Link Building

Types of Backlinks That Impact Your SEO (and How to Get Them)

Link building has always been one of the most challenging areas of SEO. 

It will get more difficult these days, especially in highly competitive spaces, as most Google core updates and HCU updates strongly favor brands (sites with stronger link profiles, brand searches, and mentions from reputable sites), emphasizing the need for better types of backlinks. 

The notion of getting only quality links doesn’t apply in ranking sites today. Link building should be about getting more quantity of the quality links that count. 

Google’s algorithms are smart enough to distinguish between a high-quality editorial mention and a spammy, low-value link. Focusing on quality links alone won’t make it. You have to acquire more to maintain rankings and strengthen brand positions. 

The links you aim to build should meet at least these two primary criteria:

• High-quality: Links from authoritative, relevant sites within your industry.
• Hard-to-replicate: Links that your competitors cannot easily reproduce, giving you a competitive advantage.

So, what are the types of backlinks that matter today? 

1. Editorial Links

Editorial links are highly coveted because they signal authority and trust. These links come from natural mentions in articles, blogs, and other media without a direct request from you. Earned links through strong content, positive press coverage, or expert quotes are strong indicators that people trust your site, which helps your pages climb higher in Google’s SERPs. 

Why They Matter:

• They are seen as the most organic form of a backlink, showing that other authoritative sources value your content. These links are referential in nature and could only be acquired if you have great content published on your site or if you have a link-worthy product. 
• They help position your brand as a leader in your industry. Editorial links from reputable sites can serve as social proof and enhance your thought leadership. 
• Drive referral traffic from reputable sources, increasing the likelihood of converting visitors into leads or customers. When other publishers recommend your product/service through links, it’ll help assist conversions. 

How to Get This Type of Link?

• Publish High-Utility Content Assets: Create content that fills a knowledge gap in your industry, such as in-depth guides, unique case studies, or proprietary research. Content that educates or provides a solution naturally attracts editorial links. In today’s age, providing new information (“information gain”) is critical as it attracts established authors who are looking for new bread of industry information for their audience. 
• Leverage PR: Use media outreach to promote new products, reports, or expert opinions that could be picked up by publications or influencers in your field. Subscribe to Mark Rofe here, as he shares actionable regular tips on how to utilize digital PR to its fullest. 

2. Links That Drive Second-Hand Traffic

These backlinks come from niche forums, community discussions, or recommendation pages, and while they may not carry the same SEO weight as editorial links, they’re highly valuable for driving targeted, second-hand traffic.

It is usually known as second-hand traffic, but it doesn’t diminish its value. The traffic that comes from recommendation and community sites is as powerful as editorial links. 

Why They Matter:

• Links from community-driven sites (such as niche forums or “how-to” pages) often bring users who are further along in their decision-making process. These visitors are more likely to convert as they arrive at your site already looking for solutions or recommendations. 
• They create diversified traffic streams, making your site less reliant on organic search traffic.

How to Get This Type of Link?

• Engage in Niche Communities: Participate in niche forums or communities where your target audience hangs out. Contribute genuinely by sharing insights and solutions, which can lead people to link to your site as a resource. Pro Tip: Don’t try to push hard on your product recommendations if they are not relevant. It would otherwise backfire on your brand if you do so. 
• Provide Solutions on Q&A Sites: Sites like Quora or Reddit can be goldmines for getting these types of links. You can gain backlinks and traffic from these platforms by answering questions and providing value. 
• Invest as much time to see opportunities further. When there are opportunities to add value with your product recommendations (as authentic and as useful as they can be), don’t hesitate to answer in the discussions. 

3. Links From Ranking Pages

Links from pages that already rank well in search results carry a unique value. These pages receive a constant flow of organic traffic via rankings, and the authority from their position in the rankings can pass on to your site.

I see it as banking on other pages’ authority, as these pages may be seen as relevant to certain queries I may have wanted to rank for either informational or commercial keywords. 

Why They Matter:

• Ranking pages are highly authoritative in the eyes of search engines, so a backlink from them holds more weight.
• They ensure a steady flow of referral traffic, as users continually find these pages through search.
• These links often come from content that is highly topical relevant to your site, further boosting your rankings in specific keyword niches.

How to Get This Type of Link?

