developing a new website to establish a strong foundation.”
“The campaign demonstrates a strong strategic approach, clearly aligning SEO with business growth beyond standard keyword rankings. Results achieved within 18 months are outstanding, including a direct impact on lead generation and revenue.”
“This website delivered remarkable results, with our team demonstrating excellent budget management. Our ability to optimise ad budget allocation has returned impressive outcomes with the integration of digital data in shaping product decisions.”
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Copyright © 2020 – 2025. Registered in England and Wales No. 12868240. VAT Reg GB392684357.