3 Books Essential To Master Link Building via @sejournal, @_kevinrowe

A link builder needs to look outside of the industry for inspiration to design a link building strategy.

If you want to design a link building initiative that is goal-focused and adheres to the Google Search Essentials guidelines, read these books that have nothing to do with link building.

The ideas in these books have had the most transformational impact on my approach to link building – and learning in general.

The impact was not because they helped me understand how to build links but because of the following:

• “Loved: How to Rethink Marketing for Tech Products” shows that a “great” link builder should be a strategist, ambassador, storyteller, and evangelist.
• “Made to Stick” frames how you communicate ideas and concepts so they resonate with the audience. This book has a model to demonstrate your expertise and experience.
• “Mastery” provides a model to master skills by learning from the “master” and then customizing your approach with influences from other passions (e.g. learning Jiu-Jitsu or writing).

Before getting to the meat of the article, it’s important to understand why you should use the information in these books.

John Mueller says:

“I love some of the things I see from digital PR, it’s a shame it often gets bucketed with the spammy kind of link building. It’s just as critical as tech SEO, probably more so in many cases.”

Why These Books?

Did you know that the best link building strategies aren’t found in SEO guides but in books about communication and mastery?

To become great at something, you must know what “great” looks like.

In the link building space, there are not many clear examples of “great,” that genuinely follow the Google Search Essentials guidelines.

This lack of “what great looks like” is the biggest challenge for many link builders. Thus, these books have examples of what great looks like and a model for becoming great.

Great link building used to look like “how do I build links to improve ranking?” but now it’s “how do I secure links as a consequence of strategic communication for a specific customer archetype?”

Imagine the satisfaction when your content is genuinely appreciated, shared, and linked, not because of a direct ask but because it resonates with the audience.

These books are for professional beginners and advanced in link building. And if you genuinely seek to understand these books, every part of your link building game will evolve into strategic off-page communications.

Think of link building as a bridge. On one side, you have content creators; on the other, you have audiences seeking valuable content.

Your role? Be the architect of that bridge, ensuring it’s sturdy, valuable, and genuine. That bridge is easier to build when you have content and products that are loved.

Loved: How To Rethink Marketing For Tech Products

Product marketing is the new link building!

Historically, a link builder’s role has been to perform outreach or content strategy to obtain links to a site.

For example, a link builder will reach out to a site with listicles of similar products to theirs. The outreach can be a simple request to list the company and link to the homepage. This is a typical link builder tactic.

However, this book provides insights that can change the very essence of link building.

The book “Loved,” by Martina Lauchengco, is rooted in product management, providing insights into marketing great products. Link building is the marketing of great content or guiding the creation of great content based on the market’s needs.

Although the book provides many tools and guidance for product marketing, the four key disciplines provide inspiration to become a great link builder.

Ambassador

An ambassador understands the market and customers inside and out. They must also be able to articulate the product’s value proposition in a way that resonates with customers.

Strategist

A strategic thinker who can develop and execute marketing plans that align with the product’s business goals. They must also be able to track and measure the results of their marketing campaigns to ensure that they are effective.

Storyteller

Must be able to tell a compelling story about their products that will capture the attention of customers and persuade them to buy. They must also be able to adapt their story to different audiences and channels.

Evangelist

Inspire customers to become evangelists for their products. They do this by providing excellent customer service, creating valuable content, and building customer relationships. So, an Evangelist enables the users to tell the brand or product’s story.

Even great content doesn’t always succeed in the marketplace of ideas. One reason is that competitors have superior content marketing. Effective content marketing can make a significant difference in the success of a campaign.

How To Use This Book

Historically, the link builder’s role has focused on a simple request based on outreach, with the goal of obtaining links directly from that outreach. However, this approach can lead one to build links in a way that doesn’t align with the Google Search Essential recommendations.

Thinking about the link building role, based on the disciplines above, can lead you to build skills for digital PR and not just link building.

A link builder should be a link building strategist and an ambassador who uses storytelling to create evangelists for the content or experts.

The link builder then becomes an ambassador for the content team to guide content production as a result of the feedback.

This new role sets a link builder as a storyteller. Instead of asking for a link, the outreach can tell a story about how their product or content fits into the prospective site’s narratives.

This new description of a link builder’s role should guide your strategy and tactics, from building a link to distributing a message that results in links as a consequence.

Your role is to develop communications about the company or its content that are sticky.

Made To Stick: Why Some Ideas Thrive And Others Die

This book by Chip Heath and Dan Heath is one of the first books I bought for myself after college and has changed how I handle all communication planning.

This concept of making things “sticky” improved everything from short emails to long-form articles.

“Made to Stick” explains why some ideas are memorable with a lasting impact while others are forgotten. By understanding and applying these principles, anyone can craft more effective and memorable messages.

For an idea to stick, it must have SUCCESs:

• Simple: Distill the message to its core essence.
• Unexpected: Capture attention by surprising the audience.
• Concrete: Make sure the idea can be easily grasped and remembered.
• Credible: Give the idea authority and believability.
• Emotional: Connect with people on an emotional level.
• Stories: Use narratives to make the message more relatable and compelling.

How To Use This Book

Realistically, the idea of SUCCESs should vibrate throughout every method of communication. However, I’ve found a few areas in communications for link building where this framework can change your entire approach.

Link building strategy is the process of planning the direction and steps of your approach to link building. One way the book can change your strategy is to widen your link building tool kit (i.e., techniques that can be used).

