There are 197 accredited law schools in the United States, with over 130,000 students enrolled annually. Law schools are rigorous and competitive, yet vital for anyone pursuing a legal profession or a career in certain business fields. On the West Coast, the University of Southern California offers one of the best programs in the country at the Gould School of Law. Its alumni include federal and state judges, district attorneys, politicians, CEOS, and more.
Yet despite the institution’s distinguished track record, USC Gould School of Law struggled with digital marketing. They faced limited search visibility, technical errors on their website, and a pending site migration that required precise, strategic execution. Additionally, the school was competing for keyword rankings with other prestigious colleges and universities.
In light of these challenges, how could the USC Gould School of Law attract more applicants and boost enrollment? That’s where the team at Redefine Marketing Group stepped in. We assessed the client’s online presence and developed a comprehensive strategy for SEO for higher education.
From 2022 to 2025, we helped USC Gould grow non-brand traffic by 175% and achieve over 26,000 page one keyword rankings. Here’s how we did it.
The challenge
There’s no question that the USC Gould School of Law is a top-tier school. It is consistently one of the highest ranking law schools in the country. They rank #26 overall on the US News law school guide, and #16 for Business/Corporate Law, and and #15 for Tax Law. But its rankings on search engines weren’t so high.
Outside of “branded search” – search terms associated directly with the school, such as “USC Gould” or “USC law school” – the client wasn’t showing up. They lacked the visibility to reach a broader audience. Unless prospective students already had the school’s name in mind when they searched, they weren’t finding USC Gould.
The client faced two additional challenges to their digital marketing:
- Technical SEO errors which prevent their website from being effectively crawled and indexed by search engines like Google.
- A website redesign which required a precise migration plan to avoid losing their branded keywords, domain authority, and back links.
Redefine’s solution
So how did Redefine help with SEO for this higher education institution? After assessing the client’s needs, competitor landscape, and target audience, we got to work supporting the law school’s organic marketing.
Step 1. Technical audit
First, we performed a technical site audit. With SEO for higher education, technical audits provide a strong foundation for strategy by identifying areas that need immediate attention within a site’s structure.
A technical audit finds the problems that need to be fixed to support content and off-page SEO. You could have the best keyword strategy in the world, but it won’t matter if your site’s performance is poor. Too many technical errors prevent search engines like Google from properly indexing a website, resulting in low (or nonexistent) rankings.
A thorough SEO technical audit identifies problems such as:
- Broken links (404 errors)
- Slow loading speeds
- Duplicate content
- Poor internal linking structure
- Poorly optimized XML sitemaps
- Improper schema markup
- Missing metadata and alt text
After performing our technical audit for USC Gould, we discovered a number of issues affecting the school’s website. Before executing any other phase of our organic marketing strategy, we rolled up our sleeves and got to work fixing these issues.
Step 2. Keyword research
Next, our team performed keyword research. Like technical audits, keyword research is a critical step in SEO. Keyword research informs everything – from the audiences we target to the competitors we challenge. It’s how we make sure the client shows up in searches that are relevant to their niche.
When doing SEO for higher education institutions like USC Gould, we take a deep dive into:
- Search trends
- Competitor positioning and keyword gaps
- Audience search intent
Our client USC Gould already had strong branded search. Users Googling “USC Gould JD program” and similar terms could find the school with ease. However, branded search isn’t enough to sustain growth and generate leads. To give USC an edge above the competition, we needed our client to rank for general terms – also known as “non-branded search.”
After our research, we developed a keyword list for USC Gould that included terms such as:
- “Best law schools in California”
- “Degrees for law school”
- “International business law degree”
- “Juris Doctor degree”
Step 3. Optimizations and content
Once we had our keyword list, we went to work with on-page optimizations and content. This involved collaborating with USC Gould’s internal marketing team. We created detailed recommendations for the client to optimize existing pages, create new pages, and adjust metadata to include strategic keywords.
Step 4. Strategic website migration
USC Gould also sought our expertise for migrating their new website. While the new design offered an exciting upgrade to the school’s online presence, we advised the client to make this transition as seamless as possible. When done improperly, website migrations can cause your site to lose valuable, hard-earned SEO equity.
We worked closely with USC Gould to:
- Setup 301 redirects to prevent broken links and lost traffic
- Preserve existing URL structures wherever possible
- Audit new designs for SEO best practices, such as fast page speed
- Update internal linking to boost crawlability
- Generate updated sitemaps, post-launch
By laying the proper groundwork for the school’s new website migration, we were able to prevent traffic loss, preserve critical keyword rankings, and resolve potential technical issues before they become a problem.
The results
As a result of our campaign, our client saw tremendous growth across all metrics. From 2022 to 2024, we helped USC Gould School of Law achieve:
- +175% non-brand traffic growth
- +27% increase of position 1-3 rankings
- +44% increase of positions 4-10 rankings
- 26.4k total page 1 rankings
Read our full USC Gould School of Law case study here.
Get schooled on SEO for higher education
While USC Gould School of Law is unique for its world-class education, its digital marketing challenges were commonplace. Many colleges and universities have a strong reputation within their academic fields, yet underperform in search.
By investing in SEO, schools can increase their visibility among prospective students and boost enrollment. With the right organic search tactics, SEO for higher education is a smart investment for any college or university. Want to get started with your own digital marketing campaign? Contact the team at Redefine today.
