how to get high quality backlinks 2021

How to Get Backlinks in 2025 [21 New Strategies]

Looking for new ways on how to get backlinks and boost your site's Google ranking?

Great! 

This post contains 21 new link building tips and strategies that are working in 2025. 

Let's dive in.

 

How to Get Backlinks in 2025?

1. Create An Image Library 

When people use your images, you can ask them to credit you with links.

The more images you produce, the more links you can reclaim for your website. 

How can you start with this?

First, analyze what images are linkable. 

Start with any of these sources to know what images get the most links

You want to look for images likely to be used by publications and blogs.

The reasons why bloggers would use it are very simple:

They want to show how a person behaves the way they mentioned in their articles or how things are used. 

And if you can give them images that portray that, then you're hitting their needs.

It must be any of these themes: 

Places:

unsplash travel example

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Objects:

unsplash things example

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Events:

unsplash events example

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

People:

unsplash people example

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Actions:

unsplash action example

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Emotions:

unsplash emotions example

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Go look for them on a photo source website by typing your niche keywords. 

For example, "work from home":

unsplash work from home

 

 

Or go to the Popular section to see what photos individuals and businesses are paying for.

Grab any image and plug it into Tineye to see how many sites have used it.

Once you analyze what images are often used by bloggers and publishers, go to your blog and publish an image library.

Create an image library that you can license under "creative commons distribute". 

Get these images uploaded on Flickr and other websites mentioned above. 

What you input in Flickr as a title and description will be your page title and meta description box.

Make sure you add your attribution request in your description. 

Start with 30 images. 

Then as you get results, add 5 to 10 more each month. 

Monitor who uses your images using Tineye Reverse Image Search.

tineye show results

 

Or using Copytrack.

Or Picmatch.

Spot use of your images without links. 

Reach out to them and ask for attribution. 

Another effective strategy is this: 

If you have a big library of images, maximize it to the fullest. 

How?

Besides uploading these photos on photo-sourcing sites:

You can offer it exclusively to publishers. 

Here is an email outreach template that you can use:

 

Subject Line: Save [Website]'s time and money on images you use

Hi [Name],

For [Website]'s editorial team, a crucial part of work is to find images, relevant to the content. 

What do you think of an alternative source of images in the form of a free subscription to more than [number of] images: [link to your page]?

We can give you [number of] images per month for a [X]-month period (with a possibility of extension). In return, we would like you to credit our images with clickable links.

Please let me know what do you think of our offer.

Thanks,

[Your Name] 

 

2. Apply 'Linkedin Reclamation' Technique 

One of the easiest types of backlinks you can get is:

From people who mentioned you on their sites but without attribution of links.

Well, you can simply reach out to them and ask to get credited with links. 

And you're probably familiar with this technique: 

Link reclamation.

The good thing is you can do it with any type of page you own.

Including your Linkedin page.

If you have someone in your organization who is getting attention from the press, either they are an authority on a technical topic. 

Sharing tips, quotes, or any value-added advice to the community.

Or because they have a remarkable story worth sharing.

Do a quick backlink check on their Linkedin profile page.

backlinks to linkedin page

Find some potential link opportunities in there.

Reach out to blogs and ask them to link to their profile page on your website. 

If you don't have a dedicated page for that person, create one for this strategy.

Then, get links. 

 

3. Initiate Reciprocal Linking 

You're probably familiar with link exchange.

That's the activity of two websites linking to each other web pages. 

The SEO community has a heavy discussion about whether link exchange is good or bad. 

But think about it:

Two websites can link to each other reciprocally without even the intention of manipulating search result rankings.

For example:

If I'm a product manufacturer and you're a reseller, would it be logical to link to your page because I want my potential customers to know where they can purchase the product?

Or vice versa. 

Another example:

Two niche bloggers were attending a conference. They grabbed some coffee and talked.

reciprocal linking

 

They are in different niches. But happen to find each other's new articles useful for their readers. 

One linked to his friend’s blog post. And vice versa.

You see:

These two examples are natural reciprocal linking.

Link exchange is okay.

As long as it is done in a manageable manner.

Not scalable. But if initiated for targeted people you've built relationships with, then it becomes more effective. 

 

4. Use "Bank For Buck" Guest Posting Strategy 

Not all guest posting campaigns are effective.

Why?

When people send guest posting ideas, they come from the lines of:

"Here are my guest posting ideas. Choose one that fits your blog."

bad example email outreach

 

Or:

"topics I'm thinking about and hoping to include a link in your article pointing to my website" 

It is a one-sided benefit on the part of the guest blogger.

Sad truth: 

But this is why a guest posting campaign doesn't work for many businesses. 

So how can you stand out among them? 

Instead of thinking about just “links”, why not ask these questions: 

What do they want?

What do they care about?

Some answers you can arrive at may be: 

They want to rank for their target keywords to get new blog readers.

They want to monetize their blogs. 

And so, if all these benefit your target publication, you want a new level of guest posting strategy. 

Insert: 

"Bank For Buck" strategy. 

It's a guest posting strategy that is simple to apply. 

The idea is: 

You submit guest posting topics that your target guest publication/blog would benefit from:

Either because they can monetize from it.

Or they can potentially gain new search visitors by ranking your content for target keywords. 

Now:

Here's how you can do it. 

The first is to find affiliate programs in your industry. 

And the reason is:

These affiliate programs may help your target niche bloggers earn a commission whenever someone clicks on their affiliate links and buy the products they're selling.

It’s a win for them! 

How can you find these affiliate programs? 

You can do a Google search for "[INDUSTRY] affiliate programme" OR "[INDUSTRY] affiliate program".

find affiliate program google search

 

Here you'll see different brands looking for affiliate partners. 

bluenile affiliate program

 

Make a list of these affiliate programs. 

Next step:

Look for bloggers who are likely to participate in the program.

And the easy way is to find people who've done it before.

These are bloggers who've written product reviews. 

And because they're into affiliate marketing, they will be more receptive to email pitches that would give them more affiliate commissions.

How to find them?

Use Ahrefs to check blogs linking to the affiliate programs you listed earlier.

target guest blogs for affiliate programs

 

Another way:

Look for authoritative blogs you can reach out to for guest posting.

google search fashion bloggers

In other words, these are your prospective guest blogs

Then the next step:

Research for their best-performing content.

And find what topics you can write for them to help them rank for some industry keywords.

You can use Ahrefs for this:

Either use Top Pages to get a good sense of their top-performing content. 

fashion blog top pages ahrefs

 

Or Content Gap Analysis to discover keywords they don't rank for yet (but their competitors are currently ranking). 

content gap analysis fashion blogs

 

Now, as you assess, these are the topics you can suggest to write for the blog.

Two things:

You write the content and link to one of the affiliate programs you found related to their niche.

And you write the content that gets to rank for some keywords they haven't targeted yet. 

So, in summary, here's how to apply the "Bank for Buck" strategy: 

  1. Find affiliate programs in your industry.
  2. Look for niche bloggers who are linked to affiliate programs.
  3. Find authoritative blogs in your list. 
  4. Send a list of guest posting ideas (with target keywords to rank and related affiliate programs to target).
  5. Write the content for them and get links to your site. 

 

5. Get Infographics Inspiration From Visual Capitalist 

It's challenging to make infographics stand out in your industry.

Not only:

Thousands (if not hundreds) of businesses publish various visual content assets daily. 

But there is nothing new with most infographics.

So how can you make your infographics stand out in your industry?

The key is to model what already works.

That is to get inspiration from proven and tested infographics that have gotten links from authoritative blogs and publications.

One website producing solid visual content assets is:

Visual Capitalist

visual capitalist

 

If you experience creative block when thinking of what infographics to create for your brand, check out what Visual Capitalist do. 

Some examples are:

mapped global happiness visual capitalist

 

world plastic waste visual capitalist

Now, you don't have to worry about where to start with infographics. 

Check out our other link building strategies.

 

6. Use Thought Leadership For Content Collaboration 

It's not that easy to create content.

But if you're working with other industry practitioners, you can produce more and higher quality content assets. 

That's co-marketing. 

How can you apply this?

Simple.

Find any thought leaders in your company. 

google industry thought leaders

 

And get them to be involved in your content distribution strategy. 

The idea is that the more authoritative a person is in an industry, the easier it is for you to secure opportunities with online publications.

Now:

Do you have any subject matter experts in your company?

How about professors who've done any solid research at school? 

The great thing here is:

You can partner with other institutions and entities where each guest posts on each other's website. 

 

7. Apply Advanced Stats Round-up Strategy 

You're probably familiar with round-up posts.

A round-up post is an article containing insider tips from industry experts on a specific topic.

Most content marketers abused this technique.

And it affects how the marketing industry perceives the value of a round-up post. 

The thing is:

Round-up posts still work.

But instead of just asking thought leaders to share their "most actionable tip", you can go deep with data. 

For example: 

You can survey at least 30 people.

Or try to get statistics about the topic.

Let's say you're targeting business owners. 

You can research on:

"Percentage of business owners who would create the same business (industry) VS other business owners who prefer to venture into a different niche"

"The average number of employees, team size, or revenue VS the years in business" 

These are just some examples.

The thing is:

Statistics are referential topics.

Publishers, bloggers, and content creators often link to statistics to validate their points and make their content more comprehensive than others.

small business failure statistics google search

 

This means you have a high chance of getting links when you rank for target keywords (e.g. "small business owners statistics"). 

So do not just publish a 'best tips' round-up article. Go beyond that. 

 

8. Do "Reduce, Re-use & Recycle" For Links 

You can do wonders out of garbage.

if you know how to recycle properly…

What if recycling is also applicable for link building on your site? 

How? 

With old, seemingly useless content, you can create an entire content distribution program without even creating new content.

What are the steps? 

First, find old content that you can prune.

These are pages that bring heaviness to your website (in terms of wordcount), but don't gain or contain any of the following:

Not generating backlinks (0 referring domains).

no backlinks pages ahrefs

 

Receiving <100 organic visits per month (lower relative to your site's overall search traffic). 

no traffic pages ahrefs

 

Not related to your blog's overall topic theme. 

The next thing you'll do is:

Offer the content as guest posts to third-party industry publications.

Or you can rewrite the content first to fit the blog's content guidelines.

Then submit it once you see "green signals" from blog editors. 

While doing this strategy, you'll find that not all your pruned content is worth submitting as guest posts…

And that's okay.

If there's a huge volume of well-written content, those are good articles still relevant for other sites. 

The last step is to serve 410 response codes on the old URLs.

Or no-index via Search Console for those articles to no longer be indexed. 

So if you have a hard time creating content for link building, recycle what you already have by turning old content into guest posts. 

 

9. Reverse Engineer Author Footprints Of Competitors 

You know, competitor research.

Finding patterns, behaviors, and people connected to your competitors.

In link building, it understands who is linked to your competitors.

Why did they link to their sites...

And what specific patterns you can model for your own site. 

If you know competitors, who are heavily involved in link building with authors or bio names. 

One link building technique you can do is:

Crawl their domain in a link building analysis tool like Ahrefs.

Outgoing links - Anchors

Scan through anchors and check names. Some of which are contributors to the publications.

locate authors ahrefs

 

Locate the websites and social media profiles of those authors. 

Collaborate.

Either:

Offer content partnerships (pay-per-content partnership).

Where they'll create the content and submit it to an industry publication.

And because they are already contributors to these industry blogs, it would be easy for them to publish the content.

 

10. Approach eCommerce or Shopping Editors 

Ecommerce link building isn't that easy. 

Webmasters must have a good reason to link to your product pages. 

Many reasons, but one is:

Niche bloggers write "The best gifts for X" articles. 

And if your product is relevant to their topics, you can get direct links to your product/category pages. 

Besides bloggers:

You can also reach out to Shopping editors.

These are news writers, content creators, and editors from top eCommerce publications.

Let me give you a few names.

Lara Tumer

shopping contributor heavy

 

Leah Stodart

shopping contributor mashable

 

Then go from here. Prospect for more opportunities by discovering other publications that they're writing for.

Through Google search.

google search shopping contributors

Through Ahrefs. 

shopping contributors ahrefs content explorer

 

 

11. Use Non-Competing Websites As A Source Of Link Opps

What if you have exhausted the link opportunities of your competitors?

The next best option is to find non-competing websites to reverse engineer with.

These are brands that don't offer the same product as yours.

But they're in the same industry.

For example:

If you are a veterinarian, your first option is to find pages linking to other veterinarians in your market. 

If you've prospected enough link targets from other vets’ sites, your next best is to use non-competing websites as your source of link opportunities.

Now, some resources pages link out to different needs of an audience. 

Take a look at this page:

pet resources pages

 

If you're a pet lover, you'd love this page as it covers pet resources in San Diego.

So you can think of pet stores.

Pet groomers.

Animal hospitals.

How can you apply this to your niche?

First, find niche resources pages (just like what I shared above) that cover different resources (not just for one niche offering - e.g. vets). 

Then, look for pages linked to each of the non-competing sites in every niche category you can find.

Then be amazed by the number of link opportunities available to you. 

 

12. Get Links From Eco-Friendly Product Listings

Green environment is a big chunk market of links.

Resource pages.

Guest posts.

Sponsorships.

Niche publications.

If you're selling physical products, one type of links you can take advantage of is:

Eco-friendly product listings.

There are tons of this type online.

For example:

An eco-friendly product listings page. 

eco friendly product listings

 

If you're a pet store selling eco-friendly products, then this one would open opportunities for you.

How?

Find other similar types of pages.

Using Google search:

Then reach out to them and pitch to be featured in their following articles. 

 

13. Reach Out To Freelance Journalists To Cover Your Story 

Digital PR is huge.

And publication editors receive hundreds of email pitches from brands and marketers looking to cover their stories.

The thing is:

It is saturated.

Instead of going directly into publications.

Try reaching out to freelance journalists.

They get paid by pitching stories and news into publications.

And that itself is an advantage, as they work with different publications.

One freelance journalist can open up many relationships. 

And if you're an agency working with different content campaigns, this one is for you.

So, how can you discover these freelance journalists? 

Use Twitter.

With their advanced searches, you can find Twitter profiles with "keywords" on their bio. 

twitter search freelance journalists

 

If you're into local SEO, you can focus your search on a specific location.

Find local freelance journalists you can engage with during a coffee chat or simply hop on a call.

Another way is incentivizing these freelance journalists to write content for you or your client.

As you build relationships with them, you expose your brand to several external publications you'd otherwise prospect or think of when you reach out to a cold list of "any kind" of journalists. 

 

14. Use "3-Step Podcast Outreach Strategy" 

It's undoubtedly that podcasts can offer you great links to your site.

But how?

Here are the 3 step process to maximize podcasts for link building in your industry.

First, use podcast search websites to discover active podcasts in your industry.

Either through:

Podsearch

podsearch

 

Or Wondery

wondery podcast search

 

Or Blog Talk Radio:

blog talk radio

 

The next step is:

Pitch to these podcast hosts and offer great value in return for brand exposure. 

If you're pitching for your client, here is a good email template that you can use for outreach:

 

Subject Line: Guest suggestion for [Podcast]

Hi [Name],

[Briefly introduce yourself/your client]

Here are some key discussion points that your listeners would find interesting to hear:

  • [Topic 1]
  • [Topic 2]
  • [Topic 3]

I'm not sure if you're open for new guests but in any case, [me/my client - state you/your clients' credentials as to why you/your client would fit their podcast, what's in it for them]. 

Do you think my client could be a potential guest on [Podcast]? 

Let me know so I can connect you to [You/client's name]. I'll send any info you may need. 

I'll offer to transcribe the podcast episode for you - free of charge. :) 

Thanks,

[Your Name] 

 

The last step is getting in touch with the podcast hosts.

Other hosts would give you sponsorship requirements. 

So you need to invest money in that.

Others would let you come in for free.

Either way, you get brand exposure.

Plus, links from their transcript podcast articles. 

Or even from their "press" pages on their personal websites. 

 

15. Write Like A Normal Person 

Why does outreach fail?

One reason.

Generic non-personalized email templates. 

Public email templates are overrated.

Those email copies included in SEO articles don't always work effectively.

And the reason is that:

Different markets have different needs of an audience.

Different styles. And different levels of personalization your email must adjust to. 

Do not say words to over-impress people with lines like: 

"I'm a long-time reader/big fan of your blog."

"I liked what you shared in this article…" (without you even reading the article) 

regular visitor email outreach

 

One best practice in email outreach:

Write like you're writing to a friend.

The key is to check your inbox and see the latest emails from your friends.

What does it look like?

In what tone or style of conversation?

The next time you craft email outreach templates think of your recent 1-on-1 conversation with your friend. 

Like you're writing to an average person. 

 

16. Find Websites Getting Natural Links 

The best link building strategy is going for a mix of natural/organic links and manually-built links.

You get Natural links without pursuing bloggers/publishers to link to your content.

You get backlinks because of your authority. 

Because of the information in your content.

One actionable link building tip is to spot competitors getting natural links.

That means they don't get it manually. They earned it organically.

But how can you know if what they picked up are natural links?

This is where you need the skill to separate manual and natural links.

When you crawl a domain in Ahrefs, you'll see a list of backlinks.

And by the type of links, you get to know if a link is earned or built manually by the kind of links.

You only need to know here that if a link is potentially built through manual outreach, you can collect it as part of your list of link opportunities you can reach out to for links.

Some types of links to be seen as manually built:

Local sponsorship links:

sponsorship links from homepage

 

Resource page links:

recovery resource page

 

Round-up posts:

second-round-up-post

 

The logic is simple here.

Monitor your competitors getting natural links using Ahrefs' New Links feature.

new links batteriesplus

 

This could open up low-hanging fruits for your site. 

17. Create A "Link Prospecting and Outreach Cheatsheet" 

If you want to scale link building, you need processes. 

Processes help your team achieve predictable results.

If you invest heavily in link building, you're probably not working alone.

You work with teams of SEOs or link builders.

Or have a small team of virtual assistants helping you with small tasks like finding email addresses

Creating a 'link prospecting and outreach cheatsheet' is one thing to add to your process. 

An easy-to-follow document that your team can follow every time you launch a new link building campaign.

Or have a new website to start doing link building with.

Create your documents, such as:

Broken link finding for broken link building strategy:

broken link building processes

 

Outreach for broken link building strategy:

outreach document broken link building strategy

 

The more you scale links, the more you should be creating documentation for your link building processes. 

18. Use Phone For Reaching Out To Resource Page Curators

The default way of connecting to potential linkers is email.

No doubt.

Write a personalized email. Hit send. 

But not every email is read by the recipients. 

Sometimes, they missed reading it. 

That’s a loss-link opportunity. 

One way that you'll find to be effective in outreach is:

Using the phone to request links.

This is especially true for resource page curators.

For example:

Links pages from .edu websites.

Typically, webmasters working in colleges and universities receive calls from people searching for the website.

So a potential error about one of their pages is something they care about. 

And they don't ignore it.

So do some A/B tests calling with resource page curators on the phone?

phone outreach for link building

 

Or if you're writing outreach emails, you put something along the lines of:

"If I don't hear back from you, I'll just give you a quick call regarding this."

With this additional simple sentence, you can increase your responses from people who don't want to talk on the phone. 

19. Get Backlinks From Expired Domains 

Here is one reality in online marketing: 

Domains expire.

And when this happens, you can either:

Buy them.

Rebuild them.

Or redirect them to your site. 

Many SEOs get easy backlinks by buying expired domains relevant to their site.

But you instead of buying them. 

You can review their backlink profile to see if websites are linking to them, which might be your potential links.

Use Ahrefs to download their links.

links to expired domains

 

And filter out bad links.

Like scraper sites.

The next thing you’ll do is to find their email addresses. 

And reach out to these websites. 

You simply tell them that the site is down and you have an up-to-date resource they can link to in replacement. 

Here is an email template that you can model: 

 

Subject line: error on your site 

Hi [Name], 

[Your Name] here from [Your Site}. Just wanted to let you know that you have some broken sites featured on [Page where an expired link is placed].

Your mentioned [Expired domain] on that page, which has been broken for a while.

We offer very similar content on [Your Site]. [Provide details of your content]. 

Let me know if you can add us to the page. Here is our site. [Your link to your page]. 

Look forward to hearing from you! 

Thanks,

Venchito 

 

If you're reaching out to the right people and have a targeted message.

You can gain quick wins in your outreach. 

~10% in conversion rate 

 

20. Speak To What They Care About In Email Outreach 

One best tip in outreach:

Do not focus on links. 

Links don't motivate people in outreach. 

That's the hard truth.

Because SEOs care more about links than helping people — the latter helps you get the former. 

Care about what your prospects care about. 

Care about their organizations' goals. 

What do their websites want to achieve? 

Write emails to communicate people's issues, problems, or solutions.

Then you get links as the by-product of helping people. 

A quick nudge on emails like:

"Where do you refer parents to finding the right dentist for their child? Is there any resource page on your site? I didn't know if the info was in the right place."

 

It is not a direct ask for a link.

But a subtle opening of a conversation. 

As you start your conversation, and if it goes a long way. 

You respond with something like:

"Well, we just finished this guide on [topic] [insert the URL of your content]. In any case, parent calls, it would be the best help to have it included somewhere on your site — may be an additional item on your resource page". 

 

You see how this works:

It's not pushing them to add your link to their resource page.

It is basically:

Moving them.

Sparking their emotions.

And getting links in return for giving help. 

21. Build Linhpin-Level Links 

Linchpin.

Vital to an organization. Vital to a certain process. 

Some links will move the needle in rankings.

They are relevant and may point to the top-ranking pages for your target keywords. 

Now:

How you can find them?

Create a list of your priority keywords.

You're targeting these keywords (and you want to target) for your content.

Find the top 10 ranking pages for your keywords. 

Do this with the help of Simple Scraper by URL Profiler.

simple serp scraper keywords

Then, with Ahrefs API's help, crawl the links pointing to these ranking pages.

Your API credits will depend on the number of pages you crawl.

Remove duplicates.

And any irrelevant bad links.

Then you now have a solid list of prospect linchpin links. 

 

Final Thoughts

Now I’d like to hear from you:

Which tactic from today's guide are you going to try out first?

Will you apply "Bank For Buck" guest posting strategy? Or do the "Reduce, Re-use, and Recycle" for links?

Either way, let me know by leaving a comment below right now.

 

How to Get Backlinks Frequently Asked Questions

What is the easiest way to get backlinks?

The easiest way to get backlinks is by creating valuable content that other websites want to link to. You can also contact relevant websites and ask for backlinks or participate in guest blogging opportunities. Additionally, promoting your content on social media platforms can help attract more backlinks. Remember, quality backlinks are important for SEO and can improve your website's visibility in search engine results.

 

How to get free backlinks?

To get free backlinks, focus on requesting in-content blog links from websites in the same or similar niche as yours. Avoid asking for links on landing pages, product pages, CTAs, sidebars, or footers. This strategy adheres to best SEO practices and increases the chances of acquiring valuable backlinks for your site.

 

How do I find backlinks for SEO?

To find backlinks for SEO, follow this comprehensive guide:

  1. Use backlink analysis tools like Ahrefs or SEMrush.
  2. Identify your competitor's backlinks.
  3. Check for broken or lost links.
  4. Reach out to websites with similar content for link-building opportunities.
  5. Monitor your backlink profile regularly to maintain high-quality links.

This step-by-step approach will help you boost your website's SEO performance.


link search

Link Prospecting For SEO Guide

What is link prospecting? 

Link prospecting involves identifying and evaluating potential websites that are suitable for acquiring backlinks. This process requires assessing the relevance and quality of the sites in line with your link building strategy. Additionally, reaching out to the appropriate individuals as part of your outreach campaign forms an integral part of link prospecting.

Additionally, a manual and careful evaluation of link targets, if they’re suitable for your site/page, would greatly affect your content marketing given that you can identify which type of content people are always linking to.

Link Prospecting For SEO Metrics

There are three important things that I think every SEO practitioner like you must be aware of when finding link targets for your link building campaigns.

