The thirteen-month before and after.
| Metric | Apr 2023 | Apr 2024 | Growth |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ranking keywords (all positions) | 3,147 | 13,902 | +342% |
| Keywords in positions 1–3 | 95 | 167 | +76% |
| Keywords in positions 4–10 | 121 | 320 | +164% |
| Page-one keywords (1–10) | 216 | 487 | +125% |
| Keywords in positions 11–20 | 258 | 691 | +168% |
| Keywords in positions 21–50 | 985 | 4,453 | +352% |
| Referring domains | 1,216 | 2,328 | +91% |
All figures drawn from Ahrefs Site Explorer for the period 1 April 2023 – 30 April 2024. Charts in this document are recreated from that data.
The engagement at a glance.
An established brand whose growth had stalled.
Budpop (budpop.com) is an established hemp e-commerce brand selling Delta-8, Delta-9, THCA, and CBD products — gummies, carts, flower, pre-rolls, and disposables. Unlike a launch-phase project, Budpop entered this engagement with real assets: 1,216 referring domains and a recognized name in the space. Its problem was different, and in some ways harder — growth had stalled.
In April 2023 the site ranked for just 3,147 keywords, only 216 of them on page one. The catalog had expanded into fast-moving new categories — THCA flower, Delta-9 gummies, disposables — but those pages had almost no link equity and were invisible in search. With advertising banned on Google and Meta, every lost ranking was acquisition the brand could not buy back with ads. The brief: reignite keyword growth and push the new product categories onto page one, on a lean budget of $35,000.
Precision, not volume: 450 mapped links.
Roughly 35 links per month at about $78 per placement. With a mature link profile already in place, the leverage was not in raw authority but in where the new equity was pointed. Every phase was mapped against category-level keyword opportunities before a single link was ordered.
- ◆Audit before buildingThe first four months were spent auditing the existing profile, mapping anchors, and running competitor gap analysis, so all 450 links landed where competitors were weakest.
- ◆Category-led anchorsAnchors were built around the new revenue categories: THCA flower, Delta-9 gummies, carts, disposables, THCA pre-rolls. Link equity flowed directly to the pages the business needed to rank.
- ◆Relevance over vanity metricsPlacements ran from DR 18 niche blogs to DR 73 psychology publications, each chosen for audience fit: recipe angles on food sites, wellness angles on parenting blogs, industry-leadership angles on business sites.
- ◆Verified-live accountabilityEvery placement was logged in a shared tracker with anchor, topic, published URL, DR and traffic of the linking site, and marked Live only after verification in the published article.
- ◆Sustainable velocityDeliberately modest velocity (~35 links/month) kept the profile’s growth curve natural for an established domain.
Audit, ramp, consolidate.
Audit & mapping
Full link-profile audit, anchor-text mapping, and competitor gap analysis; early targeted placements while existing content was optimized to receive link equity.
Velocity ramp
Main building window: referring domains climbed from ~1,230 to ~2,270 in four months. Product-led anchors aimed at new category pages.
Consolidation
Velocity tapered; focus shifted to reinforcing pages in positions 4–20 through Google’s March 2024 core update. Page-one count finished at 487 — up 125% year over year.
Page one doubled; the profile grew 2.5 domains per link.
Page-one keywords grew from 216 to 487, and top-3 positions from 95 to 167 — driven disproportionately by the new THCA and Delta-9 category pages the campaign’s anchors targeted. Positions 11–20 grew 168% to 691, a pipeline of near-page-one keywords. The referring-domain curve tells the story precisely: flat through the audit phase, a steep controlled climb through the Sep–Dec ramp, then a stable plateau — 1,112 new domains from 450 ordered placements, roughly 2.5 domains for every link built.
Capital-efficient SEO, priced per unit.
Each new page-one ranking cost $129 — a one-time cost for a recurring asset, in a niche where the equivalent click volume cannot be bought through ads at any price. The 2,328-domain profile and 13,902-keyword footprint remain the brand’s property after the campaign ends.
