SEO & Domain Rating Update – April 2025 (Part 1)

Red frosted glass scented candle at Willis Candle Shop

WILLIS CANDLE SHOP — INAUGURAL YOUTUBE SERIES BLOG POST

Starting from Zero — The SEO Journey Begins

My name is Rob Woloszyn, a retired FBI agent, Marine Corps veteran, and now the founder of Willis Candle Shop — a Texas-based e-commerce candle business run out of a 17x32 ft metal building next to my house. I launched this website at the end of December 2024, thinking that the biggest challenge would be perfecting the candles. I was wrong. The hardest part? Getting found on Google.

This blog post is the companion to my inaugural YouTube series, which is now a monthly series, where I break down exactly how I’m growing from a domain rating (DR) of zero to (hopefully) 50+ over the 18 months using nothing but smart SEO, backlinks, and grit.

I’ll also be sharing screenshots of the Ahrefs dashboard showing the domain rating progress for WillisCandleShop.com — from 0 at the end of March 2025 to 35 just three weeks later, after acquiring a series of quality backlinks from Rhino Rank and other verified listings. Those screenshots will appear at the bottom of this blog post in sequential order.

You Don’t Need to Know It All Today

I’m going to throw a lot of SEO terms at you — domain rating, backlink strategies, keyword difficulty, internal linking — but you don’t need to memorize it all today. Just follow along month-to-month, and you’ll get the hang of it. I’ll repeat key concepts, walk through examples, and keep it simple.

If you’re a fellow veteran, retiree, or anyone thinking of launching an e-commerce business, don’t wait until you retire to start. Begin laying this foundation 18 to 24 months ahead of time. If I’d done this alongside product development last year, I’d already be generating steady organic traffic.

What This Series Is About

No influencer BS, no paid ads. This is strictly about building organic traffic using Google-approved methods:

Clean site structure
Keyword optimization
Backlink acquisition
Domain trust

Every month, I’ll walk you through my progress, what worked, what didn’t, and how you can do the same.

Domain Rating vs Domain Authority — What Actually Matters

You’ll hear people talk about “Domain Authority” (DA) and “Domain Rating” (DR). They’re both scored from 0 to 100. But here’s the difference:

DA comes from tools like Ubersuggest
DR comes from Ahrefs

I focus on Domain Rating, because I’ve found Ahrefs gives a more consistent and reliable measure of site trust and backlink strength.

Ahrefs is a powerful SEO tool that tracks domain rating, backlinks, keyword rankings, and content performance. It offers a free plan, but their paid tiers unlock deeper reporting and historical trends. Highly recommended for any e-commerce operator taking SEO seriously.

Ubersuggest by Neil Patel is an intuitive SEO platform with keyword research, backlink audits, and site health tracking. There's a free tier, and I personally recommend the lifetime membership to unlock unlimited daily searches and keyword opportunities.

Here’s where I’m starting:

March 2025: DR = 0
April 21, 2025: DR = 35

That jump came from acquiring quality backlinks, with over half coming from a service called Rhino Rank.

Why You’re Still Not Ranking at DR 35

Even with a DR of 35, I’m not showing up on page one (or two or three) yet. Why?

Because:

Google doesn’t use DR/DA directly — it measures trust based on user behavior, content structure, backlinks, and consistency
New sites go through a sandbox effect — Google watches you for 6–12 months before trusting you
Older competitors have 5–10 years of trust already built

But we can catch up. How?

By keeping SEO scores high (89–100)
Targeting keywords with SEO difficulty under 30–50
Stacking internal links across the site
Publishing 3 to 4 monthly SEO-rich blogs
Getting consistent backlinks from DR 30–50+ sources

Here’s an example of how you might weave a keyword into a sentence:

“Looking for handmade candles that are actually made in Texas? Our eco-friendly candles offer clean burn performance with phthalate-free fragrance.”

Another example:

“Customers looking for the best candles for gifts often go straight to our wood wick candles collection — the crackle and glow make them unforgettable.”

That’s it — natural usage in content without keyword stuffing. Throughout this blog, you’ll find examples using real terms we’re targeting, such as non-toxic candles, soy wax candles, candle store, and even niche phrases like Texas candles and romantic candles.