  • Relevance. You should be looking at domain and page relevance. It's a plus to find both domain and the page where you'll get a link specifically related to your site (e.g. a link from a snoring tips page in a snoring website linking to your snoring mouthpiece brand).
  • Authority and trust. Is the site getting enough organic traffic from searches? Use Ahrefs or SEMRush to check the site's estimated search traffic.
  • The link target should match the metrics (have high PR/DA, relevant to their “linking from” page, etc).
  • Obtainability of the link (simply ask yourself: why would the site owner link to my page?)
  • Scalability. Tools will always help you speed up your link prospecting activity.

 

23 Link Prospecting Tools For Better Website Prospects

In this post, I will share 23 link prospecting tools that are free to use and would help you collect tons of link targets from different web places that your competitors haven’t obtained yet.

1. Linkbuildr

Linkbuildr is a new outstanding hand tool from From The Future. It helps semi-automate the content promotion process for the websites and blogs you mentioned in a post.

Here is what it looks like when you install the plugin in your Wordpress.

linkbuildr wordpress plugin

 

The tool will automatically scrape the entire post or page and see if there are any external links or references you mentioned in your content. It will then give you the list of those websites (like you see in the picture above), and you can immediately send personalized emails without leaving Wordpress.

2. Citation Labs Link Prospector

Citation Labs Link Prospector is one of the SEO tools for large-scale link prospecting. If you are a link building agency (or any digital agency like us) working with different link building SEO campaigns, this tool is for you.

citation labs platform

 

It gives you the ability to scrape all the page results for different keywords you are targeting. You insert the search phrase (advanced search operator plus the keyword). Choose the link opportunity you're looking for (sponsorship, blogs, links/resource pages, etc..), and Citation Labs Link Prospector will then give you a list of link opportunities based on your inputs.

3. Ahrefs

You can't build links without Ahrefs. Ahrefs has many features for link discovery.

ahrefs best pages by incoming links

 

Here are a few things Ahrefs can help you with your link prospecting campaign:

  • Identifies any broken website pages with inbound links pointing to them (helps you with your broken link building campaigns).
  • Finds pages linking to similar content assets - which you can then reach out to and share your content piece.
  • Discovers any blog posts that target a keyword - you can then pitch these pages for link inclusion.

You can check out this comprehensive guide on using Ahrefs for backlink discovery and content promotion.

4. HARO

One of the best sources of links is journalists and news reporters. Often, they are looking for stories for their newest content, and if you can provide them with the best suitable ones, you're likely to get mentions (and potentially links to your brand).

Help A Reporter Out (or HARO) is one of the best tools to find journalist requests or inquiries for stories or inputs on several topics.

choose haro inquiries

 

I have been using HARO to contribute to journalists, publishers, and bloggers looking for additional inputs or references for their own content works. By doing so, I get the reciprocal value in the form of mentions or links.

You can read this guide on how to use HARO to maximize the power of this tool better.

5. AllTop

Use the search functionality of Alltop to find websites that are related to your target keyword/topic.

alltop-homepage

 

When you already have a list of sites in your spreadsheet, you can start building relationships with the site owners even before the start of your link building campaign. You can easily get a link/mention from bloggers in the future if you’ve built relationships with them beforehand.

As soon as you find websites that are related to your brand, add them to your favorite feed tools (e.g. Feedly) or use the manage feeds functionality of Alltop.

You can get emails from your blog feed tools about the updated posts of your target sites. In this case, you can be the first to comment on their blog posts.

Allot 3-5 minutes to put yourself on your prospect’s radar through blog commenting, social, and email outreach. This will make your link acquisition easier for the next months/years.

6. Flickr

Flickr collects thousands of albums/images that brands can use for their content pieces (because of the originality/creativity of the image, it would be a useful element to almost all types of content).

Type industry-related terms in the Flickr search bar and look for images that garnered hundreds/thousands of views.

flickr-homepage

 

Do a reverse image search to find pages that embed those images (use the same instructions I mentioned above).

You can again use Ahrefs or any link research tools to find pages linked to those images.

Tip: You can also use Flickr to find infographics in your niche that are not yet submitted to Visual.ly and other infographic submission sites. (A good opportunity to find link targets not yet reached out by your competitors).

7. Google Image Search

Use the Google image search to look for image ranking for your related keywords. Those images rank high on image search results because of their alt-tags used by webmasters to optimize them.

google search weight loss

 

Since the images rank for image search results, bloggers can easily find them when looking for visual content. Most of the time, they use those visuals for their content pieces. As such, you could use it to your own advantage by finding bloggers who used/linked to those images (use Ahrefs and Reverse Image Search).

In addition, images of your brand (event photos, your CEO’s profile image, brand logo, etc..) would help you find more link opportunities.

google search content marketing institute images
cmi logo image reverse engineer

joe pulizzi google image search

joe pulizzi image reverse engineer

8. Similar Site Search

Similar Site Search is a free link prospecting tool to find similar websites to your brand (as the domain name implies).

There are several search queries that you can use to find more link prospects aside from the common search phrase (the site’s URL).

similar site search

 

I’ll use Kaiserthesage.com as my example:

  • Kaiserthesage.com marketing. This would give you sites similar to kaiserthesage.com and related to the keyword, “marketing”.
  • Kaiserthesage.com +marketing –seo. This would give you sites similar to kaiserthesage.com and related to marketing but must not include SEO blogs. (This is a good opportunity to widen your reach as you can get in touch with bloggers from other niches).
  • Kaiserthesage.com (then filter the language by Italian). This would give you websites similar to kaiserthesage.com and use the Italian language.
  • Kaiserthesage.com (then filter the country by India). You’ll get Indian blogs that are similar to kaiserthesage.com  (with .in as TLDs)

 

9. Twitter Advanced Search Queries

Twitter is not only a social tool to engage with your brand’s customers/influencers, but also you can find great linking opportunities when you know how to use it properly. Like search engines, Twitter has its own advanced search options to make your search task more efficient and effective.

twitter advanced search operators

 

Here are some ways to obtain links using Twitter advanced search queries:

  • "guest post" + "keyword" + filter:link – use it to look for guest post opportunities that could not be seen in the search results (when you use “guest post by” “your keyword” or other Google advanced search queries).
  • to:influencer - track who’s sending a message(s) to your influencer. This would help you identify bloggers linking to your influencer’s site. How would I know that? Bloggers would say in their status updates that they mentioned your influencer on their blogs.
  • @mashable -  track who’s mentioning your influencer. You can use the same trick above.
  • near:texas "weight loss" – tweets/profiles near Texas city and are related to the keyword, weight loss, either placed in the user’s profile description or in their tweets.

Engage with the users you’ve found using this tactic by answering their questions or commenting on their tweets. Strong relationships with these localized users would result in lots of linking opportunities.

  • Weight loss? -  this search would result in questions with the keyword, weight loss. Engage with the users by answering their questions (No need to explain how relationships work in link building).
  • since:2010-12-27 “weight loss”  - search for conversations that include the keyword, weight loss, and get  interactions with the users (early dates would be more efficient for engagement than conversations dated from past years or months)

You can also check out this old post by Casey Henry (he listed tactics that are still effective in today’s search).

10. Facebook Graph Search

Though Facebook is not good for SEOs who’re asking for links/mentions right at the start of their conversation with their prospects (like cold emails), it could be used for setting up connections with the target linkers/influencers (who, in the future could give the link/mention their looking for).

Use Facebook Graph Search to look for pages, groups, and people interested in your brand’s offerings and content. Type your keyword (niche, brand name, city) in the search bar and get exactly what you want.

facebook search weight loss ideas

11. AllYouCanRead

If your brand’s content strategy is focused more on publications (industry guides, magazines), then AllYouCanRead is for you. You can get an easy list of top magazines published for your niche/industry which you can contribute your content (if the magazine editor allows contributions from other content publishers).

allyoucanread

12. Wikipedia

Look for a page that discusses a topic in your industry (use the search bar of Wikipedia or this query: site:Wikipedia.com “your topic” to find pages that contain the keyword you’re searching for.

Scroll down to the bottom of the page and check if the page has a list of resources/references (links to external sources). Visit each resource and track who shared/linked to them (use Ahrefs, Moz Link Explorer, or your preferred tool for this part).

You could find great resources from that list which are mostly authoritative, credible, and hosted on commercial sites (.edu, .org, etc..). Linking to these resources from your own content piece would help you in your outreach campaigns. It will somehow increase your response rate when you reach out to the creators of those resource pages (I linked to you, please link to me – law of reciprocity).

You could also find outdated articles in Wikipedia and update them by adding more relevant insights that are timely and useful to Wikipedia readers. Find these outdated articles by using the query: site:Wikipedia.org “This article is outdated” "your keyword”

google search site operator wikipedia

13. Quora

SurveyMonkey is a good place to receive referred traffic for your site and increase your personal branding, as you can share your expertise by answering thorough questions most people have. Some content publishers and digital marketers would start by identifying the most frequently asked questions by industry peers on Quora before creating their own pieces. The likelihood of crafting useful and targeted content is higher given that answers/solutions to questions/problems comprise the overall concept/theme of the content.

Answer questions that you know you could add the most value to. Link to your blog post only when necessary to add it to the discussion.

The more you answer industry-related questions, the more industry folks will follow you. Engage with them by sending personal messages on Quora or stalking their blogs and contacting them through email or social platforms.

quora nutrition coach profile

14. Search Queries for the List Section of the Site

Bloggers always have a list section on their websites, whether a resource page, blogroll section, partners, or sponsorship page. Those pages/sections are a list of internal and external links and are considered gold mines for link building given that you can find industry-related pages where you can place your links.

For blogrolls: Use this query: “blogrolls” “your keyword” to find quality sites with blogroll sections.

For partners: Use this query: “partners with” OR “in partnership with” OR “partners” “your keyword” to see pages that list down potential partners in your industry. (This is a good opportunity to find brands you can connect with, especially if you’re working on an eCommerce site).

For sponsors:  Use this query: “donate” OR “sponsor” OR “contribute” “your keyword” to get a list of websites that accept donations/sponsors from other brands. I suggest you use your brand-related terms when you ask to place your link on the page (especially if you already targeted ranking keywords for your other link building tactics). This would give you more diversified anchor texts.

15. Board Reader

If you’re tired of using the common query: inurl:forum “your keyword” to find niche-specific forums where you could participate in the discussions and engage with forum users, you may want to try SurveyMonkey.

The site allows you to search for discussions (e.g., forums) related to your industry. This would make finding forums easier than manually searching for forums in Google.

boardreader snoring

Here are two amazing things that Board Reader will do for you:

  • It provides results based on your preferences (through its advanced search option).
  • Gives you a visual graph of the posting activity of your chosen keyword. This would help you track how many people use that keyword in your industry’s discussions (like what Google Trends tool does for you).
  • Filter the results by language and time period, which helps you to create a more solid and targeted list of discussion sites.

16. People Finder

The main purpose of this tactic is to identify which edu sites in your list have their own people finder tool – a tool that will help you get a list of current students from those particular colleges/institutions together with their student emails. It will make your outreach more effective if you send emails to students than to the owners of generic emails like info@college.edu or contact@college.edu. The reason is that students are more active and responsive to email requests than those with direct access to .edu sites.

It would be great if you already have a list of .edu sites (by doing a Google search: inurl:.edu “your country” OR “your city”), and you will just have to determine whether or not those sites have a people finder tool.

How can you identify if the site has a people finder tool?

How can you find the student’s email address?

Use this advanced search query: “people finder” site:schoolname.edu to determine if the site has its own people finder tool.

site ttu edu people finder

Visit the page and type in common nicknames in the tool's search box. Get the list of his or her email address.

edu people finder

Some people finder tools would reveal the affiliations where the student belongs and also his/her personal blog. This will make your outreach more personalized if you include his/her affiliation and his/her personal blog in your pitch.  By addressing their current position in the organization, your email pitch could gain a positive response.

17. Industry Survey tools

By creating your own industry survey using tools like SurveyMonkey, you can get insights from your target audience (which is composed of people you may or may not know) about the topic that you want to receive feedback.

The tool should be used for content marketing purposes and finding new link targets you’re not really targeting in the survey. Qualify all your link prospects in this phase using your brand’s link standards (relevancy, user’s blog, influence, etc..).

weight-loss-survey

The more popular your survey is, the more link targets you can get.

18. Wordpress.org Plugins Directory

What I discovered is that almost all WordPress sites from different niches use plugins to improve their sites’ user experience. The reason is that plugins can add design elements, produces industry-specific tools (e.g. weight/height calculator), and allows smooth flow in their sites’ customer journey.

For instance, when you search for the keyword, weight loss in Wordpress plugins, you will see these results:

wordpress plugin directory

These are plugins that have been used by nutrition/health bloggers to serve their target audience better

By looking at each detail of those plugins, you could easily find link targets and add them to your list. Here are some ways to find more targets:

Identify the creator of the plugin and his website. Add those details to a spreadsheet.

Or the author profile section.

Look for people who reviewed the plugin. Get them also on your list.

Before doing your outreach to those link targets, you must create something to get the link to you. An example would be to create an updated version of the plugin that you see and has some errors when you installed the plugin or based on the negative feedback/reviews you’ve seen on the plugin page. Using this as your angle when pitching to your link targets would increase your response rate seeing that you offer value to them (an updated useful plugin).

WordPress plugin pages sometimes link out to the donation pages of the plugin developer. People would donate if they find the plugin useful for them, and this type of donation would encourage the developer to create more useful plugins targeted at a particular industry.

Aside from getting a donation link from the plugin developer’s site, you could also partner with him.

If you could bribe/incentivize the plugin developer to create a brand-centric plugin that will be useful to your target audience, then it’s a great opportunity to earn links for your brand and widen your reach to your community by providing an awesome resource.

19. Local Event Websites

Local events could possibly be the linkable asset of your brand both offline and online (if you know how to use them properly). Knowing that you can build new relationships with your customers or other brands during and after a local event, your brand can promote its offerings through partnerships or collaborations with other companies/customers.

Eventbrite and Meetup are a few websites where you can find events that will be held near your brand. This would open doors for local linking opportunities, seeing that the audience you might connect with by attending or hosting the local event could link to your brand/site from their blogs.

I’m seeking a local event discussing technology, internet marketing, or related topics. And specifically, I want an event that targets students, faculty staff, and personalities working in an educational institution.

By using Eventribe as my prospecting tool, I could visit this page.

eventbrite sleeping

It is an IT-related event that will be held in our university. This is a good opportunity to connect with co-students interested in what I am doing today (online marketing and SEO).

Let’s switch places..(you are now the person who's looking for local events)…

Like what you are doing offline, local events can allow you to reach out to your local influencer through online outreach easily. Click on the “click the organizer” button at the bottom right of the page.

organizer-event-bribe-page

Get in touch with the local organizer. Speak about yourself and what you can offer to the event. Incentivize him by discounts on your products or offering a sponsorship program for the event.

Tip: Start to have an approachable personality every time you reach out to local personalities.

20. Footprints

There is a disadvantage to using simple searches in Google to find link targets for your campaign. When you search for phrases like “weight loss” “resources”, you’ll see hundreds/thousands of resource pages that list down various content pieces. This is a good linking opportunity for your brand, but only to discover that all your competitors are already targeting those websites for link placement. This might affect your outreach response rates (as you need to stand out among the pitches from your competitors) to obtain positive responses from your link prospects.

Footprints would dig into pages/sites where your competitors may not have been targeting in their campaigns. In this case, you’re not just running behind them but leaving them behind in the race.

Let’s have an example…

If you’re finding local linking opportunities, you might use this search query “local events” + “your industry”. This would reveal different local events that you might want to participate in for branding and promotion purposes. But as you go further searching, you would see footprint that almost all local event pages have it included.

Add this to your search query to find more local events that your competitors might not have listed in their link prospecting spreadsheet.

Pro Tip: List down terms/phrases you repeatedly see on every page you’re visiting. Add them to your search query to find specifically targeted pages.

21. Comment section on social media platforms

Social media platforms have their own comment sections that allow people to share their experiences about the subject matter, and in turn, the brand can build its community of like-minded people.

Youtube is one of the successful social media sites, and I consider it a gold mine for finding link targets (especially for video content pieces).

By simply searching for a particular keyword, you can see a list of videos that are relevant to your chosen keyword. Each video has some comments you need to watch for link building opportunities (unless the video uploader restricts people from commenting on the video).

Go into each comment and visit the user’s Youtube profile. Click on the About section and visit the URL of the user’s site.

weight-loss-youtube-comments

This is a time consuming task, but if you’re into a massive video content strategy, this should be one of your methods to find linkers in your community (given that these people are interested to watch/linking to your video content).

22. Zemanta

Zemanta could provide suggestions for your content piece, lessening your time finding related blog posts targeting your keyword. Though it’s a great tool for content creation, you could also find link opportunities using Zemanta.

By simply visiting relevant content pieces, you could feel if the sites where content pieces are published can be considered good link-building opportunities.

23. Foursquare

Foursquare is a good place to see local brands near your city and what people talk about in your industry. It’s an opportunity to partner with other brands for a local event (e.g. SEO for food bloggers) where you can share your brand’s offering to the local community and how important your brand’s service/vision is to them.

The Best Nearby functionality of Foursquare is an easy-to-use tool to see companies that can help you promote your brand, even if those brands are outside your target industries.

foursquare

Link Search Tactics To Prospect Thousands of Link Opportunities

Link search is a phase in a brand’s link building campaign that most building efforts will depend on. This is where the success factors of link acquisition are noted, including:

  • Obtainability of links, considering the types of links being built (contextual/site-wide, local/international, homepage/deep-link, etc..)
  • Standard or quality of content existed in various blogs/sites

When done right, link search will provide thousands of link opportunities that your competitors may haven’t searched for.

Below is a list of 12 link search tactics that you can use to create a giant spreadsheet of link prospects that you can later reach out to for link acquisition.

 

1. Discover topical blogs

If most of your efforts revolve around building relationships with bloggers, then finding topical blogs is the best link search method for you.

Simply do a Google search (“industry” blog) for niches that are not directly connected to your brand but have a community of bloggers who might be interested to link to your page(s).

For instance, this link building blog is focused more on content marketing and link building topics than other Internet marketing themes. But even though I got high-quality links from related sub-niches such as CRO, blogging, web design, affiliate marketing, and student blogs.

If I would want to expand my link territory, then I can use the following search terms when prospecting for link opportunities, knowing that other niches might find my posts useful for them and probably link to my blog from their own content:

  • “CRO” OR “conversion rate optimization” intitle:blog
  • “Web design” intitle:blog OR “blog”
  • “affiliate marketing” intitle:blog OR “blog”

In this link search method, you have to find the relevancy point between these niches and your brand, i.e. when you do outreach, you must be confident that they will respond to your pitch because they are interested in what you offer.

 

2. Use list of lists posts

List posts are everywhere. And creating a list of these lists will give you hundreds of blogs you can take advantage of for link building.

Searching for these list posts is easy. You can use the following search queries:

  • Top 10 “industry”
  • Top 50 “industry”
  • Best of “industry”
  • Ultimate list “industry”

Create one for your blog if there are no list posts in your industry. You will have a list of blogs/bloggers (potential linkers) and added-value content that you can use for your pitch (telling bloggers that they’re one of your followers, so you included them in your latest content).

3. Leverage brand partners

For some marketers, putting brand partners in a list of link targets would only apply to big companies that already had an opportunity to engage with other local and niche brands in the past. Since they had a database of existing partners, there’s a high chance to involve them in the company’s link development campaign.

However, for small to medium-sized enterprises, there are still partners that they might consider for link acquisition, such as the following groups of people:

  • Suppliers/manufacturers who are connected to the brand.
  • Local non-profit organizations where the brand had engaged in the past (i.e. sponsorships).
  • Local educational institutions with specific courses directly aligned with the company.
  • PR companies or news reporters who had just covered the brand for some good stories.

These groups of people can become your list of brand partners, wherein you can easily earn their trust because of pre-existing relationships with these institutions.

You won’t go anywhere else to find those brand partners for an eCommerce client. Just look at their website, and find a page that says, “List of suppliers/manufacturers”. Start prospecting from there and add all potential link targets to your spreadsheet. However, if there are no existing pages like the example earlier, then simply do a Google search to find your brand partners.

4. Make use of market-centered keywords

One of the key ways to collect profitable link prospects in your database is to understand your market and what your target audience is looking for online.

For instance, if you’re working for a travel agency, you might consider industry phrases that’ll identify your market needs, such as:

  • Travel list
  • Travel guide in 2015
  • Travel guide in [city/location]
  • Best places to see in [location]
  • A travel blog with pictures

As you can see, these are the exact phrases people are searching for online to find relevant resources or content about travel, “why” and “what” type of search terms (what is travel) is insignificant to the market needs since people are more likely interested with how’s (map of going to a specific location) and when’s (dates/times of best attraction in the city).

5. Reverse engineer content contributors

Showcasing your brand’s expertise through blogging (i.e. regular contribution to other related blogs) can drive traffic and referral visitors to your website. When using this approach, the common way to find prospects for guest blogs is by adding the terms (“write for us” or “guest post”) to search query, “industry”.

Though you can already find a handful of blogs using that link search method, it won’t guarantee that those blogs are of high quality and could provide value to your site (referral visitors and potential conversions).

One profitable approach to prospect for content contribution blogs is finding the best author/blogger in the industry or determining your competitor's most active content manager/marketer.

Adding the name to the following search queries will end up having a bunch of blogs to which the author had contributed his content to:

  • “[Name] is a content contributor for [Competitor Domain].com”
  • “[Name] is the author of”
  • “[Name] is the blogger at”
  • “[Name] is the owner of”
  • [Name] “author” OR “blogger” OR “marketer”

google search ryan stewart

So if you’re targeting 50 high-quality niche-specific blogs, the link search approach above could easily help you achieve your goal.

6. Apply footprint prospecting

Finding footprints of your competitors can quickly help you search for low-hanging fruits in link building. However, to some extent, if it is done regularly and this is the only approach you’re executing, you shouldn’t expect a higher competitive advantage over your competitors (since you’re just following what others had been doing in the past).

If you’re still building your brand from scratch, you can use footprint prospecting to find bloggers you can connect with through blog commenting. This traditional link building technique still works as a pre-engagement activity before pitching bloggers for link requests or other content-led outreach methods.

A quick search query ([keyword] “leave a*” “comment”) could yield a good list of blogs where you can regularly check new posts and add useful and relevant insights in the comment section (to get into the radars of your target influencers).

You may also want to seek the footprints of your competitors to find new link opportunities for your brand. Do Google searches for the following search strings:

  • [competitor] “interview”
  • [competitor] “news”
  • [competitor] “press”
  • [competitor] “author”

Then click “Search Tools” – Anytime – Past Month.

Here are a few things you can see in the search results:

  • The author updates in the blog posts (i.e. editing texts and adding internal or external links to improve the page’s ranking potential).
  • Text-based and video interviews.
  • Webinars, podcasts, and brand press releases associated with the author/owner.
  • Social profiles of the author or the company.

Don’t just follow the brand and its existing authors/owners. You may also want to track the following brand elements and their future mentions in other blogs/sites.

  • Future staff members
  • Brand partnerships with relevant brands (supplier-to-manufacturer relationship)
  • Book names or other content assets published by the brand (i.e. whitepaper “author” OR “whitepaper” author).
  • Prominent interviewer always pops up in the search results when the search string (“competitor” OR “author” is used).

This link search method requires constant changes in search strings as it would need to adapt to updates happening in competitors’ brands and industries.

7. Utilize customer-defining keywords in link search

Customers, when finding products or services in search, are commonly using terms/phrases that define a target audience or their colleagues (fellow members) in the industry.

So gearing your link search toward what customers are defining their group members will help you discover highly qualified prospects instantly.

For example, if you own a running blog, you can use audience terms like:

  • Runner
  • Marathoner
  • Sprinter
  • Jogger
  • Trackman

You can add more customer-defined keywords to your list by going to Thesaurus and searching for available synonyms.

thesaurus runner

 

You can also try visiting glossary pages in your niche and looking for specific terms that define groups of audiences.

