Case Study: Fathom Education achieves actionable local search ranking insights with BrightEdge

Fathom Finds 52% of Non-Branded KWs are Volatile

Fathom Education ran a local-search experiment for Central Michigan University to understand how rankings differ across markets and why colleges struggle with SEO in a crowded education landscape. Working with BrightEdge, the team tracked branded and non-branded keywords across Google Chicago, Detroit, Lansing, Traverse City and a national US baseline from September to December 2014 to test whether branded terms were more stable and whether markets near campus performed better.

Using custom BrightEdge dashboards and segmented analyses (branded vs. non-branded; stable vs. volatile), the team confirmed its hypotheses: branded keywords were relatively stable (avg. 1.43-position variance from the US baseline) while non-branded terms were far more volatile (avg. ~11.06-position variance), with about 52% of non-branded keywords showing volatility. Local engines near campus often produced stronger rankings, universal results (e.g., carousels) caused notable swings, and Fathom produced actionable local-search best practices—recommendations for localized tracking, on-site optimization, Google Places/schema, and paid/organic coordination—to help institutions improve local visibility.

Fathom

Kurt Krejny

Director of Online Marketing