Case Study: Skyscanner
360 SEO tests. 10 markets. 8 languages. 16 templates. 60% wins.
Challenge
As one of the world’s leading travel platforms, Skyscanner wanted to significantly expand its SEO testing program across its EMEA region and relevant websites, representing 10 markets, 8 languages, and 16 page templates. The challenge was not only identifying high-impact testing opportunities but also managing and executing them efficiently at scale, while maintaining consistency across a complex international website ecosystem.
Goal
The objective was to build and operate a scalable SEO testing framework that would continuously improve website performance through incremental optimizations. By applying SEO and conversion rate optimization (CRO) best practices, Skyscanner aimed to validate new ideas, uncover growth opportunities, and drive additional organic traffic across its global properties.
Strategy & Approach
To support Skyscanner’s ambitious testing roadmap, Intrepid established a highly structured and collaborative testing program focused on efficiency, prioritization, and clean execution.
Key elements of the approach included:
- Developing precise testing schedules and workflows to support a consistent rollout cadence
- Assigning a specialized four-person team (divide and conquer), each contributing expertise across SEO strategy, testing methodology, implementation, and analysis
- Prioritizing tests based on projected impact, scalability, and business value to maximize results.
- Embedding directly within Skyscanner’s existing processes and technology stack to streamline execution.
- Implementing the majority of tests directly within Skyscanner’s Contentful CMS, which allows for faster deployment and reduced overhead.
- Testing a variety of on-page SEO elements, including title tags, meta descriptions, H1s, heading structures, and FAQ content across multiple templates and markets.
- Measuring every test individually to determine its impact and identify opportunities for broader implementation. Keyword footprint growth and average ranking improvements served as the primary performance indicators when evaluating success.
This integrated approach enabled the team to launch approximately five new tests every week while maintaining quality and consistency across multiple markets and languages.
Results
Since July 2024, Intrepid has helped Skyscanner build one of the most extensive SEO testing programs in its organization:
- 360 SEO tests launched and analyzed to date.
- Approximately 5 new tests are deployed every week.
- Testing was conducted across 10 international websites (points of sale/markets).
- Testing was executed in 8 languages: English, French, German, Dutch, Spanish, Italian, Polish, and Portuguese.
- Experiments were run across 16 page templates and 5 core SEO elements, including title tags, meta descriptions, H1s, heading structures, and FAQ content.
- 60% of all completed tests delivered positive or inconclusive outcomes, showing measurable value and increased organic traffic.
- Additional testing was conducted on FAQ content to evaluate its impact on organic visibility and search performance.
- Results were assessed individually and used keyword growth and average ranking to quantify performance gains.
Through a disciplined, scalable testing framework, Skyscanner continues to generate actionable insights that drive ongoing organic search growth across its global web properties.
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