Property Letting Link Building Case Study

Finding the right accommodation as a student can be a minefield. With the rise of alternative housing options such as co-living or private rentals, traditional student accommodation providers have seen a sharp increase in industry competition. Therefore, adapting to changing market dynamics is essential for sustained success.

Unlike traditional high street agents, our client offered students a wide range of different accommodation options to choose from, from purpose-built flats, to properties built to rent and privately ownerd accommodation. However, whilst they were meeting the needs of their target audience, the company itself was relatively new, which meant that their brand authority and online visibility were virtually nonexistent. 

This is where Rhino Rank stepped in. In this case study, we will explain how we helped a UK-based student letting platform grow its backlink portfolio, increase organic website traffic, and support more students in finding the perfect accommodation. 

Before diving into the link building strategy, our in-house team conducted a full website audit to understand our client’s unique industry and company specific challenges.

We quickly discovered that our client’s marketing budget was being heavily invested in paid channels – including Google Ads and Meta Ads. Whilst their paid campaigns were delivering a steady return on investment, this did mean that their website was only ranking for a handful of terms, most of which were irrelevant or had very little traffic potential.  Our in-house team therefore proposed a strategy that would focus on building a relevant and authoritative backlink profile.

With a monthly budget of up to $600, we proposed a simple but highly effective link building strategy that made use of our Curated Links service.

We recommended the following:

• Curated Links Package 1 ($475)
  • 4x RD20-100 links
  • 2x RD100-250 links
  • 1x RD2050-500 link
  • 1x RD500+ link
• 1x RD500 Curated Link ($110)

Package 1 is our entry-level Curated Links package. By utilizing this link selection, our client experienced an 8% pre-packaged discount, which meant they could use that money to purchase an additional RD500 link. The diverse range of Referring Domains (RD) included in this package enables us to create the most natural and organic-looking backlink profile possible.

We utilized a comprehensive strategy that made the most of our unique Curated Links service.

Over a period of 6 months, we implemented this structured and methodical link building campaign, carefully monitoring its impact and making anchor text and link placement adjustments as we went along. We carefully select the websites our client’s links would be placed on by taking into account several factors, including relevance to their niche, Referring Domains (RD), Domain Authority (DA), organic traffic levels, and the overall quality of the website’s build and content.

Each link is also supported by bespoke supplemental content, to ensure the links appear as natural and organic as possible, and must be approved by our Quality Assurance team to ensure we only deliver the highest quality service for our clients. Our 100% genuine outreach process and unwavering commitment to quality is why we are one of the best link building agencies in the UK and US.

The results, as you will see below, speak for themselves.

6 months after partnering with Rhino Rank, our student letting client witnessed a phenomenal 550% increase in organic traffic. As you can see from the graph below, the number of reference domains our client had also seen a substantial increase. 

As seen below, this surge in traffic has resulted from a steady increase in the number of relevant keywords their website was now ranking for, with Google page 1 and 2 keyword rankings increasing 812%. 

However, the benefits of our Curated Link campaign didn’t stop there. This boost in online visibility also led to an increase in the number of students using our client’s leasing service, which in turn resulted in our client seeing a 47% revenue growth compared to the previous period.

Given these remarkable results, it is no surprise that the student accommodation provider has decided to continue working with Rhino Rank. They have now increased their investment in Curated Links to $1,000 a month, moving to our ‘Curated Links Package 2′ offer.

In conclusion, this case study demonstrates the power of strategic link building in driving traffic and boosting revenue, highlighting the importance of including link building as a permanent part of any marketing strategy. And while focused on student accommodation, the principles outlined in this case study are universally applicable to any industry facing stiff online competition. The team at Rhino Rank is proud to be a part of our client’s ongoing success story.