What this campaign proves.
Precision beats volume
For an established site, 450 precisely-targeted links outperformed what thousands of unfocused links could do: keyword footprint grew 342% because equity was aimed at mapped category gaps.
The audit phase pays for itself
Spending the first four months on audit and mapping looked slow, but it is why the Sep–Dec ramp converted so efficiently into rankings.
Links launch categories
New product categories (THCA, Delta-9) went from invisible to page one because anchors and placements were built around them from day one.
Resilience is built, not lucky
A 91% referring-domain gain and controlled velocity carried the site through the March 2024 core update with its high-value rankings intact.
Live backlinks sample.
Every placement was logged in a live tracking sheet shared with Budpop and marked Live only after verification. This excerpt from the tracker shows the range: branded, product, and category anchors placed natively across food, parenting, psychology, business, music, and cannabis-industry publications from DR 18 to DR 73.
| # | Anchor | Article topic | Published on | DR | Traffic |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Budpop | 19 Weed and Stoner Quotes | holycitysinner.com | 58 | 14,600 |
| 2 | Budpop CBD products | CBD Capsules vs. Softgels: What’s the Difference? | tasmaniantimes.com | 58 | 6,400 |
| 3 | Budpop cannabis products online | 4 Ways To Make Pro-Level Cannabis Recipes | mommacuisine.com | 38 | 2,400 |
| 4 | buy cbd products at Budpop | Do CBD-Infused Beverages Give You a Buzz? | greatbeernow.com | 27 | 540 |
| 5 | delta 9 products from budpop | What Exactly is Delta 9? Find Out | tamaracamerablog.com | 41 | 3,100 |
| 6 | Budpop delta 8 products | Is It Advisable To Consume Delta-8? | sippycupmom.com | 42 | 2,200 |
| 7 | shop hemp products | What Are the Best Oils for Reducing Frizz? | naturalbeautywithbaby.com | 18 | 6,106 |
| 8 | hemp products online at Budpop | Is It OK to Take CBD and Ashwagandha Together? | psychreg.org | 73 | 12,600 |
| 9 | Budpop delta 8 products | Budpop Delta-8: Navigating Excellence | ccr-mag.com | 64 | 1,200 |
| 10 | THCA flower from budpop | Top 5 Ways to Smoke THCA Flower | flcannabisdeals.org | 47 | 2,900 |
| 11 | budpop thca products | CBD-Infused Recipes | therwandan.com | 37 | 15,700 |
| 12 | high quality thca products from budpop | The Surprising Effects of THCA | ineedmedic.com | 57 | 10,000 |
| 13 | budpop cbd gummies | Can You Consume CBD Gummies Daily? | mummyfever.co.uk | 32 | 1,600 |
| 14 | budpop gummies | 10 Cannabis Leaders to Take Inspiration From | leadgrowdevelop.com | 46 | 25,900 |
| 15 | Budpop delta 8 | What’s the Difference Between Delta-10 and Delta-8? | venture1105.com | 40 | 12,600 |
| 16 | budpop delta 9 gummies | 10 Legendary Bands to Listen To | obscuresound.com | 62 | 919 |
| 17 | budpop carts | What to Consider Before Starting Vaping | greenlivingguy.com | 47 | 869 |
| 18 | bud pop gummies | How Will CBD Gummies Make You Feel? | psychtimes.com | 53 | 10,800 |
| 19 | budpop disposable | How to Make a Career in the Cannabis Industry | hempstaff.com | 39 | 922 |
| 20 | thca preroll from budpop | The Caribbean is Paradise on Earth | soundsandcolours.com | 54 | 5,800 |
Sample of 20 from 450 total placements. All links point to budpop.com pages; each placement was verified live in genuine editorial content before payment. Performance data sourced from Ahrefs Site Explorer (1 Apr 2023 – 30 Apr 2024).