Top 1 in Indonesia with Massive Link-Building , PBNs & Redirects

How It All Started

At the beginning of January, we published a case study for one of our clients. After that, many teams reached out to us, asking to replicate this case for them but tailored to their target GEO and target keyword.

I can't say that everything went smoothly for all clients or that they achieved the expected results within the same timeframe. It’s important to understand that too many factors influence the outcome, and simply repeating a successful strategy doesn’t always guarantee the same result.

However, the majority of teams (93%) that requested this case replication have already earned more than they spent on promotion. So overall, the strategy works and delivers stable, solid results.

Today, we want to share a very interesting case study with you. Initially, it was planned according to the previous framework, but based on interim results, we modified the approach, turning it into a fully independent promotion strategy that delivered outstanding results.

We will break down everything we did week by week, explaining why we took each step.

Week 1: Launch

What Was Done:

Provided the client with instructions on selecting drop domains. Based on our recommendations, 15 drop domains were purchased.
Prepared content for the websites, dividing them into three groups (Author 1, Author 2, and AI) to diversify the content and avoid having a uniform writing style across all sites.
Hosted all websites on different HTML templates to avoid Google’s affiliation filter (a filter that prevents multiple sites owned by the same entity from ranking for the same keyword).
The main technical focus was on code uniqueness and page load speed.
Set up redirects from all 404 pages (that had backlinks) to the homepage to preserve the old link equity of the drops.
Immediately after launching the websites, we configured rank tracking for all keywords. We used spyserp.com, as it offers the best balance between price and accuracy.

Parallel Actions After Launch:

Collected all existing backlinks pointing to the drop domains and sent them for re-indexing.
Drove additional traffic to each domain (20,000 visitors per site).
Added 500 “blog post” backlinks (all non-anchor) to each site, ensuring the content was relevant to the site's niche.

What Results Were Achieved:

By the end of the first week, the results exceeded expectations:

8 websites secured rankings in the top 100 for mid-frequency (MF) and low-frequency (LF) keywords.
2 websites performed exceptionally well, reaching the top 30 for many targeted keywords.

Week 2: Start of Intensive Promotion

What Was Done:

Together with the client, we decided to continue promoting all websites, not just those that had already gained rankings. The idea was that in the future, domains that we later remove from intensive promotion could be repurposed as a highly relevant PBN.

Promotion was divided into three groups:

Top-performing websites (2 sites) that reached the top 30:

750 blog post backlinks: 80% non-anchor links, 20% anchor links;
2 days of additional traffic (20,000 visitors per day).

Mid-tier websites (8 sites) that ranked in the top 100:

500 blog post backlinks: 80% non-anchor links, 20% anchor links;
1 day of additional traffic (20,000 visitors per site).

“Weak” websites (5 sites) that didn’t gain rankings:

250 blog post backlinks: 80% non-anchor links, 20% anchor links.

Content Updates on All Websites:

Added a small content block on the homepage to further elaborate on the topic.
Included a media element on each website (either an image or a video).
On two top-performing projects, we added one new page each – "About the Site" and "Legal Information." These were technical pages, not meant for ranking, but rather to prevent Google from treating the website as a single-page site. There is a theory that Google partially downgrades such sites in rankings, so adding extra pages could help improve credibility.

What Results Were Achieved:

Results by the End of Week 2:

3 websites consistently held positions in the top 30 for many targeted keywords.
Some websites that initially ranked in the top 100 dropped in rankings, but they were replaced by others that had not shown results in the first week. As a result, by the end of week two, we had 9 websites in the top 100.

Week 3

Seeing that the websites ranking in the top 30 were not experiencing the expected further growth, we decided to use the weaker sites (those without rankings or ranking outside the top 30) as a PBN to strengthen the top-performing projects.

What Was Done:

Promotion was divided into three groups:

Top-performing websites (3 sites) that ranked in the top 30:

1,000 blog post backlinks: 70% non-anchor, 30% anchor;
30 sitewide links: 100% anchor;
3 days of additional traffic (20,000 visitors per day).

Mid-tier websites (9 sites) that ranked in the top 100:

500 blog post backlinks: 70% non-anchor, 30% anchor;
10 sitewide links: 100% anchor;
2 days of additional traffic (20,000 visitors per site).

Weak websites (3 sites) that did not gain rankings:

250 blog post backlinks: 70% non-anchor, 30% anchor.

Continued Content Updates on All Sites:

Added a small text block on the homepage to further elaborate on the topic.
Added a media element to each site (either an image or a video).
On three top-performing sites, we added one more new page each – "About Us," "Contact," and "FAQ." These were technical pages, helping improve trust and structure.

PBN Implementation:

All mid-tier and weak websites were repurposed as PBNs for the top-ranking sites.
Each top-performing site received 4 homepage backlinks from mid-tier or weak sites.

Results Achieved:

Results by the End of Week 3:

2 top-performing websites secured top 10 positions for most targeted keywords.
1 top-performing website unexpectedly dropped out of the top 100 without any obvious reason.
Mid-tier and weak websites maintained their positions. Despite linking out from their homepage to a thematically related site, Google did not downgrade their rankings, which is an excellent outcome.