Instead of using the head industry keyword to prospect for link opportunities, you can use those customer-defining keywords to build a large link data. In our given example, you can have the following search strings:

  • Marathoner “blog”
  • Marathoner “resources”
  • Marathoner “guide”
  • Marathoner “links”

Changing the given customer-defined keyword to other industry audience groups (sprinter, trackman, jogger, etc..) will give you another hundred opportunities you can’t find by simply using the head term (running) in link prospecting.

8. Discover industry thought leaders

This is pretty much the same with footprint prospecting, wherein you use names of authors from your competitors’ brands and add them to your advanced search operators to prospect for pages/sites where those authors had been mentioned.

Industry thought leaders do not only represent companies they’re working for but media outlets, content sites, branded pages, and communities where thought leaders participated and are credited for their works (by linking to their brands using names as anchor texts).

Take note of brands with attached multiple authors and personalities since partnering with them can help amplify your content assets to a larger audience list (considering the number of followers each author has).

Consider Moz, for example. The brand doesn’t just have one thought leader (Rand Fishkin) but three or more authors that are active in the community but represent the same company (Cyrus Shepard, Dr. Pete, Jen Lopez, etc..).

moz team

 

In this case, learning from what the thought leaders are working on to build their own personal brands will help your campaign identify opportunities that will also give good impressions for your company.

You may also try to determine what topics each industry leader focuses on. Then try to invest in certain themes (one content theme at a time), then reach out to thought leaders interested in consuming and sharing your content.

With Moz, authors have their own themes when creating content:

  • Rand Fishkin – videos, webinars, and podcasts on advanced SEO and marketing topics (e.g. Whiteboard Friday).
  • Pete – data-based content with graphs/illustrations (e.g. Google Answer Boxes)
  • Cyrus Shepard – ultimate guides and curated content on advanced SEO topics (e.g. Advanced SEO Concepts)

Pro tip: Adding expertise phrases of authors to search strings (e.g. “guide” “Cyrus Shepard”) would give you pages/sites where content assets of authors had been mentioned.

9. Maximize product and category keywords

One of the under-utilized approaches in searching for link targets is adding the brand’s categories to search strings. This method will uncover hundreds of opportunities to target each and every type of product your brand can sell.

Start by talking to your clients about what products they are selling, or simply go to their website and look for brand categories.

In our earlier example, you can have these types of products:

  • Flat feet running shoes
  • High-arched feet running shoes
  • Neutral running shoes
  • Normal running shoes

Add your favorite keywords (reviews, forums, blogs) to categories (example above) to find loads of pages/websites that can potentially link to your content.

10. Use local-specific keywords

Making your search strings tailored to a local audience helps you discover and participate with local press outlets that have a high chance of driving local traffic and increasing sales.

Combine your favorite keywords (reviews, resources, blogs) and local areas (e.g. Brisbane) to find local pages or sites. You can also be specific with cities by adding region or state and Zip Codes to prospect for easy link opportunities.

11. Be specific with resource page terms

Seeking link opportunities, especially resources/links pages, requires creativity in brainstorming for new search strings. This is true for industries that don’t have many pages for resources.

In this case, you need to understand what industry terms webmasters use or target in their existing site links.

In running a niche, you can be as specific as possible when doing link search (to find resource pages).

Here is an example of using very specific search terms for resource pages:

  • intitle:resources OR inurl:resources “trail running”
  • intitle:resources OR inurl:resources “kids running”
  • intitle:resources OR inurl:resources “mountain running”

google search trail running resources

 

The more specific your search is, the easier for you to filter out irrelevant pages in search results and only qualify those sites that are high quality.

Pro tip: Always check out related verticals while looking for link prospects. This might uncover opportunities that could otherwise be undiscovered. In our example, adding the keywords “fitness resources” or “personal training” resources will help you build a large database of link targets.

How to Speed Up Your Link Prospecting Activity

In this section, I’d like to simplify the process by giving two important link prospecting elements:

  • Assets (Internal)
  • Opportunities (External)

Assets are web pages you want to build links to and help them rank high on search results using different link acquisition methods. Opportunities are linking partners or sites where you want to place your link.

Below is an asset-opportunity relationship example to help you understand how this simple link prospecting process works:

  • Homepage = Directories, Profile Pages, Social Profiles, Partners/Membership Pages, Business Directories
  • Ebook = Ebook directories, product review blogs
  • Money = Sponsorship sites, grants pages, paid product reviews sites, events
  • Blog post = Guest posts, Round-ups
  • Team Members = Interviews, Unlinked Brand Mentions

You may notice that the more you understand the link value of your assets, the more you can create a list of linking opportunities targeting a specific content asset.

This can further amplify the reach of each of your assets since you’re building a wide array of link building opportunities that are highly obtainable and relevant to your target page.

Keyword-based link prospecting

Ranking pages

This is the easiest way to get an initial list of link prospects since most of these pre-qualified link targets can come from your client’s contact list or recommendations.

You can widen your list of link prospects by applying the following tips:

  • Search for highly related websites (which should not be your competitors in the space) by doing a Google search using your target keywords and related industry phrases/terms.

  • Get more linking targets from search results by discovering new niche-specific terms closely connected to your link prospecting queries (scan the meta titles/meta descriptions of other content pieces).

  • Find the synonyms of your industry phrases using Thesaurus, Google Docs, and Tilde (~). Use these link query suggestions to discover link targets that may not be targeted by your competitors.

Here’s a video to explain how to apply this link prospecting method:

Link Prospecting [Ranking Pages] from Venchito Tampon on Vimeo.

Link building queries

Link building queries are essential to limit the number of pages appearing in the search results for specific keywords/phrases. Prospecting using link queries is more efficient by combining useful advanced search queries in a single search.

For instance, you have a huge budget for paid link building tactics. You can build high quality backlinks to your homepage by finding sponsorship opportunities where you can donate money in exchange for links.

Using this query: inurl:sponsor OR donate OR partner OR grant + finance, you can find high-valued link targets that offer link placement in exchange for a certain amount of money (ranging from $5 to $50) and are related to the finance niche. These are easy-to-acquire links using different link acquisition methods, such as linker outreach with an incentive approach in the link outreach templates.

Here’s a video to explain this method:

Link Prospecting Using Link Building Queries from Venchito Tampon on Vimeo.

Tools to Speed Up Your Link Prospecting Activity

Here are the link building tools that you can use to ease your link building searches for a specific link building strategy:

  • Link Clump
  • Notepad
  • Ctrl + W
  • Excel Files

How to Speed Up Your Link Prospecting Activity from Venchito Tampon on Vimeo.

Note: This is my first time creating video tutorials, so forget all the mistakes I've made in each video. 

As I've encountered several resource prospecting campaigns, I always notice little things that make part of it more efficient. Efficient prospecting means producing a highly targeted output with less consumed resources (labor, time, and cost of tools).

That itself requires experience through observation. So, here are four advanced prospecting techniques that hopefully can improve the efficiency of your campaigns and help expand your list of link opportunities.

16 Advanced Link Prospecting Techniques For Increase Efficiency

Agility and efficiency are essential drivers of a successful link prospecting phase.

Setting a plan to never run out of opportunities for link acquisition is important since this can improve the entire campaign's prospecting rate and increase the average number of link prospects collected per hour/day.

By focusing on link prospect growth, link builders can expect significant improvements in the overall link development campaign in parts such as:

  • Enables finding new audiences targeted by newly added link opportunities, which can be useful in brainstorming future content assets relevant to these audiences.
  • Grows your current list of relationships with bloggers/webmasters/journalists (new connections can be derived by reaching out to an additional list of link opportunities). 
  • Increases deliverables (# of links delivered every month) for clients since, on a given average conversion rate, one can expect more links by sending more outreach emails to added link opportunities in the original list.

There are many viable guides and how-tos in link prospecting from different SEO experts. Some techniques are learned simply through your own observations from campaigns that you have handled. We at SharpRocket, incorporate those observations from our own personal experiences, which helped us be more productive in building links.

1. Listing down link similarities

Most bloggers use the same terms in creating links for their pages. For example, the commonly used terms in creating a resource page are domain.com/niche-resources; domain.com/resources.php; domain.com/links.html. Therefore, we can use Google queries such as inurl:niche-resources or inurl:links.html. The search engine result will give us a list of resource pages according to the niche we seek.  Below are other search queries you can use to find additional prospects for your client which we personally use:

  • resources/links
  • resource-guide
  • useful-links
  • useful-resources
  • niche-resources
  • recommended-resources

Though not all search queries, such as resources.php, links.html, or useful-links, provide resources that are relevant to the client’s industry, it is advisable to add a distinction which is based on the client’s niche to narrow down the results in the Search Engine Results Page (SERP), e.g. inurl:useful-links “niche”. Google will then provide results based on the keyword you used, which is more applicable to your campaign.

google search resources photography

 

Pro Tip: Just be creative with the words you use, along with being observant. If you have a hunch or an idea that you think can be helpful, it won’t hurt to try experimenting on it.  Who knows, you might even be able to discover other useful techniques you can use to further enhance your link building skills. Don’t forget to check out the links on the resource page you found, for it may redirect you to a new prospect opportunity that you have not seen through the list that Google displayed.

2. Utilizing country domain extensions

As you may have noticed, some domains do not always end in .com, .org, or .edu, and other web addresses use different domain extensions depending on the country in which their website is being hosted (e.g. “.au” which is hosted in Australia or “.ca” which is hosted in Canada). You can narrow down the results using these domain extensions based on your preferred country or target audience. You can use the advanced search operator “inurl” followed by the country domain extension you want to focus on (e.g. inurl:.ca). You can also add a distinction to make the search query more precise. If you are looking for guides or resources to enhance your photography skills, you can use inurl:.ca/photography-resources. Google will then give you a list of photography resource pages with the country domain of Canada.

google search inurl-ca

 

Pro Tip: You can use these techniques in any niche or industry you wish to research on. However, if you don’t have a specific country, you would like to focus on, searching for link targets ending with .com first is recommended because it is the most recognizable and highly used domain extension. You can then use the other country domain extension of your preference to gain new prospect opportunities.

You can visit this Webopedia guide for a complete list of countries and their domain extensions.

3. Identify company blogs through SERPs

By taking notice of the Search Engine Results Page (SERP), we can also pinpoint if the link is a company website or a personal blog. Though not all domain names and punctuation marks are 100% accurate, it can somehow lessen our time checking each link to see if it is a company website. Here are some examples:

intitle-light-bulb

 

The above query will display links with the keywords “light” and “bulb” in the article's title.  One result has a punctuation mark called a pipe or vertical bar on the page title. It was followed by the domain name “1000Bulbs.com”. Here, we can be sure it is a company website because the page URL was also mentioned in the title.

Clicking the link will redirect you to the webpage.

1000-bulbs-homepage

 

A hyphen or dash is another punctuation mark used in identifying a company website. As you can see, the domain name, the company's brand name, is included in the page title after the hyphen. Most of the time, em dash or the long dash is used.

Lastly, the punctuation mark colon. The difference between this punctuation mark from the hyphen and vertical bar is that you can instantly notice it at the beginning of the page title. The brand name is cited first, followed by the colon and page title of the article.

amazon-lightbulbs

 

We can distinguish company websites through these punctuation marks on the page title. Just a little note, not all sites that use a hyphen, vertical bar, and colon in the page title are companies. Some content creators tend to do that as well.

Observational learning is a must in link prospecting. It helps us maximize the use of Google queries and lessen our time clicking unnecessary links. Simple terms, domain names, and symbols might have a deeper meaning. This is why we must keep our eyes open and our minds sharp. Noticing terms you don’t usually use but is mentioned in the client’s industry can be used as keywords for broader research. Checking how domain names are created by bloggers can give us a better chance of generating more results. We just have to be adamant about making observation a priority.  

4. Website categorization

When starting a new outreach campaign for a client, the first initiative is to scour new link opportunities on the web from scratch. While this is good if it's a new industry you're taking on, isn't it wise to go back to your previous list of industry-relevant opportunities and check which ones could be reused for the new campaign?

Not only does it save time, but it also saves a lot of labor consumption prospecting for links.

Website categorization does help with this. By using tags, you can categorize prospects from a topical perspective.

What you need here is a defined hierarchy of topics to begin with. For me, I recommend BOTW as a starting point, given that they have four or five deeper-level topics, such as Pro-Choice Abortion (Society) and Eating Disorders (Fitness), which is extremely important if you've got clients from a very specific niche.

botw directory

Ensure your team agrees on certain topics to avoid confusion when filtering your list. Having several but similar terms (i.e. I.T, Information Technology, and Technology) as your tags is trouble.

The next time you need automobile blogs, you can pull them off a list within a few minutes.

5. Check descriptions in links to eye SEO'y content

Backlink research is identifying current and potential competitors and getting pages/sites linked to them for link opportunities.

SEOs normally identify these competitors through Google search by checking which pages are currently ranking for target keywords or creating a list of competitors' sites coming from clients (as they already have ideas about which brands to compete with).

While these two approaches are best practices to find your most relevant competitors, you may still miss out on some SEO'y content (as Ross Hudgens coined it) that you should reverse engineer on (reverse engineer backlink profiles).

SEO'y content is pages or content pieces already linked out from a resource page you're trying to reach out to that have earned tons of links from several linking root domains.

Looking for SEO'y content can expand your vertical prospecting, either from a horizontal or vertical perspective, as they aren't easily found through Google search or normal prospecting.

One way to identify this SEO'y content is to check discrepancies in the description of links. What I mean by discrepancies is that there are resource pages with full descriptions for each link, and some with links with unusual descriptions.

I got this idea when I received a response from a webmaster putting a link to our client's page from their resource page.

local link outreach

 

If you skimmed the email above, you'd notice that there's nothing uncommon with the email; only does it implies that the webmaster is in a hurry not to include a description for our link - the reason she requested that we can create one for them.

Discrepancies in link descriptions—either the description is not complete or not in format with other link descriptions (see image below)—are signs that the resource page had recently given a link to SEO'y content. TigerMobiles.com and US Dish links have Titles as their descriptions, while other links have longer texts that describe what those pages are about. 

links pages with unusual descriptions

 

It means that these SEO'y content are actively pursuing relevant link opportunities (primarily resource pages) as you do. If you could scour their existing links (some may have been recently just acquired), it would help you gain link targets that are receptive to content suggestions. Thus, giving you a higher link acquisition rate in your outreach campaign.

Clicking on SEO'y content links and assessing if they have relevant links you can potentially use as link opportunities is a great activity to add to your link prospecting process. 

The best way I recommend initially checking if this SEO'y content has a good number of linking root domains is to run them through LinkMiner.

The tool checks all external links on the resource page and highlights how many domains link to a certain external page.

6. Use Linkclump to open document links simultaneously

In link prospecting, the more you spend time checking for unnecessary links, the more you waste time that should've been otherwise spent pursuing the right link opportunities.

What I've noticed with newbie link builders is that they often click on document links (pdfs, words/spreadsheets ready to download, etc.) that consume seconds (if not minutes of their time), which are all useless if your main targets are links or resource pages.

The recommended approach is to use a tool that'll automatically unclick these document links once you start qualifying your list of link targets.

For example, if you have a list of pages ready to be qualified for certain metrics (DA, relevance, obtainability), copy and paste them into an opened tab tool (e.g. URLOpener.com).

urlopener

Then install Linkclump and use the filter option to add words that'll exclude links when it opens new tabs (pdf, doc, xls, etc..).

Once you right-click and drag external links from URLOpener, the action won't open document links as new tabs, given that you excluded certain words in the tool's setting.

exclude words linkclump

7. Utilize niche phrases to expand link list

If you are familiar with your industry, it's easy to know what phrases are commonly used as titles on resource pages. For example, you'll see many "getting there" pages in the transportation industry. These phrases are only specific and can be applied to a certain vertical.

But one question that may arise here is, what if it's a new niche I'm taking on? How can I identify niche phrases to expand my prospecting approach?

The best way to do that is to collect the titles of your first set of resource pages (I'd recommend getting 80 or 100 links pages from your list for optimal results).

Use Wordcloud to see common niche phrases.

word cloud

 

Ensure that you click phrases only and display frequencies checkbox. Phrases only feature does what you need from the tool - to give exact niche phrases while display frequency shows you the number of times a phrase appeared in the list.

word cloud settings

If you are clever enough about using niche phrases, your list of link opportunities will expand.

Other Useful Resources:

8. Use better keywords in link search

Research is not “good research” until it is seasoned with all the right keywords. We cannot simply uncover relevant and insightful prospects if we do not employ the correct strategies. Having said that - keyword generation is, in my opinion, the heart of every campaign. After all, how can we ever expect to reach our audience without first wielding a well-thought-out string of words?

To help us navigate the waters of “keyword inception”, let us first return to its root. A keyword is commonly defined as a word or concept of awesome significance. To develop a great blog roster, we need to make sure the phrases we use in research will coincide with those utilized by our target prospects.

Another looser translation of the term is “password”. I very much like decoding a password in relation to finding the most effective words to use for link prospecting. Not unlike our search queries, passwords unlock a bunch of possibilities.

As you probably understand, there are a lot of factors to consider when it comes to choosing your terms. The most commonly used keywords in our industry are categorized under three types: generic, specific, and long tail.

Let’s first take some time to understand these keyword types better before we go on.

A. Generic Keywords

generic keywords

As the term suggests, “generic” keywords are unspecific and all-encompassing. You can expect to get thousands, even millions, of results using this type of keyword. An example is using “food processor” in your search query.

 

B. Specific Keywords

specific keywords

This type of keyword is a lot more particular than the former. In relation to our previous example of “food processor”, a specific example would be a branded version -  “SharpRocket Food Processor” 

 

C. Long-tail keywords

Lastly, long-tail keywords are the most common phrases or even complete sentence typed into the search bar. A perfect example for this would be “best way to operate a food processor”. A set of four or more keywords is considered “long tail”.

Returning to this article's main point, how do we develop the best possible keywords and keyword combinations for maximum results? Of course, this leads back to a rather popular answer: common sense.

9. Use "topic" "guide" to search for content competitors

Reverse engineering has been a standard link building practice - spying your competitors for link sources pointing to their pages.

However, that approach will leave you following the footprints of your competitors.

If you can be visible on websites they haven't acquired links from, it would be better to get ahead of them (or evenly outrank them!).

One initiative you can make is to look at other brands (not necessarily your direct competitors) that have published industry guides on similar topics.

We've found that using this search query, "GUIDE" "TOPIC" supplies a list of websites from other industries in SERPs that have topically-relevant content assets.

For example, a quick look for "veterans" "guide" can reveal this search result page.

google veterans guide

Your next step is to list the people and sites/blogs who have linked to similar industry guides or shared them via social media. You can extract these data using tools like Buzzsumo and Ahrefs.

ahrefs fundera

 

It is best to list them in a spreadsheet, including each prospect's contact address.

Start reaching out to them. You'll have better chances of getting links given that they're interested in the subject of your content since they've linked to a similar industry guide in the past.

Embracing competitor opportunities

Not all links will be counted with the Google link command. Some pages displayed on SERPs are not all-important or relevant to what you are looking for. Yet checking websites connected to your competitors will give you an idea of where to build your links. It will provide new ideas and broader networks to associate with. You just have to embrace every opportunity that comes your way to get links or a new set of keywords to use, even if these are from your competitor.

10. Keep track of websites with consistent linkable content production  

You will not always find a brand that publishes a solid set of content assets while getting/attracting high-valued links to its pages.

If you have found a website that matches the above criteria, it's worthwhile to bookmark it and try to spy and assess its content strategy (both its content creation and promotion approaches).

In our broken link building campaigns, we've spotted and have kept track of all the websites that have continuously been producing heavy linkable assets in different industries.

Regardless of whether or not it is directly competing with our client, we monitor those sites for new content ideas and future linking opportunities.

For example, Affordable Colleges has been on my personal radar because they have been targeting new markets (audiences) through the new content they published in their resource section.

affordable colleges online

 

By using content analysis tools like Ahrefs, we can see the new industry guides they've invested heavily in content promotion (check Best by Links Growth feature).

best by links growth

That approach can expand opportunities for our future link development campaigns, given that we can tap into new markets that are not included in our initial list of linkable audiences, such as homeless students and multicultural & diversity groups.

11. Integrate dedicated .edu pages in your search queries 

Links from .edu pages are one type of links that can impact your pages' performance on search rankings and can damage your industry's competition if you achieve success with it.

However, before getting results from any .edu link building strategies, you'll always start with .edu link prospecting - one that's hard to build when starting out.

One approach that you can use to scale .edu link prospecting is to target a specific type of .edu page in your search queries.

Those .edu websites normally have sections of information resources such as counseling, health & wellness, financial aid, community resources, and summer housing - which can be individually targeted in your search query depending on the subject of your page/site.

For instance, if you're in the mental health industry, one phrase you can include in search queries is "counseling" or "student health"  to come up with the following targeted search queries:

  • site:.edu "counseling" inurl:resources
  • site:.edu "student health" inurl:resources

counsellling edu pages serps

 

Here are more .edu pages for topical-relevant pages:

  • "summer housing" - apartment categories
  • "career & internship" - job sites, portals, or resources
  • "general health & wellness" - health organizations or niche-specific resource guides (e.g. sexual health)

Moreover, finding targeted pages of .edu sites can also be helpful with the kind of link building strategy you're currently using.

For example, when pursuing scholarship links, instead of using the common search queries like (site:.edu "scholarships" "industry/topic"), you can be more targeted with your search by using the phrase "financial aids" - which is a .edu resource page for students seeking for financial help.

financial aid page edu website

12. Start with libguides queries for .edu link prospects  

Another way to be proficient in high-authority link prospecting is to target libguides pages of .edu websites.

What exactly are libguides?

LibGuides are content management and information-sharing system designed specifically for libraries. The platform allows for easy navigation and instruction on core and relevant resources in a particular subject field, class, or assignment.

libguide page edu website

Libguides benefit students in many ways, such as:

  • It allows students to focus on the relevant and sift out the less relevant.
  • Visually demonstrates that there are great resources, in multiple formats, on even the most difficult topic. That reassurance builds the confidence of students needing to start their research.

You can see the other benefits of libguides to students here.

By definition and purpose, libguides are academic resource pages for students.

Since they aren't updated that much, they usually contain broken links. You can use broken link building to acquire links from these high-value pages.

Resource page link building (or content suggestion) can also work if you have a high-utility content piece worthy of being referenced by these academic pages.

How do you find these libguides?

You can do a Google search for inurl:libguide site:.edu "TOPIC" - replace the word topic with the subject of your content or website.

inurl libguide serps

Before pitching to librarians (contact persons managing libguides) with content published on your site/client, it is best to have an idea of what sorts of content, information, and content types they prefer using as references.

Ensure you create the most comprehensive guide on the topic (or at least can match up to the resources they've already linked to). If it's necessary to improve your content, do so to increase your chances of getting links from them.

13. Save link targets of lower metrics 

When prospecting for link opportunities, It's easy to overlook pages with lower metrics (i.e. <DA40), given that at the beginning of the campaign, link metrics have been set to use as a quality benchmark for all target pages/sites moving forward.

DA37 resource page

 

At SharpRocket, we've found that websites/blogs with lower metrics can be highly useful for future campaigns. Some less authoritative websites can increase their organic traffic and earn/build links over time, eventually improving their domain authority.

Capitalize future equities of those neglected websites by making a separate list or spreadsheet to include them.

This is an approach not to run off our link prospects, as you can return to your list repeatedly and find new ones that have improved their domain authority (or have passed to your benchmark metrics).

14. Exchange contacts with active guest bloggers 

Building relationships with industry bloggers is vital not only when pitching them to become a guest contributors for their publications but also in expanding your own list of link opportunities.

One approach you can maximize in this situation is passing on your contacts with them. Share your own lists of blogs to which you have pursued content contributions.

list of contactsIt's a mutual benefit, so you'll expect to get a fair share of lists from these active bloggers. It's worthwhile to do so, given that their shared blogs have high response rates when you start emailing them.

15. Reverse engineer broken pages for more link opportunities 

A huge number of broken links on the web is the main backbone of broken link building.

