How CompanyData went from a domain rating of 0 to 38 and from no traffic to 4,500 visits a month
Information services- 0 → 38Domain ratingPeaked at 48 in October 2025
- 100xReferring domains14 → 1,409
- 4,537Organic visits a monthUp from no measurable traffic
- Company
- CompanyData
- Industry
- Information services
- Location
- Amsterdam, Netherlands, with offices in Berlin and Dubai
- Market
- Global
A nine-month link building campaign that launched a new business data website in search results.
Results snapshot
| Metric | Before | After | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Domain rating | 0 | 38 | +38 points |
| Referring domains | 14 | 1,409 | From 14 to 1,409 |
| Organic traffic per month | 0 | 4,537 | From no traffic to 4,537 visits |
Links secured: 37 high-authority links. Natural (editorial placements), contextual (links inside the article text) and relevant (websites in the same field).
About CompanyData
CompanyData provides business data and company databases, with records on more than 300 million companies. When the campaign started, its website had almost no presence in search results.
With a domain rating of 0, the site could not rank for valuable searches such as “company database” or “business-to-business leads”. To compete with large, established data providers, CompanyData needed to show Google it was a trustworthy source, starting from nothing.
Goals
The campaign was planned to build authority from scratch and turn it into the site’s first search traffic.
- Build domain authority: move the site from a domain rating of 0 to above 30, the level needed to rank for commercial searches.
- Win first traffic: get the main product pages, such as the company database page, ranking for searches from buyers.
- Connect to sales and human resources tools: secure links from sales and human resources software websites, to present CompanyData as a tool for growing businesses.
Strategy
With no blog content to build on, Sentosa sent links directly to the product pages so they could rank.
- Sales software. We secured links from customer relationship management and sales communication websites, pointing the anchor text “company database” to the main product page.
- Specific buyers. A link from a human resources software website pointed “hr managers database” to CompanyData’s human resources list page. A link from an artificial intelligence chatbot website pointed “B2B leads” to the leads page.
- Global reach. A placement on a content marketing website used the anchor text “company database worldwide”, presenting CompanyData as a global provider, not a local one.
Results
Authority came first, and traffic followed once the site was trusted.
- 038Domain rating
- 141,409Referring domains
- 04,537Organic traffic per month
- Domain rating up from 0 to 38. It peaked at 48 in October 2025 before settling at 38 by December.
- Referring domains up from 14 to 1,409. The site went from almost no links to a broad base of websites linking to it.
- Organic traffic up from none to 4,537 visits a month. Traffic began in the autumn, once the higher authority took effect.
Measured from 1 March 2025 to 2 December 2025. Source: Ahrefs. Domain rating figures are Ahrefs’ weekly figures for 3 March and 1 December 2025; referring domains and traffic are Ahrefs’ monthly figures.
Conclusion
A new website cannot attract buyers without authority. By building authority first, with links pointed at its product pages, Sentosa gave CompanyData the trust it needed to start ranking and bring in traffic.
Summary
New websites need authority before they can win traffic.
- Key lesson: for a new site, send links to the product pages that should rank, so growing authority turns into commercial traffic.
- Impact: domain rating from 0 to 38, referring domains from 14 to 1,409, and 4,537 visits a month from a standing start.