A successful campaign uses emotion to tell a simple, unexpected story supported by credible and concrete evidence.

For example, a standard guest posting strategy involves outreach to sites for guest post opportunities, which results in a link from your article back to your site. However, this strategy alone goes against the Search Essentials guidelines.

Instead of using the guest posts to generate an individual link, use the article contribution to share a message or content that is shared because it has “unexpected” insights that are currently relevant.

Email outreach for link building, by many, is defined as a process to email a content creator or webmaster (who owns the site) to “secure a link.”

This definition sets the link as the goal. But a SUCCESs approach to outreach focuses on sharing a message that people can easily understand, recognize and share. The goal isn’t’ the direct link but all the links and conversations around your sticky idea.

Linkable asset planning and design is the process of creating a sharable piece of content that can generate links on the merits of the content being shared with the right audience. A piece of content will be more linkable if it has all of the elements of SUCCESs.

With an example of “great” from “Loved” and a way to be great with “Made to Stick”, now you have to figure out how to master this new model.

Mastery

The book “Mastery,” by serial author Robert Greene, suggests that mastery is a process to find our potential.

Greene explains that the first step in the process is to discover a calling; a passion for that calling is critical to truly mastering a skill.

This couldn’t be more true.

When I started link building, I simply emailed sites and asked for a link through resource pages, broken links, or guest posting.

However, I found my passion was for crafting stories and messages that resonate with the audience. My passion came because of my background in integrated marketing communications and design.

I looked into my background to find a passion, naturally leading to advanced digital PR.

As you’ll see in the mastery process below, discovering your calling is a foundation for achieving mastery.

Here’s a simplified overview of Greene’s process:

• Discover your calling: People have a unique inner force or inclination towards certain activities or subjects.
• Find mentors: A good mentor can provide guidance, feedback, and ways to avoid pitfalls.
• Apprenticeship: Skill acquisition through deep observation and experimentation.
• Social intelligence: Learn to navigate the culture. As anyone learning a new skill will see, the experts tend to have unique cultural norms and idioms that can sometimes be difficult to accept.
• Creative-active phase: After the apprenticeship, one enters a phase where they start producing original work from a deep foundation.
• Achieve mastery: True mastery is the synthesis of knowledge, skills, and intuition. It’s when one’s work becomes an art.

How To Use This Book

Master link building by finding your passion, a mentor, and then making it your own. Greene’s process for this is a simple way to learn from experts by integrating into their culture and then creating something that’s your own.

However, I have personally found that finding the right mentor, developing social intelligence, and creating a unique strategy are the most difficult parts of mastering link building.

These recommendations are from my personal experience of finding a path to mastery.

Identifying The Master

Understand Google’s Search Essentials as the foundation for what link building techniques to avoid and generate links on the merit of the content.

Find link builders, SEO professionals, PR experts, and Google Search Advocates that get links as a consequence and not as the goal.

With the masters identified, you must now learn to fit in with the culture.

Social Intelligence

Traditional link builders tend to clash with Google Search Advocates or SEO professionals who follow their guidance. But, any link builder should have empathy for these SEO and search advocates.

By truly listening, you will quickly discover that certain content marketing, digital PR, and influencer marketing techniques can be valid.

Additionally, by learning from traditional link builders, you’ll find a culture of growth hackers. Link builders are wildly efficient at building simple processes to get placements.

After finding a master and then learning to operate inside that community to learn the necessary skills, it’s time to get creative.

Creative-active Phase

Using everything learned from master link builders, PR, SEO, and search advocate professionals, test unique approaches to build links that fit your passions.

“Discover your calling” is an important step in designing creative strategies, which coagulates in this creative-active phase.

I discovered one of my callings (I have many) when studying Integrated Marketing Communications at the Roy H. Park School of Communications & Journalism.  However, I didn’t even realize it until years later.

At the Park School, I was exposed to journalism, graphic design, communication strategy, advertising campaign development, media planning, and even financial management.

Later in life, I was exposed to product management, which further fueled my passion for product planning and marketing.

This background always tainted my approach to building links. I found that content marketing, design, and digital PR techniques changed how I approach link building.

Becoming Rounded

The evolution of link building requires a shift in perspective.

While traditional tactics may have their place, the true essence of effective link building lies in understanding the broader landscape of digital communication and marketing.

By drawing inspiration from outside the realm of SEO, one can craft strategies that both align with Google’s guidelines and resonate deeply with audiences.

Books like “Loved,” “Made to Stick,” and “Mastery” provide invaluable insights that can redefine the way we approach link building. They emphasize the importance of storytelling, emotional connection, and continuous learning.

As the digital landscape continues to evolve, it’s crucial for link builders to adapt, innovate, and strive for mastery in their craft.

Only then can they truly harness the power of links as genuine endorsements rather than mere SEO tactics.

More resources: 

Featured Image: Ollyy/Shutterstock

How Topic Authority Impacts SEO

Topic authority is recognized expertise on a given subject. A company, publication, or person can possess it.

In May, Google published an article in its Search Central Blog titled “Understanding news topic authority.” The article explains how Google assesses expertise for responding to News and Search queries.

Here’s what we know about topic authority and its impact on rankings.

Topic Authority, per Google

The May article listed Google’s prominent signals for topic authority:

• How notable a source is for a topic or location. 
• How original reporting is cited by other publishers.
• A source’s history of high-quality reporting or recommendations from expert sources, such as professional societies.

In other words, the primary signals are:

• A source’s location (e.g., a local news site) or evidence of expertise (a knowledge panel).
• Links from other trusted publications.
• Connection to other trusted entities — awards, professional associations, more.

