Key Numbers At a Glance
- Campaign period: 12 months
- Unique backlinks built: 367
- Average monthly traffic of referring domains: 32,046
- Average referring domain DR delivered: 64
Challenge
Qooper competes in mentoring and employee development software, a category it helped shape. The site was already strong, with a Domain Rating of 70 and 19,811 organic visits a month. But staying on top means protecting that lead, and authority alone does not win the rankings that drive signups.
The job was clear. Turn existing authority into top rankings on the pages that convert, and start earning citations in AI search.
Strategy
SayNine handled link building. Qooper handled content and technical site health. The link building campaign followed these three rules.
- Balance links across commercial and blog pages to build topical authority and keep the backlinks profile natural.
- Keep the anchor profile natural. Anchors spread across the exact-match term, Qooper-branded phrases, and a long tail of topical variations.
- Over-deliver on quality. The agreed floor was 1,000 referring domain traffic and a DR of 50. SayNine delivered an average of 32,046 traffic and a DR of 64.
Results
One year of work produced gains across traffic, rankings, and AI visibility.
Core Keywords Moved to the Top
Qooper gained ground on its most valuable commercial keywords, including a jump to the number one spot for “mentoring software.” It took 156 backlinks to climb from 2 to 1. One spot for 156 links sounds steep. It is not.
Position 1 in a crowded industry is the hardest place to reach and hold, and the page was already strong at 2. Passing the last competitor to the top took highly relevant, strong links.
Here are some other keywords that have progressed throughout the campaign.
| Keyword | Before | After | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mentor mentee | 43 | 3 | 40 |
| Matching mentors and mentees | 18 | 6 | 12 |
| Mentoring software | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| Mentoring guide | Not ranking | 7 | New |
| Succession planning | Not ranking | 12 | New |
The fastest gains came on the fewest links. “Mentor mentee” jumped 40 spots, from 43 to 3, on about 10 backlinks. “Succession planning” went from unranked to position 12 on 7 links.
This is the domain effect. Contextually relevant link insertions lifted the domain, and every other page gained a share of that strength.
Growth in Metrics
Monthly organic traffic climbed from 19,811 to 48,312. That is 28,501 more visits every month, a 144% increase. Domain Rating increased from 70 to 72.
The Takeaway
Qooper started this campaign at DR 70. Most teams would treat that as a finished job. It was not. The site still had its top commercial keyword stuck at number 2 and valuable search terms not ranking at all.
Authority is not a finish line. It is a base to build on further. The right links turn the strength you already have into the rankings you do not.
Want the same for your website? Book a free consultation with our team to discuss your link building strategy.
