Website Redesign Drives 50% Higher Engagement for Applied Marketing Science

Applied Marketing Science had already worked with Hog the Web for more than six years when it was time for another major overhaul. This wasn’t a simple brochure-site project. AMS offers market research, customer insights, innovation support, training and consulting — valuable work, but not always easy to explain in a few seconds.

The new website needed to help visitors quickly understand what AMS does, see proof that the company can deliver, and find the right next step. And because AMS already had an established search footprint, the redesign also needed to avoid creating an SEO problem while improving the user experience.

IN RACHELYN’S WORDS

The challenge: Make a complex research company easier to understand

Applied Marketing Science does a lot. Different visitors may be looking for innovation research, customer insights, training, industry expertise, case studies or a specific methodology. The website needed to make those options feel connected instead of overwhelming.

The redesign had three jobs: clarify the value proposition, give different audiences obvious paths into the site, and improve the experience without sacrificing the discoverability AMS had already earned.

The redesign: Clearer paths, stronger proof and more reasons to explore

We treated the redesigned site as a decision and navigation hub, not just a prettier front page. The new experience leads with a much clearer promise — turning customer understanding into competitive advantage — then gives visitors direct routes into Solutions, Training & Coaching, Who We Help, the team and Resources.

We also put credibility to work. Recognizable client logos, testimonials, case-study proof, industry content and people-focused sections give visitors reasons to keep exploring instead of making them hunt for evidence.

Microsoft Clarity’s post-launch click map shows visitors actively using the new navigation and content pathways. The Solutions navigation accounted for about 4.3% of recorded clicks, followed by Who We Help (3.0%), Our People (2.6%), Training & Coaching (2.3%), View Services (2.1%), and Resources (1.7%).

Engagement continued deeper down the page. The testimonial/case-proof slider accounted for roughly 7% of all recorded clicks, while the case-study tabs generated another 3.4%.

The engagement result: Visitors became much more involved

This is where the redesign starts to look especially promising. Comparing the 42 days after launch with the 42 days before, a much larger share of visitors actually engaged with the site.

GA4 recorded 226 engaged sessions after launch versus 166 before. Engagement rate rose from 25.0% to 37.5%, and events per session increased from 4.23 to 4.62.

Referral traffic increased 103%, Organic Search sessions rose from 6 to 17 (+183%), and non-Direct acquisition sources collectively increased about 49%.

The search result: Visibility expanded and traffic increased

A redesign can create SEO problems if search signals are ignored. We didn’t see evidence of that here. In Google Search Console, homepage clicks increased +114%, impressions rose from 2,621 to 3,839 (+46%), and CTR improved from 0.27% to 0.39%.

The most interesting change was the site’s visible query footprint. Before launch, 80 queries received impressions. After launch, 282 queries did — a 253% increase, including 211 completely new queries.

Average position moved from 17.08 to 34.31, which looks worse at first glance. But the report found that this was because Google had started testing AMS for hundreds of additional search queries, many at exploratory positions around 40–90. We found no evidence that the redesign caused AMS to lose rankings for an important non-branded term that had previously been generating identifiable clicks.

There were also meaningful gains for terms such as marketing science consultant (18.8 → 11.2), marketing science agencies (24.1 → 16.0), and machine learning in market research (46.4 → 18.7).

Source: Google Search Console, comparing June 2–July 13 with July 15–August 25, 2026. Homepage clicks increased 7 → 15 (+114%), impressions increased 2,621 → 3,839 (+46%), and CTR improved from 0.27% to 0.39%.

The behavior result: Attention moved much deeper into the page

The old experience was heavily top-loaded. The redesigned experience wasn’t. Microsoft Clarity showed the lower 65–100% of the new page capturing 62.6% of measured attention after launch, compared with 14.2% before.

At the same time, the top 25% fell from 66.3% of measured attention to 32.3%. That lines up with the click-map data: visitors weren’t simply reading the hero and leaving. They were continuing into testimonials, case studies, industry content, team information and services farther down the page.

Source: Microsoft Clarity Attention Map of new homepage design,  July 15–August 25, 2026. 

Early AI visibility signals improved too

The early AI data moved in the same direction. Microsoft Clarity recorded 95 homepage citations before launch and 133 after, a 40% increase. Google Search Console also showed AI Overview impressions rising from 74 to 94 (+27%).

Those volumes are still relatively small, so we would not claim the redesign alone caused the increase. But it is an encouraging signal that the clearer site structure and messaging are making AMS easier to surface and understand across more discovery channels.

Source: Microsoft Clarity AI Visibility and Google Search Console, using the same 42-day before/after windows. Clarity citations increased 95 → 133 (+40%); GSC AI Overview impressions increased 74 → 94 (+27%).

The takeaway: A redesign should improve user engagement, not just look nice

The early signals all point in the same direction. After the redesign, Applied Marketing Science saw a 50% higher engagement rate, 36% more engaged sessions, a 253% larger visible search-query (SEO) footprint, and much deeper page attention. Early AI visibility improved as well.

That’s what a thoughtful redesign should do. Not just adding decoration to your business messaging, but helping people understand your business faster, trust what they see, find the right path and keep exploring.

And it should happen without breaking what’s already working. 

For businesses with an established website, our website redesign process looks at UX, conversion, content and existing search signals together — because changing one can affect all the others.

This is still early post-launch data, and we’ll keep watching rankings, engagement and conversions as more information accumulates. But AMS’s redesigned site is already doing the three things it needed to do: expanding search visibility, communicating its offerings more clearly, and encouraging visitors to engage more deeply.

Website Redesign Results FAQ

Can a website redesign improve engagement?

Yes. In this case, Applied Marketing Science’s homepage engagement rate increased from 25.0% to 37.5% in the first 42 days after launch, a 49.9% relative increase. Engaged sessions also increased 36.1%.

Did the AMS redesign hurt SEO?

The available Google Search Console data clearly shows that the organic search traffic and footprint improved. No important non-branded keyword rankings were lost. Instead, the number of queries receiving impressions increased from 80 to 282.

How did visitor behavior change after the redesign?

Microsoft Clarity showed attention moving much farther down the page. The lower 65–100% of the redesigned page captured 62.6% of measured attention after launch, compared with 14.2% before, while visitors actively interacted with testimonials, case studies, navigation and other deeper-page content.

Did AI visibility improve after the website redesign?

Early signals improved. Microsoft Clarity homepage citations increased from 95 to 133 (+40%), and Google Search Console AI Overview impressions increased from 74 to 94 (+27%). The sample is still small, so these results should be treated as encouraging early indicators rather than proof that the redesign alone caused the increase.