Google’s Nov. 2023 edition of Search Quality Rater Guidelines (PDF) refers repeatedly to topic authority. For example, the Guidelines explain why “Marriott” ranks prominently for a query of “hotels”:

Page Quality. The Marriott website gives information on Marriott Hotels, a popular chain. Marriott has a good reputation and is an expert on hotels, making the information on this page highly authoritative. High+ to Highest is an appropriate rating.

The Guidelines also suggest checking the backlinks of higher-ranking pages.

Thus the Search Central Blog article and Quality Rater Guidelines both suggest Google’s requirements for top rankings:

• Reputation as a trusted resource,
• Recognizable brand or entity within that niche,
• References (links) from trusted sources such as Wikipedia, professional news outlets, more.

In 2013 Google obtained a U.S. patent (PDF) called “System and method for determining topic authority.” It identifies key factors of any web page for assigning expertise on a topic, which the patent calls the “authority signature value.” The patent states that authors’ expertise grows as they publish more articles on that topic.

Searching Google helps understand topic authority. For example, a query of “ann smarty” produces my knowledge panel with associated entities (“People also search for”) and my “Articles” in Google News.

Searching on “ann smarty” produces the author’s knowledge panel with associated entities (“People also search for”) and her “Articles” in Google News.

Google’s image search also reveals how it classifies a source. An image search for “ann smarty” reveals multiple associations, including:

• “internet marketing,”
• “seo analyst,”
• “interview,”
• “marketing ninjas,”
• “blogger.”

An image search for “ann smarty” reveals the author’s associations, per Google.

Hence topic authority is a collection of signals (on-site and off) that help Google identify expertise and trust for a query.

Establishing Authority

To establish topic authority:

• Publish consistent content on your area of expertise. Cover all angles, problems, and solutions. Use internal links to help Google find the pages and associate them with your company or authorship.

• Obtain links to your content from trusted resources. Connecting with journalists and posting on social media can put your content in front of authoritative publications and personnel.

• Deploy Schema.org markup to assist Google in understanding your expertise. Use “knowsAbout” and “sameAs” properties in the “Person” or “Organization” types to point Google to relevant external channels, such as a Wikipedia page on your topic.

Overall, connecting with other known entities is a good way to become trusted by Google. For example, search for an event name when considering sponsoring or speaking at it. Does it trigger a knowledge panel? Perform the same search for a potential brand collaboration.

If you’re aiming for prominent rankings, Google’s assessment of authority matters.

How To Identify The Blue Ocean For Link Building Strategy via @sejournal, @_kevinrowe

Planning and executing link building strategies that are based on Google’s best practices is very complex.

Why? The only links that do not violate Google’s spam policies are ones where links are a consequence and not the goal.

So you’ll have to use that concept to guide the policy for planning any link building campaigns.

This is where strategy steps in.

However, we don’t need to figure out how to design strategy alone.

Strategy has been studied in marketing and business planning for a long time. In 2004, a cool little book called “Blue Ocean Strategy” changed the strategy planning process.

When the book launched, the theory caused a buzz among marketers who wondered how to differentiate themselves from the competition.

Although the Blue Ocean Strategy wasn’t originally designed for link building, there’s an undeniable need for link builders to seek inspiration beyond their immediate strategies and guiding policies.

This article serves as a tool to think about link building differently.

What Is The Blue Ocean Strategy?

The “Blue Ocean Strategy” is a business planning approach developed by W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne.

It focuses on carving out new, unexplored market territories, termed “blue oceans,” rather than vying for space in existing, crowded markets, termed “red oceans.”

In red oceans, businesses face intense rivalry, often resulting in reduced performance results.

On the other hand, blue oceans symbolize fresh market areas ripe for innovation and devoid of fierce competition.

This strategy pushes companies to introduce novel solutions, providing unparalleled value to consumers, sidestepping traditional competition, and fostering growth and, in theory, increased returns.

What Is The Blue Ocean In Link Building?

This application of the Blue Ocean means moving away from overused and saturated link building tactics and venturing into innovative, less competitive, and more value-driven approaches to earn backlinks that build your site’s reputation.

The Skyscraper technique is a good example of a link building strategy that found a blue ocean when many link builders were playing in a red ocean.

If you want to create a strategy like the Skyscraper, then examine these areas.

Examining these “levers” (i.e., controllable variables to take action against) will help you find a path to the blue ocean.

Innovative Content Creation

Instead of creating content that everyone else in your industry is producing, focus on unique, helpful content that addresses gaps in the market.

The skyscraper technique uses innovative content creation to build links. This method focuses on creating content that surpasses the quality of existing top-ranking content on a particular topic.

The general process for this way is to find popular content, make something better, and then reach out to relevant sites for links.

Untapped Platforms

Instead of focusing solely on traditional link building techniques like guest blogging, explore methods that haven’t been saturated by competitors.

This could include linkable content distribution on niche forums, emerging social media platforms, or collaboration with industries that are complementary but not direct competitors.

Building Relationships

Instead of transactional link building practices (like paid links or link exchanges), focus on building genuine relationships with industry influencers, bloggers, and even competitors.

This can lead to organic link building opportunities in the long run.

Value-First Approach

Offer undeniable value when reaching out for link building opportunities.

This could be in the form of original research, expert insights, or exclusive content that the linking site’s audience would find beneficial.

Diversification

Instead of relying on one or two methods, diversify your link building tactics to explore multiple blue oceans. This could involve a mix of digital PR, collaborations, podcasts, and more.

