Four Point Domain Authority Increase for Mission AC & Plumbing
The days of backlinks for the sake of backlinks are over. To have an impact on a website’s domain authority, backlinks need to be relevant to the brand, authoritative and/or hyperlocal.
In March of 2024, I completed a full citation sweep for Mission AC & Plumbing. With four locations, and years of bouncing in between marketing agencies, the citation profile for this client was a tangled mess. My audit involved updating all citations to include consistent and accurate NAP information for all four of Mission’s locations — building backlinks along the way.
Once the citations were set up, I made a concentrated effort to get Mission into highly relevant and authoritative sites. I succeded in earning backlinks on four major industry publications, including Architectural Digest and The Spruce. During this span of time, Mission’s DA increased by 3 points. This may not sound like a lot, but it’s the fastest DA growth this client has seen in years, and each point goes a long way to increasing rankings.
Purposeful Linkbuilding
The Spruce is an outlet that is consistently searching for high-quality sources for a number of how-tos, buyer’s guides and listicles, but with a DA of 82, getting that backlink can be difficult. With a quick turnaround time, I managed to get Mission AC into The Spruce’s article about Easy Fixes For A Hot Upstairs.
Delish is a trendy food-oriented publication with occasional home and garden content. I jumped on an opportunity to have my client added to an article about garbage disposal tips and I ended up earning them a backlink on a site with a DA of 77.
Architectural Digest is one of the most respected publishers in the home and garden sphere. Their website has a strong DA of 74. I earned a backlink for my client about DIY garbage disposal fixes.
With a DA of 70 and content focused around home improvement, House Beautiful is a strong backlink to build for an HVAC company. By submitting my client’s quote, I was able to get them into their article about home damage in extreme heat.
Direct Impact On Traffic
With the citation and digital PR efforts combined, I started seeing an increase in organic traffic. Mission is based out of Houston — an extremely competitive market for HVAC and plumbing services. It can be difficult for a small business to stand out or gain traction in the SERPs. By smoothing out their citations and building them strong backlinks, I was able to help them improve their authority and increase organic traffic.
The results speak for themselves, but I’ll talk about them anyway. In the same time period as my backlink-building campaign, organic clicks saw a 21.43% increase over the preceding period. Total impressions also saw a rise of 4.59% over the preceding period and CTR improved 16.67%. I saw improvements in engaged sessions and conversions as well. In this time period, engaged sessions grew 17.17% and conversions increased by 11.64% over the preceding period. Not bad for four high-DA backlinks and a citation audit.
As I continue to refine and strengthen Mission AC & Plumbing’s backlink profile, I expect to see even more growth in their domain authority, organic traffic, and conversions. Building backlinks is about more than just numbers; it’s about creating long-term value by aligning a brand with authoritative and relevant sources. With each step, I’m helping this client not only rank higher but also build trust and credibility with both search engines and potential customers. The upward trend in their performance speaks to the impact of thoughtful, strategic digital PR, and I look forward to continuing this success story.
Katie Stone SEO 