UrbanNest
In 2018, Lerato Mkhize launched UrbanNest, a food blog inspired by her love for South African culinary traditions. Initially a platform for sharing family recipes, UrbanNest evolved as Lerato’s audience connected with her authentic takes on dishes like bobotie, bunny chow, and malva pudding.
By 2024, the blog had become a go-to resource for traditional South African cuisine, celebrating the country’s rich food heritage at Urbannestcuisine.
Lerato’s personal mission to preserve and share South African food culture shaped UrbanNest’s identity. The blog now attracts 87.2K monthly visits, offering recipes, cooking tips, and cultural insights for food lovers worldwide.
The South African food and beverage market was valued at R150 billion in 2024, with growing global interest in authentic African flavors. For Lerato, UrbanNest is a passion project to showcase her heritage.
EcoSEO partnered with UrbanNest to amplify its online presence, driving organic traffic through targeted SEO strategies. Below, we detail how we elevated UrbanNest’s visibility in the competitive food blog niche.
Lead Time: 4 Months
Sector: Culinary & Lifestyle
Target Type: Culinary & Lifestyle
Demographic: Food enthusiasts, aged 25–50, interested in South African culture and cuisine
Website Goal:Inspire Culinary Exploration, Build a Community, Drive Traffic and Monetization, Promote Food Culture
Services: Technical SEO, Optimising Schema Markup, Building Backlinks, Optimizing Images




366%
Increase in Organic Traffic


The Challenge
UrbanNest had cultivated a dedicated following over six years, but organic traffic lingered around 18.7K monthly visits, according to Semrush.
Despite Lerato’s flavorful content, the blog struggled to rank for high-intent keywords like “traditional South African recipes.”
Key obstacles included:
- Low visibility in search engine results pages (SERPs) for South African cuisine terms.
- Minimal use of technical SEO, such as schema markup, to enhance search listings.
- Limited authoritative backlinks to strengthen domain credibility.
- Underoptimized images, missing opportunities in Google Image search.
Lerato approached EcoSEO in June 2024 to scale UrbanNest’s reach and cement its authority as a leading voice in South African food culture.






Enhancing SERP Presence with Recipe Schema
We used Semrush to analyze UrbanNest’s keyword performance and identify ranking gaps for high-intent terms like “South African bobotie recipe.”
This revealed opportunities to implement recipe schema, which we applied using Google’s Structured Data Markup Helper to tag recipe ingredients, cooking times, and ratings.
This enabled rich snippets, such as star ratings and prep times, to appear in SERPs, making UrbanNest’s listings more clickable.
As a result, Google Search Console reported 12.4K keywords triggering enhanced results, boosting click-through rates by 22%.
Crafting Authentic Content for User Queries
Google Search Console was used to extract high-performing search queries, such as “how to make authentic bunny chow,” to target “People Also Ask” sections.
We analyzed these queries to identify user intent and optimized UrbanNest’s articles with Semrush’s Content Template Tool, ensuring content addressed specific audience needs.
Lerato’s warm, storytelling style was enhanced with FAQ sections in top recipes, providing answers to common questions like “What spices are used in South African cuisine?”
This approach increased engagement, with Google Analytics showing a 30% rise in time-on-page for optimized posts.


Driving Visual Traffic with Image Optimization
Using Ahrefs’ Site Explorer, we discovered that UrbanNest’s vibrant dish photos had untapped potential in Google Image search, a key traffic driver for recipe blogs.
We optimized images by adding descriptive alt text with keywords identified via Semrush’s Keyword Magic Tool, compressed files using TinyPNG for faster load times, and submitted image sitemaps through Google Search Console.
This strategy boosted image search traffic from 3% to 15% of total visits, as tracked by Google Analytics, significantly increasing UrbanNest’s visibility for visual searches.
Building Authority with Targeted Backlinks
Ahrefs’ Link Intersect Tool helped us identify link-building opportunities by analyzing competitors in the South African food and lifestyle niche.
We secured 42 high-quality backlinks from local blogs, global culinary sites, and recipe roundups by pitching guest posts and collaborating with South African food brands.
We monitored backlink performance using Ahrefs’ Backlink Checker. We also tracked ranking improvements in Google Search Console.
The data showed UrbanNest’s domain authority rising from 28 to 39. This increase helped enhance rankings for competitive terms like “traditional South African recipes.”


The Results
In four months, EcoSEO’s strategies transformed UrbanNest’s performance:
- Organic Traffic: Monthly visits grew from 18.7K to 87.2K, a 366% increase.
- Keyword Rankings: UrbanNest now ranks for 29.8K keywords, with 1.8K in the top 3 positions.
- Rich Snippets: 12.4K keywords trigger recipe snippets, boosting SERP visibility.
- Backlinks: Domain authority rose from 28 to 39, driven by 42 new high-quality backlinks.
- Image Search: Google Image search now accounts for 15% of total traffic, up from 3%.
UrbanNest’s top-performing recipe, “Traditional Bobotie with Yellow Rice,” now drives 5.6K monthly visits, thanks to its FAQ section and optimized images.
EcoSEO’s strategy blended technical expertise with Lerato’s authentic voice. We leveraged tools like Semrush, Ahrefs, and Google Search Console to align content with search intent.
We also enhanced search results pages using schema and built authority through targeted backlinks. This combined approach unlocked significant growth. UrbanNest now connects with a global audience hungry for traditional South African flavors.

Technical Tools:
Semrush, Ahrefs, Google Search Console, Google’s Structured Data Markup Helper, TinyPNG, Google Analytics

SEO Services
Semrush, Ahrefs, Google Search Console, Google’s Structured Data Markup Helper, TinyPNG, Google Analytics
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