24hourEDUSEO agent case study
A brand-new domain, from DR 1.2 to DR 30
24hourEDU sells NMLS-approved courses for aspiring mortgage loan officers. A year after launch, its Domain Rating was still close to zero. With a new article every day and the backlink exchange switched on, its authority and traffic finally started to move.
24houredu.com“The backlink exchange is better than any single product we have seen in 10-years of managing online training websites.”
Jesse Kennedy
Student Support, 24hourEDU
1.2 → 30
Domain Rating
Ahrefs, August 2025 → September 2026
2.3×
Monthly clicks
754 in July 2025 → 1,735 in July 2026
8.1×
Peak monthly impressions
51,827 → 421,867 in May 2026
373
Articles published
One a day, straight to WordPress
The challenge
A year of blogging and a Domain Rating of 2.3
24hourEDU launched in 2024 with a domain rating of zero. By September 2025 it had reached 2.3, despite a lot of time spent crafting blog posts by hand. In a licensing niche where competitors have had backlinks for a decade, that meant page three at best.
What the SEO agent did
One article a day, and links every other day
Outrank published a new article to their WordPress site every day. In parallel the exchange placed contextual links on relevant sites. 127 of those links are verified live today.
The team also bought the one-time directory submission package, which they say produced a visible spike within a month.
- 373 articles published
- 127 verified exchange backlinks
- WordPress auto-publishing
The results
Authority first, then traffic
Ahrefs shows the Domain Rating going from 1.2 in August 2025 to 11 in November, 25 in January and 30 by September 2026.
Clicks followed the authority: 754 in July 2025, 1,278 in December, 1,773 in May 2026. Impressions peaked at 421,867 that month, 8.1× the month before they joined.
Google Search Console, one month against another
Google Search Console, monthly
Line marks the month they joined Outrank
Best month: May 2026, 1,773 clicks2.4× vs Jul ’25
| Month | Clicks | Impressions | Days of data |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 2025 | 177 | 5017 | 14 |
| May 2025 | 507 | 10216 | 31 |
| Jun 2025 | 701 | 12452 | 30 |
| Jul 2025 | 754 | 51827 | 31 |
| Aug 2025 | 799 | 45562 | 31 |
| Sep 2025 | 897 | 50885 | 30 |
| Oct 2025 | 934 | 32727 | 31 |
| Nov 2025 | 1110 | 58226 | 30 |
| Dec 2025 | 1278 | 70961 | 31 |
| Jan 2026 | 1213 | 103841 | 31 |
| Feb 2026 | 1240 | 98906 | 28 |
| Mar 2026 | 1432 | 127308 | 31 |
| Apr 2026 | 1499 | 329305 | 30 |
| May 2026 | 1773 | 421867 | 31 |
| Jun 2026 | 1529 | 168920 | 30 |
| Jul 2026 | 1735 | 157445 | 31 |
| Aug 2026 | 908 | 90938 | 17 |
Source: Google Search Console, via Outrank, data through August 17, 2026. Same calendar month, one year apart, to rule out seasonality.
Domain Rating, monthly
Line marks the month they joined Outrank
Source: Ahrefs, September 2026. Monthly Domain Rating from Ahrefs, an independent third party. Outrank has no control over it.
The screenshot
Straight from Jesse’s dashboard
In their words
What Jesse told us
Quotes are taken word for word from the case study form the customer filled in and agreed to publish.
On what they tried before
“We have spent thousands more on SEO experts, who have not increased organic traffic like this ever.”
Jesse Kennedy
Student Support, 24hourEDU
On the backlink exchange
“You get real backlinks from relevant high DR sites just about every other day.”
Jesse Kennedy
Student Support, 24hourEDU
The honest reading
What this data does not show
- The site was already growing before Outrank: clicks rose from 507 in May 2025 to 754 in July. Part of the later growth would likely have happened anyway, which is why we compare July to July rather than to the weakest month.
- Impressions dropped from the May 2026 peak to 157,445 in July. Clicks held at 1,735.
Data and method
Where every number comes from
- Clicks and impressions: Google Search Console, via Outrank. Full months unless marked partial, through August 17, 2026.
- Domain Rating: Ahrefs, September 2026, monthly values.
- Articles and backlinks: Outrank platform data. Backlinks count only links our crawler verified live on the host page.
- Quotes and screenshots: submitted by Jesse Kennedy, who agreed to their use in this case study.
Want the bigger picture? Our study of 2,119 sites shows how typical this result is, including the sites that did not grow.
