Diaklakas.hu SEO Case Study: 3.6x More Traffic, Rankings in AI

There are projects where, at the very beginning, you think: okay, I’ve definitely overcommitted.

Not because the analysis and consulting are unusually hard, but because you also take on implementation (in this case: copywriting). Then you end up cursing that decision on one hand, and quietly thanking yourself on the other for all the hard-earned experience.

Diaklakas.hu (ENG: student rooms) was exactly that kind of SEO project.

And the results speak for themselves:

• +360% YoY increase in clicks (yes, really)
• ~12× more impressions in 2025 vs. 2024 (also not a typo)
• We secured a stable 1–3th position for the most important keyword

The most exciting part — and by far the biggest challenge — was international SEO. The two hardest tasks turned out to be keyword research and bilingual (HU–EN) content production: we had to narrow down priority countries methodologically and map out the actual search demand behind them.

The content ended up being optimized at a level where it could later show up in AI Overviews and AI Mode as well. (Note: this project took place in 2024, at the dawn of “AI in Search.” AI Overviews launched in the US in May 2024, and AI Mode became active in spring 2025.)

Later, we re-optimized part of the content and I wrote additional articles — but since then, the pages have remained unchanged to this day. And they still rank insanely well. With minor interruptions, the organic traffic trend has stayed clearly positive.

So here comes the full case study: who the client is, what the goal was, what we did, and – most importantly-, what results we got.

The Client and the Project Goal

The client is Diaklakas.hu. They provide rooms for international university students in central Budapest. Beyond the great location, their strongest USP is the way they actively support and nurture their community. The company wants students to “stay somewhere cool in Budapest”, and above that they want them to experience their stay as safe, supported, and genuinely enjoyable.

They reached out in early 2024 because they wanted more Google traffic. Specifically, to fill as many spots as possible through organic applicants, and in turn, bring PPC costs down.

Project Challenges: Bilingual Keyword Research and Copywriting

The goal was to build a knowledge hub for students: a place that covers every essential topic about Budapest, the kind of resource students can return to any time they have a question about living here.

That’s why the project’s two main tasks — and biggest challenges — were:

1. International keyword research
2. Bilingual (Hungarian–English) SEO content creation

Bilingual Keyword Research

Keyword research is one of those tasks you can do forever. Especially when the topic has endless subtopics.

So you have to narrow the research down to a limited set of countries.

But what if… basically every country is relevant?

The answer: you still have to pick a focused set of priority markets. And the most reliable compass for that is competitor analysis.

In this project, I used Semrush data to check:

• which countries’ users are visiting the main competitors’ sites, and
• within those countries, where the meaningful search volume sits

So the first step was narrowing down the nationalities worth targeting, based on the client’s input and the competitors’ keyword positions.

Based on the data, these student markets were especially important (not exhaustive, and not necessarily in strict priority order):

• France
• USA
• Spain
• UK

That raised a very practical keyword research question: how do we know it’s actually students and parents searching, not tourists? As tourists are not our target audience.

Because in reality, there’s a strong overlap between:

• searches from students (and their parents) preparing to move to Budapest, and
• searches from tourists planning a trip to Budapest

The solution is surprisingly simple: competitor analysis.

Later, the client validated the keyword research findings against their historical booking data. That’s how I knew we were on the right track.

Content Production: Building the Knowledge Hub

The other big task was content production. In international content marketing, the main challenge is that you’re serving a highly diverse audience. Search intent is often similar, but the information needs and the topics people care about can vary a lot. Some nationalities tend to need more details than others before making a decision.

During keyword research, we identified the following key topic clusters for the audience (again, not exhaustive, and not strictly ordered by importance):

• accommodation in Budapest
• public transportation in Budapest
• second-hand shops in Budapest
• baths in Budapest
• getting from the airport to the city center
• nightlife and party spots in Budapest
• public safety in Budapest
• markets and shopping options in Budapest

For each topic, I created a brief/wireframe using Topical Authority principles (by Koray Tuğberk Gübür).