Finding defunct links on a resource page and showing them to webmasters is one way to initiate conversations and eventually acquire links by suggesting link replacements (wherein one of the links is a link to the client's content piece).

The process ultimately starts with prospecting for relevant resource pages.

One prospecting methodology besides doing a Google search for common resource page queries - inurl:resources "topic;; inurl:links "topic" is finding other resource pages that are linking to broken links.

Start this process by finding broken URLs, which can be defunct links you've initially corrected in your first set of prospects (resource pages).

broken pageCheck for other websites linking to those broken URLs using link tracking tools like Ahrefs.

links pointing to broken page

 

Create a spreadsheet to collect all websites linking to broken pages.

If you've found 20 broken links and have checked that around 300 pages are linking to them, your initial list has now grown to an additional 300 prospects.

list of link opportunities pointing to broken page

Of course, you must quality these additional link targets by relevance, authority, and obtainability.

But overall, the said link prospecting (reverse engineering) methodology gives you room for more link opportunities.

16. Create new lists for non-intended audiences 

One common mistake I've seen link builders do when prospecting link opportunities, specifically for resource pages, is ignoring current pages on their tabs as soon as they quickly find that these pages do not pass certain links' standards (e.g. irrelevant to their intended audience).

This tip resembles the above prospecting principle (save prospects of lower metrics).

However, in this last prospecting tip, I'd like to highlight saving prospects of different intended audiences. 

When you've landed on a page and found out that it's not relevant to your audience targeting, you ignore it and move on to your next link prospect.

What I personally see a lot of value in seeking more link opportunities (and for content generation, in general) is creating a new tab/list of other pages that don't fit my current intended audience.

For example, when I'm looking for parenting-targeted resource pages and have come across pages targeted to non-intended audiences like LGBTQ, mental health enthusiasts, persons suffering from trauma, stress, and attempting suicide - I make new lists to collect them all.

This can make it easier to find new audiences to target for future content assets.

highly-linkable-blb-audiences

If you’re just starting in audience-first link building campaigns, you can start off with Garrett French's 601 Audience spreadsheet and basic linkable audiences as a base - and add more to it along the way.

17. Utilize the advanced search operator "links"

“Links:” search operator points out web pages that are linked to the domain you used. SERPs will, however, give you random results from their internal links and even web ranking review. That’s why we have to be selective.

HOW TO USE GOOGLE COMMAND “LINKS:”

1. Target a specific competitor link you want to use. For example, you are looking for a resource page and see erickimphotography.com as one of your competitors. Go to the Google search box and key in the search operator + the competitor's domain name.

links photography

Note: Make sure that there is no space after the colon.

2. Choose a URL in the search engine results page that you think can be a possible prospect.

links suss photography screenshot3. Use the “site:” command and type the keyword you are looking for, only if needed.  In our example,  we need not use the search operator “site:” since we are looking for a resource page, and sussphotography.com’s resource page already appeared on the SERP. Therefore, we can possibly link our website to this blog, too.

 

suss photography resource pageWe can also use competitor links to generate keywords and phrases for our Google queries. Visiting related blog posts on their websites can somehow give us fresh ideas.

 

Three C's to remember in creating keywords for link prospecting

When we research, we sometimes write words based on how we formulated them in our mind and failed to simplify terms, then find ourselves easily falling into the same thinking pattern. Before we jump to the tips link builders can apply to find new niches to tap or keywords to use, below are things to consider when typing in the keywords you will use for blog research:

1. CONCISENESS

We can use short words and to the point as a substitute for lengthy words without changing their meaning.

Wordy: Newly Developed or Most Common

Concise: Trending or Popular

2. CONCRETENESS

Choose words that form a sharp and clean meaning to eliminate confusion as to what you are really looking for.

General: My first Investment

Concrete: My First  Car Investment (stocks, bonds,house,equipment, bags etc)

3. CLARITY

Choose precise, concrete and familiar words.

Familiar words: coupon

Pretentious Words: statement of due interest

Advantages and Disadvantages of Using the Search Operator "links"

Pros:

  • Since your competitors are already linking to those websites, there is a great chance that the site or blog post is relevant to your industry.
  • Websites on the search engine results page will give you other niches to tap as you visit them.
  • Usage of “links:” operator is easy and convenient, unlike when using backlink checker tools.

Cons:

  • There is a chance that you can’t find a related topic connected to your industry to link from because your competitor already beat you to it.
  • In checking for competitor links, you follow the blueprint instead of standing out. Being number one sometimes requires looking for other websites that are competitor-link-free!
  • Not all websites linking to your competitor are based on their preference. Sometimes, a blogger links to another blogger or a company just because they know the person who owns it.

18. Unleash keyword creativity

Lateral thinking is a technique that uses an uncommon approach to solve problems or to stir up fresh ideas. Yes, being concise is one smart way to generate keywords for our research. However, in developing link building tactics, one must dare to think outside the box to come up with new niches to tap or keywords to use.

Lateral thinking

1. Who will benefit?

Ask yourself who would be interested in the products and services you or your client has to offer, then list them down. We may review the possible prospects according to their age, gender, and needs. Think of other potential customers and readers. Let’s say you’re selling skincare products, and you want to advertise these. You automatically look for beauty bloggers. Aside from the obvious people who might benefit from what you have to offer, try going beyond, like mommy blogs, health blogs, and senior blogs.

who will benefit

2. Who are the experts?

You may also consider people who are experts on your particular topic. In our example, we may search for dermatologists and estheticians specializing in skin care.

who are experts

3. What are the problems encountered by a niche?

Sometimes you finally use all the tricks up your sleeve and catch yourself at a loss for thinking of new keywords to use. You can then try searching for the problems encountered by a certain niche. There are many terms or jargon associated with skin problems that only those knowledgeable in that field or those already experienced it know of.   

skin problem glossary search results

skin glossary page

Website: https://nationaleczema.org/eczema-products/glossary-skin-care-terms/

Tools to help you come up with better keywords in link search 

A. Thesaurus

The most obvious way to come up with a fresh set of keywords is by using the thesaurus. This tool was undoubtedly introduced to all of us way before we started messing around with computers. Simply put, it gives you a little index of words in groups of synonyms and related concepts.

Thesaurus

B. Industry glossary 

The Glossary of Industry Terms is a comprehensive list of words and expressions used by experts or trade specialists that may be difficult for others to comprehend. When you’re targeting bloggers who write specifically about your client’s niche, the most useful thing you could do is familiarize yourself with their jargon to come up with accurate results.

Industry Glossary

C. Blog post titles and URLs

Sometimes the greatest things in life are right in front of you. The same holds true for keyword generation. The best ones may just be under your nose. Monitor how bloggers construct their post titles and what words appear in their URLs. This might be useful when you want to target articles that tackle the same topics or have roughly the same content. Using the same keywords but coming at it from different angles might just make the biggest difference to your research.

Case in Point: Instead of just using “online shopping” as your keywords, consider a different perspective - “pros and cons of online shopping”, “advantages of online shopping”, etc.

Sample Search Queries:

  • allintitle:pros and cons of online shopping
  • inurl:pros-and-cons-of-online-shopping

Blog Post Title

URL

D. Wh and H Question Words

Since we’re on the subject of words, it’s also advisable to scrutinize the kind of language content writers commonly use. Some bloggers endeavor to answer the biggest questions about their niche with their posts. Incorporating the Wh (who, what, when, where, why) and H (how) question words in your queries will help you discover who those bloggers happen to be.

Getting links from these kinds of pages can be quite advantageous as many potential customers tend to look for these types of informative articles before actually making a decision. Having your product or service presented to readers immediately as a suggestion can drive valuable traffic to your website.

Example: “What can you do with a food processor?”

Wh and H

E. Be open to search suggestions

What’s easy is not necessarily wrong. For other possible keywords, simply check other Google searches related to your query. A list of phrases can be found below the Search Engine Results Page (SERP) whenever you do a Google search. Though not all of these can be helpful all the time, we stumble upon a few golden nuggets occasionally.

Google Related Searches

F. Think outside the box

Don’t restrict yourself to just one set of keywords. If you’ve exhausted all concepts directly related to your client’s niche, try looking at the bigger picture. Don’t always work from the outside going in. Try the opposite.

If your client specializes in leather belts, don’t get stuck on keywords like “buckles”, “straps”, and “tongues”. Instead, visualize the belt as a little island in the middle of the ocean. The ocean symbolizes what niche encompasses your client’s (e.g. fashion). Look for possibilities outside of what has been handed to you.

San Blas Islands of Panama

G. Finding opportunities in mistakes

Ever notice how people dwell on another person’s faults rather than his successes? Well, the same thinking can be used for our benefit regarding blog prospecting. Articles that focus on mistakes, misconceptions, or myths people believe about certain issues or topics may sound negative but can present real possibilities for building links.

Mistakes

H. LSI graph / LSI keyword generator

The Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI) Keyword Generator is a tool that comes up with a list of terms and phrases related to your current keyword in seconds.

“In a nutshell, they are keywords that are semantically linked to your main keyword. In practical terms, Google has confirmed that by using more LSI keywords, your page will typically rank better.”

LSI Graph

I. Keyword Planner

Keyword Planner is a Google  AdWords tool that can be used by new and experienced marketers for free. According to Google itself, “Keyword Planner is like a workshop for building new Search Network campaigns or expanding existing ones. You can search for keyword and ad group ideas, get historical statistics, see how a list of keywords might perform, and even create a new keyword list by multiplying several keywords together.”

Keyword Planner

Liked this post? Subscribe to our newsletter and follow me on Twitter @venchito14.

 

Link Prospecting Frequently Asked Questions

What is prospecting in SEO?

SEO prospecting is crucial to acquiring clients, as it establishes a pool of potential customers, targets the right accounts, and positions an agency as a trusted advisor. Effective prospecting saves valuable time, money, and resources. Without it, your efforts may go to waste.

 

How do I find prospects for link building?

To find prospects for link building, a useful tool is Semrush's Link Building Tool. Simply open the tool, click "Create project," and enter your domain and project name. Although optional, naming your project helps with the organization when running multiple campaigns. Utilize this tool to identify potential prospects for effective link building strategies.

 

What is the link strategy?

A link strategy refers to the practice of utilizing link building techniques to improve search engine visibility. It involves building one-way hyperlinks, or backlinks, to a website. Effective strategies include content marketing, useful tool development, email outreach, broken link building, and public relations. A well-rounded link strategy can enhance a website's online presence and organic search rankings.


edu backlinks

How to Build Edu Backlinks Using Scholarships (Without Spending a Penny)

If you've been in the SEO industry for years, you know how important it is to scale link building to help multiple clients rank in search for their respective keywords.

Given that almost every year, there are new link building strategies being created, the best way to be on top of the game is not to think of new strategies (since mostly they're just revised versions of old ones) but to create scalable processes for your link building campaigns.

What is an edu backlink?

An EDU backlink refers to a link from a .edu domain, representing educational institutions like schools and universities. These backlinks carry authority and can improve a website's credibility and search engine rankings. Creating quality content and building relationships with educational websites can help obtain valuable EDU backlinks.

In this post, I will walk you through one scalable strategy we've tested internally that can give significant results to your website: building .edu links using scholarships.

It's amazing because we hadn't spent a single penny when we built 14 .edu links in two months.

Want to learn how?

Keep reading:

 

How to Build Edu Backlinks Using Scholarships

Step 1: Target Relevant Niches

Audience targeting is not only necessary when executing common link building strategies like broken link building and guest blogging.

Even when you build .edu backlinks, you must know your target audience that is highly relevant to your website or client.

Here's how to make it simple.

Identify an audience of students who'd be interested in your scholarship program.

With our link building services, for example, we focus our scholarship efforts on students majoring in marketing, business, and advertising courses because we've found them to be more relevant to our website.

 

scholarship pageedu scholarship

 

This is critical because if you got backlinks from .edu pages that are too far from your industry, they would be less valuable to your website. I'm not saying that generic .edu links aren't good enough, they are, of course, but if you can get a high-quality link from a much more relevant page, that would be better.

Here are a few examples of audiences you can target for scholarships:

 

health scholarship example

legal scholarship sample

Step 2: Create a Scholarship Page

It's very simple to create this type of content.

However, you've got to have the important details.

Here are a few pieces of information you must include on your scholarship page.

1. COMPANY DESCRIPTION

Provide a short description of your company. This is actually where your whole domain will mostly get value from.

Internally link to your homepage or other important pages to pass link juice to these pages.

Here's a quick example of what I did for our link building company site.

[internal-links-scholarship]

2. ELIGIBILITY

The more specific you are when stating who will be your target applicants, the better you'll get responses from university and college staff members.

These are the necessary details you need to include in the eligibility section:

  • Full-time or part-time students?
  • Specific and relevant courses for students
  • Upcoming college students (high school), undergraduate or graduate?
  • Target country (if it is within a city or local, make sure it is stated).

See this example:

eligiblity scholarship

3. AMOUNT VALUE

The scholarship amount depends on your client's budget or your website. But I'd prefer the minimum to be $1000. Any amount lower than that won't be attractive to educational institutions. I've seen a $300 scholarship program, not sure how it went.

4. APPLICATION DETAILS

This section should include how your applicants can get the scholarship. This could be a submission of a written or video-based answer to a question related to the industry.

For example, we've asked our applicants to submit a short essay or a 4 to 5-minute video answering any of these questions:

What would be your main strategy to market your business online?

What is your number one tip to manage a team of millennials?

Alongside the application process, you should also state the deadline and award dates.

To make the application much easier, provide a contact form at the end of your page so they can attach and send their requirements immediately.

 

Step 3: Prospect for EDU Backlink Opportunities

Not all educational websites have relevant scholarship listing opportunities you could get links from.

When finding those link targets, I use two methods to find opportunities that best fit my scholarship page.

METHOD 1: USING SEARCH ENGINE OPERATORS TO FIND OPPORTUNITIES

Search engine operators are useful to help you seek possible link sources straight from search engines – Google, Yahoo, and Bing.

Combining appropriate search operators with proper keywords can filter the right prospects, enabling you to do link research much faster.

I use different search phrases I've collected and listed in a spreadsheet to find .edu link sources with scholarship pages.

scholarship spreadsheet

This is pretty handy as you can hand over this task to a virtual assistant, freelancer, or your in-house SEO specialist (thanks to Jayson Bagio!).

What you are looking for in a scholarship page are two things:

  • Solely list down relevant scholarship links or has a specific section that caters to your audience (i.e. a generic scholarship listing page with marketing external scholarship links).
  • Has linked mentions of your scholarships (you want to get the most value from your effort, of course – so make sure they provide external links).

With this strategy, you don't have to worry about domain authority, Ahrefs rank, or other metrics you are using to qualify link opportunities since most .edu websites are within the range of DA40 to DA90.

You should also ensure that external links point to individual scholarship pages, not just to scholarship search engines or websites solely for scholarships.

 

METHOD 2: REVERSE ENGINEER A SIMILAR SCHOLARSHIP PAGE

If you run out of .edu scholarship listing opportunities, another way to expand your link list is to reverse engineer scholarship pages with edu referring pages.

You can use Ahrefs to plug in a similar scholarship page (which you can simply search in Google for the "keyword" "scholarship").

reverse engineering scholarship

Scan through the list of backlinks and .edu websites with scholarship listing pages.

Once you've exhausted all possible link opportunities from one scholarship page, find another similar page and repeat the process.

Rinse and repeat.

MAKE SURE YOU ORGANIZE EVERYTHING

The key to properly scaling this .edu link building strategy is to organize everything.

I use a Google Docs spreadsheet for all tasks in a link building campaign.

Once you find a qualified link opportunity, include it in a Google Spreadsheet with all these required fields:

  • Scholarship Listing Page
  • Domains
  • Relationship Status
  • Name
  • Email Address
  • Remarks

scholarship opportunities list

 

FINDING CONTACT PERSON

Universities and colleges have several staff members, and the only way to build Edu backlinks is to reach out to the right person.

There are two types of emails we consider for scholarship link building technique:

scholarship@domain.edu – you can get this email straight from the scholarship listing page

financialaid@domain.edu – if you can't find the first email above, look for this one by checking out the admissions and/or finance aid department/section of the website.

contact@domain.edu  or contact form – if you can't see any of those emails above, you can simply send a simple message (email template later) to a generic email or through a contact form, asking for the right person to contact to about your request.

Step 4: Reach out to EDU Websites

When all details have been filled up, you are now ready to do outreach.

This is the exact email template that I used to reach out to .edu contact persons.

Scholarship for [ UNIVERSITY / COLLEGE ] students

Hello [ NAME ],

I noticed that you provide a list of private scholarship for students.

I'm sending you a message to let you know that my company offers one (1) [ AMOUNT] scholarship to [ UNIVERSITY / COLLEGE ]  students that major in [ INDUSTRY ] courses.

Please feel free to contact me with any questions you may have so that I can send more information about our scholarship.

If it's not you who directly manages scholarships, can you forward me to the right person, please? I'd greatly appreciate that.

Regards,

[ YOUR NAME ]

When you send pitches to these people, you'll most receive three types of responses.

RESPONSE #1

edu-outreach-response-1

 

If you receive this positive response, you just have to send all the details of your scholarship to them either via email or via a form that they will provide.

Once your scholarship is posted, they will give you a heads-up. If you don't receive a reply, make sure you monitor new backlinks to your site to see if you've got a backlink from one scholarship page. Pro tip: use Monitor Backlinks to ease this process.

live-link-scholarship-outreach

Anchor texts on Edu backlinks are diversified: some are naked URLs, and others are exact scholarship titles.

RESPONSE #2

scholarship outreach budget

If you can only offer less than $1000 or $500, some Edu sites won't include yours in their scholarship listings since they have a certain threshold they consider.

RESPONSE #3

scholarship-outreach-local

Another case is when financial/admission departments restrict scholarship listings to only one or two districts or local-based scholarships. See the response below.

A few more things:

  • Some Edu sites don't list individual scholarship pages, but they get to add new scholarships from scholarship search engines. You can try submitting your site to scholarship search engines to increase the chance of getting an Edu backlink.
  • Be specific with audience targeting because some EDU financial departments do not add any scholarships not thematically related to their students' courses (e.g. if it's a marketing-centric scholarship, don't dare to reach out to a psychology-based scholarship page).

WITHOUT SPENDING A PENNY

The title of this post says, "Without Spending A Penny."

That's true because I'll only spend some money ($500 in my case) on the scholarship award date.  I would have received the returns on the efforts before the money was spent. A $500 budget for 14 links already amounts to $35 per 1 Edu backlink.

If you liked this post, subscribe to our newsletter and follow me on @venchito14.

Need help with your link building campaigns? Check out our link building services here.

 

EDU Backlinks Frequently Asked Questions

What are edu links?

Edu links are a valuable component of SEO strategy. An edu domain represents educational institutions like colleges and universities. The power of edu backlinks lies in their high domain authority and trustworthiness. By obtaining these links, websites can enhance rankings and visibility in search engines.

 

How do I get a backlink from a .edu site?

To get a backlink from a .edu site, try these effective strategies:

  1. Create valuable and relevant content that appeals to educational institutions.
  2. Guest post on .edu blogs or contribute to their resource pages.
  3. Reach out to professors or students for collaboration opportunities.
  4. Offer scholarships or sponsorships to universities.
  5. Join relevant forums or communities where .edu members are active.
  6. Conduct research and share findings with educational institutions.
  7. Build relationships with influential figures in the education field.
  8. Use social media platforms to engage with .edu communities and promote your content.

These strategies will help you establish quality backlinks from .edu sites.


anchor text definitive guide

Anchor Text: The Definitive Guide

What is an anchor text?

An anchor text is a clickable text that appears as a hyperlink and links to a web page. It tells search engines what the linked page is about, and its usage is an important factor in SEO. Anchor texts should be descriptive and relevant to the linked page's content to help users and search engines understand the page better.

ahrefs anchor text

 

This is an anchor text guide for beginners and advanced SEO and link-building practitioners.

What are the types of anchor texts?

The types of anchor texts are exact-match, partial-match, branded, naked link, generic, and images.

SEO-friendly anchor text is that which clearly describes the linked-to page's content and context, and the surrounding content should provide additional context. It is recommended to use various anchor text types to appear natural to both users and search engines. Remember that excessively using exact-match or other manipulative types can lead to penalties by search engines.

 

To simplify things, let’s say I want to rank for the term, “link building” and I’m publishing a post for another link building blog with a link to my web page.

If I’d use these types of anchor text, here’s what the link with each type of anchor text looks like.


Exact match anchors – the anchor text is the target keyword you’re trying to rank for.

I’ve shared at SharpRocket a post about link building that includes all actionable tips you need to get quality backlinks for your website.


Partial match anchors – the anchor text contains the target keyword or keyphrase you’re trying to rank for.

I’ve shared at SharpRocket a post about actionable link building tips you need to get quality backlinks for your website.


Branded anchor text – the anchor text is the name of the brand.

I’ve shared at SharpRocket a post about link building that includes all actionable tips you need to get quality backlinks for your website.


Naked URLs anchors – the anchor text is not a word or phrase but the URL of the page or domain itself.

I’ve shared at SharpRocket a post about actionable link building tips. See it here: URL 


Descriptive anchors – the anchor text is a description of what the page or URL is all about, it may or may not include the target keyword.

This post at SharpRocket explains what link building is all about and 101 link building tips that includes the exact step by step processes to apply each of those tips.


Generic anchors – the anchor text is a generic phrase that does not include the target keyword.

I’ve shared at SharpRocket a post about link building that includes all actionable tips you need to get quality backlinks for your website. If you want to check it out, click here.


LSI anchors - the anchor text is a synonym or related word or phrase of the target keyword you’re trying to rank for.

I’ve shared at SharpRocket a post about off-page SEO that includes all actionable tips you need to get quality backlinks for your website.


Image anchors – the anchor text is the alt text of the image.

image alt text

Google Penguin in 2012 and 2023 Forward

Before the Google Penguin update, websites could build massive article directories and guest post links with ~100% exact match anchor texts. This was not a problem for SEOs as they can automate everything, from prospecting link opportunities to putting these links into their desired pages, not considering the relevance between linking pages.

Private blog networks weren’t a big option for link builders then, too, since the usual massive spammy link building tactics were already enough to get website ranking results.

But then Google Penguin came in 2012, which affected websites in different industries. As you can see in the image below, it shows a few statistics of niche websites that were hit back then.

inbound links anchor text graph

Anchor Text Usage

Anchor text usage on all inbound links is one factor Google considers in determining if a page should be penalized and demoted in its organic rankings.

Aggressive anchor text or too much exact match anchor text on all inbound links for a certain page isn’t a normal activity to think about. Websites with all backlinks with more than 50% exact match anchor texts, “payday loans” for example, are questionable to be natural in their backlinking method.

Source Website

Google’s Gary Ilyes has been tweeted/asked questions on Penguin 4.0 since its launch last September 23, 2016. One point he made is how Google Penguin targets a specific page. He clarified that it’s not just about the link, but rather the “source site” where the link comes from is what they also consider.

Questionable or penalized websites have much more risks to give to you when acquiring links.

To ensure you’re only building high-quality sites, check out the site’s organic traffic data if the linking site has a history of organic drop. This organic drop is a possible sign of Google penalties.

SEMRush can aid you with this task, so have someone check the site’s estimated organic data.

 

semrush organic traffic

More Granular

The granular attack of Penguin on pages that need to be demoted in its rankings isn’t any newer to the search engine optimization community (in Penguin 2.0, it seemed to be on page-level and keyword-level concerns already). The only thing that becomes clearer here is the word “more”, which we should all consider as we work on the website’s link acquisition campaigns.

It’s just that Google considers page-to-page or a few website parts as its consideration for penalties. In that sense, you shouldn’t be confident enough to think that the spammy link building tactics you are doing right now won’t hurt your website’s health in the future.

More Google Penguin 4.0 Resources:

9 Anchor Text Optimization Best Practices

1. Avoid Acquiring Backlinks With Too Many Exact Match Anchors

I’ve worked with a lot of SEO agencies and digital marketing agencies all over the world, catering to 100+ clients throughout my SEO corporate experience, and there’s one thing people are still confused about:

Are exact match anchors good for my rankings?

