Incoming data
Problems we came across at the beginning:
- Technical issues
- There was no internal optimization: the description of services was very short
- Unorganized website structure
- Minimum number of external links
Start of the project
We started with the following preparatory steps:
- we conducted a technical audit and provided recommendations for correcting errors,
- performed a competition analysis,
- and collected semantics.
After analyzing the competition and collecting semantics, we identified the point of differentiation: all competitors’ websites had one landing page for four different services related to the transportation of frozen samples. To secure the top positions for all keywords, we offered to create separate landing pages for each search query cluster. We visualized the structure, created a relevance map, received the client’s approval, and went on with the following steps:
- Designing technical tasks for writing content for the landing pages
- Making recommendations to developers for creating new pages
Here we came across a problem: for some reason, implementing new pages was not possible. The client decided to totally redesign the website based on our recommendations, but no one could say exactly how long it would take. Right now, we expect the new website to be launched in 1-2 months.
Plan B
We found ourselves in a situation where all the preparatory work for the website had been done, but it was impossible to implement changes, and we just had to wait for the release of the new website … and do what we were able to — build external links.
So we got down to business. We analyzed competitors’ backlinks, prepared a 3-month link building plan to start, created an anchor list, and assigned the task to the link building department.
In general, during a year, no changes were implemented on the website. However, we focused on building external links, and the result can be seen below.
The result
Number of backlinks from the start of the project till now (according to Ahrefs)
DR (Domain Rating) from the start of the project till now (according to Ahrefs)
Organic traffic from the start of the project till now (according to Ahrefs)
Number of impressions and clicks from the start of the project till now (according to Google Search Console)
Positions of some search queries from one of the clusters:
Note: At the start of the project, most keyword positions were already in the top 10, as this niche is very specific and is characterized by a low frequency of queries.
Conclusions
Are external links and a successful link-building strategy important? The answer is obvious — yes! Backlinks remain one of the most important ranking factors, our screenshots being the proof. Again, nothing has been done to the website, and we managed to achieve such results only with the help of external links. Of course, this is not the best strategy, and on-page and technical optimization are also crucial. However, the situation left us no choice, and this case perfectly illustrates the importance of backlinks for SEO promotion.