Why Use This Strategy?

Psychology Today says, “openness to experience is the most fundamental attribute of creative individuals.”

When you perform easy link building techniques, you limit your creative mind to a small set of problems to solve.

For example, if you want to focus on paid link building, then you’ll be focused on solving problems of staying just ahead of Google’s algorithm.

Thus, you’ll need to study algorithms and AI to stay ahead of the latest updates.

Although a fun subject, the complexity of analyzing and testing a moving target will take up valuable time. You’re better off being an engineer if you want to do that.

However, Google already provides some direction about how to maximize visibility in your topic area with the Google Search Essentials:

“The Google Search Essentials make up the core parts of what makes your web-based content (web pages, images, videos, or other publicly-available material that Google finds on the web) eligible to appear and perform well on Google Search.”

My interpretation is that to maximize visibility in search engines, you have to create helpful content from experience and expertise that is trusted by the “authority” (using this phrase broadly) on the topic.

Thus, keep your creative mind focused on that problem.

The blue ocean strategy is a growth hack inside Google’s parameters for ranking.

How To Apply With Link Building: Broad Steps

The following is my own process and steps for link building in a way that helps you find your niche method.

Step 0: Get Perspective

This step is almost universally overlooked – but start by setting your intentions for the campaign.

This means you establish that: Links are the consequence of the creative marketing of your content, and the goal is not the direct links from outreach.

Thus, a well-run campaign will result in both direct links and latent links.

Step 1: Find Your Place

Begin with an area where a compelling win is achievable.

Analyze content to identify 1) existing pieces that are distributable or 2) new content that takes a reasonable amount of time to create.

When determining what type of strategy to use, I try to balance the following:

• Level of effort: How much time will it take to complete?
• Level of complexity: Is it an easy step-by-step process or complex moving parts that are loosely interrelated?
• Level of experience: Has anyone on the team executed a similar strategy?

The “achievable” strategy will be a manageable effort & complexity, with some internal experience.

Step 2: Build A Cross-Functional Team

Build an internal advisory team of PR, content, SEO, and tech that can consult on the approach to either request tasks, collaborate on the approach, and provide tips to optimize their workflow to include links or types of mentions.

Link building is not isolated from other marketing teams.

Thus, transparently share your approaches with this team to ensure no conflict of interest.

Step 3: Understand The Current State

Create a list of strategies that direct or search engine competitors are searching for.

I created a tool called the “Proven Content Marketing & Link Building Models” that guides you through the process of identifying proven strategies, so you can plan your differentiation.

My proven model’s template takes time to analyze.

Step 4: Find Pain Points Gaps

This is something I excel at and enjoy deeply. I love asking questions to find the pain.

Most of us don’t understand our own pain. What does this mean?

Hard problems need to be well-defined. But it’s challenging to define the actual problem.

To find the pain points:

• Create a user story map: This may seem excessive, but understanding the story that the user is going through will help identify the specific pain points.
• Ask questions: Have an expert create/ask many really specific questions.
• Create a problem statement: Write out the specific problem and say it out loud in front of a group of peers or experts. They will tell you if the problem is real.

Pro tip: The real pain isn’t always known and needs to be uncovered through a robust investigation. A strong problem statement can uncover a lot of pain that people didn’t know they had.

That’s A Wrap

The Blue Ocean Strategy offers a unique perspective on link building.

By shifting from overused “red ocean” tactics to innovative “blue ocean” methods, businesses can tap into new growth avenues.

The Skyscraper technique exemplifies this, highlighting the importance of unique content and diverse strategies.

This isn’t a new technique; it’s a mindset shift towards creativity and problem-solving.

In summary, applying the Blue Ocean Strategy to link building is not its intended use case – but it’s a philosophy that encourages innovation through your content strategy.

More resources: 

Featured Image: Delia_Suvari/Shutterstock

Link Building Outreach Guide For Beginners via @sejournal, @_kevinrowe

At first, link building may not come easy, but you will build trusted links as you refine your approach.

One of the fundamental skills of link building is email outreach and email message design. Many consider outreach for link building a volume game, but when done the right way, it can help you build impactful links from reputable websites and creators.

I created this guide to ensure someone new to link building has early and long-term success, maximizing responses from outreach to reputable blogs and influencers.

Below we’ll explore how to be helpful to creators, building backlinks or brand mentions as a result.

To this end, the guide contains a non-spammy approach to outreach, tips to get responses from email, an email builder spreadsheet template, and details on running campaigns with link building tools.

This approach offers a different perspective on link building outreach and requires a very different definition from common understandings.

What Is Link Building Outreach?

Link building outreach is a strategic phase in the link building process where individuals or organizations actively initiate contact with other websites, bloggers, influencers, or content creators.

The primary objective is to cultivate an authentic reputation by fostering collaboration, enhancing brand visibility, or disseminating valuable content.

A successful outreach campaign will naturally result in both inferred (e.g., brand or content mentions) and direct backlinks, with an emphasis on building meaningful connections and enhancing the site and content creator’s reputation.

While email remains the most commonly used medium for outreach, advanced link building strategies may incorporate social media engagement, phone calls, or even direct mail to establish rapport and facilitate mutually beneficial partnerships.

How To Approach Outreach The Right Way

Approach each email pitch as if it were coming from an expert contributor, passionate about creating helpful content or resources around their topic areas.

A creator’s biggest concern is creating content that is valuable to the reader, so they read, engage, and return.

