Masterlease: CAT framework drives 38% traffic growth

Strategic growth in long-term rentals

Between March and mid-December 2025, we conducted comprehensive work on site structure, content, and internal linking in the long-term rental segment. The challenge? Standing out in an industry where competitors heavily invest in local SEO, advisory content, and non-brand visibility.

Our approach was built on the CAT framework – Content, Authority, and Technology – three pillars working together to deliver sustainable growth. Rather than spreading efforts widely, we focused on deeply strengthening one key service area and all semantically related queries.

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Limited structure, untapped potential

Before the project launch, Masterlease faced several key obstacles:

• Limited local structure – The site lacked dedicated landing pages for cities and regions with real search volume
• Underdeveloped content clusters – Content around the main service wasn’t sufficiently expanded to capture the full spectrum of user queries
• Semantic gaps – Existing content didn’t fully cover key user intents from a semantic perspective
• Weak non-brand visibility – The site struggled to rank for generic, high-intent queries beyond branded terms

Masterlease needed a strategic framework to catch up and scale efficiently.

Building topical authority through structured expansion

Our objectives were clear and measurable:

• Increase organic traffic with particular emphasis on non-brand queries
• Improve average positions for key service-related terms
• Strengthen topical authority in the long-term rental space
• Create a scalable foundation for future growth

The strategy centered on three key drivers: expanding the structure with local landing pages, semantic content optimization using vector analysis, and building a cohesive topical cluster around the main service.

We adopted the CAT framework as our guiding principle: without clean Technology (rendering, crawl budget, architecture), Content and Authority efforts don’t deliver results.

Technology: Foundation for local structure

The CAT framework assumes that Content and Authority only work when built on solid Technology. We started with competitor analysis and structural expansion.

16 local landing pages were created for cities and regions with real search volume. These pages weren’t just thin location variants – they were properly optimized to enable indexing and prioritization of local non-brand phrases.

From August 2025, these pages generated 2,000 clicks at an average position of 12, with all key phrases ranking in TOP10. Even excluding blog traffic, overall non-brand organic traffic increased by 28% (average position improved from 20.5 to 13.5) – confirming that local structure is the foundation of clusters, especially in the automotive industry.

Content: Vector semantics and topical clustering

Content in CAT isn’t about volume – it’s about deep intent coverage. We analyzed semantic relationships and optimized content to ensure search engines understood the site as a comprehensive authority, not a collection of isolated pages.

Semantic optimization results:

• Average semantic distance from the main phrase increased from 0.78 to 0.85 across service landing pages, car models, and blog
• Blog content supporting the long-term rental cluster (costs, contracts, comparisons with leasing) was introduced and semantically linked to landing pages
• Vector semantics ensured Google and LLMs recognized the site as a complete topical authority

Authority: External and internal link strategy

Authority is built through both external credibility and internal coherence. We executed a two-pronged approach:

External link building:

• 53 external links acquired on thematically related portals, local sites, and high-authority sources
• All links pointed to the long-term rental service with diversified anchor texts for naturalness

Internal linking expansion:

• Strategic linking from blog to service/local landing pages
• Cross-linking between local pages to distribute authority within the cluster
• Clear hierarchy established: services > local > blog

This combination helped search engines better understand priorities and relationships, resulting in non-brand clicks increasing by 38%, with average position improving from 11.6 to 8.2.

Our collaboration with Joanna and the Insightland team is built on strong communication, a partnership approach, and clear direction.

I particularly appreciate their ability to translate advanced SEO knowledge and analytical data into simple, understandable language that genuinely supports business decisions on Masterlease’s side.

The project gained momentum quickly and provides a solid foundation for further development of our site’s visibility.

Karolina Pruszkowska

Senior Digital Marketing Specialist, Masterlease Group

Results of Insightland Team’s efforts

+38%

Non-brand clicks increased by 38%, with average position improving from 11.6 to 8.2. Search engines better understood the site hierarchy and priorities through strategic content clustering and internal linking.

+25%

Overall organic traffic grew by 25%, driven by improved structure, semantic optimization, and authority building across the entire long-term rental cluster.

Key Metrics

Metric	Baseline Period (Mar-Jul 2025)	CAT Period (Aug-Dec 2025)	Growth
Total Clicks	Baseline	+25%	25%
Average Position	11.6	8.5	-3.1
Non-brand Clicks	Baseline	+38%	38%
Non-brand Position (with blog)	11.6	8.2	-3.4
Non-brand CTR	1.4%	1.7%	+0.3
Non-brand Position (without blog)	20.5	13.5	-7

Key Takeaways

The CAT framework proved effective for service-based e-commerce with local reach:

• Technology first: 16 local landing pages delivered quick results (2k clicks in 5 months), but required thorough competitor analysis
• Semantic Content > Volume: Growth from 0.78 to 0.85 semantic distance translated directly to TOP10 results
• Authority through links: Clusters with CAT work in both GEO and traditional SEO, as LLMs value coherence

A solid technical foundation multiplies the effects of Content and Authority efforts. This approach is ideal for service-based businesses looking to scale visibility in competitive local markets.