Case study · Legal
How contextual link building, digital PR and on-site content took a London immigration firm to #1
The campaign at a glance
- Client / sector
- Award-winning London immigration solicitors · Legal
- Starting point
- Low organic visits a month. Its most valuable searches, spouse visas, with 13,000 a month on the main term, were owned by government guidance and big national firms, and its own spouse visa pages didn't match what people were searching for. Share of voice on the topic was 11.9%.
- What we built
- We rewrote the spouse visa pages to answer the searches properly and added author markup to show who was giving the advice. Then we built authority to them with editorial links and expert commentary on UK law, family and lifestyle titles. One topic, not all of immigration, because that's a fight a small firm can win.
- Headline result
- Nearly 10x organic traffic, and #1 for the major spouse visa terms
- Timeframe
- 6 Months
- Headline KPI
- Spouse visa share of voice tripled, 11.9% to 35.1%
The campaign
Situation → strategy → work → result — what we started with, what we did, and what changed.
A small firm against gov.uk
The firm's lawyers and advisers handle every stage of UK immigration, from visas to citizenship. Spouse visa searches are its most valuable, with 13,000 a month on 'spouse visa uk' alone, and they were held by government guidance and large national firms.
Three things held the firm back. Its spouse visa pages didn't answer what people were searching for. Google couldn't see the legal expertise behind the advice, which matters in a sector where advice affects people's lives. And it didn't have the outside authority to compete. It drew 313 organic visits a month, with an 11.9% share of voice on spouse visa searches.
Success meant #1 rankings for the main spouse visa terms, a growing share of voice, a steady place in AI answers next to gov.uk, and more people searching for the firm by name.
Own one topic, not all of immigration
The angle. Legal advice has to show who's behind it. So the plan was expertise first, with real lawyers named on the pages and quoted in the press, and authority second.
The target list. National UK news and lifestyle titles for expert comment, and law, family and life-in-the-UK sites for links, aiming high on authority to compete with government guidance.
The mix. Links, digital PR and on-page work together. Expert commentary and newsjacking built the brand, editorial links built authority to the pages, and the page rewrites made sure there was something worth ranking.
The pages. The spouse visa pages first, with the Tier 2 work visa pages next. Immigration as a whole was out of reach, but spouse visas carried the highest-value searches and were winnable for a small firm.
Expertise on the page, authority off it
On the site we rewrote the spouse visa and Tier 2 content to match what people search for, added author markup so Google could see who was giving the advice, improved the topics each page covered, and planned stronger internal links.
Off the site we secured 25 placements with a median Domain Rating of 83, 20 of them DR 75 or higher. Some were expert commentary in major UK media, often reacting to immigration news while it was running, and the rest were editorial links on relevant sites. Every site went through M-Flux first, which scores domain rating, real organic traffic, topical relevance, outbound link ratio and uptime history. The ones that passed were checked by a person against our 33-point list, from editorial quality to sponsor disclosure. The firm approved every placement before it went live, and we tracked share of voice, rankings and AI answers every month.
Nearly ten times the traffic, and it stayed
Organic traffic went from 313 to 3,016 visits a month in three months, nearly ten times higher, and peaked at 4,867 in November. A year later it's still on 4,066.
The spouse visa pages reached #1 for 'spouse visa uk' (13,000 searches a month), 'uk spouse visa' (4,500) and 'uk spouse visa requirements' (3,100), and the supporting terms moved from mid page one into the top five. Share of voice on spouse visa searches tripled, from 11.9% to 35.1%.
Branded clicks rose 17% after the PR, and the firm held its place in AI answers alongside gov.uk. A year on, it still ranks in the top three for the main term.
The result, charted
One clear before/after view — honest axes, no truncated scale.
Method, not luck
Every site in this campaign was scored by M-Flux and passed a 33-point manual quality check, and the client approved it before the link went live. That's why the profile holds up — and why the result keeps compounding after the campaign ends.
What Others Say About Linkology
“They are proactive and genuine in their approach to everything they do.”
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Campaign FAQs
What did Linkology do for this immigration firm?
We sharpened its spouse visa pages, then built authority to them with editorial links and expert commentary on UK titles, every site vetted and approved by the firm first.
What results did the campaign achieve?
Organic traffic went from 313 to 3,016 visits a month, and share of voice on spouse visa searches tripled. It reached #1 for 'spouse visa uk', which has 13,000 searches a month.
How long did it take?
Three months for the big move, and it held. A year later the site is on more than 4,000 visits a month.
Can you get results like this for my law firm?
Every brand starts from a different place, so results vary by your authority, competition and goals — we won't promise a number before we've looked at your site. What we can do is apply the same method: M-Flux-vetted editorial links, a 33-point manual quality check, and your approval on everything. Book a free strategy call and we'll give you an honest read.
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