When you answer them “YES” right away, they’ll defend you with their “NO”s and just tell you to use generic anchor texts, like click here and go to this site, because they think this is the best anchor text strategy.

Wrong.

Exact match anchor texts aren’t bad at all.

Ryan Stewart had an interesting short case study of how he could rank for Miami SEO after he published a guest post on Ahrefs with the exact match anchor text: “Miami SEO”.

ahrefs guest post webris

 

You don’t have to consider the anchor text distribution percentage in your backlink profile - say 3 or 5 percent.

You can test for yourself building one or two backlinks to your page with an exact match anchor text.

Don’t be afraid. Your site won’t get penalized with 1 or 2 backlinks. After all, if you have hundreds or thousands of backlinks, those 2 exact match anchor text links account for less than 1%.

Check how the site will react to those two backlinks and see what movements your page will take you (e.g. from position 40 to position 12). You’ll then also see how tight the competition is for the target keyword you’re trying to rank for.

2. Focus on Various Link Types

It’s so easy to be stuck with the idea of anchor text ratios. While running other SEO activities like technical audit, content creation, and outreach, you still have to think about establishing a natural backlink profile.

Instead of getting a headache with that issue, focus on the link type. After all, why must you create a list of anchor texts with exact/estimated percentages if you’re aiming for a natural link profile?

That itself is unnatural.

A natural link profile is composed of backlinks with different link types.

Here are some examples of different link types.

1. Community-based link

inbound org community backlink

 

2. Referential link

reference backlink

 

3. Blog comment link
blog comment backlink

 

Don’t focus too much on anchor text variations, but ensure that you get various backlink types for your website.

Note: There’s one exception here, I’ve seen websites that focus only on contextual (both earned and built) and resource types of links, and they didn’t acquire directory or citation links but are still dominating SERPs. But if you’re into local SEO, combining those contextual and resource links with local-centric profiles/association/directory links is a must.

But if your site gets directory and citation links with a few to zero contextual backlinks, that looks unnatural.

3. Optimize Clicks Using Descriptive Anchor Texts

If you are still thinking about what anchor text strategy to use for your link building campaign, let me give you one simple tip.

If you are reaching out to bloggers in your industry (assuming it is a linker outreach approach), let them choose anchor texts.

They wouldn’t tell you what anchor texts they chose. They’d only give you a heads-up if they have linked to your page, and you’ll see the anchor texts yourself.

Most of the time, backlinks built using the linker outreach method are in descriptive anchor texts. The advantage of that anchor text is that it encourages user clicks.

While links can help increase rankings, their other purpose is to drive referral traffic.

Letting bloggers choose how and in what section of the linking pages they’ll add anchor texts with backlinks to your webpage affects the number of visitors those referring sites will drive back to your site. Backlinks placed on a higher position of the content have a high chance of more clicks.

more clicks more referral visits

 

One good example is the number of conversions (email subs) from my guest post on GotchSEO. That post itself drove 100+ impressions with 60+ converted email subscribers. That backlink is aimed to be clicked, given that it was placed under the bonuses section.

 

gotchseo email subs graph

 

In cases where you have control over anchor text usage, i.e. content distribution on other blogs, it’s imperative to understand LSI and Co-occurrence as part of your overall anchor text strategy.

4. Understand and Use Co-Occurences

Co-occurrence s the frequency and proximity of similar keywords across one context in content. These are topically relevant keywords but not exactly the same as your ranking keyword.

Instead of frequently using your ranking keyword as your anchor text to be an exact match, what you can do is place your target keyword near descriptive anchor texts.

One good example of this is co-occurrences within links to Kaiserthesage. Here are a few examples:

 

co occurence kaiserthesage 1

 

co occurence kaiserthesage moz

 

co occurence kaiserthesage reddit

 

co occurence kaiserthesage searchenginejournal

 

Google understands the relevance of a link without having to use exact match anchor texts all the time. Adding co-occurrences to linking pages can help search engines fully identify the context theme of your website with its linking web pages.

5.  Find New Organic Ranking Keywords

When a linkable asset has been ranking for several long-tail keywords, finding untapped match keywords your content isn’t primarily catering to would be strategic.

You tend to rank these keywords (or had some impressions on SERPs) because search engines have highly perceived your content as worthy to rank for pages 3 or so.. (may not be visible on the first two SERPs pages).

The advantage when monitoring new keywords is that you can upgrade your content to cater to new audiences or be more desirable to rank for newly found organic ranking keywords by adding some topical sections to your piece.

What’s the implication of this to your anchor text link strategy?

If you’ve added a new section in your content piece to service those new organic keywords, it’d be additional anchor texts to use for internal and external manual link building. This will add more trust and authority to your content and help it dominate searches for those newly found organic keywords.

6. Search For Related Phrases and Instagram Trends

There is no such activity of finding new ranking keywords to add to your current list of target anchor texts, as you don’t want to use them all for exact match link strategy.

However, when trying to manually add descriptive anchor texts to internal linking pages and build linking pages (i.e. guest posts), you have to know what keyphrases are thematically relevant to your target keyword. Thus, it’d be easy for you to write robust content with LSI keywords and strategically do co-occurrences on links.

Two simple ways to find related search phrases of your target keywords.

First, do a straight Google search for the exact keyword or key phrase you’re trying to rank for. You can try two different searches. One is with quotes. The second is without. See at the bottom of search pages related search phrases Google provides based on the keyword you entered.

Second, just type in your keyword and wait for Google to suggest more specific/relevant search phrases. You’ll find out that some of them aren’t included in your keyword list from Google Keyword Planner or other common keyword research tools you use. They don’t need always to have a high search volume to decide whether or not they are good to target for content pieces.

If you ask me, where is this going? The answer is adding more keyphrases for your anchor text link strategy to be used for LSI keywords for internal and external content assets and to be better at co-occurrences on backlinks.

7. Optimize Content Using Content Gap Monitoring

I’ve been discussing how to find new organic keywords ranking in your content because these are useful for upgrading your content to its next version (or to 10x content if it hasn’t been achieved yet).

While you can simply focus on your content’s search results performance alone, you’d want to try seeing new organic keywords of similar content pieces your competitors normally produce.

The only difference between this process, which I’d like to label as “Content Gap Monitoring” with the typical “content gap analysis,” is that you’re doing it regularly – as part of your monthly SEO or content marketing activity.

SEO agencies that want to test this process out don’t have to worry about the time it’ll consume to run the entire process, as it is scalable through the use of Ahrefs as our primary content gap monitoring tool.

The first step is to find similar competing content. Only choose content assets that are specifically ranked for your target keyword. If you’ve done a robust competitor keyword research analysis as your first SEO initiative, you can skip this part already.

The second step is to monitor new organic keywords competing for similar content assets. Go to Ahrefs, then click on Alerts - New Keywords.

 

ahref new keywords

 

Click add alert button in the right section.

ahrefs add alerts

 

Choose URL as its mode, so you’ll only receive a list of new organic keywords that a specific page has been acquiring, not the whole domain. For volume, the default, “All” is good, so you can also see low-volume keywords.

For email frequency, it’s your decision whether to receive those organic keyword-centric emails weekly or monthly, but I highly recommend you go with weekly to upgrade your existing content for potential ranking keywords as sooner as possible.

add alert ahrefs anchor text

8. Backlink Audit on Exact Match Anchor Texts Links

With the recent Google Penguin update (most SEOs believe that it is indeed real-time), our activity to continuously monitor our site’s incoming links and make sure there aren’t any negative SEO isn’t any more a tedious task for us (SEOs/link builders).

If you have read posts on Google Penguin’s specific effects on SEO activities, there’s no need to make serious efforts to remove existing bad/toxic links to your website, as Google tends to devalue them anyway. So if a site has been receiving new low-quality links from a Negative SEO attack, for example, the efforts now shouldn’t be focused on removing those types of links but on continuously acquiring new high-quality backlinks for your site (this posts of mine on how to get backlinks and actionable link building strategies will help you a lot).

 

What’s the implication of this to my anchor text diversification?

In cases where those incoming toxic links are on exact match anchor texts, you don’t have to focus on removing them from your backlink profile but on driving new high-quality backlinks to your site. Since websites are dealt with granularly, those bad links won’t affect your site as a whole, only on parts that should be affected.

Nonetheless, a link audit is still a must. Google states that bad links are simply being devalued. The possibility of needing to disavow more links is unlikely. However, if you have a lot of unnatural links and never disavowed them, you need to disavow them. It may be why you’re still not recovering from the penalty.

You still have to do some groundwork for disavowing bad links. But keep in mind that while doing it, the focus shouldn’t just be there but more on helping your site continuously acquire good links to boost your site’s health over time.

If it’s real-time, your site can easily recover (some have proven this to happen to some fully/partially-recovered sites), and there’s much more work now to be put into higher-level link acquisition.

9. Convert High-Quality Exact Match Anchor Texss To Branded Links

Other posts on link audit (which I highly suggest need to be updated) discuss managing exact anchor text links by converting them into branded links.

In my experience, filtering your exact match anchor texts based on their quality should be everyone’s link builders/SEOs’ first initiative.

Don’t spend time converting low-quality exact match anchor texts to branded links, as these will be devalued (if it’s a negative SEO attack) or if they’ve been built by your past SEOs (do a link audit and link removal/link disavow).

What you have to focus on now is checking on only existing high-quality exact-match anchor text links. These links shouldn’t just be any type, i.e. directory or any massive link type, but only editorial links that are manually built, i.e. guest blog posts.

Whether or not these high-quality exact-match links are affecting parts of your website, you should still be converting them into branded links (as possible as you can), by manually reaching out to web admins to whom you’ve contributed guest posts in the past. Ask them if they are capable of changing those exact matches to branded types of links. This should help some parts of your site not to be negatively affected by real-time Penguin.

Now It’s Your Turn…

How do you diversify your backlinks' anchor texts?

Or maybe you have a question about implementing any of the insights in our above list?

Either way, leave a comment quickly below.

I'll be more than happy to reply to comments and answer questions.

So if you have a question, insight, or new tactic, leave a comment right now.

 

Anchor Texts Frequently Asked Questions

What is anchor text vs keywords?

Anchor text and keywords are two important elements in SEO. Keywords refer to the words or phrases you want to rank for on your webpage, while anchor text is the clickable text in a hyperlink that leads to another page.

In other words, the anchor text provides context to the link and helps search engines understand what the linked page is about. Using descriptive and relevant keywords in your anchor text is crucial to optimize your webpage's ranking.

 

What is the content of anchor text?

The content of anchor text refers to the words that make up the clickable link. It gives users and search engines context about where the link will take them. Using relevant and descriptive anchor text is important to improve the user experience and help search engines understand the page content. Keep it brief, clear, and concise for maximum impact.


who links to my site

How to Find Who Links To Your Website

Knowing who links to your site gives you a starting point in your link building.

If your website has been around for a while, you want to know the sites interacting with you. Those are the brands that can become your company partners, future advocates, or content collaborators.

There are many ways to find who links to your site, but here is one great tool to get you started.

 

AHREFS SITE EXPLORER

Ahrefs is by far the world's largest backlink index with a total of 15 trillion (it has more than that I guess).

Knowing that gives you the confidence of finding all the recent and finest links pointing to your site.

Ahrefs' Link Explorer gives you a wide array of information, including the exact referring page where the link is placed, potential traffic the site might bring to your site (Traffic), and the anchor text used on those links.

The good thing is you can use Ahrefs' Backlink Checker for free.

ahrefs backlink checker tool

 

For example, if I want to know how many links are pointing to this website, www.healthysleepy.com I'll simply enter the exact URL to the checker, and click the "Check backlinks" button.

check backlinks ahrefs

 

This opens up a data of information called backlink profile.

Before I go to what comprises backlink profile. let's see the numbers initially seen.

As you can see, the domain rating is 16. I sourced the exact definition of domain rating from Ahrefs , if you're not familiar with Ahrefs' Domain Rating.

Domain Rating is a proprietary Ahrefs’ metric that shows the strength of a target website’s total backlink profile (in terms of its size and quality). DR is measured on a logarithmic scale from 0 to 100, with the latter being the strongest.

There are 110 backlinks pointing to the site (answering how many links to my website?), with 97% of those being do follow backlinks.

Forty-seven (47) referring domains from 110 backlinks are 96% do-follow.

The good thing with Ahrefs is that it gives you a rundown of the numbers that you need to know in a backlink profile.

Now, let's have a look at who links to your website.

AHREFS SHOWS YOU WHO LINKS TO YOUR WEBSITE

Scroll down the page, you'll now see who links to your site.

In our given example, U.S. Pain Foundation, Alaska Ocean Observing System, Gallatin, and Kirkwall East Church are some of the brands linked to HealthySleepy.

ahrefs backlink checker healthysleepy example backlink profile

There are a lot more if you scroll down-its up to 100+ backlinks. However, Ahrefs can only show you 100 of the backlinks. If you want to see more, it will require you to subscribe to their starter package tool.

Nonetheless, it's a great free tool to know who links to your website.

WHAT TO DO WITH WHO LINKS TO YOUR WEBSITE?   

Now you know who links to your site. The next question to answer is what will you do about it.

It's one thing to have a list of pages/websites linking to your brand's domain. It's another thing to do something with the list.

 

Here are some tips you can apply to make the most out of your list.

1. Try to understand why they linked to you

This may sound absurd. But there's a way to know the reason why the owner of the site/page linked to you in the first place.

For example, a contextual link (a link placed within the body of the content) is an indication of many things such as:

  • The content publisher, blogger, or writer found one of your articles on your blog worth referencing, so he/she mentioned it and credited you with a link.
  • The curator of another website listed your product in one of the recommended products on a specific category, with a link on the anchor text.
  • The writer quoted one of your statements on a press article with a link pointing to your about me or your staff page in your company site.

There are many other reasons why you were able to get the link.

If the brand or website who linked to you is someone you're familiar with, it would be easier for you to know the reason for linking - either it's from a previous relationship or partnership both of you are involved in or because of the value of the content piece you've provided on your blog.

If you understand the reason why your existing linkers linked to you, you would be able to get multiple links from the same set of linkers as well as replicate the same strategy to other possible linkers in order to acquire the same type of links.

2. Start collaborating and connecting with your linkers

It's a myth in link building that all who are linked to your site differ in their needs and context. The truth is your existing linkers may have a common need and reason for linking.

If you can nurture relationships (because you probably had connections with them already), you are opening doors of more linking opportunities. These opportunities may not be always coming directly from them, others would be recommending your site/brand or any offering you had to their peers or circles of networks.

If you know the email addresses of your linkers, you can send them individual messages with thank you notes, particularly if the links you acquired are organic — meaning you didn't do anything, even a manual outreach, to get the links.

You want to have a group of serial linkers. Joshua Hardwick of Ahrefs calls them as such because these are the people who've linked to your site multiple times.

In fact, you can actually see who links to your site many times using the top linking sites in Ahrefs.

ahrefs top linking sites

3. Brainstorm what works for your brand's content strategy

You may have published several content pieces that have gotten you enough links to track (who links to your site as we know).

Interestingly, you would discover patterns of content that work for your brand and have provided great value in your industry — which allowed you to acquire links to your site.

You want to know the type of content that works for your site because finding the pattern gives you insights into your next content marketing plan.

Enter the URL of your site and go to Ahrefs' Best Pages. This will give you a rundown of your site's top pages sorted from highest to lowest incoming referring domains.

ahrefs best pages by incoming links

 

Study the pattern of the type of content that gives you the most number of links. If you are just starting to build your own brand and haven't been involved much in link building, I recommend you do this methodology first to your competitors.

See what works for them in terms of a content type. Replicate it to your brand if it's feasible according to your brand's resources.

4. Fix broken links to your site

By tracking who links to your site and your best linkable pages, you may find a few or a couple of your pages to be broken (404).

If those pages have links pointing to them, they're a must to be reclaimed.

Otherwise, your previous efforts to build links to those pages may be forfeited somehow and you don't want those links to be missed.

What you need to do is to identify your site's broken pages. Filter your best pages by incoming links to only give you 404/broken pages.

Check each page and decide what options best work for it.

Either you redirect the dead page to a more relevant functional page or ask linkers to link to another working page relevant to the dead page.

There's no best option. It depends upon the situation. The first option is easy as it is something you can control; the second one might require you to send emails to all linkers. Take note that you won't be sure of the response time and modification of your linkers if you choose the second option.

WHO LINKS TO MY SITE IS THE INITIAL TOUCHPOINT

Having the list of pages linking to your overall site or to only one page is the first initiative. The next step is to understand why they've linked to you in the first place — in order to replicate the same approach to your next set of actions or do the same thing to your other sites.

Feel free to comment below if you have any recommendations on what to do with the list of pages that have linked to the site.


How to Do Local SEO Keyword Research

Undoubtedly, keyword research is one of the most important aspects of any SEO campaign, local or otherwise. Uncovering relevant, high-traffic keywords that you can realistically rank for is essential to the success of your local SEO efforts.

Unfortunately, keyword research can also be one of SEO's most difficult and time-consuming parts. If you're not careful, it's easy to get lost in the sea of data and come up empty-handed.

In this post, we'll share some tips and tricks on how to do local SEO keyword research the right way. By the end, you should have a solid list of keywords to target to improve your local SEO.

In this article, you'll learn:

  • What is local keyword research? 
  • Why is local keyword research important? 
  • How to Do Local SEO Keyword Research (5 Steps Using Ahrefs) 
  • How to Track Local Keyword Rankings 

 

What is local keyword research? 

Local keyword research is the process of locating high-traffic, relevant keywords that you can rank for in your local market.

Unlike traditional keyword research, which focuses on general, broad keywords, local keyword research is all about finding keywords specific to your geographic area.

For example, if you're a plumber in Los Angeles, you'll want to focus on keywords like "plumber Los Angeles", "emergency plumber Los Angeles", and "24 hour plumber Los Angeles".

plumber Los Angeles Google Search

 

Not only are these keywords relevant to your business, but they're also specifically targeted to users in your city. This makes them much easier to rank for than general keywords like "plumber" or "emergency plumber".

 

Why is local keyword research important? 

If you want your business to be visible in the local search results, you need to be ranking for local keywords. Here are a few other reasons why local keyword research is important:

Local keywords are more relevant to your business. 

Think about it this way: when someone in your city is searching for a business like yours, they're not going to type in "plumber". Instead, they will type "plumber Los Angeles" or "emergency plumber Los Angeles".

If you're not ranking for these keywords, you won't appear in the search results. And if you're not showing up in the search results, you won't get any traffic (or customers).

Local keywords are generally more relevant to your brand because they're specifically targeted to users in your city or region. This makes them a valuable asset to any local SEO campaign.

Local keywords are easier to rank for. 

Local keywords are generally easier to rank than general, broad ones. This is because there's less competition for these keywords.

For example, we are targeting "coffee shop in San Jose Del Monte Bulacan" for our brick-and-mortar business in the Philippines. Given that the keyphrase is so specific, it only took us weeks to rank on the first page. See below: 

 

coffee shop in san jose del monte bulacan Google Search

 

This is good news for your business. It means that, with a little effort, you can rank for local keywords and start getting traffic from the search results.

Local keywords are more likely to convert. 

Not only are local keywords easier to rank for, but they're also more likely to convert. This is because users who search for these keywords are usually further along in the buying cycle.

They know what they need, and they're specifically looking for a business like yours in their city or region. This makes them much more likely to convert than someone just searching for a general keyword like "plumber".

To get the most out of your SEO efforts, you need to focus on local keywords. Now let's take a look at how you can find these keywords.

 

How to Do Local SEO Keyword Research (5 Steps Using Ahrefs) 

The best way to find local keywords is with a tool like Ahrefs. Ahrefs is a keyword research tool that allows you to see any keyword's search volume, traffic, and difficulty.

It also has several other features that make it perfect for local SEO keyword research, including:

  • The ability to see local search results 
  • The ability to filter keywords by location 
  • The ability to see the "local pack" for any keyword

 

Here's how to use Ahrefs for local SEO keyword research:

Step 1: Set your location 

The first thing you need to do is set your location. To do this, go to "Settings" and "Location".

You can either choose your current location or set a custom location. For the purposes of this tutorial, we're going to set a custom location.

To do this, enter the city or region you want to target into the "Location" field and click "Set location".

 

Step 2: Enter your seed keyword 

Once you've set your location, it's time to enter your seed keyword. This is the general, broad keyword that you want to rank for.

For example, if you're a plumber in Los Angeles, your seed keyword might be "plumber".

To enter your seed keyword, go to the "Keywords Explorer" tab and enter your keyword into the "Enter one or more terms" field.

ahrefs enter keyword

 

Step 3: Filter for local keywords 

Once you've entered your seed keyword, it's time to filter the results for local keywords. To do this, go to the "Filter" dropdown and then click "Location".

This will bring up a new window where you can select the location you want to target. Make sure to select the same location that you set in Step 1.

Once you've selected your location, click "Apply".

 

Step 4: Sort keywords by difficulty 

The next step is to sort the keywords by difficulty. This will help you to find the easiest keywords to rank for.

Go to the "Difficulty" column and click the arrow icon to do this. This will sort the keywords from easiest to hardest.

ahrefs sort keywords by difficulty

 

Step 5: Choose your target keyword 

Once you've sorted the keywords by difficulty, it's time to choose your target keyword. You will focus on ranking for this keyword in the search results.

 

How to Choose Which Keywords to Use

When choosing a target keyword, there are a few things you need to keep in mind:

Search volume 

The higher the search volume, the more traffic you'll likely get from the keyword.

Competition 

The lower the competition, the easier to rank for the keyword.

Difficulty 

The lower the difficulty, the easier to rank the keyword.

Once you've considered all these factors, choose the keyword you want to target and add it to your SEO plan.

In deciding which keywords to target, the rule of thumb is usually to target the keywords with the highest search volume and lowest competition.

But that's not absolute, as there are local keywords with 0-10 or zero search volume that can generate hundreds of organic traffic to your website. See what keywords make sense for your business and content theme, and publish pages around those topics. 

 

Other Tools for Local Keyword Research

In addition to Ahrefs, there are several other tools you can use for local keyword research. Some of the most popular options include:

These are all great tools that can help you to find the right keywords for your business.

 

Next Step: Expand Your Keyword List

Now that you've found some great local keywords, it's time to expand your list.

Google Keyword Planner is a free tool that allows you to enter a seed keyword and see a list of related keywords.

google keyword planner

 

UberSuggest is another tool that can be used to expand your keyword list. It's a free tool that generates a list of related keywords based on a seed keyword.

ubersuggest keyword research

AnswerThePublic.com is a free tool that allows you to enter a seed keyword and see a list of questions related to that keyword.

answerthepublic keyword research

How to Track Local Keyword Rankings 

Now that you've chosen your target keyword, tracking your local keyword rankings is time. This will help you to see how well your SEO efforts are paying off and whether or not you need to make any changes.

You can track your local keyword rankings in a few different ways, but the best way is with a tool like Ahrefs.

To track your keyword rankings with Ahrefs, go to the "Rank Tracker" tab and enter your target keyword into the "Enter one or more terms" field.

This will bring up a list of all the keywords you're tracking and their current position in the search results.

You can also see other important information, such as each keyword's search volume, traffic, and difficulty.

 

Takeaways

Local SEO keyword research is a great way to find keywords you can rank for in the search results. While there are a lot of suggested strategies, the process is quite simple.

With a little effort, you can soon start ranking for high-traffic, low-competition keywords and driving more traffic to your website.

 

Local SEO Keyword Research Frequently Asked Questions

How do I target local keywords?

To target local keywords effectively, start by researching popular terms specific to your target location. Use tools like Google Trends, Google Keyword Planner, and local search volumes to identify relevant keywords. Incorporate these keywords naturally into your website content, meta tags, and local business listings. Optimize your website for local searches through local schema markup and creating location-specific landing pages.

 

How to do location based keyword research?

