How I Grew OTTplay from 386K to 9.86M Organic Users — and Built a Subscription Engine While Doing It
As Senior SEO Manager at HT Media, I led the SEO and content growth strategy for OTTplay — transforming it from a platform recovering from Google updates into a dominant search presence with 9.86M organic users, 10.2M Discover sessions, and 12,000 subscriptions acquired through organic search.
I led this work in-house as Senior SEO Manager at HT Media. I now run maxzob — specialising in Results-Driven Organic & AI Search growth.
Company
OTTplay · HT Media
Industry
OTT Aggregation
Role
Senior SEO Manager
Duration
Mar 2024 – Mar 2026
Results at a Glance
25.5×
Organic Traffic Growth
386K → 9.86M users
41.8×
Discover Traffic Growth
244K → 10.2M
12,000
Subscriptions Generated
Within 6 months
113K
Keywords Ranked
16K+ in Top 3
The Starting Point
When I took ownership of OTTplay’s SEO at HT Media, the platform had been hit hard by Google’s core updates — losing significant rankings and organic visibility that had taken years to build.
Traffic recovery was table stakes. The real mandate: build an organic acquisition engine that reduces CAC and converts search intent directly into paid subscriptions. That’s a different problem — and a harder one to solve.
Starting Metrics
Monthly Organic Traffic
386K
Discover Traffic
244K
Organic Acquisition Funnel
Weak
Topical Authority
Limited
Core Challenge
Technical SEO issues impacting indexing and performance, combined with limited topical authority across key OTT queries — all while competing in a high-velocity, trend-driven content category.
The Growth System
A precisely sequenced three-pillar system — technical stabilisation first, then content-led authority at scale, then Discover domination. Each layer was designed to compound the one before it.
Recovery Before Scale
Scaling content on a broken technical foundation is a budget leak. I audited and resolved every crawlability issue, Core Web Vital failure, AMP error, and indexing blocker before a single piece of new content went live.
GSC Issues
Fixed all errors in Google Search Console including crawl anomalies and coverage issues
Core Web Vitals
Resolved LCP, FID, and CLS problems across key page templates to meet Google’s performance thresholds
Crawlability & Indexing
Improved crawl budget efficiency and fixed indexing blockers preventing content from appearing in search
AMP & Mobile
Fixed AMP page errors and enhanced mobile performance and page speed for the dominant mobile traffic segment
~2,000 Pieces Per Month
With a clean technical base, I built deep content clusters across every high-intent entertainment category — directing a team producing ~2,000 pieces per month to systematically own OTT search demand.
OTT Movies & News
Content Types
Movie release dates
OTT availability
Reviews & ratings
Box office collections
Celebrity news
Example Queries
upcoming OTT movies OTT release date latest Malayalam OTT releases movie OTT platformShows & Entertainment
Content Types
TV show updates
Episode releases
Celebrity gossip
Entertainment news
Example Queries
Bigg Boss updates Shark Tank India episodes Taarak Mehta updatesSports Authority
Content Types
Live event coverage
Match timings & OTT
Sports news
Score updates
Example Queries
IND vs PAK IND vs Australia cricket match live
Scaling Google Discover
I identified Web Stories as an underpenetrated format with outsized Discover upside and pushed aggressive scaling within the monthly content cadence. Discover traffic went from 244K to 10.2M — a 41.8× increase.
Before
244K
Monthly Discover Traffic
After
10.2M
Monthly Discover Traffic
41.8× growth
SEO-Driven Subscription Funnel
Traffic without conversion is a vanity metric. I engineered a dedicated conversion layer — purpose-built SEO pages that matched subscriber intent at every stage of the funnel and routed organic search directly into paid subscription CTAs.
Watch Online Pages
Capture transactional queries with direct subscription pathways
OTT Availability Pages
Content-to-platform routing for high-intent movie/show searches
Subscription Offer Pages
Deal-driven pages targeting price-sensitive subscribers
Coupon & Discount Pages
Capture bottom-of-funnel users comparing subscription options
Business Impact
12,000
subscriptions generated
within 6 months through organic alone
Subscription Intent Query Examples
Organic search → OTTplay content → Subscription CTA → Paid subscriber
Earned Visibility in AI-Generated Answers
OTTplay content is cited inside Google’s AI Overviews and ranks #1 for the most competitive OTT queries. That isn’t luck — it’s the product of genuine topical depth at scale.
Why This Matters
AI Search Rewards Authority — Not Just Links
AI assistants cite a small number of trusted sources instead of listing hundreds of links. Getting cited requires the kind of topical depth most brands haven’t built yet — but can.
Measurable Outcomes
Every number below is verified via Google Search Console. This is what two years of sequenced, compounding execution looks like.
Keyword Rankings
113K
Total Keywords Ranked
16K+
Keywords in Top 3
Ranking Proof Screenshots
12×
Growth in Organic Acquisition
10×
Increase in Live Event Searches
7×
Growth in Regional Traffic
12K
Subscriptions in 6 Months
What This Work Proved
Six principles that this work validated at scale — each one now embedded in how I approach every organic growth engagement.
01
Entertainment search demand is heavily driven by release cycles and trending events.
Publishing cadence must align with content launch windows. Evergreen plus timely = compounding visibility.
02
Topic clusters outperform isolated content strategies by a wide margin.
Broad, deep coverage signals genuine topical authority — which Google rewards over time.
03
Web Stories can generate massive Discover traffic when scaled properly.
Format-specific investment unlocked an entirely new distribution channel beyond traditional search.
04
Sports coverage captures event-driven search demand at scale.
High-volume trending queries around major tournaments provide predictable, repeatable traffic spikes.
05
SEO becomes a revenue channel when integrated with subscription funnels.
Connecting search intent to conversion architecture turns traffic into measurable business outcomes.
06
Visibility in AI-generated answers is becoming a critical discovery layer.
AI assistants select from a small pool of authoritative sources — topical depth is the entry requirement.
This Is the Standard I Bring to Every Engagement.
After exiting HT Media, I focused entirely on maxzob — helping businesses that are serious about organic growth and AI search visibility build the same compounding acquisition engines I ran at scale.
If your organic channel is underperforming, or you’re not yet visible in AI-generated answers, that’s a solvable problem.
maxzob.com — Results-Driven Organic & AI Search Growth