When planning content for niche readers, would you rather be sold an idea? Or would you rather collaborate with experienced, expert peers to create high-value content for the readers?

In this scenario, you’re at an event with a group of peers talking about SEO. The group all have personal experiences trying to rank commercial pages, but failing. One peer explains how he figured figured out how to rank those pages, with internal linking. The peer has the solution to your problems. But then a non-SEO interjects to say, “Can’t you just buy a few links to the page,”  without understanding the group has a philosophy.

This is what a trusted content creator feels like when they receive a templated email pitch.

An expert has to use the email to show proof that they are an expert, through experience and insights. Show your proof by:

• Researching the creator: Read or listen to their content around a topic.
• Understanding them: Understand their perspective and knowledge gaps, and use that to craft the email.
• Establishing a reputation: Show how authoritative sources trust your content, people, or the company behind it.

When crafting an email, use your experience to be helpful to the readers.

How To Craft An Email So It Gets Opened And Read

Just prove that you read, understand, and can improve the prospective site’s content around a topic.

As long as the content gaps identified are substantial, the email becomes about showing your passion and understanding of the topic.

Below are the primary email fields and examples that an outreach specialist could write. Ensure each field mentions the gaps or how to improve the content.

The Anatomy Of A Helpful Email

Subject: A subject line is a short introduction to the preheader or email body.

The Marketing Blog is Missing Important Facts

Preheader:  A preheader shows on some email clients and mobile email apps.

I found a faily large gap in your marketing strategy content around SEO specifically.

Helpful Body: This is the primary copy of the email.

Hi Jenny –

When reading through your content around marketing strategy, I noticed that the argument could have been stronger for SEO in marketing excluding supporting statistics.

I’m Kevin Rowe, Head of Strategy for Example.com, and have been planning & executing SEO strategy for 10 years.

It makes sense to include this study to close the gap for your readers.

Digital marketers reading about marketing strategy would want to know:
– SEO generated 59% of total site traffic
– The ROI of SEO programs that include Link building is 50% higher

By adding additional details about SEO, you can make your content much more helpful for digital marketers.

Please let me know if you’re interested or think a custom piece can make it a better fit, and happy to create a new article around this topic.

cheers,

Expert Signature: At the bottom of an email is the signature, and this is drastically underutilized. Include items that can enhance your reputation or trust.

Kevin Rowe

Founder & Head of Strategy

PureLinq

Publications:

Fast Company, Forbes, Search Engine Journal

Sample clients:

Coca-Cola, Siemens, The Hartford, Hyatt Hotels, Vmware

Speaking:

Search Engine Journal webinar series

Pro Tips

• Avoid generic and overused templates, and customize to the topic.
• Explain the content findings of the content analysis.
• Identify how you will fill any topical gaps.
• Demonstrate experience, expertise, authority, and trust.

How To Get A Response To Your Outreach Email

The success of link building outreach hinges on three key factors: relevant content pitches, you have expertise, and that person understands and needs your content.

Be relevant: Select topics based on current relevance with trending topics or the maturity of the news cycle.

Demonstrate expertise or experience: Succinctly show, don’t tell, how your experience is valuable and has provided you with unique insight.

The right message to the right person: If an email is overly technical, but you are dealing with an editor with a broad knowledge base, then the reader might get confused and move on to a more straightforward email to understand.

Common contact types include:

• Expert creator: Blogger with experience and expert-level knowledge of the subject.
• Editor: Highlight polished, high-quality content.
• Writer/Contributor: Offer unique perspectives or content gaps.
• Webmaster: Be direct, focusing on technical aspects.
• Marketing Team: Emphasize potential traffic or engagement benefits.

But if that email doesn’t get a reply, a friendly follow-up might be the right solution.

How And When To Follow Up Your Email

A follow-up email needs to account for why the contact didn’t reply and focus on nurturing a relationship.

Link building outreach often faces challenges, from trust issues to timing mismatches. Recognizing these challenges and addressing them systematically can significantly improve your response rate.

Here’s a breakdown of common obstacles and a sequence to overcome them:

Common Obstacles:

• Trust: “They don’t know me.” Building trust is crucial, especially when reaching out to someone unfamiliar with your work or brand.
• Busy: People have packed schedules. Your email might get lost in the shuffle, making follow-ups essential.
• Wrong Time: Your topic might not align with their current content calendar or interests.
• Wrong Person: Sometimes, you might reach out to someone who isn’t the decision-maker or the right contact for your pitch.
• Relevancy: Ensuring your topic is relevant to the recipient’s audience is paramount.

The follow-ups should address real obstacles. This email sequence is a safe and non-spammy way to do that.

Strategic Email Sequence for Nurturing Relationships:

• Email 1 (Day 1): Start by identifying opportunities where your content can enhance their platform. Make it about them, not you.
• Email 2 (+3 days): If you don’t receive a response, send a gentle follow-up. Address potential timing issues and offer alternative content angles that might be more suitable.
• Engage on Social (+1 week): Before sending another email, engage with their content on social platforms. Like, comment, or share their posts to get on their radar.
• Email 3 (+1 week): Offer a fresh perspective or another angle on the topic you initially pitched. This shows flexibility and a genuine desire to provide value.
• Email 4 (+1 month): Highlight a current industry trend that aligns with their audience. This showcases your awareness of the evolving landscape and offers timely content.
• Email 5 (+1 month): Pitch another trending topic. By now, they should recognize your name, making them more likely to consider your proposal.

Optional step: Make a call to the contact to really show you’re serious.

