A Travel Website’s Enormously Successful Authority Build

After an initial consulting call, a client operating a travel website decided to try one of our packages. 

Their primary goal was to expand their business into other markets, like the US, Canada, France, and Poland. 

We discovered that the website lacked authority, and its target pages were short on links. 

After starting our campaign in November 2022, we were able to increase their monthly traffic from 550 organic visitors to over 66,000. 

We were also able to achieve significant improvements to their domain rating (DR) and target keyword rankings. 

The Client: A Travel Website Eager to Reach New Markets 

The client approached us via phone to let us know their situation and to see if we could help. 

While they wanted to improve their performance on search engines, they also wanted to expand their travel business to reach popular markets like the US and Canada. 

We explained how our authority-building strategies work and shared a few examples of past successes with them to demonstrate the kind of results we’re able to achieve consistently. 

The client decided to give our services a go, and they signed up for 3 links a month to test things out. 

After the initial test run, the client was impressed and decided to upgrade to 12 links a month. 

Once the results started rolling in, they nearly tripled our efforts by upgrading to 32 links per month. 

As you can see on the graph above, the client’s referring domains began to spike as soon as we started our campaign in November – which had a significant impact on their domain rating. 

The Challenge: Site Lacked Authority, Short on Links, Competitive Foreign Markets

Before we conduct any campaign, our first step is to conduct an in-depth analysis of the client’s website. 

That includes analyzing the following factors:

• Domain rating

• Rankings for target keywords 

• Link equity spread (if some pages are short on links)

• Link relevancy & authority 

• General SEO (keyword usage, content quality, etc.)

• Monthly organic visitors 

Our analysis discovered that the client’s site lacked authority (a DR of 18), was short on links, and had a lot of room for improvement with their keyword rankings. 

Then there was the challenge of exposing their content to competitive new markets, including the travel industries in the US, Canada, France, and Poland – all of which have countless travel blogs, agencies, and businesses. 

If we wanted the client’s website to have an impact in these new markets, we’d need to develop a top-tier content strategy that targeted the most popular keywords in their niche. Additionally, their link profile would have to see a drastic improvement to be able to dominate the SERPs. 

During our analysis, we found that the client’s target pages were all short on links, as was the homepage. 

In order to build a healthy link profile, link equity needs to spread evenly across the client’s target pages. 

That meant we needed to build an adequate amount of links for all target pages instead of only focusing on a few (which would spread the equity too thin). 

On the link-building side, we’d need to target backlinks from domains with excellent metrics if we wanted to improve the client’s DR.

Our Strategy: Guest Posts, Link Insertions, HARO 

Whenever we were building 3 – 12 links per month for the client, our primary link-building tactic was guest posting. 

Through acquiring guest blog posts on relevant & authoritative websites, we were able to not only boost the client’s DR & link profile but also boost their rankings for target keywords. 

The guest posts our team wrote included the client’s target keywords in key areas, and the content was helpful, educational, and persuasive. 

Besides boosting the client’s link profile and DR, the guest blogs our team created also helped establish the client as a thought leader in their field. 

Thanks to the success of these posts, the client was able to penetrate the markets that they wanted – and their keyword rankings rose significantly as a result. 

We wanted to ensure that we built the healthiest link profile possible, so we settled on an ‘Authority Build,’ where we evenly distributed the link equity between the homepage and target pages. 

Once our efforts started yielding results via more organic visitors and higher authority, the client upgraded their package to include a whopping 32 links per month. 

At this point, we began to run out of inventory for guest posts in their niche. To compensate, we filled the gaps with targeted link insertions, where we conducted outreach to acquire backlinks in existing content from relevant websites. 

This ultimately proved successful, as we were able to continue to provide stellar results for the client while managing our inventory shortages. 

Currently, the link-building campaign is evenly split between guest posts, link insertions, and HARO outreach. 

The Results: Dramatic Increases in DR, Organic Traffic, and Keyword Rankings 

When the client came to us, their DR stood at 18 and was in drastic need of improvement. 

After approximately six months of building links for them, their DR has shot up to 37, and we’re by no means done yet. 

The high-authority backlinks we were able to acquire via guest posting and link insertions account for the DR boost, and we’re about to begin conducting HARO outreach for the client. 

Additionally, the boost in authority & keyword rankings allowed the client to successfully branch out into new foreign markets, which was a large part of their original goal. 

Due to our efforts, the client’s number of ranking keywords grew from 6,200 to over 99,000. 

That provided a significant boost to their overall online visibility, leading to more organic traffic, leads, and sales. 

Their monthly organic traffic also grew from 550 organic visitors per month to more than 66,000 – which enabled the client to expand their business and upgrade their package with us to include 32 links per month. 

The client’s travel website now has a much stronger online presence, and we’re continuing to work with the client to take their business to new heights. 

Do you want to experience similar growth for your business?

Then don’t wait to check out our in-depth link-building packages from Authority Builders.