REACTIVE PR Campaign on Japanese Knotweed to Secure National Coverage for Thomson

Client: Thomson Environmental Consultants 

Services: Public Relations

Client overview

Thomson Environmental Consultants is one of the UK’s leading independent environmental consultancies, supporting a range of businesses in complying with environmental legislation and helping them achieve the best possible outcome to benefit both themselves and the natural world.

They possess in-house expertise in terrestrial ecology, marine services, freshwater ecology and management, marine laboratory services (including invertebrate, fish, and sediment analyses), habitat creation and management, geospatial data management and mapping, arboriculture consultancy and contracting, and landscape architecture.

Key stats: 

• 180 pieces of press coverage, all including backlinks to the site  
• 160% increase in referral traffic 
• 53% increase in new users 
• 144,913 impressions and 648 clicks 
• Securing over 200 new relevant organic keyword rankings

The brief:

A key objective of our PR efforts for Thomson Environmental is to boost SEO and website visibility. We aim to establish the consultancy as an industry expert within its target sectors. To achieve this, we actively manage a press office, monitoring and responding to media inquiries from journalists. This strategy helps build a strong backlink profile, securing coverage in relevant, high-traffic publications that align with their audience.

A key aspect of this activity involves anticipating seasonal themes and conversations in the press. For the environmental firm, Japanese knotweed is a recurring topic. As an invasive species, it’s a yearly challenge for homeowners, and the firm holds expertise in its removal. Recognising that this would be a sought-after solution and a topic in the news agenda, we proactively developed on-site content, including tips and guidance from their team, to prepare for media inquiries on the subject.

The results: 

Coverage and backlinks

Following various media requests on the topic, the Wild team secured coverage in 180 UK regional titles, all of which included backlinks pointing back to the Japanese Knotweed blog, and accumulated a potential reach of over 45 million. 

Coverage highlights include: 

• The Argus (DA 76) 
• Glasgow Times (DA 73) 
• This is Local London (DA 67) 

During the coverage period, the Japanese Knotweed blog views increased by 44% compared to the preceding period. New users accessing the site via this blog saw an uplift of 53%, contributing to an overall 160% increase in referral traffic. 

During this period, the blog gained 144,913 impressions and 648 clicks. It remains one of Thomson’s top-performing content pieces, consistently driving traffic to the site on a weekly basis. 

Keyword ranking improvements

Keyword ranking highlights include:

• Over 200 new relevant keyword rankings, including informational queries such as “how does Japanese knotweed spread” and “when is Japanese knotweed growing season”.
• 52% (32 positions) increase for “Japanese knotweed identification” year-on-year, and 81% (45 positions increase) for “how common is Japanese knotweed” year-on-year.
• Ranking on the 1st page for many key terms, including ranking 8th place on average for “Japanese knotweed characteristics”.

These results are something we can continue to build on, as Japanese Knotweed will remain seasonally relevant among homeowners and in the news agenda. 

Client feedback

Thomson Environment Consultants recently shared this insight after a meeting with the CEO of a competitor:

“They had been looking at Thomson on the web, seeing how we were performing on key search terms and phrases.

They said ‘you guys don’t pay for any clicks, and you are appearing on the first page, generally near the top for key search terms – seriously impressive.’

Thought I would feed that back – great to have that sort of recognition from a competitor.”

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