For location-based keyword research, follow these steps:

  1. Identify your target location.
  2. Use location-specific keyword tools to find relevant keywords.
  3. Analyze search volume and competition for each keyword.
  4. Optimize your website and content with these location-based keywords.
  5. Monitor performance and make adjustments as necessary.

By conducting location-based keyword research, you can improve your website's visibility and attract local visitors.

 

How do I track local SEO?

To track local SEO, start by setting up Google Analytics and Google Search Console. Use Google My Business Insights to monitor your listing performance and track keyword rankings in local search. Additionally, implement tools like Moz Local or BrightLocal for comprehensive local SEO tracking. Regularly review your website's organic traffic and local pack placement to gauge the success of your local SEO efforts.

 

Is local SEO worth it?

Yes, local SEO is definitely worth the effort for many businesses. Whether you have a physical store or offer services in a specific area, implementing local SEO can substantially benefit your business. By optimizing your online presence for local searches, you can increase visibility, attract more targeted customers, and drive higher conversion rates.

 

How can I SEO research keywords for free?

There are several free SEO research tools available. Here are some of the most popular options:

  • Google Keyword Planner
  • Moz Keyword Explorer
  • UberSuggest
  • AnswerThePublic.com
  • Rank Tracker
  • Google Search Console
  • Keyword Tool Dominator

 

What is included in local SEO?

Local SEO includes optimizing your website for local search engines and directories, as well as making sure your business is listed in relevant local directories.

It also involves optimizing your website content for local keywords and making sure your website is mobile-friendly.

 

How do I use Google local SEO?

There are a few different things you can do to optimize your website for Google local SEO:

  • Make sure your NAP (name, address, and phone number) is consistent across all platforms.
  • Claim your Google My Business listing and make sure it is up-to-date.
  • Optimize your website content for local keywords.
  • Make sure your website is mobile-friendly.
  • Add relevant Schema markup to your website.
  • Encourage customers to leave reviews on your Google My Business listing.
  • Monitor your local SEO efforts with a tool like Ahrefs.

 

How do you know you need local SEO?

Wondering if your business needs local SEO? Here are signs that you need one:

1) You have a physical location

If you're a brick-and-mortar business, then you need local SEO. Optimizing your website for local search will help customers find your store when they're searching for products or services in your area.

2) You serve a specific geographic area

If you only serve customers in a specific geographic area, then you need local SEO. For instance, if you're a plumber in Los Angeles, you'll want to optimize your website for local search so that people in Los Angeles can find you when they're searching for a plumber.

3) You have an online store

If you have an online store, then you need local SEO. optimizing your website for local search will help customers find your store when they're searching for products or services in your area.

4) You're a service-based business

Service-based businesses, such as lawyers, doctors, and plumbers, need local SEO. This is because people often search for these types of services when they're looking for someone in their area.

5) You want to increase foot traffic to your store

If you're a local restaurant, you'd want to reach diners around your area. One way to get in front of your target audience is to optimize your website for local search. This way, when people are searching for restaurants in your area, your restaurant will come up in the search results.

6) You want to increase phone calls or online bookings

If one of your KPIs is to increase phone calls or online bookings, then you need local SEO. Not only does Local SEO help customers find your business, but it also helps them find your contact information. This way, they can easily get in touch with you to book an appointment or ask for more information.

7) You want to increase online sales

Who doesn't want this, right? If you're looking to increase online sales, then you need to make sure your website is optimized for local search.

8) You're not ranking in the top 3 results

If you're not ranking in the top 3 results for your target keywords, then you need to optimize your website for local search. Because 75% of people don't go past the first page of Google, it's important to make sure your website is visible in the search results.

9) You're not appearing in the Local Pack

The Local Pack is a box that appears at the top of the search results that includes three local businesses. If you're not appearing in this box, improving your Local SEO can help you get in front of more potential customers.

10) Your competitors are doing it

If your competitors are doing Local SEO and you're not, they're getting an edge over you. By optimizing your website for local search, you can level the playing field and compete with them for top rankings in the search results.

 

How do I find local keyword volume?

Here's how to figure out how popular your local keywords are

  1. Go to Google Keyword Planner.
  2. Select “Search for new keywords using a phrase, website, or category”
  3. Enter your seed keyword and location
  4. Click “Get Ideas”
  5. Scroll down to the “Keyword Ideas” section and review the “Local Monthly Searches” column.

This will give you an estimate of the monthly search volume for each keyword.

You now better understand Local SEO and why it's important for your business. If you're not already doing Local SEO, now is the time to start!


attorney link building

Link Building for Lawyers: 12 Strategies For Law Firms

This is the comprehensive guide on attorney link building in 2023.

The best part?

Everything on this list is working GREAT right now.

So if you want to get more backlinks to your legal website, you'll love today's list of link building strategies.

Let's dive right in…

 

Link Building for Lawyers: 12 Strategies For Law Firms

1. Get Easy Links From Legal Directories

Directory link building is probably the easiest way to get backlinks.

Some directories are free. Others require subscription or one-time fees.

But you don't need to submit any content. All you need is a few important details about your law firm and your website.

That's it.

So how you can get backlinks from directories?

First, make a list of all lawyer-specific directories.

list of legal directories google sheets

 

Next is to categorize them based on their type.

There are two types of directories: paid and free directories.

There are paid directories where you need to fill out a form, submit a payment, and wait for the review process of your submission. Other paid directories don't have much waiting time. You get easily approved once you submit your payment.

And free directories where you only need to fill out your basic information (Business Name, Phone Number, Practice Area, links to social profiles, and your website). Then submit. Some free directories also have an approval process.

Know that every directory is different.

Once you have a list of free and paid directories, qualify these directories based on some metrics.

You want to ensure you only get links from directories that can bring value to your law firm website.

So what are those metrics?

First, relevance.

Start with legal-specific directories.

For example, Justia Lawyers only include law firms and legal organizations listings.

legal directories

 

Another qualifier is Moz's Domain Rating.

I recommend getting lawyer niche directories with a minimum DA of 20.

Not too low to get NEW relevant directories.  Not too high to include non-authoritative submission sites.

Once you have these details of directories on your list, decide if you'll do the submission yourself or hire a virtual assistant to do all the legwork for you.

 

How To Find More Lawyer-Specific Directories

If you're looking to find more directories for your law firm website, the best way is to check out your competitors' backlink profiles.

Ahrefs can help you out finding directories where your competitors have links.

Start by entering the domain in Ahrefs' Site Explorer.

ahrefs competitor analysis directories

Go to the Backlinks section. This will show you all the websites linking to your competitor.

Type in "directory" in the "Include" search to only see directory websites.

list directories ahrefs

 

There you'll surface a bunch of directories you can submit your website details and get attorney-related links.

You can check out this guide on how to use Ahrefs for link building.

2. Build Local Citations

If you want to rank for localized attorney keywords, such as "personal injury Florida", you need citations.

A local citation is any online mention of a local business's name, address, and phone number (NAP).

Citations help search users discover local businesses. These can impact your local search rankings.

Check out this updated list by Bright Local of the top local citation sites.

brightlocal local citation sites

3. Offer Scholarship Programs

Scholarships are one way to get tons of edu backlinks to your website.

The reason?

Financial aid departments of universities have listings of current scholarships on their website. They keep updating those listing pages to help students find the latest scholarship programs they can apply for.

And the best thing is you aid students with their financial needs while, at the same time, getting backlinks to your law firm website from these scholarship pages.

Now here are four steps to do scholarship link building.

Step 1: Create a scholarship page

Know what you want to offer in your scholarship program.

Do you want to target law school students?

The more relevant your scholarship is to your brand, the better impact scholarship links can have on your website.

Create a page that includes all the details your target beneficiaries need to apply for your program. Details include name, award amount, deadline, rules or criteria for application, snd submission, and review process.

legal scholarship program

legal scholarship 2

Complete all details of your scholarship program.

That way, your offer is more appealing to people who handle the financial aid department of university websites.

Step 2: Make a list of all target schools for outreach

Once your page is set up, your next step is looking for scholarship listing pages.

Typically, you'll find the financial aid department that provides a list filled with scholarship programs.

How do you find them?

Use search phrases along with Google search operators.

Here's a list of search queries that you can use for prospecting:

  • "legal" ~scholarships ~financial aid
  • "legal" ~scholarships ~financial aid
  • "legal" site.edu ~scholarships ~financial aid
  • "legal" site.edu ~scholarships ~financial aid
  • "legal" site.edu ~scholarships ~financial aid
  • "legal" site.edu ~scholarships ~financial aid
  • "legal" site.edu ~scholarships ~financial aid
  • "legal" site.edu ~scholarships ~financial aid
  • "legal" site.edu ~scholarships ~financial aid
  • "legal" site.edu ~scholarships ~financial aid
  • "legal" site.edu ~scholarships ~financial aid
  • "legal" site.edu ~scholarships ~financial aid
  • "legal" site.edu ~scholarships ~financial aid

Look for the contact person who manages the scholarship listing. It could be the person in charge of the financial aid page or the school's webmaster.

legal scholarship spreadsheet

Add the contact person's name, designation, and email address (or contact form) to your list.

How To Find More Scholarship Listing Pages

Another way to populate your list is to find pages that link to your competitors' scholarship page or other relevant law firms that offer scholarship programs.

ahrefs competitor analysis scholarships

 

Enter a legal-specific scholarship program in Ahrefs Site Explorer. Go to the Backlinks sections to see all pages linking to the scholarship page.

Add these pages to your list.

Step 3: Reach out to your outreach prospects

Send emails to your prospects. Tell them about your scholarship, where to find it (URL of your page), and how students can apply.

Not all prospects are the same.

Some people will ask for more details about your scholarship program, so be sure, you have complete details when they need them.

Best Lawyer Scholarship Programs (2021 List)

Below is a list of the best scholarship programs in the legal space. Check them out and find inspiration for your scholarship link building strategy.

Shook and Stone Scholarship

 

shook and stone scholarship

 

Harris Personal Injury

 

personal injury scholarship

4. Create And Promote Evergreen Content Assets

There's more content published today than ever before.

According to this content study by Backlinko, 94% of online content has zero external links.

So:

How can you create content that stands out in the legal space?

The answer is:

Publish evergreen content assets.

Content that is more comprehensive than other pages related to your topic.

Content that is evergreen to be relevant and beneficial over the long term.

Creating these evergreen content assets requires a content strategy and keyword research.

Doing keyword research effectively and creating content to match topics to serve your audience.

You can do both with topic clustering.

Topic clustering is grouping your content by key topic areas, wherein there is the main page (commonly called a "pillar page") that targets a broader audience and stretches out by having support pages to cover specific topic ideas or key phrases listed on the pillar content. 

topic clusterAnd important is having both pillar and cluster content internally link.

How To Create Evergreen Content Assets

Step 1: Discover Topics, Not Just Keywords

Find topics that you can address with your expertise.

My recommendation is to use Ahrefs to discover legal-related topics.

ahrefs keyword explorer legal topics

 

Review each keyword in the results and see which has informational content.

Check through the list and see if there are any parent informational topics.

car accident deaths

 

Look deeper to find more relevant topics.

Add filters if you want only to see keywords that fit your context.

For example:

  • Set KD (Keyword Difficulty) to Max 40 if you know your law firm website doesn't have much domain authority to compete in the search results.
  • Filter by volume. Make it only give you keywords with a search volume of 100 minimum.
  • Check Featured Snippet in SERP features, which is optional, only if you want keywords with a featured snippet pack.

You can export results from Ahrefs into CSV to filter them more.

Make sure you list all the keywords with their parent topics (including all criteria you choose to consider - KD, volume, Featured Snippet).

csv car accident keywords

 

What's another important thing besides finding content topics?

It's the content type.

You want to know what kind of content piece you'll publish on your content.

Step 2: Identify Content Types That are Best For The Topic

How to know what content type suits you best for the topic?

The answer?

Look at the search results.

Because what the search results will reveal is the type of content the search engines see as deserving to rank for that topic.

google-search-results-car-accident-deaths

 

You may surface content types such as statistics ("study"), long-form content ("guides"), listicles ("best X"), or FAQ ("frequently asked questions").

Different topics manifest different content types.

Look through each search result and see the common pattern among ranking pages.

Add a "Content-Type" column to your list.

Step 3: Create Content 10X Than Its Competitors

The biggest step in content marketing is creating the content.

And to make your content 10x:

Make sure you check what's missing from your competitors. Go to each ranking page and review them.

Ask yourself, can I add something that's been missing or hasn't been mentioned from their content?

List them down.

Add internal data.

Case studies, surveys, and other content formats.

Include your own actionable insights in your post.  Just make it more comprehensive.

Structure your content in a way that's easy to digest.

Here is a simple guide from Ahrefs to creating "BIG" blog content.

Step 4: Promote Your Content Assets

Everyone creates content, but only a few promote their work.

That's not you, right?

So start to promote your content assets to get more traffic and earn backlinks to your website.

But how will you do that?

Make a list of all pages that have been shared or linked to pages related to your topic.

You can use Ahrefs to find these backlink prospects.

reverse engineer content assets

 

Get their contact details and start reaching out to them.

See more link building strategies that focus on content as a value proposition in email outreach.

 

5. Leverage Thought Leadership

Legal expertise can help you build more natural links to your law firm site.

As they say:

Educating is the best way to sell.

In doing law firm SEO services, educating is the best way to build links.

Because people want answers to their pressing needs and questions.

And they will give you links if they find value when you share your expertise.

If you're a thought leader, leverage any of these brand assets.

Publishing Books

If you or your attorney-client have published books on Amazon or any book publishing web places, consider how to use these books to get links to the legal site.

You may add direct links to your lawyer's website in author profiles.

Or have a page on your site dedicated to that book.

You may include the URL of this book page in your digital PR campaign to get traction and potential natural links from the websites of publishers and journalists.

Podcasts

Podcasting is a great way to build your brand and expose your thought leadership to a large audience of linkers (publishers and bloggers) who're likely to link to your website.

legal podcasts

 

There are two ways to get backlinks from podcasting:

Start a podcast.

Get interviewed on podcasts.

You get links from podcast hosting companies through your profile pages when you start a podcast.

When you get interviewed on podcasts, you get links from podcast blog transcriptions ("show notes" or "links section").

Provide Answers To Questions

As a legal practitioner, you can help anyone interested in legal practice by answering their questions online.

Either you comment on other people's legal blogs (not your competitors) or by becoming part of a crowdsourcing post sharing a tip or two when asked for insight on legal topics.

When you comment on blogs, you don't simply drop by and spam them with comment links.

You give value to their audience by sharing your own insights or feedback points to their articles.

You want your comment to be interesting so that people are enticed to click on the link pointing to your website. This way, you get referred traffic from the website.

Discover Unlinked Brand Mentions

If you're showcasing thought leadership online, publishers and content creators might recognize you.

Search the entire web to see if you, your law firm, or any of your online assets have been mentioned elsewhere.

Some brand mentions may not have links to your legal website — these are missed link opportunities.

Take advantage of that by reaching out to people and asking them to credit mentions with links.

You can use Ahrefs to create alerts whenever someone mentions you. This way, you can quickly email to ask for a backlink (in case the person didn't give you a link).

 

6. Use PR Outreach

How would you feel if journalists covered your stories?

What about being interviewed as a thought leader (or expert) in the legal space?

These are things that are possible with PR outreach.

Online PR is doable. It is something SMEs, including law firms, can take advantage of, not just Enterprise brands.

One effective tool to help you with online PR is Help a Reporter Out (HARO).

help a reporter out

It's a simple tool that allows you to connect to journalists.

The good thing with HARO?

Because the journalists request quotes, you can get responses instead of you chasing them out on Linkedin or other social platforms.

For example, you can jump into HARO and share your insights if they require quotes in an article about new legislation or the implications of a court case currently in local news.

HARO curates requests for stories, tips, information, or quotes from journalists and puts them in one place.

This may feel like a lot of work, but if you have a process to follow and tools, you can get exposure (and links) from journalists and top-tier publishers in your space.

Here are useful resources to help you get started with HARO link building and digital PR:

7. Maximize Sponsorship Opportunities

You can buy links ethically. How?

Not directly paying someone to give you a backlink to your legal firm site.

But by using money to support a cause of your target linkers.

Have you seen someone donate to a charity or sponsor an organization, event, or foundation?

That's what you do online.

Most non-profits and charitable organizations have their websites and dedicated pages to list logos of companies and organizations who support their cause.

For example, if a local non-profit organization has an upcoming event page, it has a section on its event page or somewhere on its website, a list of all the event sponsors.

sponsorship links

 

That section has a list of links to company websites.

Besides pursuing non-profit organizations, you can leverage online community websites to find sponsorships on events from local businesses.

One example is Meetup

With Meetup, you get to see events you'll sponsor and, in return, have the exposure (and links).

You connect to the organizer and ask about their sponsorship details.

Then you decide if it's the right fit for you.

 

8. Publish Legal-Specific Roundups

What if you can create valuable content with lesser effort in producing it?

That's possible with:

Legal roundups.

You ask thought leaders, practitioners, or experts a question on a particular topic.

Then you curate all of the inputs into one big blog post.

What's more interesting in having 33+ legal experts talking about a legal topic?

That's what The Dolman Law Group did with their "Attorneys Answer: When do you need to hire a car accident lawyer?" roundup post.

They asked 33+ experienced lawyers in auto accident claims in Florida to answer a question most people would ask with regard to a car accident.


legal roundup attorney answer

As of this writing, this law firm's website earned 128+ backlinks from other relevant publishers, helping their website to improve its site's search traffic.

backlinks roundup question

 

You can model what they did.

See what content topics people were looking to get insights from.

Go through each partner's legal websites and legal experts in your field to ask that question.

Compile their insights and make it a blog post.

 

9. Apply For Legal Awards & Associations

Any brand assets that display thought leadership and excellence in the legal space are powerful in helping you gain more backlinks to your legal website.

Do you have legal awards and associations you're associated with?

Some legal awards include:

If you're an SEO agency, ask your attorney-client if they want to be nominated in an upcoming legal award in your niche.

legal awards associations

 

When you can do so, submit their information and other details needed by the awarding body.

Typically, award pages offer links to the websites of awardees. This is your good chance to get a backlink using this attorney link building strategy.

10. Invest In Relationship Building

One of the best types of links is links built on relationships.

Why?

Because you don't just get one link from the website but recurring links given, you continuously provide value to the person (linker).

ask peers for links

Ask Your Peers For Links

There's never an easier way to get backlinks than to ask your friends.

Do any friends or partners in your networks have a website?

No, you don't reach out to them and say, "Give me links!".

Even if they are your friends, you still want to know what value you will offer them.

One value offer is content exchange.

This means you lend your expertise to write on a specific issue your friend's target audience will benefit from.

For example, you could write an article that speaks of a unique perspective on an issue that one of his clients might have. If you're a tax attorney and your friend is in the personal injury space, you could write an article on how personal injury settlements are taxed in her state.

You find what topics resonate with their audience — that also resonates with your brand or niche.

Give Testimonials

Testimonial link building is an easy way to get free backlinks to your law firm's website.

How's that possible?

Businesses need social proof to help their visitors convert into customers.

And testimonial is one social proof that tells their audience how good their product or service is.

Typically, business websites have their testimonials section on their homepage.

Or they have a dedicated page just for that.

Can you remember any business that provided services to you?

For example, if you hire home-based services to help you with cleaning or house chores, you can email them and provide a testimonial in exchange for a link to your legal firm website.

Check their websites and see if they have testimonials.

Reach out to them and send a testimonial quote about their service.

 

11. Give Value Through Reddit & Forum Link Building

Forums are not dead.

Your audience wants to get insights from other like-minded people.

The reason is:

They connect more, share their experiences openly, and are more receptive to answers and questions when they're part of a community.

Reddit is a very active social forum.

Law-related topics such as this one:

reddit legal advice forum

 

Or topics your audience engages in:

reddit car accidents forum

 

Create your Reddit profile.

Display your thought leadership by interacting with other members in subreddits.

You don't post links right away.

Participate in other discussions by responding to legal and niche-specific questions (e.g. car accidents).

Be mindful of the subreddit posting rules and regulations.

Some communities have strict rules for posting too many self-promotional links.

When it is only relevant to your audience, post links to your helpful articles.

 

12. Do Guest Posting

Guest posting is not dead.

Any publishers accept contributions from other authors (at some point).

Why?

Because it's free.

And if the quality of content reaches the standards of the guest blog.

How come they won't accept it?

Guest blogging offers more benefits than just links.

Branding. Exposure. Referral Traffic. Assisted conversions.

All these are long-term benefits useful for your law firm.

I've covered the exact step-by-step process of how to do guest blogging.

If you're hesitant about the effectiveness of guest blogging, check out your competitors and how they are getting backlinks today.

Some of the links they got at some point came from guest posts they contributed to other blogs.

 

Key Takeaways

I hope you enjoyed my attorney link building guide.

Now I’d like to hear what you have to say:

Which technique from this guide are you going to try first?

Do you want to submit your law firm website to legal directories?

Or maybe you want to leverage thought leadership to get more links.

Let me know by leaving a comment below right now.

 

Link Building for Lawyers Frequently Asked Questions

What is an SEO at a law firm?

An SEO at a law firm is responsible for optimizing the website by improving its search engine rankings to attract more visitors. They use techniques like keyword research, on-page optimization, and link building to increase the visibility of the law firm's website on search engine results pages (SERPs). With their expertise, they help drive valuable organic traffic to the site, ultimately leading to potential leads and clients for the law firm.

 

What is a good example of backlinks?

A popular example of backlinks is when a website includes a link to another website within its content. This link acts as a recommendation, indicating that the linked website is trustworthy and valuable to search engines. For instance, if a blog post mentions a helpful article and includes a link, it creates a backlink for that article. Backlinks play a crucial role in improving a site's search engine rankings.

 

Which backlinks should be avoided?

When it comes to backlinks, it's important to avoid certain types to maintain your site's credibility. Avoid paid links, as search engines prioritize organic and earned ones. Similarly, avoid including irrelevant press releases or low-quality directories and forum links. Also, be cautious of domains with a high spam score. By steering clear of these backlink types, you can boost your site's standing and visibility in search results.

 

Are backlinks legal?

Backlinks are legal and important for SEO, but buying them directly from a website without proper disclosure violates Google's guidelines. Avoid this practice and instead focus on building high-quality backlinks through organic methods like creating valuable content and building relationships with authoritative websites.


backlink audit

How To Do A Complete Backlink Audit (5 Easy Steps)

After conducting hundreds of backlink audit campaigns for our clients, we teach you the entire process to do it. 

In this guide, you'll discover:

  • What is a backlink audit? 
  • Why backlink audit is important? 
  • 5 easy steps to do a backlink audit (in less than 30 minutes) 

So finish this guide if you want to know if your website is in good shape through a simple backlink audit. 

What is a backlink audit? 

A backlink audit is the process of assessing all the links pointing to your website. It involves identifying both good and bad links and devising a strategy to address them. You can download your list of links from Google Webmaster Tools and manually review each backlink. It's crucial for maintaining the health and credibility of your website.

In this activity, you want to ensure zero unnatural and toxic backlinks could harm your website, which could hinder future SEO initiatives or trigger a Google manual or algorithmic penalty. 

 

Why do a backlink audit?

Performing a backlink audit is essential to ensure the health of your website. You can identify and remove any harmful or spammy backlinks by conducting a thorough analysis. This not only protects your site from potential penalties but also enhances your SEO efforts, allowing for better organic rankings and traffic.

Before you perform a backlink audit, you need to know why you should be doing it. 

Here are three purposes of a backlink audit:

  • Identify spammy inbound links to your website.
  • Do more of what you did well in previous link building efforts.
  • Get insights into your next link building plan. 

 

Identify spammy inbound links.

You could've taken a new client, and you're unaware that their previous agency built bad links to your client's site. 

Or your website has been hit by a negative SEO attack. Your competitors have done nasty things by building toxic links to your website instead of focusing on improving their backlink profile.

Either way, you want to know if you've got any spammy inbound links. You want to remove them as soon as possible as a course of action. Otherwise, you might receive a Google manual penalty, which could hurt your website's organic traffic (and conversions) 

 

Do more of what you did well in previous link building efforts.