• Outreach to Ranking Sites: Identify sites that rank well for your target keywords, and offer value through guest posts or content collaborations through SEO outreach. Focus on content that enhances their ranking pages, like providing an expert opinion or data that complements their existing material. Make sure you’re adding unique information that isn’t yet found on the page to increase the likelihood of getting your pitch noticed (and hopefully acquiring the link from the page). 
• Get Included in Listicles: Reach out to sites that create “best of” or “top X” lists related to your niche. Offering a compelling reason why your product or service should be included can earn you a spot on these high-traffic pages. See which angles or unique POV your products or services could offer that would be irresistible to add to the page. 

4. Contextual Links from Distributed Content

Contextual links embedded within relevant content (such as guest posts, listicles, or interviews) are highly valuable because they integrate naturally into the flow of information and provide search engines with strong context about your site’s relevance.

Compared to reaching out to get added, you need a compelling reason—a content piece that adds new information to the industry’s knowledge base—to have a chance for link placements. 

Why They Matter:

• Contextual links within content carry more SEO weight than sidebar or footer links because they are part of the main content, signaling to search engines that they are directly relevant to the topic.
• These links also tend to drive better referral traffic since they appear organically as part of an informative resource.

How to Get This Type of Link?

• Guest Posting on Targeted Sites: Focus your guest blogging efforts on sites that serve your intended audience. Aim to provide content that adds value and is relevant to the readers of those sites. Pro Tip: we use Ahrefs’ Domain Rating (DR) and SEMRush Traffic to see if a potential publisher is worth contributing content to. Benchmark must be Ahrefs’ DR 25 and above, and with existing organic traffic of 1,000, and without history of traffic drop (or algorithmic penalties). 
• Leverage Your Author Portfolio: If you’ve built a portfolio of high-quality content, use authorship as leverage to contribute to reputable sites with high Domain Ratings (DR). Match your contributions to your professional profile, which increases your chances of landing a contextual backlink on relevant sites. Pro Tip: If you’re working with SEO clients, you can use thought leaders or in-house experts in the company who want to build their personal brand. Collaborate with them by assisting them in doing the outreach yourself and letting their content be submitted with links to their personal site and your client’s site.

5. Thought Leadership Links

Thought leadership links come from opportunities such as public speaking, podcasts, and interviews. These links establish your authority in your niche and extend your digital footprint beyond written content.

Why They Matter:

• Links from organizations or events where you’ve presented establish you as a thought leader and build credibility not just with search engines but also with your audience. They also help your site optimize for large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and AI Overviews, which rely on information from other publishers. 
• They can diversify your backlink profile by incorporating non-traditional SEO sources, making it harder for competitors to replicate. This type of backlinks require depth of expertise and personal brand to garner a chance. 

How to Get This Type of Link?

• Guest Speaking: Look for opportunities to speak on podcasts, at conferences, or in webinars. This builds your authority and earns you backlinks from the event or podcast host’s site. 
• Leverage Personal Interests: If you have interests outside of your professional domain (e.g., personal development, productivity), use these as angles to land guest spots on podcasts or content collaborations outside your main niche. These can still drive relevant traffic to your site. For instance, I do corporate training on topics related to personal development, leadership, career, sales, and customer service. This allowed me to diversify my approach to guesting that other SEO and digital marketing speakers can’t easily access to unless they have similar personal interests. 

6. Product-Led Links

Product-led links are earned by offering valuable tools, templates, or services that can be highly utilized by targeted audiences. They act like an extension of a first-touch experience, as they get to have immediate access to premium features your tools provide. 

Why They Matter:

• Offering no-cost products like calculators, checklists, or apps can generate consistent backlinks because these resources are highly shareable. It also helps potential customers convert, as they get to experience first the value before making a purchasing decision. 
• These backlinks are sustainable since they continue to attract new links as more users discover and share your product.

How to Get This Type of Link?

• Develop Free Tools or Resources: Create high-utility resources like free templates, checklists, or tools that your target audience finds useful. Distribute them through your site or platforms like Product Hunt to get the word out.
• Ask your networks in the industry to share your new tool or resource: Send emails to friends and networks in your space to gain early traction for your product-led content assets. 
• Outreach to Resource Pages: Actively promote your tools or services to websites that curate lists of free tools. These pages often attract significant traffic and can generate long-term backlinks.

Get The Type of Backlinks That Count

Not all backlinks are equal in SEO value, and understanding which types of backlinks move the needle for your business is crucial. 

Focus on building hard-to-replicate, high-quality links that enhance your authority, drive traffic, and generate leads. 

