How a Texas Rehab Center Achieved 71.48% Organic Traffic Growth and Boosted Domain Rating from 39 to 44 in 6 Months
Introduction
This drug rehab center is a residential treatment facility in Austin, Texas. They focus on helping people achieve long-term recovery from addiction by addressing the root causes of addiction through a comprehensive range of care services.
Company Size: 51-200 employees
Project Duration: July 2020 to December 2020
Goals
Initial Status
When the client approached us:
- Their Domain Rating (DR) was 39 (Source: Ahrefs)
- Their organic traffic was 8,121/month (Source: Ahrefs)
- They wanted to leverage Digital PR (specifically media exposure and thought leadership)
- They needed an affordable solution
Thought Leadership Impact: 65% of buyers say thought leadership significantly changed the perception of a company for the better. Additionally, 70% said it’s very important that thought leadership motivates the reader to take action, and 71% said educational content counts as thought leadership.
Source: Edelman & SurveyMonkey
Campaign Objectives
Based on client requirements, we established these goals:
- Devise a Performance Marketing based Journalist Outreach campaign with pay-for-performance model
- Use Journalist Outreach platforms (e.g. HARO/Connectively) to quickly increase Domain Rating
- Grow organic traffic as a more economical inbound marketing option
- Boost the founder’s personal brand as a thought leader within the Rehab and Addiction Treatment Industry
Process
Our Pay-for-Performance campaign focused on earning high-authority and legitimate backlinks by sending persuasive and personalized pitches to journalists on HARO (Help a Reporter Out) on behalf of the client.
Results
50+ High Authority Links
We earned more than 50 high-quality links, classified into two types:
Type 1: Niche-Specific Links
These were from super relevant articles and websites (typically earned via guest posting).
| Publication | DR |
|---|---|
| Unfinished Man | 60 |
| The Healthy Voyager | 52 |
| Mommy’s Memorandum | 55 |
These included articles on topics like:
- Hydrocodone addiction
- Mental health tips
- Benefits of psychotherapy
Type 2: Digital PR Links
Links from mainstream websites where the client participated in discussions in high authority publications.
Benefits of Digital PR HARO Links
- Increase in Domain Rating
- Increased organic visibility (free organic traffic from SEO)
- Free publicity
- The founder’s personal brand solidified as a thought leader and industry expert
| Publication | DR |
|---|---|
| CEO Blog Nation | 71 |
| CMSWire | 84 |
| Databox | 82 |
Average DR of Earned Links
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Average DR of Total Earned Links | 44 |
Domain Rating Boost: 39 to 44
According to research, 42% of companies took more than three months to witness a noticeable increase in their DA scores.
DR is on a logarithmic scale, meaning it takes exponentially more effort to increase DR from 42 to 43 than from 41 to 42.
Given these challenges, we successfully increased the DR from 39 to 44 in less than six months—a 12.8% increase.
Organic Traffic Growth
| Initial Traffic | Final Traffic | Growth |
|---|---|---|
| 8,121/month | 13,926/month | 71.48% |
Summary
Our pay-for-performance Journalist Outreach service delivered:
- Increased organic traffic on a reasonable budget with a 71.48% growth rate
- Significant DR increase from 39 to 44 in a short timeframe
- Strengthened the founder’s personal brand as a thought leader and industry expert
- 50+ high-authority backlinks from major publications
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