Whale Watching in Costa Rica

Challenge + Goal

Original Travel needed to capture high-intent, long-tail organic search traffic for their luxury Costa Rica offerings. The goal was to reach travellers deep in the planning phase, specifically targeting those who had already decided on a destination but were seeking precise activity guidance (e.g., when and where to see whales). The existing brief product descriptions were failing to meet this educational and authoritative search demand.

Develop a high-authority, seasonally relevant travel blog post that establishes Original Travel as the go-to expert for experiential, specific Costa Rica activity planning, thereby driving qualified traffic directly to the main destination pages and increasing initial engagement.

Role + Process

My role involved executing the entire content strategy, from research through conversion-focused writing:

• Keyword Strategy: Conducted research to target high-intent, transactional phrases like 'best time for whale watching in Uvita' and 'Humpback whale migration Costa Rica' to attract users ready to book.

• Structural Planning: Created an expert-level guide structure that provided comprehensive information on timing, specific locations, and operator insights, ensuring it satisfied user intent better than competitor pages.

• Internal Linking Strategy: Implemented a clear internal linking architecture, directing readers seamlessly from the high-value blog post (top-of-funnel discovery) to the relevant Original Travel product pages (bottom-of-funnel booking/ enquiry).

• Expert Writing: Authored the article using an evocative and authoritative tone, balancing genuine travel inspiration with practical, logistical information necessary for a luxury traveller.

Results

This content asset performed strongly against both SEO and engagement metrics, positioning it as a key resource for converting planners:

• Generated an 18% year-over-year increase in organic traffic to the main Costa Rica landing page during the key booking months of July and August.

• Secured a prominent ranking on Google's Page 1 for high-value search terms related to "Uvita whale watching season."

• The content exceeded engagement goals, showing an average on-page time of 3 minutes 12 seconds, indicating thorough consumption of the detailed guide.

• The article achieved a 3.8% click-through rate to the 'Plan Your Trip' enquiry form, making it a highly effective commercial driver within the blog section.