Whether it’s through editorial mentions, contextual links, or product-led backlinks, prioritizing quality over quantity will lead to more sustainable SEO success.

by Venchito Tampon

How to Get DA 90 Backlinks in 2024

Securing backlinks from high-authority websites can be a game-changer if you aim to rank for highly competitive keywords in Google’s SERPs.

Sites that can provide you with Domain Authority (DA) 90+ backlinks, in particular, are among the most powerful backlinks you can acquire, as they come from sites that Google views as highly credible and trustworthy. 

In fact, having a few DA 90 backlinks when you’re just initiating a link building campaign could provide significant results to its destination page—we’ve seen it happen with our own web properties and clients in our link building agency. 

In this article, we will explore proven strategies for securing those coveted DA 90+ backlinks, which will give your website an extra boost to outrank the competition. 

1. Get Product Links from Comparative Pages

This product-led link building campaign aims to effectively dominate the top page of Google’s SERPs by being as visible as possible. By ensuring your product is featured on multiple comparative pages, you create a multi-touchpoint strategy where potential customers encounter your brand repeatedly while researching solutions. 

Comparative pages, such as “Top 10 Healthcare CMS Tools” or “Best POS for Restaurants in the Philippines”, help readers compare different products or solutions within a niche. They often get the most search traffic by ranking for investigative queries. 

Aim for inclusion from these pages as you reach out to the authors or website owners. You can offer a trial or free access to your product so they can experience it firsthand, making it easier for them to include your product with a genuine recommendation.

If link inclusion is not possible, identify a niche segment in which your product could be considered the top choice, as it delivers the most value compared with other solutions. 

Identify high-authority websites that frequently publish comparison articles in your niche. You can use Ahrefs to find these pages with DA90+ sites quickly. Contribute a comparison article featuring your product as a go-to choice for a niche segment solution. 

2. Podcast Mentions Using Podscan.fm

Podcasts are an increasingly popular platform for thought leadership and offer an often-overlooked avenue for acquiring high-quality backlinks. 

They are a robust arsenal for brands that attract multiple guests for their personal stories and expertise. 

You can use Podscan.fm to monitor all podcasts for mentions of you (as a personal brand) or your company. It sends alerts if you get a new mention. 

I tested this out by entering a marketing thought leader, “Mark Schaefer". 

Another way to leverage this tool is to identify podcasts that feature either competitors or non-competitors in your niche or industry. 

Reach out to hosts with a pitch on why they’d want you to be a guest. Highlight your credentials, expertise, and unique insights. Once featured, provide the host with a list of links that are included in the show notes, such as links to your website, articles, or resources that offer additional value to their listeners. 

3. Recurring Links From Content Partnerships

If you've been following the SharpRocket blog for a while, you’ll notice I’m a strong advocate of content partnerships. 

The strength of this link building strategy, compared to other forms, is that it isn’t easy to replicate by your competitors. Content partnerships require access to relationships and collaboration—obviously, anyone cannot manufacture relationships. 

Content partnerships can also drive recurring links instead of a one-time link from a unique domain. While most SEO authors vouch only for getting as many unique referring domains, having recurring links from DA 70 sites helps you build more trust signals to your site. 

Start getting recurring links by offering to cross-promote each other's content assets through reciprocal link building—linking to highly relevant pages. If your site has a lower DA than the site you’re proposing to, you can use other angles or resources to match the partnership—it could be sharing the link to your newsletter or social media platforms.

The key to success in a content partnership is always determining how to bring the most value to the other party. 

Another approach is co-authoring in-depth guides or reports, where you and the partner site share expertise. This leads to mutual backlinks from their high-DA site and future inbound link opportunities from other authoritative sources linking to the content asset. 

4. Utilize Digital PR Campaigns

Digital PR has been an integral part of SEO campaigns for creative SEO agencies today. It leverages newsworthy content or stories to attract attention from high-authority sites, earning DA 90+ backlinks.

Unlike traditional link building, where it heavily relies on the efficiency and impact of outreach campaigns, digital PR focuses on the credibility of the content, its uniqueness, and timing in building relationships with journalists and influencers who can amplify your content.

I’ve covered this in our previous guide on digital PR best practices, but let me share more meat to it: 

• Create compelling, data-driven, or unique stories that include original research, survey results, expert commentary, or thought-leadership articles. Having content related to your product offerings is a plus; this can lead to more product-led links that assist you in achieving your business goals. 
• Use PR tools like Qwoted, Help a B2B Writer, and Connectively to connect with journalists looking for exclusive content or expert insights in your niche. Respond quickly with the correct information to get quoted in their articles. 
• Maximize new product launches or industry insights in developing press releases for significant announcements, as brands with creative online launches can catapult to many DR 90 backlinks. 

