Beauty Salon Link Building Case Study

The beauty industry is highly competitive, with countless salons fighting for visibility in local search results in pretty much every city around the world. Our client, a boutique beauty salon specializing in facials, waxing, and bridal makeup, was no exception.

Even with a well optimized website and an active social media presence, their organic traffic remained low. The main cause of this? Poor keyword rankings. Because of this, they weren’t ranking for popular searches like “best bridal makeup near me” or “organic facials in [city],” meaning they were missing out on potential clients actively searching for their services.

Another major challenge was their lack of backlink authority. Having never invested in link building, their website had a low Domain Authority and only a handful of referring domains. This put them at a big disadvantage against compared to the more established salons and larger brands they were up against, making it even harder to stand out in local search results.

At Rhino Rank, we specialize in building unique link building strategies that meet the needs and budget of each client. For this client, our goal was to build a natural and diverse link profile that would enhance their search rankings, strengthen their domain authority, and ultimately drive more organic traffic to their website.

To achieve our goal, the client’s Account Manager created a two-phase link building strategy tailored to the beauty industry.

With a monthly budget of $1,000 dedicated to link building, the proposed solution aimed to not only improve the salons’ local organic keyword rankings, but help them to feature in Google’s Map Pack and grow their revenue stream.

Months 1 – 12: Curated Links to drive authority and link power

• Curated Links Package 2 ($990)
  • 5x RD20-100 links
  • 4x RD100-250 links
  • 2x RD250-500 links
  • 2x RD500+ link

This package provided a diverse range of links from various referring domain (RD) sources, allowing us to secure links on beauty blogs and local lifestyle sites for maximum relevance. We also worked closely with the client to help them select strategic anchor text, ensuring 90% of the links used branded terms while the remaining 10% incorporated long-tail keywords such as “learn more about bridal makeup” and “best facial in [city].”

Months 13 – 18: Curated Links and Visual Links for greater backlink diversity 

• Curated Links Package 1 ($485)
  • 4x RD20-100 links
  • 2x RD100-250 links
  • 1x RD250-500 links
  • 1x RD500+ link
• Visual Links ($545)
  • 2x RD100-250 links
  • 2x RD250-500 link
  • 2x RD500+ link

To further strengthen the client’s backlink profile and improve topical relevance, we introduced Visual Links in the second year of the campaign. These links utilize royalty-free and AI-generated images, which are then embedded into existing content on high authority beauty and lifestyle websites. The images were strategically placed in articles covering skincare tips and bridal beauty trends, improving the website’s authority while also making the brand more recognizable online.

Our approach was designed to maximize the salon’s ROI while adhering to ethical SEO practices. Before launching the two-phase link building strategy, we conducted a comprehensive keyword research, identifying the most valuable keywords for the salon. This included branded keywords to build trust, local long-tail keywords to capture nearby search traffic, and service-based keywords to attract high-intent clients. 

As mentioned above, anchor text optimization was crucial in maintaining a natural and effective backlink profile. The balance of branded and broad match keywords helped strengthen the salon’s online presence whilst also adhering to search engine guidelines. To ensure maximum impact and topical relevance, we also ensured every link was placed on a niche-relevant website. Beauty blogs provided exposure through skincare and bridal-related content, and lifestyle websites expanded the salon’s reach to a broader audience interested in fashion and wellness.

Throughout the campaign, we continuously monitored performance using a range of SEO tools. This allowed us to refined the strategy in real time, maximizing the campaign’s effectiveness and ensured long-term growth.

To date, the campaign has delivered some exceptional results. 

Organic traffic increased by 322%, transforming the salon’s website into a go-to resource for local clients searching for beauty services.

But that’s not all. Page one keyword rankings increased by 900%, allowing the salon to secure positions on the first page of Google for high-value terms like “organic facials in [city]” and “bridal makeup near me.” Additionally, position 1-3 keywords saw a 600% increase, meaning the salon’s most profitable keywords are now driving substantial traffic and generating more appointment bookings.

Given the impressive results, it’s no surprise that the client has decided to take their link building efforts to the next level and increase their investment into our newest service – Visual Links.

This case study demonstrates how a strategic, cost effective link building campaign can transform a small businesses’ online presence. By combining Curated Links and Visual Links , we helped this beauty salon rise above local competitors, generate more appointment bookings, and establish itself as a trusted authority in the local area.