How To Manage Your Link Building Outreach With Spreadsheets

For those new to link building outreach, spreadsheets offer a simple and effective way to organize and track efforts. Before investing in specialized software, it’s wise to familiarize yourself with the outreach process using spreadsheets.

Once you’ve honed your strategy, you can transition to a dedicated tool that aligns with your newly uncovered needs. This will save a lot of wasted hours trying to work in the standardized steps.

Types Of Spreadsheets For Effective Outreach

• Owned asset library: Catalog all the content and assets you own, such as articles, infographics, videos, etc. This is a quick reference and shares your assets during outreach.
• SOPs and process library: Document your standard operating procedures (SOPs) for outreach. This includes step-by-step processes, guidelines, and best practices. These types of templates ensure consistency in your outreach efforts and make onboarding new team members easier.
• Pitch tracking and mapping: Keep track of who you’ve contacted, their response, and any follow-up actions. Helps to avoid duplicate outreach and helps refine your approach based on feedback.
• Outreach manager/tracker: Organize your outreach campaigns, including targets and contact info, timelines, and results. Provides a clear overview of your outreach efforts, helping you identify what’s working and what needs adjustment.
• Email template builder: Store and refine email templates for different outreach scenarios. Speeds up the outreach process and ensures you’re always sending polished, effective emails.

In the outreach templates, use the email template builder tab to generate outreach emails based on an analysis of a site’s content.

As you can see in the screenshot, the template has fields to enter the insights and supporting content.

Screenshot from author, August 2023

Once you’ve established a solid process, you can transition to specialized software to further streamline and enhance your outreach efforts.

Tools For Email Outreach

For beginners, Pitchbox and Buzzstream are user-friendly tools for managing link building outreach campaigns.

While other tools offer email templates and standardized workflows, these can be limiting for beginners. Pitchbox offers more advanced features, but Buzzstream is more affordable and suitable for beginner to intermediate outreach.

The key to using these tools effectively is analyzing site content and personalizing emails from templates. If this process is too cumbersome, campaign performance may suffer, resulting in lower link placement rates.

Here’s how to use Pitchbox for beginner outreach with a random site selection:

Find ways to be helpful: Select a site from the Inspect tab, then click the Preview or Open in new tab. Read through the blog content, then add to Personalize.

Screenshot from Pitchbox, August 2023

The preview feature will open the website in Pitchbox, so you don’t have to spend time opening and tracking a new tab.

Screenshot from Pitchbox, August 2023

Build a personalized strategy: Select from a standard outreach strategy above (e.g., guest blogging) and design your own template.

To get started, just build the general email template above, then identify specific ways to improve the prospective site’s content around a topic.

Screenshot from Pitchbox, August 2023

Strategy execution: In Pitchbox, click Preview & Send for a final glance, then hit Send to execute.

Screenshot from Pitchbox, August 2023

Test & Analyze: Use the default campaign analytics to evaluate the response rate and wins. “wins” is the most critical metric in Pitchbox.

Screenshot from Pitchbox, August 2023

Pitchbox Pro Tips

• Use “custom fields” for uploading your content.

Key features for a beginner are:

• Upload a custom list of sites and contacts.
• Blacklist of sites that have been contacted or should not be contacted.
• Domain and page metric API with Majestic, Moz, Ahrefs, and Semrush.
• Templates & personalization.

Alternatively, you can use Respona or Buzzssumo. Both have their own individual merits and can be used for beginners.

How NOT To Do Email Outreach

When a creator realizes that you actually read their content, some outreach best practices can be a hindrance.

The response rates will likely be lower if the email doesn’t communicate that you read the content. Here are some ways you can guarantee

Here are some of the biggest mistakes made in link building outreach.

• Generic praise: Say, “I read this article,” but mention nothing about the topic or what was mentioned.
• Lack of analysis: Don’t analyze the content on the site to have a conversation about the content gaps.
• Over personalization: Many email templates will have a single area to insert text next to generic statements. This standard personalization can output an email that reads like a template.
• Send individual emails: If the content has broad market segment interest, then you can send it to many people.
• Always keeping it short: Emails should be scannable, and easy to spot the critical points. Short emails can seem insincere.

Your Next Moves

Link building outreach is a strategic process of initiating contact with other websites, bloggers, influencers, or content creators to establish authentic relationships and enhance brand visibility.

The goal is to create meaningful connections, not just acquire links. Successful outreach involves analyzing a site’s content, identifying gaps, and offering valuable assets to fill those gaps.

Personalized emails that demonstrate an understanding of the recipient’s content and show how you can enhance it are crucial.

Targeting the right person, with the right topic, at the optimal time increases the chances of getting a response. Follow-up emails and social media engagement are also key.

Beginners can use spreadsheets to manage their outreach efforts, and as they become more experienced, they can transition to specialized tools like Pitchbox or Buzzstream.

Avoiding common mistakes, such as generic praise and lack of analysis, is essential for successful outreach.

More resources: 

Featured Image: UnderhilStudio/Shutterstock

7 Link Building Tips For Beginners via @sejournal, @BibiBuzzCom

I know, my poor link builder n00bs.

It’s brutal out there. But I got you!

I’m Bibi the Link Builder and I’ve been building backlinks since the days of yore.

I’ve trained a horde of wide-eyed newbies for my agency and other link builder teams, so I know what you’re going through.

Let me share my seven nuggets that will make your first link building ride a bit smoother.