5. Product-Led Content Assets To Earn .Edu Backlinks 

Offering scholarships to get .edu backlinks has been a staple link building technique in the industry. Getting scholarship links from a scholarship list page with hundreds of external links to various scholarship programs is getting lesser in link value.

The way to go forward in earning .edu backlinks is by producing content assets that address audience needs while demonstrating how your product or service can solve users’ problems. 

To achieve this, you can create in-depth, authoritative guides, tutorials, or research-based content highly relevant to educational institutions. For instance, you might create a guide on emerging technologies that interest computer science departments. It could have a tool section where one of your products can be an obvious solution.

Reach out to university librarians or student resource coordinators who offer your guide as an additional valuable resource for their students or faculty.

Consider creating resource pages designed to complement a university’s curriculum, making it easier for them to link to your comprehensive guide. 

Does your brand need high DA backlinks? Contact us to discover link building services to improve your site’s ranking and overall search performance.

by Venchito Tampon

Link Building Prospects Approval: Streamline Your Process for SEO Success

Link building prospects approval is one of the overlooked aspects of link building, yet it is the determining factor that separates a successful link development campaign from mediocre ones.

Assessing backlinks based on quality, trustworthiness, and potential impact on website traffic and business objectives empowers your SEO campaign to achieve both its quick wins and long-term goals. 

You could have thousands of link prospects, but without a strict quality control process, you’re likely to acquire irrelevant or low-value links that will not increase your site’s organic traffic.

Essential Criteria for Evaluating and Approving Link Building Prospects

The primary question, especially for SEO beginners, is, “What should I consider when evaluating backlink prospects?”

The quick answer to this: topical relevance, quality of the site’s backlink profile, engagement, and targeted traffic sources. 

James Norquay has shared a recent experience of one of the backlinks acquired by an SEO agency to a client. 

Those examples (and types of links) will not improve the client’s SEO rankings and could risk the site’s link profile. 

Our link building agency has a simplified yet strict backlink qualification process. We do it pretty much manually (with the help of a few link analysis tools to quickly determine either the page or site authority score). 

Link qualification will vary from industry to industry, the content assets available and their context. But essentially, these criteria are a solid list of control measures. 

Site Legitimacy and Branding 

When assessing backlink prospects, it is crucial to examine the site’s legitimacy and branding. A quick review of the website’s visible elements—such as its design, logo, social media profiles, About Us page, and Contact details—provides clues to whether an established entity genuinely owns the website.

Another way to confirm the site’s legitimacy is to check its blog author or contributors page, legal disclaimers, and history of consistent content production. These indicate a serious established presence in its niche. 

For some instances, you can run the main author picture in Google Reverse Image search to see if the images used have been downloaded from stock photo websites. 

Topical Relevance

Topical relevance in the scope of the target customer base is an essential factor in link building decisions. 

Make sure the site’s content aligns with the industry or niche to ensure that the links obtained will be contextually appropriate. 

Fact to tell that Google’s algorithms reward relevant links, so make it a top priority to choose sites whose topics closely relate to your own. Review their blog posts, product pages, and overall theme to verify that they consistently cover topics that naturally link to your website.

Quality of Website’s Backlink Profile

Evaluating the quality of the website’s backlink profile provides insights into its authority and trustworthiness. Link analysis tools like Ahrefs and Moz can help assess the strength and diversity of a site’s backlinks. 

Check for anchor text usage, especially if it is mostly natural or branded, to avoid sites involved in link farms. You can check 3 to 5 recent articles or blog posts and click on some internal and external links. 

Avoid sites that primarily link to spammy, unnatural, low-quality sources or from high-risk niches like casino (unless you operate in those verticals), as these can negatively impact your site’s SEO efforts. Instead, focus on prospects with a strong, reputable backlink profile that reflects credibility and authority within the domain.

You can filter links based on the default Ahrefs’ Best by Links feature—dofollow, in content, DR30+, and Traffic of 500+  (or customize based on your link benchmarks). 

Targeted Traffic Sources

Understanding where the site’s traffic comes from can help you determine whether you’re likely to get additional value in the form of referral traffic as you acquire the link. 

If you’re trying to rank for search results within the APAC region, evaluate domains if the traffic primarily comes from related countries such as Singapore or the Philippines. 