Week 4

This week, we decided not to take any aggressive actions in promotion to properly track the impact of using some websites as a PBN. Therefore, the promotion strategy remained the same as in the previous week.

What Was Done:

Promotion was divided into three groups:

Top-performing websites (2 sites) that ranked in the top 30:

1,000 blog post backlinks: 70% non-anchor, 30% anchor;
30 sitewide links: 100% anchor;
3 days of additional traffic (20,000 visitors per day).

Mid-tier websites (9 sites) that ranked in the top 100:

500 blog post backlinks: 70% non-anchor, 30% anchor;
10 sitewide links: 100% anchor;
2 days of additional traffic (20,000 visitors per site).

Weak websites (4 sites) that did not gain rankings:

250 blog post backlinks: 70% non-anchor, 30% anchor.

Continued Content Updates on All Sites:

Added a small content block on the homepage to further expand the topic.

Results Achieved:

Results by the End of Week 4:

Two top-performing websites consistently held positions in the top 10 for most keywords. Some keywords even reached the top 5.
One top-performing website that unexpectedly dropped out of the top 100 did not recover.
Mid-tier and weak websites remained in their positions with minor fluctuations: some sites saw a slight drop, while others experienced growth.

Week 5

The client was eager to achieve top 1 rankings as quickly as possible and, despite our recommendations for a gradual approach, insisted on accelerating the process.

To meet this request, we decided to take an unconventional and highly risky step—implementing a 301 redirect between the top-performing domains while continuing link-building across all sites.

What Was Done:

Link-building continued for all three groups:

Top-performing websites (2 sites) that ranked in the top 30:

1,000 blog post backlinks: 70% non-anchor, 30% anchor;
30 sitewide links: 100% anchor;
3 days of additional traffic (20,000 visitors per day).

Mid-tier websites (9 sites) that ranked in the top 100:

500 blog post backlinks: 70% non-anchor, 30% anchor;
10 sitewide links: 100% anchor;
2 days of additional traffic (20,000 visitors per site).

Weak websites (4 sites) that did not gain rankings:

250 blog post backlinks: 70% non-anchor, 30% anchor.

The Key Move of the Week:

We implemented a 301 redirect for Googlebot from one top-performing domain to another.
We had previously tested this approach on other projects, but the results were not always 100% successful, so there was some uncertainty about the outcome.

However, what happened next was absolutely stunning…

Results Achieved:

Results by the End of Week 5:

The top-performing site (the one receiving the 301 redirect) skyrocketed to positions 1-2 for all high-frequency (HF) keywords and top 5 for all mid- and low-frequency (MF/LF) keywords.
The site that was redirected lost all its rankings.
All other sites remained approximately in their previous positions, with no major fluctuations.

Conclusions

Content is important, but not the key factor

Content updates alone are not a decisive ranking factor. However, a complete lack of updates can slow down ranking growth, even with an actively growing link profile. Keeping content fresh should not be neglected.

Links are the foundation of successful SEO

External backlinks will always be a crucial ranking factor. A well-planned and high-quality link-building strategy is essential for reaching the top.

Don’t abandon a site that lost rankings

If your site drops in rankings or stops growing, don’t rush to shut it down or ignore it. You can convert it into a PBN and leverage its link equity to strengthen other projects.

SEO is all about experimentation

90% of SEO success comes from bold experiments. Don’t be afraid to test unconventional strategies and develop your own working methods. New techniques are born through trial, error, and analysis.

301 redirects – powerful but risky

A 301 redirect can provide a significant ranking boost, but it doesn’t always work predictably. The results can be either highly positive or negative, so this strategy should be used with caution.

How It All Started

Week 1: Launch

What Was Done:

Parallel Actions After Launch:

What Results Were Achieved:

Week 2: Start of Intensive Promotion

What Was Done:

Top-performing websites (2 sites) that reached the top 30:

Mid-tier websites (8 sites) that ranked in the top 100:

“Weak” websites (5 sites) that didn’t gain rankings:

Content Updates on All Websites:

What Results Were Achieved:

Week 3

What Was Done:

Top-performing websites (3 sites) that ranked in the top 30:

Mid-tier websites (9 sites) that ranked in the top 100:

Weak websites (3 sites) that did not gain rankings:

Continued Content Updates on All Sites:

PBN Implementation:

Results Achieved:

Week 4

What Was Done:

Top-performing websites (2 sites) that ranked in the top 30:

Mid-tier websites (9 sites) that ranked in the top 100:

Weak websites (4 sites) that did not gain rankings:

Continued Content Updates on All Sites:

Results Achieved:

Week 5

What Was Done:

Top-performing websites (2 sites) that ranked in the top 30:

Mid-tier websites (9 sites) that ranked in the top 100:

Weak websites (4 sites) that did not gain rankings:

The Key Move of the Week:

Results Achieved:

Current Results

Conclusions

Content is important, but not the key factor

Links are the foundation of successful SEO

Don’t abandon a site that lost rankings

SEO is all about experimentation

301 redirects – powerful but risky

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