CASE STUDY | 911 Gear – Trusted Partner for Tactical Gear

COMPANY OVERVIEW

911 Gear is Canada’s trusted online tactical gear and law enforcement supply store, serving police, corrections, security, and first responders since 2005. Based near Toronto, the store operates 24/7, offering high-quality tactical products including footwear, handcuffs, duty pouches, flashlights, gloves, uniforms, suspenders, and duty bags. Known for durability and reliability, 911 Gear carries top brands like 5.11 Tactical, Blackhawk, ASP, Smith & Wesson, Maglite, TRU-SPEC, and more. Their mission is to provide grade equipment that enhances safety and performance. With a seamless shopping experience and trusted gear, 911 Gear remains a leading tactical supplier in Canada.

THE OBJECTIVE

The client wanted to strengthen their website’s authority and improve overall search performance through a structured and sustainable link-building approach. The primary goal was to enhance visibility, maintain link quality, and ensure long-term SEO growth.

To achieve this, the objectives were:

Establish a strong and scalable link-building strategy
Continuously maintain and monitor all existing backlinks
Identify, repair, or remove broken or harmful links
Acquire high-quality, relevant backlinks from authoritative sites

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THE CHALLENGE

Despite the client’s ongoing SEO efforts, the website struggled to rank for highly competitive keywords and was not attracting meaningful organic traffic. Product visibility remained low, and sales were not improving as expected.

Upon conducting a deep audit, we discovered the core issue:

Weak backlink profile with limited authority
Lack of high-quality, niche-relevant links
The presence of broken or outdated backlinks affects credibility
Insufficient link diversity to support competitive keyword rankings These issues combined were preventing the website from reaching its full ranking potential and limiting organic growth.

THE SOLUTION

To overcome the ranking challenges and strengthen the website’s authority, we implemented a comprehensive SEO and link-building strategy focused on long-term growth. Our goal was to improve crawlability, boost keyword performance, and build a strong, trustworthy backlink profile that supports competitive rankings.

Key actions included:

Enhancing website performance to improve page loading speed
Creating a structured, high-quality link-building roadmap
Fixing broken links and removing harmful backlinks
Building authoritative, niche-relevant backlinks consistently
Optimizing on-page elements to strengthen keyword targeting
Conducting ongoing technical SEO audits to ensure smooth crawling and indexing

THE RESULT

After implementing the full link-building and technical SEO strategy, the website experienced steady growth across all major performance indicators. Organic traffic strengthened, referring domains increased consistently, and the backlink profile expanded significantly — supporting higher authority and long-term keyword visibility.

Organic traffic increased from 2,147 to 2,760 sessions, showing steady month-over-month growth.

Referring domains rose from 808 to 949, improving the site’s authority and trust signals.

Backlinks grew from 4 to 14,417, significantly strengthening the overall backlink profile.

BEFORE & AFTER PERFORMANCE INSIGHTS

Before:

As you can see in the screenshot below, when we started, the website had 808 referring domains (May 2023). The backlink profile was relatively weak and lacked consistent growth, limiting the site’s ability to compete for high-authority keywords.

After:

After implementing a structured link-building strategy, referring domains increased to 949 (April 2024). This steady growth strengthened the site’s authority and boosted its ability to rank for competitive industry terms.

Before:

When we started, the website had only 4 backlinks, indicating an extremely weak link profile with minimal authority signals. This limited the site’s ability to rank competitively and negatively impacted overall organic performance.

After:

After executing a consistent and strategic link-building plan, the backlink count increased dramatically to 14,417 backlinks (February 2024). This massive growth significantly strengthened domain authority and improved the site’s ranking potential for competitive keywords.

Before:

When we started, the website recorded 2,147 organic sessions (April 2023). Growth was slow and inconsistent, indicating limited visibility and insufficient authority to compete in organic search.

After:

After implementing our SEO and link-building strategy, organic traffic increased to 2,760 sessions (April 2024). This steady improvement reflects stronger search visibility, better keyword performance, and healthier overall site authority.

✔ Do’s

Focus on building high-quality, relevant backlinks regularly
Monitor existing links to maintain a healthy backlink profile
Fix broken or outdated links promptly to protect site authority
Diversify link sources to target competitive keywords effectively
Conduct periodic SEO audits to track performance and opportunities

✘ Don’ts

Don’t rely on low-quality or spammy backlinks
Don’t ignore broken links or harmful links affecting rankings
Don’t over-optimize with irrelevant or excessive links
Don’t neglect on-page SEO while building backlinks

CLIENT TESTIMONIAL

Gord B

911Gear

We were struggling to compete in a highly competitive retail niche, but the SEO team stepped in with a clear plan. They improved our backlink profile, fixed technical issues, and boosted our keyword rankings significantly. Our organic traffic has grown steadily, and the results speak for themselves.

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