A well-targeted site will have a steady flow of traffic from search engines, and relevant sources are more likely to drive qualified visitors to your site when the link is placed.

See the traffic graph if pages dropped in traffic—it could indicate that the site got hit by penalties. While a few sites recovered in the recent Core Update, most domains didn’t have the expected light of the day, so double-check for any traffic drop.  

Prioritize sites with targeted traffic that aligns well with your audience, as it can boost the chances of gaining relevant referral traffic. 

Optimization Tips to Improve Link Building Prospects Approval

Having a diverse set of link building clients allows us to optimize our process to get more approved prospects. By working with different industries and brands, like our SaaS client with strict guidelines or an eCommerce brand targeting niche markets, we customize our approach to meet varying requirements. 

Our adaptability mindset as a team ensures a more efficient SEO outreach process. It helps increase the chances of approval for each prospect (especially when working with high-caliber in-house SEO teams). 

Create DNC (Do Not Contact) Database

Establishing a "Do Not Contact" (DNC) database is critical to optimizing link building efforts. This database should include websites that are either unresponsive multiple times or unsuitable for your link building goals.

For example, websites that require payment for links (if your strategy doesn’t resort to paid links), sites that lack direct contact with editors or webmasters, or those with no identifiable point of contact should be added to the DNC list. 

This prevents your team from wasting time and resources on low-potential prospects and keeps your outreach efforts more focused and efficient. 

Revisit and Re-Outreach Sites That Do Not Respond To Acquire More Links

Not all outreach attempts yield immediate results, but that doesn’t mean they should be forgotten. Revisiting and re-outreaching to sites that didn’t respond initially can help you acquire more backlinks over time. 

When working with in-house teams or agencies, it’s critically important to maintain a record of backlinks prospects who have been contacted by outreach specialists, marking them for follow-up after a set period (e.g., six months).

Ensure that key details, such as the date of the initial outreach and the name of the person contacted, are included in the sheet (or platform for inputs). This allows for a systematic re-outreach process, enabling you to capitalize on opportunities that may have been missed in the first attempt. 

Constantly Improve Link QA Process

The digital landscape is constantly evolving, and with frequent Google updates, developing your link building campaigns is crucial. 

Review and refine your Link Quality Assurance (QA) process regularly by discussing updates with your SEO team. Incorporate new criteria to ensure the backlinks you build to meet the latest standards.

One potential addition that I’ve seen with most in-house SEO teams is the consideration of EEAT (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness) elements. 

Websites that demonstrate these qualities, such as those with reputable authors or recognized subject matter experts, should be prioritized in your outreach efforts. 

Given that the sites hosting their content contributions are seen as trustworthy by search engines, getting links from these sites can help maintain the long-term effectiveness and holistic approach of your link building strategy. 

Do Not Settle with Face-Visible Elements

While it may be tempting to approve link building prospects based on superficial factors like a well-designed website, author pages, or a polished “About Us” section, it’s crucial not to stop there. 

Investigate beyond surface-level elements to ensure long-term elements. Check the site’s backlink profile, as this provides a more accurate picture of its authority and trustworthiness.

Examine the site’s backlink history and identify potential red flags, such as many toxic or irrelevant backlinks. By taking this extra step, you can ensure that the links you acquire come from sites with solid reputations, thus improving the overall quality and impact of your link building campaign. 

This approach not only helps maintain the credibility of your backlink profile but also strengthens the overall SEO strategy, avoiding potential search engine penalties.

by Venchito Tampon

Digital PR Tips: Key Practices for Successful Campaigns

With the majority of news stories and information consumed alone, it’s not surprising that PR has entered the search landscape. This allows the traditional public relations we know to be fully utilized in helping brands climb Google’s search results. 

Many still need clarification about whether digital PR is part of link building (or search engine optimization) as a whole or could be seen separately as a marketing discipline for enhancing brand reputation. 

By practice, Digital PR is a brand reputation concept that helps control the public perception of a particular brand. It prioritizes content that serves human interest, and as a result, it naturally accumulates backlinks from highly reputable publications and news sites. 

Some SEO agencies have long blended digital PR with their current SEO processes to improve their clients’ rankings. In many ways, digital PR is beneficial for SEO purposes, including: 

• Helping authors distribute content on A-list publications that don’t easily allow typical bloggers to publish content. 
• Introduce new strategies to focus on content that will link organically over time instead of content assets that heavily rely on manual outreach to succeed. 
• Build domain authority through homepage links from publications covering the brand stories. 
• Improve branded searches through mentions and links. 
• Increases both brand and non-brand traffic through mentions and links 
• Be seen as a topical authority, as users started to view your brand as an authoritative voice in the industry. 

