A growing apparel manufacturer had just moved to a new domain. The problem is, the migration wasn’t handled correctly. Very quickly, they saw things go wrong: their main keywords dropped, their organic traffic fell, and a big part of their backlink profile stopped working properly.
In simple terms, they lost around 80% of their organic visibility, and that hit their bottom line right after the new domain went live.
They brought us in with two clear goals. First, fix the damage from the bad migration, and then, once things were stable, grow again by improving rankings for key “money” pages and building safe, high-quality links.
What Went Wrong With the Migration
Before we did anything else, we needed to understand why performance collapsed.
When we reviewed the migration, we saw several technical issues: many old URLs weren’t redirected correctly, some important pages returned 404s, and internal links weren’t helping search engines find the right content on the new domain. On top of that, a lot of strong backlinks were still pointing to old, now-broken URLs.
Because of all this, the new domain wasn’t getting the benefit of the authority that had been built over time. The “SEO juice” simply wasn’t flowing to the right places.
Step 1: Fixing the Damage
So, the first step wasn’t link building. It was repair.
We started with a technical audit of the new domain. We checked how redirects were set up, whether important pages were crawlable and indexable, and how the internal linking structure worked. We also looked at content on key pages to see if it still matched search intent.
At the same time, we focused on recovering lost backlinks. We pulled a list of the most valuable referring domains that had linked to the old site and checked where those links were now landing. Whenever we saw a good link pointing to a 404 or a poor match, we mapped it to a better destination and fixed it with a proper 301 redirect or an updated page.
We also went back to the core money pages that used to perform well before the migration. Together with the client, we marked these as priority pages. For each one, we built simple keyword clusters, refreshed the on-page copy, and improved the conversion flow so that when traffic returned, it would actually turn into leads and sales.
Only after this repair work was in place did it make sense to push harder on new links.
Step 2: Building Authority in Q2
With the basics fixed, we moved into a clear Q2 plan focused on building authority in a controlled way.
We agreed on a target of 63 backlinks over the quarter, at a pace of 21 per month. By the end of the reporting period:
- 63 backlinks planned for Q2
- 50 links live and 13 pending publication
- Average DA ~50 on the linking domains
- ~7,646 average monthly organic visits on those referring sites
- 8 key revenue-driving URLs received links
We spread these links across the pages that matter most for revenue. Many placements came from niche, relevant publications in apparel, manufacturing, and B2B, so we weren’t just chasing numbers — we were building real topical authority.
Because the migration fixes and link recovery work were already in place, these new links landed on a solid foundation and had a much stronger impact than they would have on a broken setup.
How Rankings Moved
Once the fixes and new links started to land, we began to see steady movement across the main pages. Below is how each key page responded.
Manufacturing Page
The manufacturing page is one of the main money pages, so it received the biggest share of links. As a result, its main keywords moved into the competitive set, with several terms entering the top 20 and better for both broad and location-based searches. This page is now firmly in the mix for core commercial queries.
Sample Making Page
The sample making page showed a very strong intent match. Key terms moved from positions 9 to 5 and from 3 to 2, with best-to-date highs of 4 and 1. In other words, this page is now in a great place to hold strong rankings and keep growing with only light ongoing support.
Design Services Page
The design services page also responded well. Its main keyword climbed from rank 9 to rank 6, matching its best historic performance. With a bit more support, this page has a clear path into the top five for its primary term.
Sustainable Manufacturers Page
The sustainable manufacturers page started much further back, around position 35. During the campaign it improved to 25, with a best rank of 10. Because this is a tougher, emerging topic, we see it as a longer-term play. Even so, the movement shows that the page is starting to gain traction.
Home Page
On the home page, one high-intent business term moved from position 51 to 10, with a best rank of 6 during the period. This is important not only for that keyword, but also for the rest of the site, because stronger home page authority helps internal links carry more weight to other key pages.
Pattern Making Page
The pattern making page stayed solid for its main keyword at the top of page one. At the same time, two related keywords moved into single-digit positions. This now makes the page a strong hub that can pass value to nearby topics through internal links.
Small Batch Manufacturing Page
Finally, the small batch manufacturing page saw a key geo-focused keyword move from position 6 to 4, with a best rank of 2. That kind of improvement shows that a light but steady stream of links is enough to keep this page competitive in its niche.
Two Standout Wins
Two ranking moves really stand out. One target climbed from position 6 to position 2. Another page jumped from completely outside the top 100 to position 5. These are the kinds of shifts you see when technical issues are fixed, link equity is pointed to the right places, and the content clearly matches what people are searching for.
The Results
To keep things clear, here’s the main progress from the start of Q2 to the end:
- Impressions on target URLs increased by 67%, adding about 77,000 extra impressions
- Average ranking position for exact-match keywords improved from 30.2 to 20.9 (a gain of 9.3 positions)
- Clicks on the target pages doubled
- Monthly organic traffic rose from 1,660 to 1,720 (up 4%)
- Domain Rating moved from 42 to 44
- Referring domains grew from 273 to 336, roughly matching our link delivery pace
The 4% traffic lift might sound modest on its own, but this is what we typically see early on: rankings and impressions move first, and then traffic follows as more terms reach the top of page one.
Looking forward, if we keep a lighter pace of around 15 DA30+ links per month into Q3 and Q4, we expect Domain Rating to head toward 46, referring domains toward 426, and monthly traffic toward about 2,158, which lines up with a 30% growth path.
What We’re Doing Next
Now that the migration is fixed and the site is gaining back strength, the plan for the next stretch is simple:
- Keep building good links at a sustainable pace, focusing on sites that bring both authority and real visitors
- Tighten on-page signals for the pages that are just outside page one, so they can break into the top spots
- Use strong pages like manufacturing, sample making, pattern making, and design services to support nearby articles and FAQs with smart internal links
- Keep an eye on the search results for new competitors and features, and adjust anchors and targets when needed
Final Takeaway
This case started with a bad domain migration that wiped out most of the organic profile. Instead of jumping straight into aggressive link building, we first fixed the core issues: we repaired redirects, recovered lost backlinks, and rebuilt the most important pages.
Then, once the foundations were solid, we added a focused link-building campaign on top.
Because we stayed tight on a small set of revenue-driving URLs, kept link quality high, and followed the data, we now see more impressions, better rankings, and early traffic growth—after just three months.
If we keep the pace, keep the pages aligned with how people actually search, and keep strengthening the internal structure, the next two quarters should tell a very good story.