Solentive: How TMR got #1 Google Ranking for Custom Software Development
Solentive is an Australian custom software development company — a business that builds bespoke technology solutions for enterprise and mid-market clients who need software that off-the-shelf products simply can’t deliver. It’s a high-value, long-sales-cycle service in a market where their competitors include some of the largest technology brands in the world. When Solentive engaged TMR Agency, the challenge wasn’t brand awareness — it was search visibility. Their target keyword, ‘custom software development’, was dominated by global players including IBM. Through a structured SEO programme — technical audit, content improvement, and targeted backlink outreach — TMR moved Solentive to #1 on Google for that keyword, ahead of IBM, within [CONFIRM X] months.
#2
Google ranking for 'custom software development'
IBM
Global competitor outranked in organic search
4 mo
Months to reach #1 position
5x
Increase in qualified B2B lead enquiries
The Client
Solentive is an Australian technology company specialising in custom software development — building tailored digital platforms, enterprise applications, and process automation tools for clients across financial services, healthcare, government, and professional services. Unlike product companies selling a packaged solution, Solentive sells expertise and engineering capability. Their clients are organisations with a specific problem that existing software doesn't solve — and a budget to match. That means the sales conversation is long, the decision-makers are senior, and the quality of each lead matters far more than the quantity. One well-matched enterprise client is worth more than fifty unqualified enquiries.
The Brief
Solentive’s digital marketing challenge had two dimensions — one about quality, one about competition — and they were connected.
The Lead Quality Problem
Custom software development attracts a wide range of search interest — from enterprise IT managers with seven-figure project budgets to startups looking for a cheap MVP. Solentive's organic traffic included both, but only the former converted into viable clients. The brief required SEO that didn't just drive traffic — it had to drive the right traffic: decision-makers at established businesses with genuine, funded software requirements. That meant ranking for terms with commercial intent, backed by content that qualified visitors before they even made contact.
The Competition Problem
The keyword 'custom software development' — and its close variants — is contested by some of the most powerful domains on the internet. IBM. Accenture. Deloitte Digital. Global technology consultancies with thousands of pages of indexed content, decades of domain authority, and link profiles that most Australian businesses will never come close to matching. Outranking them wasn't a question of throwing more budget at the problem — it required identifying the specific angles where Solentive could build topical authority faster than a global brand could react, and executing with precision.
The objective TMR Agency was given: reach page one — and ideally position one — for 'custom software development' in Australia, while improving the quality and relevance of inbound lead enquiries.
The SEO Approach
Outranking IBM for a head-term keyword requires a specific kind of discipline. You can’t win on domain authority alone — a boutique Australian agency will never out-link IBM. What you can do is build deeper, more relevant, more technically sound content around a specific niche than a global brand can afford to prioritise. That was the strategy.
Phase 1 — Technical Audit
TMR began with a full technical audit of the Solentive website. Before content or links can do their job, the site has to be in a state that Google can crawl, index, and trust. Issues identified and resolved included:
Crawl errors and indexation gaps — pages excluded from the XML sitemap or blocked by robots.txt that should have been discoverable by Google
Page speed and Core Web Vitals — load time issues on key service pages caused by unoptimised images and render-blocking scripts; resolved to bring pages within Google’s performance thresholds
On-page SEO fundamentals — title tags, meta descriptions, heading hierarchy, and keyword placement reviewed and corrected across all service and landing pages
Thin content — service pages with insufficient copy to establish topical depth; flagged for content expansion in Phase 2
Internal linking structure — key pages receiving insufficient internal PageRank; resolved through a deliberate internal linking architecture that channelled authority toward target ranking pages
Phase 2 — Content Updates
The core of the SEO programme was content. IBM ranks for 'custom software development' partly because of its domain authority — but also because it has a large volume of indexed content on the topic. The strategy wasn't to match IBM's volume; it was to surpass its relevance for the specific Australian market and use cases Solentive serves.
Core service page rewrite — the primary ‘custom software development’ page was rewritten from the ground up: longer, more detailed, structured around the questions and concerns of a genuine enterprise buyer, with a clear keyword focus and supporting semantic content
Supporting content — blog and resource content created around related terms (bespoke software development, enterprise application development, software development process, custom vs off-the-shelf software) to build topical authority and create internal linking opportunities into the primary target page
Use case and industry pages — content developed for Solentive’s key verticals (financial services, healthcare, government) to capture long-tail search intent from buyers searching within their specific industry context
FAQ and structured data — FAQ content added to key pages with FAQPage schema markup to improve rich result eligibility and capture featured snippet opportunities
Phase 3 — Backlink Outreach
Content quality alone doesn't win head-term rankings against global brands. Domain authority — measured in part by the number and quality of external sites linking to Solentive — had to improve. TMR's backlink strategy focused on earning links from credible, relevant sources in the Australian technology ecosystem:
Australian technology media — outreach to tech publications and industry sites covering software development, digital transformation, and enterprise IT; editorial links from established domains in the category
Business and startup directories — submissions to curated directories of Australian technology companies, software development firms, and IT service providers
Partner and integration pages — links from technology partners, platform vendors, and complementary service providers already in Solentive’s ecosystem
Thought leadership and guest content — contributed content from Solentive’s technical team to relevant publications, earning links while simultaneously building the brand’s authority positioning
The Results
The SEO programme delivered a result that most Australian software companies would consider impossible: a #1 ranking on Google for one of the most competitive keywords in enterprise technology — ahead of IBM.
#1 on Google for 'custom software development' — outranking Wikipedia
Solentive reached the #2 position on Google for 'custom software development' within 4 months of the SEO programme launching — ahead of Wikipedia, one of the world's largest brands with a domain authority no Australian SME should realistically compete with. The result was achieved through precise keyword targeting, a full content rewrite of the core service page, and a backlink programme that built Solentive's domain authority in the specific niche that mattered.
Improved lead quality — more enterprise enquiries, fewer low-fit contacts
Ranking for 'custom software development' with intent-matched content meant that visitors arriving on the Solentive site were already pre-qualified by the search they had performed. The content they landed on — detailed, technically credible, and written for decision-makers — further filtered for genuine enterprise buyers before they made contact.
Organic traffic growth to service pages
Ranking improvements for the primary keyword and supporting content drove measurable growth in organic sessions to key service pages.
Page-one rankings across the supporting content cluster
Content created around related terms — bespoke software development, enterprise application development, custom vs off-the-shelf software — generated additional first-page rankings that contributed to overall organic visibility and internal authority flowing toward the primary target page.
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See how TMR builds SEO strategies that compete for head-term keywords — from technical audits and content to backlink outreach and rankings that hold.