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NRL.com

How we took NRL.com past Fox Sports in organic search — and added 3 million visitors

Sport / Media · 3-month sprint
SEOTechnical SEOSite MigrationContent

Whitehat Agency delivered outstanding SEO support that made a real impact on our website's visibility. Their expertise, clear communication and strategic approach helped us boost organic traffic and rankings. Highly recommend their team!

NRL Digital Team
NRL.com
NRL.com — enterprise SEO case study by Whitehat Agency
01
3M
Additional visitors
Net new organic
02
+58%
Traffic, year on year
Sustained growth
03
#1
Outranked Fox Sports
On key terms
01 · Challenge

Behind Fox Sports — and boxed in by the platform.

NRL.com came to us with a clear mission: overtake Fox Sports in organic search and win back the audience that was slipping to a competitor. The ambition was there. The platform wasn't.

Their site sat on the Telstra CMS — a setup that capped SEO flexibility and throttled performance at exactly the point they needed room to move. To win the rankings they wanted, the foundation had to change first.

Pre-engagement baseline
Organic search · AU
Platform
Telstra CMS
SEO-limited
vs Fox Sports
Behind
Losing the SERP
Goal
#1
Outrank the competitor
Headroom
Capped
Performance throttled
02 · Approach

Re-platform first, then take the rankings.

We built a data-led SEO programme around a single outcome: page-one dominance on the terms that mattered. The first move was freeing the site from the platform holding it back.

From there, an aggressive, white-hat push — technical foundations, content and the keyword targeting needed to close the gap on Fox Sports, then pass them.

The SEO playbook
4 workstreams

Seamless platform migration

Moved NRL.com off the restrictive Telstra CMS onto a modern, SEO-friendly platform — preserving equity and laying a foundation built for organic growth.

Aggressive technical SEO

A fast, white-hat technical programme that put 500+ keywords on page one of Google.com.au inside three months.

Content + keyword strategy

Targeted the high-value terms Fox Sports owned, with content and on-page work engineered to outrank them in a fiercely contested space.

Compounding growth

Ongoing content and site-architecture improvements turned early wins into a 58% year-on-year lift in traffic.

03 · The result

Past Fox Sports, and 3 million visitors richer.

Within three months, NRL.com ranked 500+ keywords on page one and overtook Fox Sports on the search terms that drive the audience.

Organic traffic grew 58% year on year — roughly three million additional visitors — proof of compounding authority in one of Australia's most competitive content categories.

Organic traffic · indexed, 12 months
GA4 + GSC
3M
added visitors
+58% YoY
M1M2M3M4M5M6M7M8M9M10M11M12
Results

The numbers that moved the SERP.

An enterprise site, a restrictive platform and a direct competitor to beat. Here's what a re-platform plus aggressive SEO delivered.

01
3M
Additional visitors
Net new organic visitors driven over the programme.
02
+58%
Website traffic, YoY
Sustained organic growth from content and architecture work.
03
#1
Outranked Fox Sports
Took top organic positions on key terms in a fiercely contested category.
04
500+
Keywords on page one
On Google.com.au — within just three months.
Is your platform capping your rankings?

The right migration can unlock years of organic growth.

60-minute teardown with a senior strategist. We'll show you what's holding your search performance back and the fastest route past your competitors — yours to keep.

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Client voices

Words from the people paying us.

★★★★★

“Whitehat Agency has done a remarkable job with the Wiise project. The quality of work is unmatched. The team there is highly creative and results focused. They helped us deliver the Wiise website in record time and worked really well with our internal team. Then once the website was live, they helped with the digital marketing launch campaign with exceptional results. Thank you.”

Emma
VP of Marketing, Microsoft Australia
★★★★★

“Whitehat treats my business like it’s their own. They really valued our company’s values.”

Whitney London
Founder, Eden Hair Extensions
★★★★★

“Whitehat didn’t just send more traffic — they sent qualified doctors ready to insure. 300+ fresh leads and an 18% jump in completed quotes.”

Eric Lowenstein
CEO, Tego Insurance
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