The Client
A Travel eSIM Brand, Delivered As A White-Label Program For A UK SEO Agency
This was a white-label engagement. Our client was a UK-based SEO agency that resells link building to its own roster, and the end brand was a travel eSIM company selling prepaid data plans across Europe, North America, and beyond. Its catalog runs on country and region pages, Europe, France, Italy, Spain, Greece, the UK, the USA, Canada, Mexico, Turkey, and more, each fighting for high-intent commercial searches like ‘europe esim’ and ‘esim for international travel’.
Throughout the project our single point of contact was the agency, never the end brand. We built and reported on the link program, the agency owned the client relationship, and every approval and instruction passed through them. In a category crowded with well-funded competitors, off-page authority is what decides who lands on page one, and that authority is exactly what we were brought in to build.
The Challenge
A Full Domain Migration In The Middle Of The Campaign
We began building links in July 2024 and spent the following twelve months turning the original domain into a real authority in the travel eSIM space. Then, in July 2025, the brand moved to a brand-new domain. A domain migration is one of the highest-risk events in SEO. Handled carelessly, it can erase years of accumulated link equity overnight.
The agency handled the migration itself on the end brand’s side. Our job was different and just as important: make sure the authority we had spent a year building actually followed the move to the new address. Every backlink we had placed pointed at the old domain, and all of that value now had to transfer cleanly to a domain search engines had never seen before.
The Strategy
How We Built, Then Protected, The Authority
Every link sits on a real, independently owned publisher, never a network or a private blog farm. Each placement passes a strict vetting gate before a single pound is spent, and every anchor is mapped to the exact page it is meant to strengthen.
Publisher Vetting
Every site is screened for Domain Rating, real organic traffic, spam score, and domain age. Anything that looks manufactured is rejected. Placements span travel, technology, and lifestyle publishers from DR 40 to DR 85.
Relevant, Editorial Content
Each link lives inside a genuinely useful host article, a travel guide, a connectivity explainer, a tech piece, not a thin post built only to carry a link. Every draft was approved through the agency before it went live.
Anchor and Page Mapping
Anchors are spread across exact-match, partial-match, and branded variations, then mapped to specific country eSIM pages so authority flows to the URLs that actually need to rank.
Migration Support
When the agency migrated the site, we paused new links and supplied the redirect and equity-transfer inputs they needed, coordinating entirely through the agency until the signals were clean.
A Sample Of Where Links Were Placed
The program spans well over one hundred placements. Every publisher was vetted on live Ahrefs metrics before approval. Domains are withheld to keep the client anonymous, but the quality profile is real.
The Results
The Foundation We Built Before The Move
From our July 2024 kickoff to the July 2025 migration, we more than quadrupled the referring domain profile and nearly doubled organic traffic. This is the equity that had to be protected.
Original domain, kickoff to migration.
Estimated monthly organic visits.
Authority built on the original domain.
Referring Domains, Original Domain
Organic Traffic, Original Domain
Domain Rating, Original Domain
By July 2025 the original domain was pulling an estimated 173,800 organic visits a month, worth roughly 152,000 dollars in equivalent paid traffic. That is the asset the migration put at risk, and the asset we set out to preserve.
The Pause And The Recovery
We Protected The Link Equity First, Then Rebuilt
When the migration went live, we made a deliberate call. Rather than firing new links at a domain Google was still learning to trust, we paused link building for roughly four months. Google itself notes that consolidating signals after a migration can take two to six months. During the pause, we coordinated with the agency on the 301 redirect map, confirming every old landing page pointed to its exact new counterpart so the equity actually followed the move.
New domain, migration to now. Back to pre-migration strength.
From a cold domain to strong authority in under a year.
January to June 2026, and still climbing.
Referring Domains, New Domain
Domain Rating, New Domain
Organic Traffic, New Domain
The Handoff
One Continuous Story, Across Two Domains
The clearest way to see the migration is to put both domains on a single timeline. The navy bars are the original domain building up to the move. The orange bars are the new domain, dipping to near zero at handover, then climbing right back past 4,300 referring domains. The authority did not disappear in the move. It transferred and kept growing.
Referring Domains Across Both Domains
Keyword Targets
What The Links Are Working Toward
Authority is only useful when it lands on pages that sell. Every placement is mapped to a commercial eSIM keyword and the specific landing page built to convert it. These are the priority targets driving the campaign, all real Ahrefs search volumes.
Why It Worked
Built Around The Client’s Long-Term Health
A domain migration is where most link programs quietly lose an agency’s client years of equity. This one did not, because the strategy was built around long-term ranking health, not around hitting a monthly link count. For the reselling agency, that meant a program they could stand behind with their own client.
- We paused billable work. Protecting equity mattered more than a monthly quota, so link building stopped until the migration signals were clean.
- One clear point of contact. We coordinated entirely through the agency, which kept the end-client relationship fully theirs.
- Every link earns its place. Placements sit on vetted, real-traffic publishers with a documented approval trail.
- Anchors mapped to revenue. Authority strengthens the exact country pages that drive sales, not random URLs.
- Measured in Ahrefs. Recovery is proven in the data, not in promises, and the trend is still pointing up.
Stan Ventures
Want Numbers Like These For Your Client?
We build white-label link building programs for SEO agencies. Vetted publishers, real relevance, pre-approval at every step, and a cadence that compounds, even through a full domain migration. You keep the client relationship. We handle the links.
Dileep Thekkethil
AuthorDileep Thekkethil is the Director of Marketing at Stan Ventures and an SEMRush certified SEO expert. With over a decade of experience in digital marketing, Dileep has played a pivotal role in helping global brands and agencies enhance their online visibility. His work has been featured in leading industry platforms such as MarketingProfs, Search Engine Roundtable, and CMSWire, and his expert insights have been cited in Google Videos. Known for turning complex SEO strategies into actionable solutions, Dileep continues to be a trusted authority in the SEO community, sharing knowledge that drives meaningful results.