The challenge
Hedge & Stone is a landscape design and construction studio based in Melbourne, with a strong aesthetic and an enviable portfolio of residential and commercial projects. The business had no shortage of quality work — but it came almost entirely through referrals and word of mouth.
When we began tracking in April 2024, the site had near-zero organic presence across 124 non-branded target keywords. There was no content strategy, no suburb-based local SEO infrastructure, and no technical foundation to support ranking. In a category where high-intent buyers search for specific styles, locations, and services before ever contacting a business, that invisibility was leaving significant enquiry volume on the table.
Landscaping and garden design is also a slow-trust category. Potential clients are typically investing tens of thousands of dollars in a project, and they research carefully before reaching out. Ranking for the right terms — premium design, specific plant types, award-winning landscapers — requires genuine authority, not just keyword optimisation.
What we did
We rebuilt the entire website from the ground up — optimised for SEO from day one, with a 98/100 Google PageSpeed Insights performance score achieved on launch. A clean, fast technical foundation removed every crawl and performance barrier before content work began.
From there, we built a content architecture around how Hedge & Stone's ideal clients actually search. That meant dedicated landing pages for each target Melbourne suburb, service pages covering design, construction, and consulting, and content targeting the premium garden design and landscaping terms that high-value clients use — not generic terms dominated by directories.
On the authority side, we pursued editorial placements in architecture, interiors, and outdoor living publications — the kinds of backlinks that reinforce Hedge & Stone's positioning as a design-led studio rather than a general landscaping contractor.
The strategy was always going to be a long build. Competing for premium design terms requires accumulated authority, not quick wins.
The results
SEO authority compounds. The Hedge & Stone data makes that visible.
For the first 18 months, growth was measured — rankings climbing steadily, traffic building slowly. Then in January 2026, the curve changed. Visibility and estimated traffic both began accelerating sharply, and by April 2026 the trajectory is still pointing steeply upward.
Of 124 tracked non-branded keywords, 83 now rank on page one — up 39 since the campaign started, an 88.6% increase. 51 terms rank in the top three, up 32 since start — a 168.4% increase. 85 keywords have moved up overall, with suburb pages now ranking consistently across Melbourne.
"We came from a referral-only business with no organic presence at all. Now high-quality enquiries come in consistently through search — and the calibre of client is exactly what we want." Director, Hedge & Stone
Monthly organic enquiries have grown 20 times over. The business that once depended entirely on referrals now has a compounding organic channel — and it's still accelerating.