And just so you know: a backlink added today might not move your rankings for 6–8 weeks. So patience is baked into this process.

My SEO Setup and Structure

I’m on Shopify (Capital theme), but this applies to any ecom store. Here’s what I’ve built:

All product and collection pages have 600+ words
Titles are under 60 characters
Meta descriptions: 150–160 characters
Alt text: ideally 30–60 characters and 100% unique per image
URL slugs: short, readable, 4–5 words max with hyphens, 40–70 characters in length. A slug is the part of the URL after /products or /collections — for example: williscandleshop.com/collections/best-fall-candle.
90+ keywords in rotation — split across product pages, collections, and blogs
No duplicate content across products — each description is at least 20% unique

My Backlink Strategy — Rhino Rank

I vetted several link-building companies and landed on Rhino Rank, a UK-based backlink service. They:

Took a Zoom call with me before I ever paid a dollar
Understood my niche and traffic goals
Offered me 14 DR-verified backlinks within a clean price range

I’m spending $1,000/month — but you don’t have to. You can start with just one link at $70 and build from there. It’s all about consistency.

Every time I get a backlink, I:

Log it in a tracking table (in ChatGPT for now)
Link back to it from a product page or blog
Submit the updated page to Google Search Console

Bonus: that reciprocal link from me may even help the referring domain's DR increase. Everyone wins.

What Actually Gets You on Page 1

DR is just your ticket into the game. But here’s what Google really wants:

Factor	Importance ✅
High-quality backlinks	🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
Keyword-targeted content	🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
Domain age + publishing pace	🔥🔥🔥🔥
Internal link structure	🔥🔥🔥
User behavior	🔥🔥🔥
Page speed + mobile friendly	🔥🔥

If I keep this pace, I expect to:

Hit DR 40–45 by summer
Start seeing page 2 rankings by fall
Get page 1 traction for long-tail keywords by winter

Out of my 90+ keywords, I’ll be happy to see 25–30 ranking on pages 1–2 by year’s end.

Traffic and Conversions — The True KPI

DR scores are great, but here’s what really matters:

How many people visit the site?
How many buy candles?

If 100,000 monthly visitors arrive, and 2.5% convert, that’s 2,500 transactions. At 2.1 candles per order, you’re moving 5,250 candles per month.

Keywords like great smelling candles, best soy candles, or cheap candles are often the entry point — but they only help if your content converts. Every visitor must see clear paths to purchase, whether they’re browsing aroma candles, coconut soy candles, or looking for discount candles.

That’s where Google Search Console becomes your primary tracking tool. It shows impressions, click-throughs, and how traffic changes month over month. The real performance check comes down to:

Monthly traffic
Monthly transactions

Watch the Full YouTube Series (Inaugural 4-Part Launch)

The first video ended up running about 37 minutes, so I split it into four digestible parts. Each one covers a critical area of SEO:

Part 1: Who I Am + Why This Matters: YouTube Video 1 of 4.
Part 2: SEO Basics + Structure: YouTube Video 2 of 4.
Part 3: Domain Rating vs Google Trust: YouTube Video 3 of 4.
Part 4: Backlinks, Strategy, and KPI: YouTube Video 4 of 4.

Going forward, this will be a monthly video update — no more 4-part drops.

[INSERT LINKS TO ALL 4 VIDEOS ONCE LIVE]

Want to Talk SEO or Candles?

You can comment on this blog, reach out through the contact page, or just shoot me an email. I’ll answer every question I can — especially if you’re a veteran or someone trying to get traction with an ecom business.

Let’s figure this out together.

Internal Link: Check out our Wood Wick Barrel Candle Collection
Internal Link: Browse the Vintage Barrel Candle Collection

External Links:

Rhino Rank – backlink building service used to jumpstart DR from 0 to 35
Ahrefs – domain rating tracker and full-suite SEO tool
Ubersuggest – affordable keyword and site optimization platform

Keywords Used in Content: wood wick candles, handmade candles, eco-friendly candles, best candles for gifts, non-toxic candles, soy wax candles, candle store, Texas candles, romantic candles, great smelling candles, best soy candles, cheap candles, aroma candles, coconut soy candles, discount candles

Below are the Ahrefs screenshots tracking DR growth from 0 to 35: