🧩Client Overview

Black & White Zebra (BWZ) is an independent media tech company headquartered in Vancouver, Canada. Founded in 2012 by Ben Aston, BWZ operates a diverse portfolio of digital publications aimed at helping professionals succeed in their respective fields.

With a focus on creating high-quality content, fostering communities, and forming strategic partnerships, BWZ has grown to encompass over 18 online brands, attracting millions of unique visitors monthly and generating substantial leads for SaaS companies like Monday.com, ClickUp, and SmartSheet.

The seven BWZ brands we collaborated with include:

• The Digital Project Manager
• People Managing People
• The Product Manager
• The CTO Club
• The CX Lead
• The CFO Club
• The CMO

🚧 The Challenges

Each BWZ brand targets a unique professional niche, necessitating tailored content and outreach strategies. The primary challenges included:

• Inconsistent Domain Rating (DR): Some brands, particularly newer ones, had lower DR, affecting their search engine rankings and visibility.
• Niche-Specific Link Acquisition: Securing high-quality backlinks from relevant, authoritative sources within each brand’s specific industry was essential yet challenging.
• Scalability: Implementing a link-building strategy that could be effectively scaled across multiple brands without compromising quality or relevance.

🧠 Our Strategy

To address these challenges, we developed a comprehensive, scalable link-building strategy:

1. Customized Outreach Campaigns: Developed personalized outreach strategies for each brand, targeting industry-relevant websites, blogs, and publications to secure high-quality backlinks.
2. Relationship Building: Focused on establishing and nurturing relationships with key influencers and authoritative sites within each niche to facilitate ongoing link acquisition.
3. Performance Monitoring: Implemented tracking mechanisms to monitor the impact of our link-building efforts on each brand’s DR, organic traffic, and keyword rankings, allowing for data-driven adjustments.

📊 Brand-Wise Execution & Results

Our link-building efforts were tailored for each brand under BWZ’s growing media portfolio. We focused on building authority by earning links from relevant, high-quality sources and supporting long-term organic growth through strategic keyword targeting. Here’s a breakdown of the execution and impact across the 7 brands we worked with:

Brand	DR Growth	Links Built	Focus
The Digital Project Manager	74 → 77	74	Evergreen content, SaaS/PM blogs
People Managing People	66 → 75	65	HR/leadership/remote work blogs
The CX Lead	63 → 70	33	CX SaaS, support platforms
The CTO Club	47 → 71	27	Dev & tech leadership blogs
The CFO Club	2 → 63	25	Fintech & SaaS communities
The Product Manager	57 → 71	23	PM, roadmap, product strategy blogs
The CMO	21 → 51	14	MarTech, branding, marketing media

The Digital Project Manager

Website: thedigitalprojectmanager.com

Description: A well-established hub for digital project managers, providing practical tools, templates, and training for managing complex projects and teams in digital environments.

Execution & Results:

• DR Growth: 74 → 77 (June 2023 to May 2025)
• Total Links Built: 74
• Keyword Wins:
  • project management software
  • microsoft project alternative
  • planning tools
  • resource management software
• We focused on building contextual backlinks to in-depth tool roundups, educational content, and software comparisons. Outreach targeted authoritative tech, productivity, and SaaS publications.

Check out the screenshots below for keywords project management software & resource management software –

People Managing People

Website: peoplemanagingpeople.com

Description: A people-first platform built for HR leaders, managers, and workplace culture enthusiasts, featuring software reviews and leadership content.

Execution & Results:

• DR Growth: 66 → 75 (March 2023 to May 2025)
• Total Links Built: 65
• Keyword Wins:
  • employee recognition software
  • employee survey tools
  • employer of record services
  • hr software
• We secured high-authority backlinks from HR, remote work, and leadership-focused websites, emphasizing thought leadership and comparison content around trending people management tools.

Check out the screenshots below for keywords employee recognition software & employee survey tools –

The CX Lead

Website: thecxlead.com

Description: A platform for customer experience professionals offering strategic guidance, tool reviews, and best practices for improving the end-to-end customer journey.

Execution & Results:

• DR Growth: 63 → 70 (March 2023 to October 2024)
• Total Links Built: 33
• Keyword Wins:
  • customer journey mapping tools
  • customer service chatbots
• We earned links by amplifying tool listicles and customer journey strategy pieces. Our outreach focused on CX platforms, customer service blogs, and SaaS publications.

Check out the screenshot below for the keyword customer journey mapping tools –

The CTO Club

Website: thectoclub.com

Description: A publication designed for CTOs and technical leaders offering content on emerging tech, product infrastructure, and software team management.

