Italo Train

Italo Treno is Italy’s first private operator in the high-speed rail sector. Founded in 2012, it has transformed the way people travel in Italy by offering a unique combination of speed, comfort and high-quality services. With a fleet of modern, state-of-the-art trains, Italo connects Italy’s major cities, guaranteeing a premium travel experience thanks to innovative solutions, flexible fares and a constant focus on sustainability. From its High Speed stations, Italo is now connected to thousands of new destinations in Italy and abroad thanks to a dense network of connections with regional trains, buses and ships, which can be purchased on italotreno.com with a single transaction.

The brand caters to different types of travellers: from professionals who travel frequently for work and need efficient services, to tourists and families looking for a comfortable and convenient journey. Italo is synonymous with reliability, innovation and customer care, offering tailor-made solutions for every mobility need.

Improving the online visibility of an already established brand like Italo, intercepting a wider audience and increasing conversions, was a stimulating challenge that we tackled with a data-driven and highly strategic approach. Our work included enhancing SEO for No Brand traffic, optimising the presence on Google Transit and Google Maps, creating an international editorial campaign and a targeted content marketing plan for Italo’s blog. Each action was designed to strengthen the brand’s leadership in the rail sector, while ensuring a smooth and conversion-oriented browsing experience for users.

To achieve our goals, we developed a strategy based on a mix of SEO, content marketing and visibility optimisation on search engines and travel platforms. The approach consisted of several key areas, including:

We identified a set of high-potential commercial pages aimed at intercepting generic searches on rail travel in Italy, such as Milan-Roma trains, Naples-Roma trains and Turin-Bologna trains.

Thanks to an in-depth market analysis and keyword research, we mapped the most relevant queries for Italo’s audience and outlined a strategic roadmap for the creation of optimised content. This led to the publication of around 1,000 targeted landing pages, designed to intercept and convert No Brand traffic, bringing new users to discover the travel solutions offered by Italo.

Italo’s SERPs (search results pages) also include snippets from Google Transit, a system that shows users detailed information on the means of transport available for a given route.

To improve Italo’s presence on Google Transit and Google Maps, we developed with the client an advanced script in Python to GTFS (General Transit Feed Specification). This feed makes it possible to automatically synchronise timetables, stops and routes of Italo trains with Transit and Maps, increasing the visibility of the brand when users search for travel solutions.

We worked on optimising structured data and integrating key elements to improve the CTR (Click-Through Rate) of Italo results in search pages.

In particular we have:

• Optimised the structured data by including reviews directly on the pages of the main routes. Subsequently, this integration was extended to all routes reviewed by travellers, improving the credibility and attractiveness of the results in SERPs.
• Implemented a FAQ section on the main routes pages, later extended to all available destinations, to intercept informational queries and enrich search results with useful content.
• Added a summary table with key trip information, such as origin and destination, duration, distance and number of daily solutions. This made the results clearer and more immediately useful to users.

Thanks to these optimisations, Italo’s visibility in search engines increased significantly, contributing to better organic positioning and an increase in the click-through rate (CTR) in search results.

To increase Italo’s brand awareness abroad – with a focus on the US and UK – we launched a Digital PR strategy aimed at publishing editorial articles on highly authoritative websites.

The content, focused on Italy’s main tourist attractions, included references to the fast and comfortable transport solutions offered by Italo. This approach helped position the brand as an ideal choice for foreign travellers visiting Italy.

To further strengthen Italo’s presence both in Italy and abroad, we worked with the client to develop a strategic editorial plan for the company’s blog.

Through an in-depth analysis of search intentions related to the world of travel in Italy, we identified the most relevant topics for the target audience. Subsequently, we created structured content to intercept these searches and their main related variants.

This strategy brought exceptional results both in terms of organic traffic and direct conversions from sessions started on the blog.

From the start of the project, Italo’s digital team presented us with the need to develop an advanced reporting system capable of responding to two fundamental requirements: on the one hand, detailed monitoring of the site’s performance; and on the other, the creation of clear and intuitive reports to communicate SEO results to various internal stakeholders.

To meet this demand, we implemented a reporting system based on Looker Studio and BigQuery. A key element of this strategy was to automate the download of data from Google Search Console to BigQuery, allowing us to compare weekly results year on year and provide an immediate view of market trends and the impact of SEO activities.

This approach has allowed us to make crucial information on organic performance accessible to non-technical stakeholders, translating complex data into clear, actionable insights. Thanks to this advanced reporting, Italo’s digital team can accurately monitor project results and make data-driven strategic decisions.