Case Study 02 · The Infrastructure Story
Premium steakhouse group · Dublin 2 · name withheld · Nov 2024 – Jan 2026 · 15 months
DA 33 to 47. 197 linking domains. 83% map pack coverage.
What 15 months of deliberate local SEO infrastructure actually builds — layer by layer, metric by metric. Not a shortcut. A foundation that compounds.
33 → 47
Domain Authority
Market average approximately 29 at engagement start
Source · Moz Domain Authority
104 → 197
Linking domains
+89% over the engagement
Source · Moz Domain Authority
83%
Map pack coverage
Across the tracked high-intent term set
Source · Local ranking tracking
In brief
- Citations, authority and discovery coverage were built in sequence.
- Technical metrics are shown as foundation evidence, not commercial outcomes.
- Authority started below the local market average of roughly 29.
The situation
Strong brand, no digital foundation: below-average domain authority, no managed citations, and no map pack presence on the high-intent terms a new guest would actually use.
What the period showed
Three sequential layers — citation consistency, authority, then discovery coverage — were built in order. The supporting technical metrics are shown as evidence of the foundation, not as commercial outcomes in themselves.
The Starting Point
Most premium restaurants begin in exactly this position.
Domain authority cannot be faked. Citation consistency cannot be rushed. Map pack positions require a foundation before they will hold. When this engagement began in November 2024 the digital infrastructure for this venue was at its starting point.
DA 33 — below the market average. No managed citations. No map pack presence on any high-intent term a new customer would actually use. The Google Business Profile had not been optimised since it was created.
The product and the team came first — understandably. The digital layer gets built later, or not at all. The problem is that competitors who built theirs first are now the default answer when someone in your area searches for what you serve.
Day 1 · November 2024
Real brand strength with no digital infrastructure underneath it.
33
Domain Authority
Market avg ~29
0
Managed citations
0
Map pack positions
104
Linking domains
What Got Built
Three layers. Each depends on the one below.
Layer 01 · Foundation
Citations & Signal Consistency
Nov 2024 – Jan 2025
Foundation phase
Google checks whether your business data is consistent across independent sources before deciding how much to trust it. One incorrect postcode on five directories creates a conflict that suppresses everything above it. This layer fixes the foundation.
- 50+ managed citations reconciled across directories
- NAP (name · address · phone) consistency enforced
- Google Business Profile fully restructured with attributes, menu, photo library
Layer 02 · Authority
Link Profile & Domain Trust
Feb – Aug 2025
Authority compounding
With clean signals beneath, the link-building work begins to compound. Authority is earned in months, not days — but once accumulated, it holds against competitors who try to shortcut it.
- Linking domains grown from 104 → 197 (+89%)
- Domain Authority 33 → 47 (+14)
- Spam score reduced; high-trust referring domains prioritised
Layer 03 · Visibility
Map Pack & Discovery Coverage
Sep 2025 – Jan 2026
Coverage consolidation
With foundation and authority underneath, pack positions begin to hold. 83% coverage across the high-intent term set the venue actually competes on.
- 83% pack coverage on tracked terms
- Top-3 positions on 4 high-intent discovery terms
- GBP views compounding monthly into engagement window
Confidentiality and attribution
The venue in this case study is an established, well-regarded restaurant working with us under a confidentiality agreement, so it is described by market position rather than by name. Every figure is taken from the client's own third-party platform data.
Search, local profile and booking-platform figures are recorded by separate systems and are presented here as parallel indicators over the same period. Where a movement is not directly traceable to a single guest journey, it is described as correlation and commercial context rather than proven causation.
Strategy & analysis by Alex Opsenica, Moolah Media
The method behind this engagement
Next case study
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