1. Manage Expectations

Link building can be hard, especially if you’re not buying links or using existing link partnerships. It can take weeks or even months before your campaigns gain momentum.

So it’s important that you don’t lose hope, and keep tweaking and trying.

If you’re dealing with other stakeholders, it’s very important they’re aware of this too.

You need a lot of headspace and time to learn what works and what doesn’t, and stakeholders breathing down your neck will not help.

So before you start, make sure everyone involved is okay with failing and is eager to learn and experiment – including you.

2. Focus First

Look, all marketers like shiny new things, and SEO pros are no exception.

But, especially for beginners, it’s better to focus on one link building tactic at a time.

Your results will not only depend on the tactic you’ve chosen, but they will equally depend on the quality of execution.

Here’s why you need to focus:

• If you try too many methods at once, you won’t be able to execute any of them well enough to be successful.
• You’ll be more likely to make mistakes if you’re method-hopping.
• It will be harder to track your results and see what’s working and what’s not.

Start with the link building tactic that looks easiest for you. Try it out and see how it goes.

Once you have a system that works for you, you can delegate it to a team member.

If the tactic doesn’t work or you have it systemized to perfection, start testing other stuff.

3. Start With Flexible Goals

It is common practice to define clear goals for your link building campaigns. This helps you measure your success and track your progress.

However, when you are starting out, it’s also okay to not have super clear goals.

Maybe your goal is simply to learn how to do link building and see what it does for your business.

This is a perfectly valid goal, and it can help you get started with link building from a more open perspective. You will fail forward and will be able to experiment more.

Once you have a better understanding of link building, you can start to set more specific goals.

For example, you might want to increase your website’s organic traffic by 10% or get 100 new backlinks in the next month.

4. Use Your Existing Network

I can’t believe I’m adding this tip here, as it’s so freakin’ obvious. But even the most experienced link builders sometimes leave these links on the table.

When you begin building links, please start with low-hanging fruit like this.

Just because it’s easy doesn’t mean there can’t be some heavy-duty gems in there!

So make a list of all areas where you (and your colleagues!) have existing connections. Here are some examples:

• Friends and family (duh).
• Your software suppliers.
• Other suppliers and providers.
• Local companies and organizations.
• Your alumni network.
• Events.

Once you have a list of connections, shoot them a quick message about links. Don’t overthink it.

5. Practice With Bespoke Emails First

A bespoke email is an email that is specifically written for one prospect.

When they read the email, they should understand this was only written for them and no one else.

You can use whatever elements you want to show that it’s unique for them.

Writing bespoke emails may sound like a lot of work, but it’s a great way to train yourself to write better templates.

Bespoke email begets templates.

A big part of link building is based on outreach, and a lot of that outreach is done through templated emails.

Templates can be very effective, but you need to learn how to create good ones that actually get results. Otherwise, you’ll be stuck copying or buying templates from others, which can be expensive and time-consuming.

Often, a targeted template that uses your link prospect’s jargon and shows an understanding of their pain points, interests, and wants works best.

It will convert much better than a generic template that uses typical link builder phrases. Unless you’re straight up offering to buy links, of course (and no shame in that either!).

So why start with bespoke emails?

I always ask my trainees to write 5 to 10 bespoke emails first because it will force them to do 3 things:

• Break out of the “corporate” box of a professional email should sound like.
• Really think about the value proposition: Why would the prospect add the link? What’s in it for them?
• Do a deep dive into one prospect and identify similarities between different prospects.

Working on unique outreach emails gives you a better understanding of what resonates with your prospects.

Once you’ve written a few bespoke emails, you’ll start to see a pattern emerge. You’ll notice which elements are most effective and which ones aren’t.

This will help you to create targeted templates for similar prospects.

6. Relevancy Can Be Stretchy

Besides winning links that bring in traffic and make those sales happen, you can think beyond just what your potential customers want.

Consider what your audience is like and what other stuff they’re into. Simply put, where else are they hanging out online?

Let me give you an example:

Let’s say you’re a luxury real estate broker. Your obvious targets are real estate sites, as they rank on relevant keywords and have an audience that’s looking to buy.

But all your competitors are thinking along the same lines, making it hard to get links from those sites. You should still go for that obvious angle, of course.

But you can also widen your scope, so you can get links from prospects that are not spammed to death by your competition. For instance, these prospects could work too:

• Luxury car dealerships.
• Private jet companies.
• Fine art dealerships.
• Interior design firms.
• Panic room installers.
• Security companies.
• High-end travel agencies.

This “stretching” can be used for prospecting angles, i.e., who you will reach out to. But it can also be used for linkable assets for active link building and passive link building.

An example is statistics pieces. A stats piece is a simple compilation of your and other peoples’ statistics around a certain topic, industry, and/or niche.

The audience of such a piece is not your customers; it’s the people who write for your customers and/or your prospects.

Those publishers need to do their homework, and your stats piece saves them time scouring for facts online. So they grab some of the facts you mentioned, write the piece, and refer to you as a source.

You can boost these pieces by actively building outreach links to them or running ads for them. But at some point, they will start attracting links on their own.

Check out Stacey Macnaughts’ talks and articles around these stats pieces; she’s the ultimate queen of stats pieces!

7. Multifaceted Prospecting

When you’re just starting out with prospecting, you usually begin with one of two approaches: competitor backlinks or targeted keywords.

In the first approach, you examine the backlinks of your direct or indirect competitors and reach out to those websites or similar ones.

When prospecting based on targeted keywords, you search for sites that rank for the keywords you want to target and reach out to them. You can also check their backlink profiles and hit up those prospects.

