CSM Research SEO Case Study
Content hub strategy • September 2024 – January 2026
C.S.M. International, a Düsseldorf-based motorcycle and automotive market research firm founded in 1991, needed to rank for “CSM” despite dozens of competing CSM companies. We built their complete web presence from scratch and positioned them as THE CSM for motorcycle research through niche content strategy.
51 → 9.7
Average Position
53 → 460
0 → 365
Keywords page 1
evolution throughout the year 2025
Position & Clicks Evolution
What we did
Won the CSM battle
CSM Research didn’t rank for “CSM”. The problem: dozens of companies are called “CSM”. CSM Media Research in China for TV ratings, CSM Research in Atlanta for customer service, CSM Deutschland GmbH, CSM Lojistik in Turkey. Impossible to rank for “CSM” with a generic market research site.
We built the complete site from scratch: all pages, all content, entire structure. Strategy: don’t be “another CSM company”, become THE CSM for motorcycle and automotive research. Result: position 2.27 on “CSM research”, position 5.77 on “CSM international”. We won the acronym battle.
Niche motorcycle content
We applied core SEO techniques: focus pages organized by topic, internal linking between related articles, and thematic silo structure. But the real quality test is where traffic actually goes.
The homepage generates 211 clicks, just 6% of total traffic. Content pages generate 3,237 clicks, 94% of the total. The blog IS the site. Articles function as landing pages in their own right, not as marketing support for a main site.
365 keywords ranking on page 1 proves Google validated the niche expertise. No shortcuts, no tricks. Just content that answers the questions professionals actually search for.
Automotive expertise
CSM Research isn’t just motorcycle. We developed parallel automotive content targeting industry professionals researching consumer behavior, luxury segments, and brand loyalty.
161 automotive keywords tracked, with strong page 1 positions on specialized queries: “luxury automotive industry” position 3.33, “brand loyalty automotive industry” position 3.67, “automotive brands sound user experience” position 1.56. The dual focus motorcycle + automotive reinforced CSM’s positioning as THE consumer behavior research firm for personal mobility.
March 2025 breakthrough
January 2025: position 51 (worst point). Then March 2025 changed everything. Position jumped from 51 to 20 in two months. Google’s core update rewarded niche expertise over generalist content.
The trajectory continued: March 20, April 20, May 21, then September 2025 jumped to position 16, reaching best performance in November 2025 at position 9.7. Example top 10 keyword: “motorcycle sales decline” position 4.18.