The Challenge
A New Crypto Site in One of SEO's Toughest Niches
The client ran a DeFi and crypto-affiliate site reviewing wallets, exchanges, and yield-farming platforms. At 14 months old with a Domain Rating of 18, they were nowhere near the DR 45–70 competitors dominating page 1 for terms like "best crypto exchange UK" and "DeFi wallet comparison."
The crypto niche is uniquely hostile for link building. Most mid-tier publishers reject crypto content. Spam networks dominate the search results for "crypto guest post," and Google's YMYL guidelines mean any low-quality placement risks a manual action.
The client had tried two previous agencies. One delivered 30 links on zero-traffic sites. The other placed content on PBNs, triggering a partial de-indexation that required a costly disavow. Both campaigns had to be cleaned up before we could begin.
- 30 links on zero-traffic sites — no authority transfer
- PBN placements triggered partial de-indexation
- Over-optimised exact-match anchors throughout
- No topical relevance vetting on publishers
Our Strategy
Publisher Vetting First. Volume Second.
We started with a full backlink audit and disavowed 9 toxic domains from previous campaigns. Then we built a publisher vetting process requiring: (1) real organic traffic (minimum 5,000/month), (2) clear editorial standards and author bylines, (3) no history of Google penalties, and (4) topical relevance to finance or crypto.
From 340 candidate publishers, only 61 passed our screen. We tiered them: 10 DR 60–72 placements for money pages, 22 DR 45–59 for cluster pages, and 13 DR 40–44 for informational targets. Niche edits targeted already-ranking pages in the DeFi space.
Anchor text was carefully distributed: 32% branded, 28% partial-match, 24% naked URL, 16% topical — with no exact-match anchors for the first four months to let the profile mature naturally.
Execution
Month-by-Month Delivery
Backlink audit, disavow of 9 toxic domains, publisher vetting. Anchor strategy signed off by client. Zero links placed.
First 8 guest posts live on DR 40–52 publishers. Content targeting informational cluster topics around DeFi wallets.
10 guest posts + 4 niche edits. First DR 65 placement on a fintech news site. Two target keywords move from position 18–22 to 11–14.
8 posts + 4 niche edits. Partial-match anchors introduced at 20%. First money-page keyword enters top 10.
12 posts + 2 niche edits. Authority placements on DR 68 and DR 71 publishers. 4 of 6 target keywords on page 1.
7 posts + 2 niche edits. Campaign closes. All 6 target keywords on page 1. Traffic +85%. DR reaches 31.
- 800+ words minimum per guest post
- Native author bylines on every article
- Links placed in top 60% of article body
- No keyword-stuffed anchor context
- All content YMYL compliant
- No reciprocal link requests
Results
Final Numbers After 8 Months
The biggest ranking jump came in months 5–6 after DR 65+ authority placements matured. The Ahrefs traffic chart showed a steady upward curve — not a spike-and-drop — which reflects the compound effect of consistent, topically relevant links from real publishers. The client extended for a further 6 months targeting secondary keyword clusters, reaching 11,200 monthly visits (167% growth total) by month 14.
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