How do we write and optimize a case study?

When writing a case study, it's important to include the right content—the need, solution and results—but equally important is how to add context, substantiation and SEO value.

When writing a case study for your website, it’s easy to assume that your only responsibility is to write content, but the work doesn’t end there. To ensure that the most eyeballs see your website page, you need to optimize your content. See below for a checklist of what to keep in mind when writing and posting your case study.

  • Keywords – What keywords are you trying to maintain or improve your rankings for? Make sure to include these in your content.
  • Overall title – Keep it simple and succinct, yet sharp enough to grab your reader’s attention
  • Category – Website visitors are looking for what kind of work you did so they can determine if it is relevant to them. Don’t forget to label your case study (e.g. Public Relations, Content Marketing, Strategy & Research) beneath the title.
  • The challenge – This should address the marketing and business goals or challenges at hand.
  • The solution – How did you and your team address this challenge? This is the place to talk about both strategy and execution.
  • The result – This should be the strongest part of your case study. Include metrics whenever possible. The results paragraph should give context to the stats, but you can also include stand-alone figures at the bottom of the case study.
  • Section title – Each section of your case study—in this case, the challenge, solution and result—should include a title or label. Just like with the overall title, aim for informative and punchy yet concise.
  • Show your work – Do you have visual examples like photos from your trade show booth or impactful media coverage? Don’t forget to include them.
  • Testimonial – If your client or another relevant third party can vouch for your success, ask him or her for a quote for your website.
  • CTA – Consider if you can link your case study to another relevant piece of content, have a downloadable piece of long-form content or simply want prospects to enter their contact information so you can reach out to them.
  • Metadata – Write a 160-character description of the case study.