257% organic growth from an already-competitive baseline
Most SEO campaigns start from zero. Space Landscape Designs didn't - they were already ranking well when we began. Moving an already-competitive site significantly further is a different challenge entirely, and a more demanding one.
Space Landscape Designs came to us with a problem most agencies would call a good problem: they were already ranking.
When we began in July 2024, the site had meaningful organic visibility - estimated traffic in the hundreds per month, solid ranking coverage across the target keyword set, and a foundation that a previous effort had clearly invested in. The percentage improvements available were smaller by definition. Moving a site from zero to ranked is straightforward in principle. Moving a site that's already competitive meaningfully further is a different discipline.
The challenge was identifying where real gains remained. At this level, every incremental position on a competitive term matters - the difference between position 4 and position 1 for a high-intent local search isn't a small uplift, it's a multiple. And with 118 tracked non-branded terms already partially covered, the work required precision rather than volume.
We opened with a detailed gap analysis rather than a standard audit. The question wasn't "what's broken?" - it was "where is the ceiling, and what's between here and it?"
That analysis identified clusters of terms where rankings had plateaued just outside the top positions, authority signals that were strong overall but uneven across key pages, and content that was ranking but not converting at the level the traffic warranted.
We restructured the internal authority flow to push equity more directly into the pages competing for the highest-value terms. Content was refined and expanded on pages that were ranking on page one but not in the top three - the marginal improvement that makes the real commercial difference.
Link acquisition was targeted at elevating the specific pages with the most room to move, rather than broad domain-level authority building. At this stage of a site's development, surgical placement outperforms volume every time.
From a high baseline, the gains compound differently - but they compound.
Of 118 tracked non-branded keywords, 68 now rank on page one, up 16 since the campaign started. 45 rank in the top three - up 18, a 66.7% increase from an already competitive starting position. 61 keywords have moved up overall.
The traffic story is where the commercial impact becomes clear. Estimated organic traffic has grown from approximately 700 visits per month at campaign start to over 2,500 by April 2026 - growth of about 257% in 21 months. That growth came not from a standing start, but from pushing an already-strong organic presence into a higher gear.
"Have been working with David for a year now with regards to SEO on our website. He and his team have done a great job with our rankings." Jason Elboz, Space Landscape Designs
Space Landscape Designs is proof that the hardest SEO brief isn't always the one that starts at zero.
Space’s Google Business Profile is tracked on Google Maps every week across 21 Sydney suburbs centred on the Northern Beaches, including Manly, Balgowlah, Frenchs Forest, Collaroy, Belrose and Allambie Heights.
“Landscape design” ranks first in 9 of 21 suburbs, and “landscape architect” first in 8 and top three in 11. Across the whole map grid the profile holds 24 first places.
The profile has a 5.0 rating from 46 reviews, more than double the 22 of the typical top-three competitor, and more people are finding it. Comparing May to September 2026 with the same months in 2025, profile views rose 31%, from 7,397 to 9,677, and direction requests rose 36%, from 181 to 247. Customer actions overall (website clicks, calls and direction requests) were up 15%.
Over the 12 months to September 2026 the profile produced 1,670 customer actions: 991 website clicks, 613 direction requests and 66 calls.
More people now ask ChatGPT or Google’s AI for a landscape designer, so we track how often those answers name Space. Every month we put the same questions to ChatGPT, Google AI Mode and Google AI Overviews, and since October 2026 we also check ChatGPT’s local answers suburb by suburb.
Between 26 November 2025 and 2 June 2026, Space went from being named in 26 of 69 AI answers to 39, up 50%. Of the answers that named any business, the share that included Space rose from 43% to 63%. The biggest change was on ChatGPT, from 3 of 23 questions to 19 in ten weeks, by February 2026. In June it was naming Space for 15. Google AI Mode was already strong and stayed there, naming Space for 17 to 20 of 23 questions throughout. Space was named first in 9 answers, up from 4, and its own website was cited in 28, up from 16.
In the latest scan, at the end of September 2026, Space was the joint most-named business across the 36 questions we track, and in the top three of 27 answers. Google AI Mode put it first for "best landscape architecture firms in Sydney", "who are the best landscape designers in Sydney?" and "best landscape design companies Sydney". Its Google AI Overview mentions tripled in two months, from 3 to 10 of the same 36 questions.
ChatGPT now answers "best [service] in [suburb]" with a map of local businesses. In October 2026 we asked it for the best landscape architect, landscape designer and garden designer in 21 Sydney suburbs, from Manly to Mosman. It recommended Space 33 times; the next firm, 13 times. It put Space first 14 times; the next firm, 5. The check a week earlier gave the same picture: 31 against 13 on the map, and 14 against 8 first.
Ask ChatGPT for the best landscape architect in Manly, Frenchs Forest, Brookvale, Bayview or Allambie Heights, and Space is first on its map, in both October checks. In the latest check it also came first for "best pool designer in" Mosman, Vaucluse and Brookvale.
Across a wider set of searches, Google’s AI Overviews cite spacedesigns.com.au for at least 25 questions, about 7,300 AI searches a month between them, including "landscape design services", "sydney landscape architect" and "rooftop garden". Visits from AI assistants are up 49% year on year, and now make up 1.8% of all visits to the site.