A backlink audit isn't just knowing the negative stuff. It also gives you the time to assess what works well and do more of them. 

If you've been building and earning good backlinks, it is wise to replicate the types of links, link building strategies, and linkable content formats to improve your site's backlink profile even more. 

 

Get insights into your next link building plan.

Backlink audit helps you assess your website's link profile against the competition. 

With that, you can leverage a more cohesive action-oriented plan to outpace your competitor's backlinks and outrank their performance in search results. 

Insights gathered from backlink audits help you come up with a solid future link building plan. 

 

Backlink Audit Tools

You need tools to help you gather valuable information about your backlinks. 

In performing a backlink audit, you could use any of the following link building tools (or even combine them if you have spreadsheet skills):

My recommended tools for backlink audits are Ahrefs, Moz, and Majestic. 

It is best to invest in at least one of the mentioned link intelligence tools, as you'll not only be using them for backlink audit but for other essential link building tasks (e.g. competitor backlink research and link search).  

In this guide, I'll be using Ahrefs and Majestic. So let's go about how to do a complete backlink audit in 30 minutes or less.

 

How To Do A Backlink Audit

Here is how to do a backlink audit in five steps:

  1. Get an overview of your backlink profile and of your competitors.
  2. Find low-quality backlinks to your website. 
  3. Discover opportunities and methods by reviewing your backlink profile.
  4. Check for any broken backlinks you can fix.
  5. Strategize for your next link building plan.

 

Step 1:  Get An Overview Of Your Backlink Profile and Of Your Competitors 

In a backlink audit, you start from top to bottom. 

This means you look from a high-level view of your backlink profile and then lean into details. 

Begin by entering your domain into Ahrefs' Site Explorer to see overview details of your backlinks.

 

backlink audit overview backlink profile

 

As of this writing, our example website has 39.8K total backlinks and 1.05K referring domains. 

The number of backlinks and referring domains gives you a quantifiable metric for the current success of your link building campaign. 

The higher your number with these numbers, the higher the domain rating you'll get for your website. More backlinks from high authority sites increase your own site's domain rating. 

Sidenote: If you find an imbalance number between the two, say 1M backlinks while having only 5K+ referring domains, take a closer look at the website, as this might indicate that the site did shady link building strategies. More on this later. 

Next thing to do:

 

Compute the average link gap between your website and your competitors. 

You have to compute the average backlink gap to keep up with your competitors (or get ahead of them).

What is backlink gap? 

Backlink gap is basically the estimated difference of links and referring domains between your competitors and your website.

It's not an absolute number, though, but this gives you a rough estimate of how many links you should be pursuing to get ahead of the competition. 

One tool you can use to compute for this initially is Ahrefs' Domain Comparison feature.

When you enter your competitors' domains, It shows you an overview of backlink data across multiple domains at a glance. 

backlink audit domain comparison

 

You can see directly here how many backlinks and referring domains your competitors have compared to yours. 

The backlink gap isn't just about the quantity difference.

So to calculate the backlink gap, you should focus on high-quality backlinks. The easiest way to get the links' quality is by evaluating each referring domain's DR. You can do it via Ahrefs' Referring Domains report. 

Once you have a list of websites and their DR, you need to export the results and see how many links are high-quality (DR > 70), medium quality (DR ≥ 30 ), and low-quality websites (DR < 30). 

Sidenote: DR isn't the only metric to assess link quality. Other tools offer similar metrics, such as Moz' Domain Rating and Majestic Trustflow. But for the purposes of using Ahrefs, we use DR as our qualitative metric. 

Another initiative to get a top-level view of the competition is to: 

 

Assess your link velocity rate in comparison to your competitors. 

The link velocity rate is the speed at which backlinks to your website are added over a specific period of time. 

You can be so fast at a given time, which might dictate a potential negative SEO attack, or so slow that your competitors are outcompeting you regarding links. 

To check link velocity, you can see the website's referring domains graph on Ahrefs' Site Explorer overview.

backlink audit referring domains report
Sidenote: Check if there is a big burst or big drop on referring domains graph. A big burst might indicate a potential negative SEO attack, while a big drop might signal loss of links to specific pages. 

Speaking of potential harm to your website, your next activity should be to:

 

Look for potential spam and keyword-rich anchor text in your profile.

Harmful links are easy to detect by looking at how they link to you — anchor text

One is checking for any dodgy anchor texts and keyword-rich anchor texts. 

Ahrefs provides an anchor text section of all backlinks in your profile.

A good anchor text profile must compose of branded anchor texts, as this is a natural way for other publishers to link to their external sources.

Check if there are any dodgy anchor texts:

Or high-density keyword-rich anchor texts: 

exact match anchor texts section ahrefs
Sidenote: Backlinks with keyword-rich anchor texts aren't necessarily bad. In fact, it's common to have this type of anchor text. However, if you see that the high density of your anchor texts (let's say 70 to 90%) are all keyword-rich anchor texts, consider it for a backlink audit execution. 

Covered this earlier, but it's good to separate this one: 

 

Check for possible negative SEO attacks. 

Are there any big spikes or big dips in referring domains graph? 

Big spikes might indicate negative SEO to your website. Other webmasters and SEOs may be trying to pull your site's organic traffic by building toxic backlinks to your pages.

What will you do then?

Ignore or disavow. 

Why and how? 

Read our next step. I'll get into this in a little more detail. 

 

Step 2:  Find Low-Quality Backlinks To Your Website. 

This is one of the important steps in a backlink audit.

The reason you want to find low quality backlinks is to remove them (at all costs if you can). 

Toxic, irrelevant backlinks could hinder your SEO growth in the future if not taken into consideration.

So how do you find low-quality backlinks? 

First, know the difference between good backlinks and bad backlinks.

You can't find them if you don't know their nature and if they are considered as bad. 

 

Good Backlinks VS Bad Backlinks

What is a good backlink?

A good backlink is editorially given.

Editorially given links are natural backlinks. These are links gained without any manipulation or even some kind of manual outreach. 

You create value from the content or any other web assets, and that's why they link to you. 

 

A good backlink is from a reliable website.

A reliable website is a website that has an intended audience. It speaks to a target market (e.g. tech-savvy people). 

You'll know if a website is good when the website has a real audience (readers). If it's a blog, you can check the website's social engagement and its comment section. There you'll know that it has a community of readers. 

A reliable website has good-quality content. The information isn't generated by any AI copywriting tools or spun content by getting original content and running it through a word spinner content to make it look original.

You know that the content is high-quality when you can read information from beginning to end and still understand it.

 

A good backlink is from an authoritative website.

Authority is relative. But it can easily be determined by a quantifiable metric such as Ahrefs' Domain Rating.

An authoritative website must have a Domain Rating (or Moz' Domain Authority) of 25 and above. 

Sidenote: Some domains may have low DR given that they don't have many links yet pointing to the website. However, these low-DR websites have real authors and readers and are good sources of backlinks. 

 

A good backlink is do-follow. 

Dofollow backlinks improve link equity to destination pages, which is great for ranking websites.

While you can naturally get no-follow backlinks, you must aim for do follow backlinks, as it passes more link juice to your website. 

Sidenote: Do not discount no-follow backlinks, as it makes your backlink profile natural. But if you want to maximize your outreach efforts, pursue link opportunities that are do-follow because they pass link juice to your website. 

Now, it's time to know what a bad backlink is.

It's the opposite characteristics of a good backlink. 

 

What is a bad backlink?

A bad backlink is from a spammy source.

They don't come from reliable websites. 

Bad backlinks are from websites of low-quality Private Blog Network, content farms, and generic low-quality directories.

 

Bad backlink is from a website with rich exact match anchor texts. 

A high density of keyword-rich anchor texts can harm your website. Unnatural anchor texts signal your website to be manipulating each and every manual outreach effort. 

 

Bad backlink is from elicits websites.

Elicit websites are porn, gambling, hate, adult, and unsafe.

 

Bad backlink is related to spammy content.

Spammy content doesn't offer much value to its readers. Whether it is spun or AI-generated or it has grammatical errors. In other words, hard to consume for a general audience. 

 

Bad backlink is a no-follow link. 

No-follow backlinks don't pass any link juice to your website.

 

Now, you know exactly the difference between a good backlink and a bad backlink.

Let's get right to how you can find spammy backlinks. 

 

How to Find Low Quality Backlinks?

1. Enter your domain in Majestic to get backlink data. 

(I use Majestic this time as it gives me a more accurate spam score for backlinks through its Trust Flow). 

Export all backlinks.

 

2. Sort links according to spam metrics. 

Different link intelligence tools have different spam metrics. 

Moz has its Spam Score. Majestic has its Trustflow. For Ahrefs, you can use its Organic Traffic. 

Get low-quality links from the list that have either:

  • Moz' Spam Score (Spam Score <8) 
  • Majestic's Trustflow (TF <15)
  • Ahrefs' Organic Traffic (<500)
Sidenote: You may be tempted not to check high-DR (DA) websites as it seems they don't have any indication for spam. But it is best to review high DR websites but with low organic traffic. 

Review websites with insignificant backlinks to referring domains ratio (e.g. 500K backlinks > 1K referring domains). 

ratio of backlinks to referring domains

 

Next:

 

3. Check anchor texts of these low-quality links. 

Dig deeper. 

See if they have irrelevant anchor texts or keyword-rich anchor texts. 

Make a note of these links with spammy anchor texts. 

 

4. See their link types. 

Bad backlinks are from non-authoritative websites and low-quality content (as mentioned earlier).

Check if any low-quality links are content farms, UGC (user-generated content), forums, and comments.

Also, make a note of these.

 

5. Manually check suspicious-looking websites.

Dig deeper and deeper.

After reviewing links with spammy anchor texts and low-quality link sources, check other websites with low spam scores.

There are other bad or spammy indications to links that are more obvious when you see the website.

Is the website full of display ads that the actual content gets difficult to read? 

Does the website have a general (non-niche) audience? 

Does the website have an old-school (the early 2000s) design template? 

These are just a few things to look at in the backlink source to assess their link quality. 

Now you need to:

 

6. Have a final list of websites.

This should be a list of backlinks:

  • From low-quality link sources
  • With irrelevant or keyword-rich anchor texts
  • PBN-looking websites (old-school design template)
  • From spammy content 
  • From irrelevant and/or elicits websites

Once you have a list, you have three courses of action:

 

Ignore these toxic links. 

Because Google's algorithm has become so advanced in checking spammy links, they simply ignore backlinks to a website.

Especially if your website has gained authority and trust as it builds natural, high-quality links and offers readable and high-quality content. 

Google will simply ignore your toxic links. 

But if this is not your preferred action, you may:

 

Request for backlink removal. 

Find all email addresses of websites hosting these spammy links.

Contact those webmasters and ask them to remove your backlink.

There are cases where they would ask you for a payment before removing your link. For me, this is not worth your money (you should've invested it in link building).

If, in any case, some won't remove your backlinks, it's time to disavow them. 

 

Disavow

Disavow is simply telling Google that you don't count certain backlinks of your website. 

To start with this, list down all domains or web pages you find to be low-quality.

Then go to Search Console and to its disavow tool. 

You can check out the following guides to give more details on how to disavow toxic links:

 

Step 3:  Discover Opportunities and Methods By Reviewing Your Backlink Profile

Backlink audit is not only about finding low quality backlinks to your website.

It is also discovering the best opportunities and methods. 

 

Start by reviewing your backlink profile.

If your website has been successful in increasing its organic traffic. Plus, it attracts new backlinks every month.

It is best to uncover some content ideas.

How?

 

Use "Best by links" feature.

See which pages on your site have gained the most referring domains. 

best by links waterzen website

 

You can assess which content formats, length of content, and topics have resonated most with your linkable audiences.

From this insight, you can create similar types of content to continue the momentum of gaining new inbound backlinks to your site.

Another important discovery:

 

Use "Best by links growth" feature of Ahrefs to know what pages naturally attract backlinks.

The first one knows the type and topic of content that works, with or without manual outreach, to get links. 

This time, it's more of getting insights into what gives your site the ability to attract backlinks, even without doing email outreach. 

By link growth, you see that the page attracts new links from publishers who used it as references for their content (they see it ranking on the first page while looking for references in search). 

ahrefs best by links growth fiddlershop

 

This is an important process, as you can also use it for your competitors to see what pages bring them the most backlinks.

Besides links, you also want to know this:

 

Know what websites bring you the most traffic.

Go to Ahrefs and view Backlinks report. 

Sort websites based on Traffic. 

ahrefs backlinks that drive referral traffic

 

You want to know what websites pointing to your site bring the most referral traffic. 

This insight leads you to improve your link building strategies.

One is to go after these publications and contribute more guest posts to increase the traffic you get from them. 

Another way is to build content assets that resonate with high-traffic websites. So when you reach out to them and promote your content, you know it's something they'd be interested in linking as external sources. 

Want some more actionable methods?

Read the next link building opportunity. 

 

Discover patterns between your inbound links.

If you can identify commonalities between your most powerful backlinks, you start to understand why these people are linking to you.

Finding new backlink prospects that can help move the needle for your rankings becomes easier. 

 

In summary, to get insights and methods by reviewing your backlink profile:

  • Use "Best by links" feature to uncover content ideas.
  • Use "Best by links growth" to know what pages naturally attract backlinks.
  • Know what websites bring you the most traffic.
  • Discover patterns between your inbound links.

 

Step 4:  Check For Any Wasted Backlinks You Can Fix

Wasted backlinks are links that have brought value, but not giving desired link juice to your site anymore.

So what do you do about them?

Check for any wasted links and try to fix them.

How?

First:

 

Find broken pages of your websites with inbound links. 

This is an overlooked opportunity in link building:

Pages that gained backlinks but given they are no longer function, these links are put to waste. 

So, start identifying these broken pages by using "Best by links" feature of Ahrefs.

Then search for 404 pages by simply clicking the drop menu.  

ahrefs 404 broken wasted links

 

These are defunct pages with links. 

Your action could be:

Redirect these broken pages to similar content on your site. This will pass link juice to your new page and, thus, help your linked-to page to rank for its target keyword.

Another plan is to create an entirely new page that covers the topic. 

Once you publish your new page, you can reach out to publishers and webmasters linked to your broken page. Ask them to change their external links (from the old broken page to a new page). 

 

Find pages with inbound links but with little to no organic search traffic. 

You also want to look at pages needing internal linking to push their rankings up in search results.

How to find them first?

Once you enter the domain in Ahrefs Site Explorer, go to "Top Pages" report from Organic Search tab.

Filter pages based on Traffic maximum of 50 to only get pages that receive 0 to 50 in organic traffic.

ahrefs top pages 0 to 50 traffic

 

Export the results and examine them further.

Enter URLs in the Batch feature of Ahrefs so you can see how many referring domains are pointing to each page.

ahrefs quick batch analysis backlink audit

 

Sort the list from highest to lowest referring domains to arrive at pages with little to no organic traffic but receives a good number of referring domains.

backlink audit batch analysis sorted by referring domains

 

What will you do with them?

Update and optimize this content.

Make sure on-page and off page SEO elements are added to the page. This doesn't only help the content to improve its rankings but also acquire additional inbound links. 

Last thing for backlink audit:

 

Step 5: Strategize For Your Next Link Building Plan

After weeding out toxic links and seeing methods and more link opportunities to your website,  your next action is to have a better link building plan. 

This goes to say you'll think not just about the details of your website but from a view of your competitors. 

Here are some tips in this last phase to make it work for your link building campaign: 

 

Assess the right balance of distribution of efforts to your pages.

Not all pages deserve your attention if you're doing manual outreach for links.

There are only linkable assets that you can promote and could give you links from interested linkers. 

Make a list of these linkable information pages.  

Then, add to your list are landing pages you aim to rank for. These pages are part of your mid to bottom-of-the-funnel strategy that brings sales to your brand.

Now, you have linkable informational pages and landing pages in your list.

 

Here are some considerations when you decide which pages to build more links to:

What commercial pages are sitting in positions 6 to 20 in search results?

More backlinks to these pages can help improve their rankings and drive more revenue to your business. There is a huge difference in clicks from a page ranking at #1 from its competing page ranking at #6. 

You can use Ahrefs to find these pages quickly.

backlink audit organic keywords

 

Or you can go straight to "Top Landing Pages" report.

backlink audit top landing pages

 

What pages are bringing you traffic but receive zero to few backlinks?

These are the pages that bring money to your website.

Building more links to these pages can drive up their rankings and increase your site's overall traffic value.

 

How to find them?

Enter your domain and go to "Top Pages" report. 

Export the list. Then filter to less than 10 RD (Referring Domains). 

Then sort the list by ascending Traffic. 

Here, you'll see a list of pages with the most traffic value, but with less than 10 referring domains. 

traffic value and referring domains

 

You can use our two considerations above to make a decision on which pages to push more links to. 

 

Select pages for targeted links based on the backlink gap index. [ADVANCED] 

Your next link building plan includes how to outperform your competitors.

That includes the quality and quality of backlinks you're building against them.

We've covered how to compute the backlink gap in the middle section of this guide. It is basically the difference between your site's number of referring root domains and your competitors' websites. 

You can compute the backlink gap index if you want a more accurate number.

So on top of linking the root domain gap, you also compute the volume/gap ratio.

To compute this, simply divide the link gap into the search volume. See the example computation below from Garett French's guest ost on Moz.

backlink gap index

 

Know these two numbers: value per link VS cost per link. 

Have a rough estimate of how much you spend to earn a single link.

While there are different variables to cost per link, finding a good number gives you an idea if you're spending too much. 

For this section, here are good resources that exactly shows how to compute for value per link and cost per link:

 

Assess and Improve Your Link Building Campaign 

A backlink audit aims to assess the current status of your backlink profile while identifying toxic backlinks you can remove and discovering opportunities you can maximize. 

Keep this in mind. Every website is different. Some backlink audits might take days to finish; if done well, others can initially be done in 30 minutes. 

 

Backlink Audit Frequently Asked Questions

What is backlink audit pro?

Backlink audit pro refers to thoroughly assessing all the inbound links to your website and determining their value and quality. By creating a comprehensive list of linking sites, you can evaluate each link and classify it as either beneficial or detrimental to your site's ranking and reputation. Ultimately, this analysis helps you optimize your backlink profile and improve your website's performance in search engine results.

 

How do I verify backlinks?

To verify backlinks, obtain a comprehensive analysis of the target's backlink profile. This will provide a breakdown of the websites referring to the target, helping you assess the quality and relevance of the backlinks. Analyzing backlinks is essential for understanding the link profile's strengths and weaknesses to improve your SEO strategies.

 

How do I remove harmful backlinks?

There are a few steps you can take to remove harmful backlinks:

  1. Reach out to the website owner: If you can identify the website owner or webmaster, you can try reaching out to them and asking them to remove the backlink.
  2. Use the "disavow" tool in Google Search Console: If you cannot remove the backlink through other means, you can use the "disavow" tool in Google Search Console to tell Google not to consider the backlink when evaluating your website. To use the disavow tool, you must create a list of the URLs of the backlinks you want to disavow and submit the list to Google.
  3. Monitor your backlink profile: It is important to continue monitoring your backlink profile to ensure that new harmful backlinks are not added. You can use a backlink analysis tool to track your backlinks and identify any new low-quality or spammy links that may have been added.
  4. Implement a backlink removal strategy: If you cannot remove harmful backlinks through the above methods, you may need to implement a more comprehensive backlink removal strategy. This could include using the disavow tool, reaching out to website owners, and using other tactics to decrease the value of harmful backlinks.

It is important to note that removing harmful backlinks can be a time-consuming process, and it may take some time to see the results of your efforts. However, improving the quality of your backlink profile can have long-term benefits for your website's search engine rankings.

 

How often should I perform a backlink audit?

It is generally recommended to perform a backlink audit regularly, as the quality and relevance of your backlinks can change over time. Some experts recommend performing a backlink audit at least once a year, although more frequent audits may be necessary for websites with a large number of backlinks or those that are facing significant ranking fluctuations.

Here are a few other factors to consider when deciding how often to perform a backlink audit:

  • The size and complexity of your website: If your website has many pages and a complex backlink profile, you may want to perform a backlink audit more frequently to ensure that all of your backlinks are being properly evaluated.
  • The competitiveness of your industry: If you are in a highly competitive industry, you may want to perform a backlink audit more frequently to ensure that your website is not outranked by competitors with stronger backlink profiles.
  • Your overall marketing strategy: If you are actively improving your search engine rankings, you may want to perform a backlink audit more frequently to identify opportunities to build high-quality backlinks.

Ultimately, the frequency of your backlink audits will depend on your website's specific needs and goals. It is important to find a balance between conducting frequent audits to ensure the quality of your backlink profile while also not spending too much time on this task.


local citation softwares

15 Local Citation Softwares

One of the marketing trends that has been around for a while and is still going strong is local citations. It's one of the fundamentals of good local SEO.

For the past years, Moz has been surveying local SEO experts to ask them what they believe are the most important local search ranking factors. Local citations (27.5%) and links (21.3%) are the two most important factors, according to these experts.

 

So, what exactly are local citations?

A local citation is any mention of your business on the web, with or without a link. The keyword here is "local."

Citations can be in the form of your NAP (Name, Address, Phone number), reviews, and mentions of your business on social media or local directories.

To put it simply: if your business is mentioned on the internet, it's considered a citation.

There are numerous benefits of local citations. The most important one is that they improve your local SEO ranking.

Other benefits include:

  • Increased brand awareness and recognition
  • More traffic to your website and physical location
  • Improved lead generation
  • Greater customer engagement

 

There are three types of local citations:

  1. Structured Citations: These are the most common and include directories like Yelp, Angie's List, and Thomson Local.
  2. Unstructured Citations: These are mentions of your business on sites that don't necessarily have a local focus, such as news sites and blogs.
  3. Social Citations: These are mentions of your business on social media platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Now that you know what local citations are and why they're important, it's time to start building them. A good local citation software can help you with that.

 

What is local citation software?

Local citation software is a tool that helps you build citations for your business. It's basically a citation management tool that allows you to track, manage, and monitor your citations.

 

The best local citation software should have the following features:

  • A directory submission feature that allows you to submit your business to the most relevant and high-quality directories.
  • A citation tracking feature that allows you to track your citations and see which ones are most effective.
  • A reporting feature that allows you to generate reports so you can see your progress and ROI.
  • An automated submission feature that allows you to automate the process of submitting your business to directories.
  • A customer support feature that allows you to get help from the software's customer support team in case you run into any problems.

 

Now that you know what local citation software is and what features to look for, let's take a look at some of the best options on the market.

1. Moz Local

 

moz local

Moz's very own local citation software is one of the best on the market. It's a complete local SEO platform that helps you with everything from listing your business in directories to tracking your progress.

Moz Local has a directory submission feature that allows you to submit your business to the most relevant and high-quality directories. It also has a citation tracking feature that allows you to track your citations and see which ones are most effective.

Plus, Moz Local has a reporting feature that allows you to generate reports so you can see your progress and ROI. And if you need help, you can always turn to the customer support team.

 

2. BrightLocal

 

brightlocal

 

BrightLocal is another great local citation software. It's an all-in-one local SEO platform that helps you with everything from listing your business on directories to monitoring your citations.

Like Moz Local, BrightLocal has a directory submission feature that allows you to submit your business to the most relevant and high-quality directories.

 

3. Whitespark

 

whitespark

 

Whitespark features everything you need to build citations for your business. Whitespark is a comprehensive local SEO resource that places a lot of emphasis on local citations. It offers two citation management tools, as well as a plethora of how-tos and articles to help you optimize your technique.

 

4. Yext

 

yext

Yext is a local SEO platform that helps you manage your local listings and citations. Yext offers a variety of features, including listing management, citation tracking, review monitoring, and more.

One of the best things about Yext is that it offers a free listing scan. This allows you to see how your business is listed across the web and identify any errors that need to be fixed.

 

5. Synup

 

synup

Synup is a local listing and reputation management software that allows business to boost their marketing through accurate and consistent listings. Synup allows you to manage your listings, monitor your reviews, and track your citations, all in one place.

