How we Increased Vernacular Traffic by 270%: Vernacular SEO Case study of Bajaj Finserv

About the Client

Bajaj Finserv Limited is the holding company for the businesses dealing with financial services of the Bajaj Group. It independently runs the core businesses of Lending, Insurance and Wealth Advisory. Bajaj Finance Limited is the consumer finance lending arm of Bajaj Finserv Limited.It is the most diversified retail focused NBFC in the country and the largest financier of consumer durables. Bajaj Finance Limited prides itself for holding the highest credit rating of FAAA/Stable for any NBFC in the country today.

The Challenge

The challenge was to acquire new customers by leveraging vernacular SEO to target regional audiences. By mid of 2019 Bajaj Finserv had captured more than 90% share (in terms of search volume) in top 10 search results for their target keywords in Personal Loan and Business Loan categories. They were on the lookout for a new, unexplored customer base. They intended to venture into a new direction with Vernacular SEO aiming to acquire regional audiences. There was a significant Hindi-speaking audience looking for financial products whose needs were not being met and whom Bajaj Finserv had never reached out to before. The idea was to leverage vernacular SEO to tap this audience and grow the clients’ customers base.

The Solution

Strategy & implementation

A comprehensive keyword research was at the core of the Vernacular SEO strategy that we implemented. The organic search ecosystem is complicated and it was necessary that we find the right audience. Our SEO experts identified the most relevant Hindi keywords that the audiences would use to search for financial products.

• We started with a thorough competitor analysis to see how the competition was leveraging vernacular to drive business.
• We then identified 138 Hindi keywords which had average monthly search volume 200K.
• Next, we analysed the customer journey and search behaviour of regional audiences. And created content to fit their needs.
• Optimized newly created vernacular web pages to drive relevant traffic
• Initiated Digital PR campaign with popular Hindi new websites to drive mass awareness.
• Undertook campaign to acquire backlinks from relevant, high traffic vernacular websites.

The Outcome

The efforts put in by our team yielded consistent and measurable results for the client.

Improvement in Rankings
Highly competitive keywords started ranking in the top 3 positions. Few of the high search volume keywords are:

• “प्रधानमंत्री आवास योजना”: search volume: 90500, moved from Not in 100 to #1 position
• “लोन”: search volume: 8100, moved from Not in 100 to #3 position
• “होम लोन”: search volume: 6600, moved from Not in 100 to #1 position
• “पर्सनल लोन”: search volume: 4400, moved from Not in 100 to #2 position
• “व्यक्तिगत ऋण”: search volume: 2400, moved from Not in 100 to #2 position
• “होम लोन कैलकुलेटर” search volume 1600, moved from Not in 100 to #3 position.

Improvement in Traffic
Overall Organic Traffic from Vernacular Pages

The organic traffic from vernacular pages increased by 270% in a time period of just 6 months (August-19 – January-20). It’s share of contribution to overall organic traffic increased from under 1.45% to over 4% in the same period. This was a significant achievement for a website that pulls in millions in monthly organic traffic.

NOTE: The absolute numbers are indexed, with Aug. ‘19 set equal to 2.0 for Organic Traffic on Vernacular Pages, to facilitate the comparison of growth.

The Result for Personal Loan Vernacular SEO Campaign

Within 6 months vernacular traffic’s contribution grew from 4% to over 5.34% of the total organic traffic for the Personal Loan campaign. This may not seem like a significant achievement in percentage terms but in absolute numbers we could see the impact.

NOTE: The absolute numbers are indexed, with Aug. ‘19 set equal to 3.00 for Organic Traffic on Personal Loan Vernacular Pages, to facilitate the comparison of growth.

The Result for Business Loan Vernacular Campaign

In the Business Loan campaign, vernacular traffic’s contribution grew from under 4% to over 8.3% of the overall organic traffic. Again, a significant achievement given that there was no further headroom for growth via English keywords.

NOTE: The absolute numbers are indexed, with Aug. ‘19 set equal to 2.00 for Organic Traffic on Business Loan Vernacular Pages, to facilitate the comparison of growth.

The Result for Home Loan Vernacular Campaign

In the Home Loan campaign, organic vernacular traffic grew by over 700% in the 6 month period under consideration. It’s contribution grew from under 4% to over 16.4% of the overall organic traffic. Again, a significant achievement given that there was little headroom for growth via English keywords.

NOTE: The absolute numbers are indexed, with Aug. ‘19 set equal to 2.00 for Organic Traffic on Business Loan Vernacular Pages, to facilitate the comparison of growth.

The Result for Home Loan Vernacular Campaign

In the Home Loan campaign, organic vernacular traffic grew by over 700% in the 6 month period under consideration. It’s contribution grew from under 4% to over 16.4% of the overall organic traffic. Again, a significant achievement given that there was little headroom for growth via English keywords.