Besides links as one of the products, digital PR also has many upsides to the entire branding approach, to name a few: 

• It enhances the brand reputation and visibility online. 
• It helps garner interest from startup founders looking for additional investments.
• It assists in creating a community that supports one’s agenda and interests.

In today’s guide, we’ll examine actionable tips for best approaching digital PR and leveraging its strength to acquire more links and authority for your brand. 

1. Get First-Mover Advantage For Holidays 

With the sea of emails journalists receive daily during holiday events (e.g., Christmas), your pitch will be drowned in their inbox during December. 

By being the first-mover in your industry to relate stories with Christmas, you’ll have more chances of getting noticed by journalists still preparing for their subsequent bulk of Christmas stories. 

It also helps to be more flexible when certain parts of stories have to change to match the journalists’ interest in exclusively covering them. 

You can also plan your follow-up email strategy weeks before to land more responses and digital PR opportunities for your brand stories. 

2. Use Google Trends’ Trending Now For Reactive PR 

In creating content that matters, you make the best or be the first to cover the story. 

By diving into the topic first, you have the opportunity to receive the early massive gains of exposure to content and potential links through link building from other publications covering the story. We call it reactive PR campaigns. 

Jumping on hot trends and tangentially on-brand relevant topics can help drive awareness of your site’s expertise and build brand authority. 

Google Trends has a new feature called “Trending Now” that highlights real-time popular search topics and queries. It helps provide insights into what’s currently capturing public interest.

This feature allows you to sort current trends by recency, title, search volume, and significant trends (relevancy), helping you find relevant trends in your industry more effectively. 

For instance, mpox is a current trend in the Philippines, and many locals wonder about its symptoms and current effect, including the number of people affected by this disease. If you’re into the healthcare industry, this is a topic that you can cover strategically backed up with deep data and the expertise of your internal healthcare professionals.

3. Use Corporate Logo in Email Signature

A subtle improvement in SEO outreach can help define its success. 

One proven way is by using a corporate logo in the email signature. Based on the study by Redsift, “when a brand’s emails had a logo, but competitors did not, opens increased by 21% in the US and 39% in the UK"​.

Having a corporate logo initially helps build trust with the recipient, as it depicts you as a real human being, not a fake/dummy account just being used for spammy email purposes. 

You should include a corporate email signature of the sender's position in the company and other relevant details to build outreach credibility. 

4. Create Author Pages

One of the by-products of Digital PR campaigns is having journalists and news writers link to your page. That itself helps bring link equity, which will help build your page’s authority and climb higher on Google’s SERPs for its target keywords. 

You may consider creating author pages for easy link attribution in digital PR campaigns. By having an author page, you help journalists find a relevant place to link to. It also increases brand awareness, as people can learn more about the author, thought leader, or personality being quoted in the story.

It also helps optimize and strengthen your authorship, which brings more positive off-page SEO signals to your website. 

Create author pages for internal experts in your team. Include publications that mention them and any relevant work history, achievements, and recognitions in the industry.

For some publications, it would be easier to ask to link to an author page instead of the homepage (if, by any chance, there’s no opportunity for a homepage link). So, having author pages could prepare you for the linking opportunity at hand. 

You can also utilize internal linking to include product or service pages in the author page to flow link equity to other pages that bring revenue to the brand. This helps other pages increase their page authority and rank for their respective keywords. 

5. Use #IFFT for #journorequest 

Social media has been a source of opportunities for any brand to be noticed through its stories, launches, and events.

By taking advantage of journalists who are actually looking for quotes and expertise on topics they’re currently or about to cover in their publications, you’ll have chances of landing brand exposure for A-list publications. 

Set up alerts using #IFFT to get notified of the latest tweets with the hashtag # journorequest that content creators and journalists use when looking for interview quotes. 

Be one of the early respondents to quote requests to increase the likelihood of landing a mention for your story or expertise on a given topic.

6. Discover More Publications with Linking Authors 

Authorship optimization has become part of the major SEO processes for many SEO practitioners today. Not only does it help increase authority and trust in websites as users perceive brands with more profound expertise and greater experience to create helpful content, but it also adds a layer to many link building campaigns for earning organic links for informational content.

Discovering authors in your space could help you find publications that haven’t covered your brand stories and expertise. 

