Link building case study · Whatagraph
How I Built and Reclaimed 26 High-Authority Backlink Placements for Whatagraph
Two campaigns: earning exact-match links and restoring lost placements.
Reported campaign results
26Backlink placements
All reported placements were do-follow.
The engagement
Two briefs. One client.
My work with Whatagraph covered two different link-building challenges. One campaign focused on securing new, contextual backlinks to important blog articles under strict anchor-text and quality requirements.
The other focused on restoring lost links within a one-month deadline, without link exchanges from Whatagraph blog.
Across the two campaigns, the reported results were 13 new placements and 13 reclaimed placements, all do-follow.
Together, they show how I adapted my outreach to two different briefs for the same client.
The client
What Is Whatagraph?
Whatagraph is a marketing reporting platform that helps agencies and in-house marketing teams turn data into visual reports they can share with clients. Its content covers topics closely connected to the product, including marketing analytics, reporting, and marketing tools.
Two different challenges
The Two SEO Problems
Important content needed new backlinks
Whatagraph wanted backlinks to specific blog articles targeting competitive topics such as social media analytics tools, SEO tools, and white-label marketing tools.
These were pages intended to attract people researching products and solutions related to Whatagraph.
The brief was precise. A link to the homepage would not satisfy it.
Each placement needed to point to the right article, use the required exact-match anchor, come from a DR 55+ website, and be do-follow.
Existing backlinks had been lost
The second campaign addressed links that were no longer working or present.
The task was to approach the original publishers and secure updated or restored links, with only one month to deliver results.
Link exchanges were not available for this campaign. The outreach had to give editors a clear reason to make the correction and bring the link back.
Campaign 01 · New authority
Campaign 1: Building Exact-Match Backlinks
Why the brief was difficult
Exact-match anchor requirements reduce the number of suitable placements. It is not enough to find a publisher willing to mention a brand: the surrounding article must also support the required phrase naturally and link it to the intended destination.
That constraint sat alongside the DR 55+ threshold and the requirement for contextual, do-follow links. I needed opportunities where the topic, anchor, target page, and publisher requirements could all fit together.
How I secured the placements
I identified websites already publishing relevant marketing content, tool roundups, and related resources.
The aim was to find articles where Whatagraph’s content could support the existing discussion.
I then used relationship-based outreach to secure editorial placements.
Rather than treating any mention as a win, I worked toward the specific brief: the correct destination page, the requested anchor text, and a contextual do-follow link on a qualifying domain.
Campaign 1 results
The original detailed case study reports 13 live backlinks on unique referring domains, with an average DR of 73, all do-follow.
The supplied placement list currently documents 12 of those placements; the table below includes all 12 source pages, anchor texts, and Whatagraph destinations.
| Publisher / source article | Anchor text | Whatagraph destination |
|---|---|---|
| Keyhole | White Label Marketing Tools | White Label Marketing Tools |
| PublishDrive | Facebook Analytics Tools | Facebook Analytics Tools |
| WebAppick | Facebook Analytics Tools | Facebook Analytics Tools |
| Metrobi | Social Media Analytics tools | Best Social Media Analytics Tools |
| Mageplaza | Social Media Analytics tools | Best Social Media Analytics Tools |
| flow.ninja | Social Media Analytics Tools | Best Social Media Analytics Tools |
| MySignature | Social Media Analytics tools | Best Social Media Analytics Tools |
| POWR | Social Media Analytics Tools | Best Social Media Analytics Tools |
| Socialinsider | SEO tools | Agency SEO Software |
| ContentStudio | SEO tools | Agency SEO Software |
| Brafton | SEO tools | Agency SEO Software |
| WPCrafter | Agency SEO tools | Agency SEO Software |
Campaign 02 · Recovered authority
Campaign 2: Reclaiming Lost Authority
One month, with no link exchanges
The second brief required a different approach.
I was working with lost or broken links and asking the original publishers to restore or update them. The deadline was one month, and the campaign did not allow link exchanges.
Anchor text could vary, but it still needed to be relevant and contextually accurate. Target websites also needed to meet the DR 55+ quality requirement.
How I identified and prioritized opportunities
I created a list of lost or broken links pointing to Whatagraph and prioritized opportunities from higher-DR domains that met the campaign requirements.
This gave the outreach a focused starting point: publishers with an existing connection to Whatagraph’s content and a specific link issue to address.
How I approached publishers
I contacted content managers with personalized requests explaining which link needed attention and providing the correct destination and context. The request focused on a concrete update the editor could make, rather than an open-ended proposal.
Selected reclaimed links and anchors
These examples come from the reclamation case study. They illustrate the range of relevant anchor text used across the recovered placements.
| Publisher | Anchor text | DR |
|---|---|---|
| WebAppPick | marketing analytics tools | 72 |
| Determ | monitoring and analysis | 67 |
| SimpleShow | precisely track engagement and other data | 73 |
| Refrens | agency analytics competitor | 73 |
| Upmetrics | analytics tools | 71 |
| AiContentfy | ROI | 73 |
Campaign 2 results
The campaign reports 13 reclaimed backlinks in under one month, with an average DR of 75+. All 13 were do-follow, and no link exchanges were used. These figures describe recovered placements; they do not measure a subsequent change in rankings or referral traffic.
The outcome
Combined Results
Historical case study: these results reflect the original campaign period. Some placements may have since been changed or removed, so not all listed backlinks may still be live today.
- Reported total: 26 backlink placements across the two campaigns — 13 new placements and 13 reclaimed placements.
- Campaign 1 average DR: 73. Campaign 2 average DR: 75+. 100% do-follow: both campaigns report 13 out of 13 placements.
- Reclamation delivered in under one month, without link exchanges.
The total describes 26 backlink wins across two assignments. It does not yet establish 26 unique links or 26 unique referring domains across the full engagement.
Client feedback
Testimonial
“Thank you so much for your hard work Yahya. I will let you know once I have more projects for you. :)”
— Stanislav Farkas
