Introduction
When someone searches for help in a moment of crisis, they need to find the right support immediately. Samaritans had a strong brand presence and valuable content, but their website wasn’t reaching its full potential in search results. We worked with their team to identify the barriers holding them back and create a roadmap for sustainable growth.
About Samaritans
Samaritans provides emotional support to anyone in emotional distress, struggling to cope, or at risk of suicide throughout the United Kingdom and Ireland. Their services are free and available round the clock, 365 days a year.
Technical barriers were limiting visibility during critical moments
Samaritans had built a comprehensive website with strong content and established brand authority. However, technical issues and missed content opportunities were limiting their visibility in search results during the exact moments when people needed to find them most.
Like many large charities, the Samaritans team was managing competing priorities across multiple departments. They needed expert guidance that would identify high-impact improvements without overwhelming their internal resources. Any recommendations had to be clear, actionable, and realistic for their team to implement.
A comprehensive audit with practical recommendations
We designed an SEO audit and strategic review focused on uncovering the specific issues holding back the Samaritans website and providing practical solutions their team could act on.
Our approach started with detailed technical analysis. We conducted a thorough technical SEO audit to identify errors and site architecture issues preventing optimal performance. Working through their Google Search Console data, we spotted indexing challenges and opportunities to ensure more of their valuable content could be found in search results.
We then carried out a systematic content audit, analysing existing pages to determine what to optimise, what to preserve, and where gaps existed in their content strategy. For each high-priority page, we created detailed, actionable optimisation recommendations with clear guidance on implementation and specific reasoning for why it would improve performance.
123% organic traffic growth
Following implementation of our recommendations, organic traffic to the Samaritans website grew by 123%. This dramatic increase meant thousands more people in crisis were able to find the support they needed through search.
The Samaritans team deserves significant credit for this growth. They had built a strong foundation for the website to be built on before our work started, and implemented our technical and content improvements comprehensively.
External factors also contributed to the uplift. When Samaritans became London Marathon Charity of the Year, increased brand awareness drove more search demand. Topical news coverage around their work further boosted visibility.
Better search visibility meant Samaritans’ life-saving services reached more people at the exact moment they were searching for help – the ultimate measure of success for crisis support content.
“The Platypus team provided us with clear, actionable SEO recommendations that we could implement at our own pace. Their expertise in charity SEO helped us identify opportunities we’d have missed otherwise. We were delighted with the results!” – Team Samaritans
