Link building case study: 17 links for a web data platform

This link building case study covers a web data platform that already led its market. Between 1 December 2024 and 21 October 2025, we placed 17 links. Over that period, its referring domains rose 58%, from 3,333 to 5,275, and organic traffic rose from 54,025 to 92,773 visits a month.

The campaign shows what link building looks like for an established enterprise site. The aim was not to get noticed. It was to protect existing rankings and build authority for newer products, where buyer demand was growing.

The client and the challenge

The client is a web data platform used by large enterprises to collect public web data. When the campaign started, it had a domain rating (DR) of 74. Domain rating is Ahrefs’ score for the strength of a site’s backlink profile, on a 0 to 100 scale.

The platform was already strong in searches about proxies, its main source of revenue. But demand was moving towards data for training AI models and data for online retail. The company needed authority for these newer products without losing its proxy rankings.

This is a common position for market leaders. A high domain rating protects the site as a whole, but newer product pages still start with few links of their own. Competitors with focused comparison sites can outrank those pages on specific searches.

Campaign results

All three main measures rose during the campaign. The table shows the figures from Ahrefs for the start and end dates.

Source: Ahrefs, 1 December 2024 to 21 October 2025. Organic traffic is Ahrefs’ monthly estimate for December 2024 and October 2025.

Traffic did not rise in a straight line. Ahrefs shows a peak of 118,985 visits a month in March 2025, about four months into the campaign. Traffic then settled, and stood at 92,773 by October 2025.

In absolute terms, the site ended the campaign with about 38,700 more organic visits a month than it started with. For an enterprise platform, the mix of that traffic matters as much as the total. Much of the new traffic came from developers and businesses looking for specific tools and data.

What 17 links did and did not do

Readers of any link building case study should ask one question first: which results came from the links? We placed 17 links. Referring domains grew by about 1,940 over the same period.

We do not claim those extra domains as our own work. A leading platform gains links every week from press coverage, developers, partners and other people’s content. Our links added to that natural growth.

What our 17 links did was put authority behind specific pages. Each one pointed to a product page or guide that matched a business goal. That focus is the main lesson of this campaign, and it applies to most established enterprise sites.

Seventeen links over about eleven months is a pace of one or two a month. That pace added our links steadily, with no sudden batches.

The goals

We planned the campaign so that new links supported specific products, not just the homepage. There were four goals.

1. Build authority in AI data. Help new pages about AI training data rank, to reach new enterprise buyers.
2. Protect proxy rankings. Strengthen rankings for searches such as “best residential proxies”, against competitor comparison sites.
3. Reach developers. Win “how to” searches by linking to technical guides and scraping tools.
4. Grow the linking base. Widen the range of websites linking to the platform, so smaller competitors find it harder to catch up.

The strategy: three businesses, one campaign

We treated the platform as three businesses: AI data, proxies and developer tools. Each had its own target pages, its own linking websites and its own goal.

Source: campaign plan. We do not name the websites where links were placed.

AI data

Data for AI is one of the platform’s most valuable future topics. We secured links from AI websites to the video data page and the data packages for AI page. These links tell search engines that the platform supplies data for machine learning, not only proxies.

Proxies

To protect the main source of revenue, we built links to the residential proxies page. The platform was also included in proxy comparison articles. That keeps it visible while buyers compare options.

Developer guides

Developers are the platform’s core users. We built links to a guide on web scraping with a popular JavaScript framework, and to a scraper product page. These links helped the platform rank for specific technical searches.

Why the links were chosen this way

Every link had to meet three standards. It had to be natural, meaning an editorial placement. It had to be contextual, meaning the link sat inside the article text. And it had to be relevant, meaning the linking website worked in the same field.

Google’s own guidance explains why relevance and anchor text matter. Google says it uses links as a signal when working out the relevancy of pages. It also says anchor text tells people and Google something about the page being linked to.

At a domain rating of 74, volume alone would not have moved much. Ahrefs notes that climbing from DR 70 to 80 can take thousands of links. So we spent the budget on fewer, better-aimed links to pages that earn revenue.

What enterprise teams can learn from this link building case study

Most of our enterprise clients are not starting from zero. They already have authority, a known brand and a set of pages that rank. For them, this campaign offers four practical lessons.

• Split the site into business areas. Give each product line its own target pages and its own linking websites.
• Protect what earns money now. Keep adding links to the pages that bring in current revenue, so competitors cannot close the gap.
• Build ahead of demand. Start linking to newer product pages before the market fully arrives, not after.
• Report honestly. Separate the links you placed from the total growth in referring domains, so the board sees a fair picture.

Ahrefs’ study of about 14 billion pages found a clear link between the number of websites linking to a page and its traffic. Ahrefs also notes that this does not prove cause. That is why we track rankings and traffic for each target page, not just site-wide totals.

Questions to ask before a similar campaign

If your site already has strong authority, a campaign like this starts with planning, not outreach. These are the questions we work through with a new enterprise client.

1. Which pages bring in revenue today? These need protecting, so competitors cannot overtake them.
2. Which products will matter most in two years? These need authority now, before demand peaks.
3. Who searches for each product? Developers, data teams and buyers use different words and read different websites.
4. Which competitor pages outrank yours? Compare referring domains to those pages, not only to the whole site.
5. How will you report progress? Agree the dates, the data source and the measures before the first link goes live.

Answering these first keeps every link tied to a business goal. It also gives the board a clear way to judge the campaign later.

Where this approach fits less well

A small number of well-aimed links works best for sites that already have authority. A new or overlooked site needs a different plan.

For example, a new business data website we worked with started at a domain rating of 0. It needed 37 links over nine months to reach a domain rating of 38. For sites like that, building a broad base of authority comes first, and page-level focus follows.

How we measured the campaign

We used Ahrefs for domain rating, referring domains and organic traffic estimates. The start and end points are the campaign dates, 1 December 2024 and 21 October 2025.

Traffic estimates change from month to month, so the choice of dates affects the headline figure. For that reason, we also report the peak (118,985 in March 2025) next to the end figure. A fair case study should show the full range, not only the best month.

For a client’s own reporting, Google Search Console and Google Analytics give first-party data on clicks and leads. We recommend using them alongside Ahrefs, so trends can be checked against more than one source.

You can read the full write-up in our web data platform case study. To see how this approach fits a wider programme, visit our SEO service page.

If you lead an established brand and want links that protect today’s rankings and build authority for next year’s products, get in touch.

Frequently asked questions

What is a link building case study?

It is a report on a real campaign, with the links placed, the dates and the before and after figures. A useful one separates the campaign’s own links from wider growth.

How many links were placed in this campaign?

We placed 17 links between 1 December 2024 and 21 October 2025. Each pointed to a specific product page or guide.

Did the 17 links create all the new referring domains?

No. Referring domains rose by about 1,940 during the campaign. Much of that growth came from other sources, and we do not claim it as ours.

Why did domain rating rise only three points?

At the top of the scale, each point is hard to gain. Ahrefs notes that moving from DR 70 to 80 can take thousands of links.

Is link building worth it for a market leader?

For leaders, the goal is to protect revenue pages and build authority for new products. In this campaign, traffic rose 72% over the period.

How should we judge a link building case study?

Check the dates, the data source and whether the agency separates its own links from total growth. Be wary of claims without dates or sources.

Sources

• Google Search Central, Link best practices for Google.
• Ahrefs, What is a good domain rating? (with real data), Ryan Law, 2 June 2026.
• Ahrefs, 96.55% of content gets no traffic from Google, 1 December 2023.
• Campaign figures: Ahrefs, 1 December 2024 to 21 October 2025.