I wrote the articles in a hybrid workflow: primarily by hand, with support from ChatGPT. In total, I produced 24 articles, all in English. We published most of them in one batch and added the rest gradually later.

We paid close attention to:

• clean heading hierarchy, and
• a strong internal linking structure

We wanted a semantic content network where “everything is connected to everything,” and each piece reinforces the rest.

In many places, we used Q&A-style formatting and optimized for better responsiveness. Meaning the page answers the user’s implicit question quickly and clearly.

For example: if someone searches for a process and what they really need is a numbered step-by-step list, one should give them that information as early as possible. Ideally near the top of the article.

Images were provided by the client, Attila: a mix of stock photos and his own street photography shot around Budapest. Huge thanks to him here as well.

Results

The second phase of the project wrapped up in spring 2025.

We haven’t modified the website’s SEO since then. Still, as of early 2026, the site continues to hold strong positions. Based on available data, between September and December 2025, the site still recorded +77% more clicks compared to the same period in 2024, and impressions were 2.38x higher YoY.

Thanks to the content optimizations mentioned earlier, we also earned visibility in special SERP features such as:

• PAA positions
• Featured snippets

As it later turned out, these tactics also made the content LLM-friendly.

AI Overviews and AI Mode Visibility

One unexpected outcome of the SEO work was the high number of AI appearances in Google AI Overviews and AI Mode.

AI Overviews rolled out in the US in May 2024, and AI Mode became active in March 2025. This SEO project had started well before these dates.

Because it’s an international site, it turned out to be a perfect testing ground for us: we could see whether English-language content would show up in these AI features.

The answer: yes. And I want to underline this: We did zero link building during the project. Nada.

Additional SEO Benefits: Brand Building and Business Workflow Automation

The project delivered two additional benefits the client didn’t necessarily expect upfront:

1. stronger brand awareness
2. automation (standardization) of business processes

Stronger Brand Awareness

With the help of our articles, Diaklakas.hu became much more recognizable among international users. We’ve managed to build a “they really know what they’re doing” brand image for both students and their parents.

As I mentioned, avoiding topics that are also relevant to tourists was a real challenge. But even if tourists read the content and find it useful, that’s not inherently a problem for two reasons:

1. It increases the volume of historical data collected, which can indirectly support SEO growth.
2. Among tourists, there are almost certainly many future students who may later come to Budapest to study. For them, Diaklakas.hu already has an advantage as it’s a familiar brand.

And in general, people are more likely to choose a brand they already know, especially if they’ve interacted with it before.

Automation (standardization) of Business Workflows

The other unexpected upside was the automation of the client’s business processes. It turned out the articles were so detailed that:

• they could send them directly to interested students who had questions about Budapest and student life in the city, and
• the content often shortened the path to booking

There’s no better proof of a successful SEO project than when it improves real business workflows and contributes to conversions. On top of ranking better in Google, driving more organic clicks, and earning extra visibility in AI Overviews and AI Mode.

Key Takeaways

My biggest lesson is that in SEO it’s absolutely NOT worth chasing perfection. It’s easy to fall into the overkill trap that leads to analysis paralysis. And paradoxically, that can lead to worse results or results that would’ve happened anyway with 20% less effort.

It’s usually better to publish content at 80% completion, let Google collect historical data, and monitor the figures in Search Console. Then you can optimize further based on real signals: test, validate, iterate.

We kept extremely tight control over the quality of execution, and it paid off. But to be clear: I still wouldn’t recommend this as a “standard approach.”

Beyond the numbers, I also got to work with a fantastic client, and over time, the business relationship turned into a friendship.

Toward the end of the project, I promised myself more than once that I’d never take on copywriting again (spoiler: of course I did, later). But you know what? I gathered the most experience in this project of my life. And it’s one of the most successful project of mine.

And I’m genuinely grateful for the opportunity that I could work on this website.