You can use Ahrefs' new feature, ‘Linking Authors, ' to help semi-automate some of the link prospecting processes. It assists in comparing your brand’s link profile with your competitors' so you can easily see the authors who are writing about your competitors in one place. 

Plug in the URL to find out which publications have written about the brand and discover authors at those publications. 

It brings new contacts not only for a digital PR campaign but also for other link building strategies, such as guest posting, which demands new contacts of authors to partner with for content creation. 

7. Master AIDA in Email Outreach 

The AIDA principle is a common practice in marketing. It refers to Attention, Interest, Desire, and Action. Structuring a marketing campaign to capture attention and interest, increase desire, and establish a solid call to action are all essential to drive better outreach results.

The same principle can be applied to reaching out to journalists and publishers. They didn’t have days to consume your actual message. With seconds of skimming right through the email, it should speak of what you have to offer to the table.

Here’s an excellent example of an email outreach template from Siegemedia that incorporates AIDA principles. 

8. Align Pitches To Coverage Areas

According to the State of Journalism 2024 report by Muck Rack, one of the top reasons pitches are often rejected is that the PR emails are irrelevant to the coverage area. Nearly three-quarters of journalists decline pitches without clear relevance to their content theme. 

It’s essential to examine the journalist and his coverage area (and the subject matter of his columns) to identify whether the brand stories you’re sharing align with his content work. 

Organize a list of journalists and publishers along with their coverage areas (industry categories and sub-niches) so you can quickly glance at what they usually write about before sending any initial pitch. 

by Venchito Tampon

SEO Outreach Best Practices

SEO outreach remains a vital part of any link acquisition campaign. In this phase, content publishers reach out to webmasters and persuade them with the right proposition to accumulate backlinks for their sites.

As we know, the practice has been abused, leading many editors and webmasters to significantly increase their editorial standards, making it more difficult for any outside contributor to place content on their blogs.

We still believe there’s a better way of doing SEO outreach as a link building agency. This belief has led us to where we are, as we constantly improve our outreach efforts to help our clients reach new audiences and improve their branding efforts for their products or services.

Beyond its objective to acquire links, SEO outreach takes many advantages for the brand, to name a few:

• It establishes your brand as an authority in your space, given the value you provide in the form of content assets that could prove your experience and expertise. 
• It helps informational content (with the intent to earn more natural links) get the top spots in Google’s SERPs (as you need a higher position for your target keyword for other content publishers to notice and provide you with links).
• It connects you to other content publishers, journalists, and industry influencers who are likely to help amplify your brand further through their content distribution and social media marketing initiatives. 

As we’ve established the importance of SEO outreach, let’s look at the best practices that separate successful outreach campaigns from mediocre ones. 

1. Reach Out to Prospects with Higher Link Obtainability 

Simply going through the motion of sending outreach emails with hopes of securing a single link isn’t a good idea. Assessing how easily a link could be obtained from a website or page is the key to ensuring you’ll have backlinks at the end of the email. 

Put enough effort into understanding whether or not you’ll get a backlink from a website. The way to know that is by aligning your current value proposition with the site’s needs and preferences. 

For instance, if you’re proposing a piece of content (blog post, infographic, data survey, brand stories, etc.) to a publisher, see if it taps into the needs of their audience (relevance). 

If you’re considering a link inclusion, see external links on the list and match them to the page you want included. If they only list links to suppliers and retailers, will your product/product category page be considered?

Another element of backlink obtainability is page updates, which refer to how frequently and recently the page is updated to satisfy its users. You can check using Archive.org to see its recent versions, or if you’re doing competitor analysis, Ahrefs has this feature for you to check page updates.

The more recently the page has been updated, the more active the webmaster is in managing that specific page, increasing the likelihood of getting a backlink from it through SEO outreach. 

2. Demonstrate Credibility 

SEO outreach campaigns include sending cold emails to publishers and editors you may not have known. Establishing credibility during your initial emails is critically important to differentiate yourself from others pitching the same editor. 

Start demonstrating credibility using credible email accounts - preferably corporate emails with your account signature. 

Editors can glance at your email signature and initially trust that your email is coming from a real author, not somebody just aiming to have a link on their site. It may sound simple, but thousands of outreach pitches fail to include a credible email signature in their emails. 

Another way to establish credibility up front is to provide social proof of work. For instance, if you’re proposing to get a link to your web product from an article they recently wrote, you may include companies that utilized the tool and a quick description of the results they achieved to establish product authority.