Synup also offers a free listing scan that helps you identify any errors in your listings.

 

6. GeoRanker

 

georanker

 

GeoRanker is a powerful local citation finder tool that helps you boost your local SEO rankings. With GeoRanker, you can easily find and track local citations for your business. The tool also allows you to monitor your competition and see where they are getting their citations from. GeoRanker is the perfect tool for any business that wants to improve their local SEO rankings.

 

7. ReviewTrackers

 

reviewtrackers

 

ReviewTrackers helps businesses track, monitor, and manage their online reviews. ReviewTrackers offers a variety of features, including review monitoring, review management, and review generation.

Unlike some of the tools above, ReviewTrackers is a paid tool.

8. SOCi

soci

 

SOCi is an all-in-one marketing platform that helps businesses with everything from social media to local SEO. Their focus is on brands with multiple locations.

SOCi offers a variety of features, including listing management, review monitoring, social media management, and more.

 

9. TribeLocal

tribelocal

 

With over 200+ local listing sites, TribeLocal is one of the most comprehensive local citation services available. TribeLocal also offers a wide range of other local SEO services, making it a one-stop-shop for all your local SEO needs.

 

10. BirdEye

birdeye

 

Birdeye is an all-in-one customer experience platform. Every day, over 80,000 businesses use Birdeye to attract new leads with Listings, Reviews, and Referrals, convert them into customers with Webchat and Payments. It also features surveys, ticketing, and insights - all in one place.

 

11. Advice Local

advice local

 

Advice Local is a software and technology firm based in Dallas, Texas. Advice local provides a variety of software-based solutions to help digital marketers in Local SEO perform their tasks. The company offers a listing management solution that utilizes hand submissions and APIs to claim and optimize large numbers of listings quickly.

 

12. Mypresences 

MyPresences

 

Mypresences is another top choice for local citation services. They offer a wide range of local citation services for different industry types. It lets you manage your presence on 100+ local directories with ease. You can get started with a free trial to try their services.

 

13. SemRush Listing Management

SEMRush Listing Management

 

Semrush is a popular SEO software that also offers a listing management tool. This tool allows you to track your listings, monitor your citations, and receive alerts when your business is mentioned online.

Using the tool, marketers can quickly distribute their business listings through a wide network of third-party directories, avoid Google penalties by reducing duplicate postings, and manage feedback and brand reputation across platforms with ease.

 

14. Go Daddy Go Central

GoDaddy Go Central

 

GoDaddy's GoCentral is a website builder that also offers a listing management feature. With this feature, you can track your listings, monitor your citations, and receive alerts when your business is mentioned online.

GoDaddy's GoCentral also offers a variety of other features, such as SEO, social media, and email marketing.

 

15. Ontolo

Ontolo

 

Ontolo is a data mining tool that specializes in sales prospecting and lead generation strategies. In this regard, Ontolo offers a listing management feature that helps marketers track their citations, generate leads, and improve site rankings through structured data markup.

With Ontolo's solution, digital marketers can ensure the quality of business listings across all platforms or directories and track competitor activities in real-time.

 

Frequently Asked Questions

What is local citation in SEO?

Local citation is a term used in SEO to describe the process of building and managing online listings for your business across various platforms and directories. This helps improve search engine rankings by creating more robust and consistent information about your business online.

 

What is global and local citation?

Global citation is the process of building and managing online listings for your business across various platforms and directories on a worldwide scale.

Local citation, on the other hand, is focused on improving search engine rankings within a specific geographic region.

 

What are Brightlocal citations?

Brightlocal citations are a type of local citation service offered by the company Brightlocal. These services help businesses build and manage their listings across major platforms and directories to improve search engine rankings and visibility in local search results.

Brightlocal citations include:

  • Business name
  • Business address
  • Business phone number
  • Business website URL
  • Business category

 

Do citations work for local SEO?

Yes, citations can definitely help improve your local SEO. This is because when you build citations for your business, you're essentially creating more consistent and robust information about your business online. This helps search engines better understand who you are and where you're located, which can lead to improved rankings in local search results.

Citations work for local SEO by helping to create more consistent and robust information about your business online. This helps search engines better understand who you are and where you're located, which can lead to improved rankings in local search results.

To optimize your citations for local SEO, you should first make sure that all of your business listings have the same information and are optimized with proper keywords. You should also focus on building high-quality citations from reputable platforms and directories. Additionally, it's important to monitor and respond promptly to customer reviews and ratings in order to manage your brand reputation across directories.

 

How do you create a local citation?

There is no single formula for creating a local citation, as the process will vary depending on the platform or directory you are using.

Some general best practices include:

  1. Make sure all of your business listings have the same NAP (name, address, phone number) information.
  2. Optimize your listings with proper keywords to improve your visibility in search results.
  3. Focus on building high-quality citations from reputable platforms and directories.
  4. Monitor and respond promptly to customer reviews and ratings in order to manage your brand reputation across directories.

 

How do I find local citations?

To find local citations, you can use a variety of online tools and platforms, such as Moz Local or Brightlocal. These tools will help you identify and track the number and quality of your business listings across major directories and platforms, allowing you to optimize your listings for improved visibility in local search results.

Some other tips for finding local citations include performing keyword research to identify relevant directories and platforms in your industry, as well as reaching out to other businesses in your local area to exchange links or co-citations.

Finally, you can also use social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter to create new listings for your business and connect with potential customers in your area.

 

What are the benefits of using local citation software?

There are several benefits to using local citation software:

  1. Saves time and effort: Local citation software automates the process of building and maintaining citations, saving businesses time and effort.
  2. Improves local SEO: Consistent and accurate citations are important for local SEO. Local citation software helps businesses ensure that their NAP information is consistent across all citations, which can improve their local SEO.
  3. Identifies and fixes incorrect or duplicate citations: Local citation software can help businesses identify and fix incorrect or duplicate citations, which can negatively impact their local SEO.
  4. Tracks citation progress: Local citation software can help businesses track their citation progress and monitor the success of their local SEO efforts.
  5. Increases visibility: Local citation software can help businesses increase their visibility by building citations on a wide range of websites, including local directories, review sites, and industry-specific websites.
  6. Enhances reputation: Local citation software can help businesses enhance their reputation by ensuring that their NAP information is accurate and consistent across all citations. This can help businesses build trust with customers and establish their credibility.

 

Are there any risks to using local citation software?

There are a few risks to consider when using local citation software:

  1. Low-quality or spammy citations: Some local citation software may create low-quality or spammy citations that could harm a business's reputation or local SEO. It's important to research the reputation of different local citation software providers and choose a reputable provider.
  2. Violation of best practices: Some local citation software may not adhere to best practices for citation building, which could result in penalties or issues with search engines. It's important to ensure that the software follows best practices and is compatible with the guidelines of major search engines.
  3. Security risks: Some local citation software may not be secure, which could expose a business's sensitive information to potential hackers. It's important to choose software from a reputable provider and ensure that it has strong security measures in place to protect sensitive information.
  4. Dependence on software: Relying too heavily on local citation software can lead to a lack of manual oversight and control. It's important for businesses to periodically check their citations and make sure all information is accurate and up-to-date, even if they are using citation software.
  5. Cost: Local citation software can be expensive, particularly for businesses with multiple locations or a large number of citations to manage. It's important to carefully consider the costs and benefits of using local citation software and choose a solution that fits within a business's budget.

 

How do I choose the right local citation software for my business?

Here are some factors to consider when choosing the right local citation software for your business:

Cost: Determine your budget and look for software that fits within it. Some local citation software is free to use, while others charge a monthly or annual subscription fee. The price may also depend on the number of locations or citations that a business needs to manage.

Features: Consider the features that are most important to your business, such as automation, reporting, and alerts. Look for software that offers the features you need at a price you can afford.

Reputation: Research the reputation of different local citation software providers and read reviews from other users. Choose a provider with a proven track record of delivering high-quality software and services.

Compatibility: Make sure the software is compatible with your current systems and processes. Consider whether the software integrates with any other tools or platforms that your business uses.

Customer support: Look for software with reliable customer support in case you have any issues or questions. Choose a provider that offers multiple support channels, such as email, phone, and chat, and has a track record of responding to customer inquiries in a timely manner.

 

How does local citation software improve local SEO?

Local citation software helps improve local SEO by building and maintaining consistent and accurate citations for a business. Citations are mentions of a business's name, address, and phone number (NAP) on other websites. Search engines use citations as a way to verify the legitimacy and accuracy of a business's NAP information. By building and maintaining accurate citations, businesses can improve their local SEO and increase their chances of ranking higher in local search results.

Here are a few specific ways in which local citation software can improve local SEO:

Consistent NAP information: Local citation software helps businesses ensure that their NAP information is consistent across all citations. This is important because search engines use NAP information to verify the identity and location of a business. Inconsistent or incorrect NAP information can confuse search engines and negatively impact a business's local SEO.

More citations: Local citation software helps businesses build citations on a wide range of websites, including local directories, review sites, and industry-specific websites. The more citations a business has, the more credibility and authority it can establish with search engines. This can lead to higher rankings in local search results.

Quality of citations: Local citation software can help businesses build high-quality citations on reputable websites. Search engines tend to give more weight to citations from authoritative and trusted websites. Building high-quality citations can therefore improve a business's local SEO.

Duplicate citations: Local citation software can help businesses identify and remove duplicate citations, which can negatively impact their local SEO. Search engines may view duplicate citations as spammy or low-quality and penalize a business's rankings as a result.

Incorrect citations: Local citation software can help businesses identify and fix incorrect citations, which can also negatively impact their local SEO. Incorrect citations can confuse search engines and make it difficult for them to verify the accuracy of a business's NAP information. Fixing incorrect citations can help improve a business's local SEO.

 

What types of businesses can benefit from local citation software?

Local citation software can be beneficial for any business with a physical location, as well as businesses that serve a specific geographic area. This includes brick-and-mortar businesses such as restaurants, retail stores, and service providers, as well as online businesses that offer delivery or in-home services.

Some examples of businesses that may particularly benefit from using local citation software include:

Local retailers and restaurants: Local retailers and restaurants can use local citation software to build citations on local directories, review sites, and industry-specific websites. This can help them attract local customers and improve their local SEO.

Service providers: Service providers such as plumbers, electricians, and HVAC technicians can use local citation software to build citations on local directories and review sites. This can help them attract local customers and improve their local SEO.

Online businesses with physical locations: Online businesses with physical locations, such as stores or warehouses, can use local citation software to build citations on local directories and review sites. This can help them attract local customers and improve their local SEO.

Businesses that serve a specific geographic area: Businesses that serve a specific geographic area, such as a delivery service or a landscaping company, can use local citation software to build citations on local directories and review sites. This can help them attract local customers and improve their local SEO.

Overall, any business that wants to improve its local SEO and attract local customers can benefit from using local citation software.

 

How often should a business update their citations using local citation software?

It's generally recommended to update a business's citations on a regular basis, such as every few months. This helps ensure that the information is accurate and up-to-date. Some local citation software may offer alerts or notifications when it's time to update citations. It's also a good idea for businesses to manually check their citations periodically to ensure that all information is accurate and consistent.

In general, the frequency of citation updates will depend on the business and the nature of its operations. For example, a business that frequently changes its address or phone number may need to update its citations more frequently than a business with stable contact information.

It's also a good idea for businesses to monitor their local SEO performance and look for any changes or trends in their citation counts or rankings. If a business notices a decline in its local SEO performance, it may want to review its citations and make any necessary updates.

Overall, the key is to keep citations accurate and up-to-date to ensure that they are effective in improving local SEO and attracting local customers.


how-to-increase-blog-traffic

15 Insanely Actionable Tips to Increase Blog Traffic

Traffic is the lifeblood of every website because this is where most business owners and bloggers depend their monthly online sales.

Since the more traffic you can generate on a regular basis, the likelihood of earning more profit is higher.

This is why there are tons of articles that brought up this topic – traffic generation - for the past several years and I’m constantly been seeing posts every week - where some of them are just duplicates of ideas shared on other blogs.

In this post, I’ll be sharing 15 effective strategies that will help you increase your blog traffic.

1. Earn non-paid social traffic from influencers

Nudging influencers to read your post and get them shared on social won’t be too easy if there is no initial analysis on the viral potential of your topic.

Most of the time, influencers don’t just share posts because they have resonated with the quality of the content. Instead, they saw their colleagues (fellow influencers) sharing one article on social platforms.

With that, you have to consider the number of influencers who have shared trending articles on social – as a determining factor of choosing that same topic for your next blog post.

For instance, if you are looking for trending finance articles in Buzzsumo, you will end up finding this post as the top content for the keyword – finance.

[entrepreneur-financial-decisions]

You should get away with that gigantic number of social shares, simply because authority blogs like Entrepreneur.com always have thousands of social shares for each of their articles regardless of the quality of the content produced.

Instead, use another tool - Topsy to determine the number of influencers who’ve shared that post.

topsy-finance-post

Use the same process for all ranking posts in Buzzsumo and consider that data (post –shared by # of influencers) to decide which topics/themes you’ll use for your next content (obviously, you’ll choose ones with the highest number of shares from influencers).

2. Build links from third party listings with high business value

Reviews from third-party sites always impact the business in terms of branding, value, vote of confidence and potential generation of leads.

For the past few months, my business has been acquiring several potential clients from a single referring web-based product site. And the most surprising part is that those 2 referring threads in one same website generated $14,000 worth of services to my business (one client – minimum of $500 conversion).

third-party-listings-business-value

This strategy is not solely applicable to internet marketing related industries, but for any type of niche, you’ll see tens even hundreds of websites that can bring potential industry customers/clients to your business.

If you’re existing for years, then go to your Google Analytics account and list down in a spreadsheet all referring sites/pages that brought conversion value to your company (make sure you’ve setup your conversion goals correctly).

If you’re new in the industry, find domains that have high referring potentials using Google search (inurl:forum “very specific industry” – for dental clinics, you can use inurl:forum OR “business listing” “teeth).

Nudge your existing customers (with high votes of confidence to your products/services) to business listings and let them write reviews about your offerings.

3. Pull up unexpected hooks in your content

If you’ve heard psychological triggers (which are clearly explained by Brian Dean in his recent post), utility is one of the topmost considerations when writing a post, primarily because practical tips (how to’s) are very easy to learn and apply. In turn, readers would instantly share it to their peers once they’ve found it useful.

One way to strengthen utility in your post is to pull up unexpected hooks in your content.

Unexpected hooks are basically tips that are very unique in information that almost surpass the quality of other tips listed in the content. So when you pull these tips up in your page, readers can easily notice them and they’ll be triggered to share the post after reading it (“aha” or “wow” moments).

Below are some examples of tips that I pulled up in my previous blog posts since I’ve found them very unique in nature and could actually nudge readers to share or even link to them from their future content pieces.

first-unexpected-hook-content-promotion-post

first-unexpected-hook-blog-post-ideas

4. Create non-branded Facebook pages

I’ve found this effective traffic generation strategy on my friend’s post which is basically creating Facebook pages that are not entitled with company names/services/products but instead labeled with simple non-commercial words/themes.

As you can see, below is an example of a Facebook page (Italy) that are not branded with a company name (except for the profile picture)

italy-facebook-page

When you use Facebook OpenGraph and search for the keyword, “Italy”, you’ll see the page ranking in the search result.

The Italy page now has 66,000+ Facebook likes and will consistently earn new likes each week probably because of its ranking position and affinity potential of fans who’d have shared the page on their accounts (multiplier effect).

Creating a non-branded page for your company targeting a specific industry would greatly impact your site’s social traffic every single month, since the more users finding your page through amplification/sharing and search, the more traffic you’ll be generating through simple act of sharing your new content assets.

5. Prioritize retention for low cost Facebook advertising

With Facebook advertising, the more targeted your ads are, the higher returns you’ll get from it.

My friend, Roel Manarang personally shared a very interesting case study on how a $1-$3 USD per day spent on Facebook advertising can help generate 540 email subscribers for the website and 8000 USD more sales for the business (an increase of 40%).

email-subscribers-case-study

The strategy is primarily focused on retention – those visitors/users who’ve engaged on the website through reading, subscribing and/or sharing posts on social platforms.

Instead of targeting new users that have low potentials of converting to a brand advocate/avid reader, the ads are targeted to already engaged users. This helps the campaign to become more effective since it actually triggers fans to become sharers of content and avid readers of the blog.

Two things that Roel is focusing on in his Facebook advertising campaign:

  • Facebook Page Likes – Remarketing, $1-$2 USD per day (targeting people who visited the website).
  • Facebook Engagement – Sponsored Story, $1USD (targeting people who already like the page or existing fans).

Try out this strategy for your blog and let me know in the comments section how effective it is in driving website visits/traffic, social followers and email subscribers.

Other useful resources:

6. Build an alliance for initial boost of traffic

Community sites such as Inbound.org have upvote systems that encourage people to engage simply by clicking up and down buttons on posts that had been shared.

Most of these sites consider the recency of sharing one specific post and # of votes given within hours after sharing, which boils down to one principle – the faster your post receive the highest number of votes, the easier it will rank in the list.

Having an initial set of votes to your post could trigger the system to rank it and in turn, bring significant amount of traffic to your page.

One strategy that you can use is building an alliance of engaged users within a specific community site – this will take a lot of effort in exchange for a consistent traffic generation.

I had an alliance with a few Inbound users that always upvote my posts when they were shared on Inbound.

umar-khan

umar-khan-facebook-engagement

This activity gives early boost of rankings to my posts and eventually helps my page earn its early referral traffic.

Every month, my site gets around 800 to 1500 from Inbound.org, which is a very good investment for a 5 minute traffic generation technique.

7. Use freely advertised pages for linker outreach

The value of outreach is becoming more saturated these days as more link developers/content marketers use it for one side benefit – sharing one content asset to a potential linker with the aim of acquiring a single link from the site’s resource/business listing page.

This often times result to lower responses and number of links from other relevant blogs/sites.

The most effective way to add value for both ends is to initiate creating content designed for other company pages or corporate sites.

To give you an example, we had a client who owns a tour deals website (travel niche), where its pages are mainly attractions and tours and have had lots of deals/discounts to give away to visitors.

Instead of reaching out to potential linkers and requesting for contextual links in their resource pages and business listings, we’ve decided to take a different proposition for outreach – prioritize hotel websites that have freely advertise pages published on the site.

overseas-attractions-hotel

overseas-attractions-siem-reap

Since we’ve given value first – creating a promotional page for them, there is a high likelihood that they’ll be returning the value – backlink.

8. Facebook comments on posts using branded pages

Facebook engagement is a no-brainer strategy to brand yourself in your target community.

However, most Facebook interactions still lack in one technique – using branded pages when commenting on other relevant pages.

This might not only add potential likes to your Facebook page but in turn, attract visitors/readers to your website as you can reference your post/page when interacting on relevant questions/discussions.

9. Post relevant Tweet quotes

Quotes are short and valuable easy-to-apply tips that can be spread widely in the social community.

With proper branding, posting quotes on Twitter would be an effective way to drive visitors to your target page (homepage or email capturing page).

relevant-tweet-quotes

Roel Manarang has been consistently posting Twitter quotes for the past several months, which are all relevant to his target community (marketing, startup and entrepreneurship).

As a result, his personal blog is attracting social signals as referral visits from social (Twitter).

10. Use email guessing to improve conversion rate

One barrier that gets outreach less and less effective for some brands is the improper guessing of personal/corporate emails of potential linkers.

Emails get stuck to wrong places when email addresses don’t fit to the right people – which will often result to lower responses and conversions (links).

One proper solution for this problem is the use of email guessing tools such as Thrust and VoilaNorbert.

exact-email-guessing

voilanorbert-email-guessing

Simply put the person’s name and his/her domain name then click the green button to trigger the system to find appropriate email addresses for you. Back it up with Rapportive to confirm the right address.

11. Weigh opportunities with LinkMiner

linkminer

LinkMiner is the newest chrome extension tool developed by Jon Cooper of PointblankSEO and has the following powerful features:

  • Check header response codes of pages faster than Check My Links
  • Quickly see metrics of a specific page (e.g. you’ll see the # of referring domains for a 404 page).
  • Export external links in a page with corresponding metrics, which are very useful in identifying which broken page has the highest number of referring domains.

Weighing link opportunities is one of the best things you can do with LinkMiner.

After exporting the list of external links, you can now sort them by highest to lowest referring domains to find broken pages that have high potential link sources.

This will validate your content as you can secure beforehand an approximate number of links you’ll earn from a broken link building approach.

12. Try out 30-day blogging challenge

30-day-blogging-challenge

There has been a trending strategy in the blogosphere nowadays – 30 day blogging challenge.

As the phrase implies, the blog will have to publish new blog post every single day for 30 days.

You have to test out the strategy throughout the month and analyze the results at the end of it – in terms of traffic, email subscribers and/or social signals.

This strategy would be possible for your blog by following these actionable tips:

  • Create an editorial calendar to confirm available resources and ensure consistency throughout the campaign.
  • Set goals for the whole campaign to motivate yourself and other blog writers (if you have multiple contributors) to provide the best quality of information in each and every article they publish (goals could be percentage of traffic increase and/or increase in email subscribers).
  • Ask other guest bloggers from relevant websites to write for your blog. Make sure you emphasize some incentives in order to sustain the quality of each blog post (incentives like brand exposure, getting exclusive access to premium products/services, additional email subscribers, direct lead generation, etc..).
  • Test other content formats to cope up with blogging frequency (i.e. videos and podcasts/audios).

Test out this strategy for your blog and see how it can gradually impact your blog traffic.

13. Reference older posts from industry engagements

whirlpool

Industry engagements are good branding strategy for newly established blogs especially if the engaged website has thousands of users that can potentially be targeted for sales.

Referencing older posts from community discussions/threads is one of the common techniques to engage yourself with other community users and eventually brand yourself as someone who’s adding enough value to every relevant discussion – a good noticeable element to attract followers from other sites.

With content referencing, the best way to engage is not just to include a link in one discussion but become like someone who’re also looking for answer to his question.

An inclusion of link with proper description of the resource/page is enough to drive clicks to your page and constantly bring new referencing visitors to your site when the discussion pikes up its trending potential.

14. Traffic-heavy guest blogging

traffic-heavy-guest-bloggingThere are hundreds of blog posts that discuss guest blogging both in shallow and deep levels.

But one thing that lacks in almost all these articles is the idea of clicks.

Guest blogging is an effective branding strategy (as you all know) but it’s also a great traffic generation tool for blogs that don’t have much exposure in the industry, considering that quality information produced in guest posts would trigger its current visitors to follow the contributor’s blog – which should be main reason why you do guest blogging.

Let’s take Brian Dean’s guest post as a good example of this strategy.

There are many key strategies we can absorb from his guest blogging strategy, and here are some of them:

  • Providing real life examples is better than just writing practical tips since these examples can easily nudge readers to apply the tips to their own daily activities because of the idea of proofs.
  • Special bonus section could increase potentials of absorbing potential email subscribers from the blog – it’s a direct lead generation approach after the readers consume the post.
  • Long form content triggers more active social sharing and amplification (distributing of one’s content from one platform to another).

Invest in creating at least one solid guest post every month with unexpected hooks pulled up in the post and see the results for yourself.

15. Create long tail data-based content

content-strategy-helper

For most content marketers, creating a content packed up with data and credible sources is an expensive activity, since it will mostly require money to gather this information.

As more and more authority blogs are publishing expertly-made content, sourcing references for data-based content is now possible.

With Builtvisible’s Content Strategy Helper, this becomes more doable and can be used in any of the following methods:

  • Consolidate trending topics from UK & US social networks, news sites and government data sources into one spreadsheet and validate topics that will best gain interest for your website.
  • Create a list of bloggers/editors/influencers that are associated to specific search queries. This would initially give you opportunities for potential outreach/press coverage.
  • Add credible references to your content in order to increase its credibility for readers/consumers.

Other useful resources you can check out:

If you are looking for a link building agency to partner with you, then don't hesitate to contact us today