Execution & Results:

• DR Growth: 47 → 71 (May 2024 to May 2025)
• Total Links Built: 27
• Keyword Wins:
  • cybersecurity software
  • network monitoring platform
  • low code platforms
• We acquired authoritative backlinks from developer and engineering blogs, security software platforms, and B2B SaaS tech sites. We focused on technical content with evergreen potential.

Check out the screenshot below for the keyword cybersecurity software –

The CFO Club

Website: thecfoclub.com

Description: A fast-growing brand aimed at modern finance leaders, offering tools, templates, and strategic insights for CFOs, FP&A teams, and controllers.

Execution & Results:

• DR Growth: 2 → 63 (June 2023 to May 2025)
• Total Links Built: 25
• Keyword Wins:
  • forecasting software
• We kickstarted link-building from the ground up by promoting software listicles and finance automation content. Backlinks came from finance publications, B2B SaaS blogs, and financial strategy websites.

Check out the screenshot below for the keyword forecasting software –

The Product Manager

Website: theproductmanager.com

Description: A learning and career hub for product managers, offering insights on software tools, roadmap planning, and PM best practices.

Execution & Results:

• DR Growth: 57 → 71 (May 2023 to May 2025)
• Total Links Built: 23
• Keyword Wins:
  • prototyping tools
  • heat mapping tools
• We focused on promoting high-quality tool roundups and product strategy content, building links from product communities, UX blogs, and SaaS discovery platforms.

Check out the screenshot below for the keyword prototyping tools –

The CMO

Website: thecmo.com

Description: A publication for marketing executives and strategists covering MarTech, branding, growth strategy, and leadership insights.

Execution & Results:

• DR Growth: 21 → 51 (June 2023 to October 2023)
• Total Links Built: 14
• Keyword Wins:
  • account based marketing tools
• In a short 4-month campaign, we drove rapid authority growth by securing backlinks from MarTech blogs, marketing agencies, and startup-focused publications aligned with CMO content pillars.

🧩Final Takeaways & Client Impact

Our partnership with Black & White Zebra gave us the opportunity to support seven distinct brands across multiple verticals — from project management to finance to marketing.

Each brand had unique needs, and we adapted our strategy to drive tangible SEO growth, improved keyword rankings, and a strong domain foundation.

We didn’t just build links — we helped these brands become link-worthy through strategic link placement and consistent authority-building efforts.

💡What Worked

• Niche-Relevant Outreach: We prioritized backlinks from websites directly aligned with each brand’s audience — HR, marketing, product, and finance communities.
• Strategic Content Amplification: By identifying and promoting content assets like software roundups and comparison pages, we ensured that each link actually moved the needle.
• Flexible Strategy by Brand Stage: Whether a brand was at DR 2 or DR 74, we had a tailored approach to grow its visibility and trust in search engines.
• Full-Funnel Support: From early-stage DR building (like for The CFO Club) to scaling established brands (like The Digital Project Manager), our strategies worked across the spectrum.

📈High-Level Impact

• Total Links Built Across 7 Brands: 261
• Average DR Growth Across Brands: +17
• Top Ranking Competitive Keywords: 20+ including
  • project management software
  • resource management software
  • employee recognition software
  • forecasting software
  • low code platforms
  • cybersecurity software
• SaaS, media, and niche content platforms supported across 6 functional domains: Product, HR, CX, Tech, Marketing, and Finance

🧰 Introducing Our Signature Offering:

Authority-Building Content + Backlinks for SaaS Startups & Media Brands

This case study helped shape the foundation of our new growth service — a focused, done-for-you solution that helps brands:

• 💬 Craft high-impact content that attracts links, engagement, and rankings
• 🔗 Earn powerful backlinks from trusted SaaS, B2B, and niche editorial sites
• 🚀 Build authority from Day 1 or accelerate growth at later stages
• 🎯 Rank for competitive software and commercial keywords

🎯Who This Is For

This service is ideal for:

• ✅ Early-stage SaaS companies building their domain authority from 0 to 50+
• ✅ Content-led media brands that want to convert content into rankings and links
• ✅ Marketing teams who need a reliable, strategic SEO partner
• ✅ Founders who want results without hiring full-time SEO teams

🚀Ready to Grow?

Whether you’re launching a new SaaS brand or scaling an existing content platform, we can help you build lasting authority — through content that earns links and links that drive growth.

👉 Let’s talk about your brand’s goals →