3. Write Shorter Emails

Contrary to what others have written, where they state that you literally have to personalize everything in your first-touch email, the truth is writing shorter emails for initial contact tends to get better response rates.

The reason is that emails that are concise (shorter) and demonstrate the unique value proposition using the first few lines help capture attention better and pique the curiosity of anyone who reads them. 

As you get a response from your link prospects, you can now send a more thorough email incorporating the needed details, i.e. specialized topics for content pieces. 

Writing shorter emails also saves time and improves the efficiency of your outreach, allowing you to send more qualified emails down the line. 

Essentially, your short email must include the name, website/brand you’re reaching out to, and a quick description of your value proposition (e.g., premium access to your tool, product review, digital PR story, etc..). 

4. Exchange Contacts with Reputable Publishers 

One investment you can make is building relationships with active content publishers in your industry who’ve written content for other related sites. 

From this relationship-building strategy, you can ask if they know of any industry-related publication you can propose content to. Pass on contacts with each other and increase both parties’ networks. 

The upside with referrals like this is they can make an introduction to you as an author, which initially builds trust (as it comes from someone the publishers are already familiar with) - allowing you to advance your content pitch opportunity further down the line. 

One of the best ways to widen your publishers’ networks is to get on the radar in online communities. Be active in answering questions on forums, Linkedin, and niche communities to increase familiarity about you as an author. This way, when you reach out as an outside contributor, there’s a brand recall of your personality. 

5. Leverage Reverse SEO Outreach

Reverse SEO outreach attracts potential link partners who are actively seeking content opportunities for their sites. It helps diversify your link building strategy beyond just doing manual outreach to get backlink opportunities. 

You utilize the power of ranking pages for other active content publishers to find you through queries such as: 

• Keyword + “write for us”
• Keyword + “become a contributor”
• Keyword + “guest post by”
• Keyword + “contribute to”
• Keyword + inurl:”contribute”
• Keyword + “submit a guest post”
• Keyword + “submit an article”

This strategy lets prospects come to you so you can assess their websites to see if it’s worth having a content partnership with them (both sites get reciprocal links or use other niche-relevant sites to exchange relevant links). 

As mentioned earlier, it also offers an opportunity to be introduced to their contacts, which helps expand your networks. 

6. Offer to Update Content 

Link bulding isn’t only confined to getting links from new content. Older pages could be great opportunities to provide robust link juice to your pages, given that these pages have significant page authority to power up your links. 

Identify outdated content in your list of blogs. You can quickly search for relevant published content on a specific domain (site search operator) or use Ahrefs to find best-performing content that needs updates to better satisfy users. 

7. Put Timing to Your Emails

Sending emails just at the right time helps increase open and link placement rates. 

Siegemedia created a study of over 85,000 personalized emails and found that the best time to send cold emails is between 6-9 a.m. PST on Monday, with Tuesday being a close second.

When people read your emails before they go about their day (or at least before they start getting busy), they’re more likely to respond quickly. 

Optimizing your link outreach campaigns based on the best day and time to send emails can help turn an average outreach result into a successful one. 

8. Always Follow Up On Your Pitch 

One of the most apparent yet underutilized outreach tactics is sending follow-ups. While it is the simplest thing to do, not doing so could prevent you from landing a backlink from a reputable publication. 

A good rule of thumb is to wait at least 72 hours (3 days) after sending the first email to follow up. This gives an allowance of time for your target prospect to respond before sending another. 

Too much aggressiveness in follow-up could be a nuisance. 

9. Use Variety in Outreach Angles and Email Accounts

Invest time sending emails using different outreach angles to test which best resonates with your audience. Other target groups may have different receptions for emails, so having two to three emails with varying outreach angles can significantly impact your SEO outreach’s performance. 

When doing A/B testing, it’s essential to make minor changes slowly to avoid inconsistent results that run away from the primary email. Aggressive changes will not help you see any improvement in modifying your email outreach copies. 

Try other outreach tactics besides the typical guest blogging and broken link building methods. Consider ways that lean toward building long-term relationships (e.g., content partnerships). You might not get links in the first conversation, but it can help bring awareness to your authorship and provide more long-term content opportunities. 

Contextualize Your Outreach Campaigns

While these best practices have proven effective for our team outreach efforts, it is best to test them with your brand’s campaign. Align your campaign’s activities with the context of your audience and the specific value you’re proposing to your potential link partners, as that would help you see improvements in your outreach campaigns.

by Venchito Tampon