How Great West Way® uses Simpleview’s SEO services to create a true sense of place

Stretching between London and Bristol, Great West Way is a touring route following 500 miles of navigable ancient pathways taking in many places — a universally appealing mix of town, country, history, and culture. While its website — built by Simpleview, a Granicus company — helps to tell the wide tale of a destination that truly spans the miles, this case study showcases how Great West Way used Simpleview’s SEO services to enhance its messaging and create a sense of place.

Many destinations, one new brand

The destination marketing organisation (DMO) that represents this collective of places was launched in 2018 with funding from the UK Government Discover England fund. As part of the launch, the Great West Way website was created, supported by a long-term digital strategy that includes ongoing SEO.

Simpleview SEO services: providing continuity through long-term partnership

SEO services came as part of the initial build package, but over the years, Great West Way has remained as an SEO services client.

While this continuity was very important in helping to establish Great West Way as a recognised brand and a destination, a longer-term partnership made sense, Fiona Errington, head of marketing for Great West Way, explains, especially as other Simpleview clients within the collective entity — Windsor, Bath, and Bristol — all used the Destination Management System (DMS) to manage, store, and input their data.

A collective effort … with collective benefits 

Despite the initial challenges of its early years — including the COVID-19 pandemic — Great West Way’s digital presence has moved from strength to strength. As Fiona explains, the support and expertise given as part of Simpleview’s SEO services package has ensured the DMO’s website has seen almost a 40% year-on-year increase in organic traffic from spring of 2024 to spring of 2025. This, she says, is fuelled in part by the fact that this DMO is a collective of destinations, with each business and destination — known as Ambassadors of the Great West Way — helping to attract an increase in traffic that serves to benefit the wider group. The overall engagement rate has also increased by 3.52% year on year to 55.68%.

Peaks in traffic often occur during large events within destinations and at certain times of year, especially during bank holidays and the Christmas season. When these peaks happen, she adds that, “We do push traffic to other destination websites [within the Great West Way] as well,” thus taking advantage not only of the increase in traffic, but of the fact that so many of the destinations within the DMO already rely upon the Simpleview DMS to promote their regions. This integration, says Fiona, has made the collective effort that is the Great West Way “a lot easier.”

Dedicated support, expert knowledge

As Fiona explains, the on-page support offered as part of the SEO services solution has enabled the Great West Way team to focus its strategies and to grow its website, ultimately helping visitors to get to know Great West Way both as a brand and as a destination. Thanks to the keyword research provided by the SEO team, the DMO is better able to tailor its content in order to target its audience. Fiona adds that monthly calls with their dedicated SEO support team are helpful in not only talking through stats, but in resolving technical issues or — even better — used to discuss new developments, algorithms, and best practices in SEO.

“I think it’s very much about the advice … I think the fact that you've got the expertise in the destination field is very helpful,” Fiona says, adding that this level of knowledge means the DMO is kept abreast of trends that are happening within the wider sector. But most importantly, with the insight imparted to them via Simpleview’s team of SEO experts, the Great West Way®  team not only save effort but time, which, in Fiona’s words, “is the same as saving us money.”