01
Client and project overview
A UK home and lifestyle store that had just opened a Dubai warehouse. Its UK category pages sat on page two, and in the UAE and Saudi Arabia it had no visibility at all.
Buyers in the Gulf check a brand before ordering from it. Without coverage in the publications they read, the new warehouse was a cost, not a channel.
- Sector
- Home & lifestyle e-commerce
- Market
- UK + UAE & Saudi Arabia
- Duration
- 6 months
- Services
- Digital PR, link building
- Plan
- Authority
- Pages targeted
- 6 category pages (3 UK, 3 UAE)
At a glance
02
The challenge
Competitors with bigger PR budgets owned the “best of” lists in both markets. The brand had good stories to tell, it just hadn’t noticed them.
- 40 referring domains, mostly supplier and directory links.
- UK category pages on page two; UAE pages not ranking at all.
- No coverage in Gulf media, where buyers check a brand before ordering.
- Paid ads carrying almost all Gulf traffic at a rising cost.
Starting point
- Domain Rating
- 29
- Referring domains
- 40
- Organic clicks / month
- 2,100
- UK category pages on page one
- 0 of 3
- UAE category pages on page one
- 0 of 3
03
Objectives, and how they turned out
| Objective | Target | Result | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Coverage in Gulf business press | 3 tier-one features | 4 features, top outlet DR 74 | Met |
| Grow referring domains | 2× in 6 months | 4× (40 → 158) | Met |
| Category pages on page one | 4 of 6 | 5 of 6 | Met |
| Grow organic revenue | +40% | +88% | Met |
04
Strategy and approach
One story worth covering, the right press in each market, and links pointed at the pages that sell.
One story worth covering
Their own delivery data from 40,000 orders became a study on how fast Gulf shoppers now expect delivery.
Gulf press first, then UK trade
Business media in the UAE for trust, then UK retail and home publications for relevance.
Links to the pages that sell
Guest posts and niche edits pointed at the six category pages, so the PR authority reached revenue.
05
Work performed
Month 1
Story audit and data study
- Story audit with the founders and ops team
- Delivery-time study built from 40,000 orders
- Media list of 64 named journalists, approved by the client
Months 2–3
Launch and pitching
- Study pitched to Gulf business desks and UK retail trade
- 4 features and 7 data-study pieces in the first wave
- Founder quotes supplied for follow-up stories
Months 3–5
Follow-on coverage and links
- 5 expert quotes and 4 buying-guide inclusions
- Category-page links through guest posts and niche edits
- Arabic-market product pages internally linked from coverage
Month 6
Report and next story
- Coverage report with every placement and the pitch that earned it
- Angle for the next study: returns behaviour by market
06
Link-building activity
21
placements
72
sites reviewed
18
rejected at vetting
21 / 21 placements
indexed
Placements by type
21 total
- Features4
- Data-study coverage7
- Expert quotes5
- Buying guides & roundups4
- Opinion piece1
Authority of the sites
Ahrefs Domain Rating
Anchor text mix
Links only, mentions excluded
- Branded52%
- Naked URL24%
- Partial match14%
- Generic10%
Placements
| Site | DR | Type | Points to | Indexed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| UAE national daily | 74 | Feature | Homepage | 2 days |
| Gulf business magazine | 72 | Expert quote | /uae/outdoor-furniture | 4 days |
| UK retail trade title | 61 | Data study | /delivery-study | 3 days |
| Dubai business daily | 70 | Feature | /uae | 5 days |
| UK home & interiors blog | 48 | Buying guide | /garden-furniture | 9 days |
Domains are masked on the public version. Clients see every URL in their report.
Sites we turned down (18 of 72). Three examples:
The English edition was machine-translated and read as thin content.
Required a “brand voices” label, which marks the piece as sponsored.
Pure syndication: every article already lived on three other domains.
07
Results and supporting data
| Metric | Before | After | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Referring domains | 40 | 158 | 4× |
| Domain Rating | 29 | 52 | +23 |
| Organic clicks / month | 2,100 | 5,130 | +144% |
| UK category pages on page one | 0 of 3 | 3 of 3 | +3 |
| UAE category pages on page one | 0 of 3 | 2 of 3 | +2 |
| Organic revenue | Baseline | +88% | +88% |
Organic clicks per month
Monthly
Ranking keywords by position
Tracked set
- Top 3
- Positions 4–10
- Positions 11–20
Target keywords
| Keyword | Monthly searches | Before | After | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| outdoor furniture dubai | 2.9K | Not ranking | #6 | new |
| rattan garden furniture uk | 6.6K | #15 | #7 | 8 |
| homeware online uae | 1.6K | Not ranking | #9 | new |
| linen bedding uk | 4.4K | #12 | #5 | 7 |
| garden furniture sale | 12K | #19 | #10 | 9 |
08
Key outcomes and takeaways
+88%
organic revenue
4×
referring domains
5 of 6
category pages on page one
What we learned
- 01One study, many storiesThe delivery study produced 11 of the 21 placements. The rest came from editors who covered it and came back.
- 02Gulf media opens doorsCoverage in Gulf business press made the new market trust the brand faster than ads alone.
- 03Point PR at the pages that sellLinks to the category pages are what turned coverage into revenue.
“The delivery study ran in places we’d never have got into on our own. By month four, editors were emailing us.”
What’s next: Next: a returns-behaviour study across both markets, and the Saudi category pages.