Client: Kilroy
Creating authoritative gap year travel content
3.2k
organic clicks
195.5k
organic impressions
116
earned backlinks
Kilroy , the youth and student travel specialists, approached us soon after launching their flagship UK travel agency in Bristol. With a fresh .co.uk website - and over 30 years of experience in the Nordic market – the brands goal was clear: establish a strong presence in the competitive UK travel space and capture the attention of adventure-seeking under-35s.
However, the new website was hidden deep in the search results - far from page one. To change that, we developed a comprehensive content strategy focused on gap year travel – a high-interest area for their target audience with significant search potential (and earned media appeal).
The brief:
Following the collapse of STA Travel, Kilroy had a unique opportunity to position itself as the leading travel brand for UK-based under-35s.
Our goal was to increase their online visibility and authority through a targeted SEO strategy. We developed a content-led approach focused on high-impact keywords around gap year travel and built a robust backlink profile through authoritative, relevant domains - driving organic growth and building long-term brand credibility.
Creativity & execution
After scouting out the landscape, we created a multi-faceted content hub centered on gap year travel, with several standout pieces:
The Gap Year Planner
With our focus locked in it was time to start building up a bank of irresistibly linkable onsite content with a hero piece of 10x content as the star of the show.
To do this, we honed in on one of the biggest challenges gap year travelers face: the planning process.
We developed the ultimate prep resource. An easy-to -follow step by step guide to help walk young travellers through the 80-days leading up to their big trip. From checking passport validity to scheduling travel vaccinations, every key task is covered.
Alongside the asset we, dived into the details. Explaining how you can fast track a new passport if you’ve left it too late or reduce your carbon footprint by investing in an Interrail pass.
This gave us a strong destination to link back to when outreaching to key URDs with related stories.
The results
600 organic clicks
27.7k organic impressions
9 organic keywords ranking in positions 1-20
The Gap Year Rulebook
To complement the practical planning guidance, we created the Gap Year Rulebook - a playful, but comprehensive guide to the strange and surprising laws travellers might encounter worldwide.
This content tapped into the curiosity of young travellers while providing genuinely useful information about legal considerations abroad.
Within just 48 days of publication, it began ranking for 18 organic keywords, including top 10 positions for unique terms like "is it illegal to drive shirtless in florida" (position 5) and "strange laws in panama" (position 6).
The Rulebook exemplified our "media-first" approach, creating content that was both valuable to the audience and inherently linkable for journalists looking for interesting travel stories.
The results
2.5k organic clicks
110k organic impressions
88 organic keywords ranking in positions 1-20
Supporting content ecosystem
Beyond these flagship pieces, we developed additional gap year travel resources including:
Vaccine requirements guides
Summer volunteering opportunities
Sober curious travel options
This ecosystem of interconnected content gave us strong destinations to link back to when outreaching to key URDs (unique referring domains) with related stories, while simultaneously building organic visibility for valuable search terms
Our key take outs
Offer a way to make your target audience’s lives easier. Find out their stresses and create an asset to combat that.
Go 10x and make your content better than anything that’s already out there. Don’t do things by halves.
It’s all about timing your takeoff right. If there’s a gap in the market it’s the perfect time to launch.
By developing multiple interconnected resources around gap year travel, we created a comprehensive hub that established Kilroy as the authority in this space.
Looking for a touch of fame and findability?Let’s talk.
hello@wearebottle.com