How Gatorland built DR 68 authority
A data-led analysis of how an Orlando attraction earned links from national news, travel media and local tourism organizations – while growing its referring-domain base by 78% in one year.
Transparency: This is an independent analysis of public third-party data. It is not client work, and Khizar SEO Expert has no affiliation with Gatorland. Figures are an Ahrefs snapshot from 29 September 2026, US database.
The link profile in six numbers
A concise view of authority, link breadth, editorial coverage and the organic visibility associated with the profile.
78% growth in twelve months
Live referring domains rose from 3,109 in September 2025 to 5,529 in September 2026. Since March 2026, the profile added more than 2,500 domains and nearly doubled.
Live referring domains
Monthly trend · September 2025 to September 2026
Why the momentum matters
Off-page signals supporting search visibility
Twenty-two major publishers link to the site
The highlighted domains combine national media, travel publishers, education and strong Central Florida relevance.
Top publisher DR
Ahrefs Domain Rating · selected top ten
97
94
93
93
93
92
92
92
92
92
| Publisher | DR | Links | Dofollow | First seen |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| wikipedia.org | 97 | 9 | 0 | 2015 |
| forbes.com | 94 | 2 | 0 | 2026 |
| tripadvisor.com | 93 | 15 | 0 | 2015 |
| cnn.com | 93 | 10 | 10 | 2016 |
| washingtonpost.com | 93 | 1 | 1 | 2016 |
| usatoday.com | 92 | 90 | 58 | 2013 |
| cbsnews.com | 92 | 50 | 43 | 2022 |
| time.com | 92 | 7 | 7 | 2017 |
| huffpost.com | 92 | 6 | 6 | 2021 |
| npr.org | 92 | 5 | 5 | 2017 |
| latimes.com | 92 | 2 | 2 | 2021 |
| nbcnews.com | 91 | 24 | 24 | 2014 |
| people.com | 91 | 9 | 9 | 2017 |
| smithsonianmag.com | 90 | 1 | 1 | 2023 |
| lonelyplanet.com | 89 | 15 | 8 | 2014 |
| travelandleisure.com | 89 | 8 | 8 | 2021 |
| cntraveler.com | 88 | 6 | 3 | 2015 |
| ucf.edu | 85 | 11 | 11 | 2014 |
| orlandosentinel.com | 84 | 584 | 547 | 2014 |
| fodors.com | 80 | 6 | 1 | 2013 |
| floridatoday.com | 78 | 31 | 31 | 2021 |
| visitorlando.com | 77 | 975 | 975 | 2013 |
A natural, brand-led authority profile
The most widely used anchors are the business name or web address, while 94% of links from the highlighted publishers pass authority.
Referring domains by anchor
Number of websites using each anchor
5,477
1,455
739
467
388
Highlighted publisher links
Dofollow versus nofollow across the 22 publishers
1,750 dofollow links
117 nofollow links
The mix signals national recognition, local relevance, travel authority and fresh editorial coverage.
Six evidence-backed findings
These readings should be checked against the site’s own Google Search Console before decisions are made.
Press authority is a real asset
Twenty-two publishers at DR 77 or higher link to the site, including USA Today, CBS News, NBC News, CNN, NPR, Time and People.
Local tourism links are strong
Visit Orlando contributes 975 dofollow links, Orlando Sentinel 547, Florida Today 31 and UCF 11.
Travel media covers the attraction
Lonely Planet, TripAdvisor, Fodor’s, Travel + Leisure and Condé Nast Traveler reach people actively planning trips.
Momentum is accelerating
Referring domains grew 78% in twelve months and were up 89% since March 2026, reaching a new high of 5,529.
Authority supports rankings
The domain ranks for 980 keywords, with 532 in the US top three and about 34,000 estimated organic visits monthly.
There is still room to expand
Forbes, Smithsonian and Wikipedia link only a few times. Conservation, education and event resources are natural outreach targets.
A practical 90-day off-page SEO plan
The next phase should protect existing equity, create newsworthy assets and convert brand visibility into more relevant editorial links.
Link profile review
- Map every press link to its landing page.
- Reclaim unlinked brand mentions.
- Run a competitor link-gap analysis for Florida attractions and tourism.
Digital PR outreach
- Develop stories around animal births, events and conservation programs.
- Pitch editors, travel writers and gift-guide publishers.
- Build partnerships with Orlando tourism and school websites.
Citations and content
- Standardize listings across local directories.
- Create linkable resources, data and destination guides.
- Track authority, relevance and monthly link growth.
Sources and methodology: Ahrefs Site Explorer supplied Domain Rating, backlink totals, referring-domain history, anchor data and organic estimates using the US database snapshot from 29 September 2026. The publisher list is a curated selection of national, regional, travel and education websites – not every referring domain. Low-quality auto-generated links were excluded from the editorial analysis. Backlink counts and traffic figures are third-party estimates. Gatorland has not reviewed or endorsed this analysis; company names and domains belong to their respective owners.
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Khizar Yaqoob
Khizar Yaqoob is the founder of Khizar SEO Expert and an off-page SEO specialist with 8+ years in search. He has run 30+ global outreach campaigns, secured 3,500+ premium editorial backlinks and helped 150+ brands grow through link building, digital PR and technical SEO. He writes about what actually moves rankings and revenue, backed by real campaign data.
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