These two approaches are important, and you should definitely do them. But remember, your competitors are doing the same thing.

So, if you want to make your prospecting more creative, find out what kinds of websites and companies your audience likes. Then, create a list of prospects from that group.

This way, you can discover new opportunities and reach more people.

For instance, if you’re a coffee roaster, you could list all companies that have (part of) your audience:

• Coffee enthusiasts.
• Offices.
• Hotels.
• Coffee shops.
• Home roasters.
• Gift shops.
• Online retailers.
• Wholesale distributors.

Tip for smart and lazy people (my fave!): Ask Bard or Gepetto to help you brainstorm these lists.

You could create separate prospect lists of these types of companies. Then reach out with a themed email that resonates with that specific group.

You can also make another relevancy hop and research which companies cater to the companies from your first list.

So, for instance, when you think of hotel owners as an audience for coffee roasters, these are non-competing companies targeting that same group:

• POS systems.
• Housekeeping supplies companies.
• Loyalty programs.
• Property management systems.
• Booking engines.

If you add these prospecting angles to your prospecting toolkit, you end up with a varied collection of prospects.

It can also open your eyes to other types of collaborations with companies that share your customer base but are not competing with you.

In Summary

These are the final words for my sweet n00by link building babies.

Screw conformity! In link building (and life), be your unapologetic self.

Ditch the “proper and professional” corporate stuff.

Embrace your style, trust your gut, and don’t copy others. Experiment, have a blast, and own your unique approach.

More resources: 

Featured Image: Lightspring/Shutterstock

19 List Building Techniques For SaaS Link Building [With Templates] via @sejournal, @_kevinrowe

A SaaS company’s link building techniques are similar to other business types.

Still, the list building methods are unique because of the type of content on publisher websites and the content resources a SaaS business possesses.

SaaS companies tend to have unique content resources, including engineering team insights, unique data, subject matter expert (SME) clients, competitor comparison pages, and a wide range of blog topics.

Using these resources, a company can secure brand mentions and links on sites that cover topics or content about:

• Software alternatives or comparison articles.
• SME listicles.
• Internal SME quotes for content creators.
• Statistical roundup articles to share SaaS clients or industry data.
• SME guest posts.

List building is the process of matching these internal resources to external entities that will benefit from that resource and finding relevant prospects.

As I explain in my SEJ article, A Guide To Linkable Assets For Effective Link Building, linkable assets will be essential to most link building campaigns.

If the site has no linkable content, then use this guide to start planning.

Although the techniques below can be used across other industries, they are currently highly effective in SaaS link building.

Now that you have content, start identifying prospective link lists using the following process.

Universal List Building Process

This process can be used for creating lists for many link building techniques. Use the following list building template with the process and methods below to start link building today.

However, choose the link research tool or technique that works best for your niche. Semrush, Ahrefs, Moz, Majestic, or a search operator in Google can yield similar results.

Step 1: Seed A List Of Competitors And Keywords By Campaign Type

• Select the type of list to build from the campaign options below, or competitor analysis. Add those to the proven link building models tab in the template (see screenshot below).
• Create a seed list of keywords.
• Identify direct or keyword competitors.

Image created by author, July 2023

Step 2: List Identification

Create a list: Select which of these three methods.

 Google Search Operator

Direct SEO Tool List

(Check out all the options here.)

• Semrush.
• Ahrefs.
• Moz.
• Majestic.

Bulk List Building Tools

Search for lists.

Step 3: List Segmentation & Filtering

Narrow the list to blogs that link to the competitor using default and advanced filters.

Default Tool Filters

• Filter by topical relevancy first.
• Metrics filter: If the list has a lot of low-quality sites, then narrow the list based on the tools’ domain-level score (e.g., Domain Rating in Ahrefs or DA in Moz).

Content-Need Segmentation

Narrow the list by:

• Content type: Each tool is a “content-type” filter to narrow the list to articles.
• Placement: Select “content.”
• Language: select your preferred language.
• Advanced filter: Find in “text.”

Export

Manually Review & Segment Sites Based On

• Topics or methods to secure links (e.g., pitch the new survey about cyber security).
• Quality of content and site.

Add The Targeted Site List To The “List Tracker” Tab Of The Template

Image created by author, July 2023

Pro tip: Use a search operator in Pitchbox to narrow the list beyond the default campaign settings.

Use this process and the following techniques to create massive lists of prospective sites.

Competitor Backlink Lists

Competitor list building is centered around researching your competitors’ backlink profiles. You can quickly create a target list for your link building campaign by identifying the websites linking to your competitor’s content.

Writing an article about “software alternatives,” “best of,” or “top tools” is an easy way to create a valuable resource for readers. These topics are one reason why so many listicle articles exist.

These are great opportunities to generate links if they mention competitors’ brands but not yours.

1. Find Software Alternatives

{company name} intitle:alternative

For example, an SEO software like Semrush might search for:

Ahrefs intitle:alternatives

2. To Find Lists Of Competitors, Use The Search Operators

{industry name + software} intitle:tools

{keyword} intitle:best of

{keyword} intitle:top

By modifying the search operator to focus on company blogs, the list can filter out major publications that may need to update their list.

{keyword} Inurl:blog intitle:best of

Although competitor link building typically yields some targeted links, a link profile should include diverse and high-authority placements. Passive source lists can provide that diversity.

Passive Content Creator Source Lists

Journalists and bloggers constantly search for sources, experts, and valuable content.

Become the source when they are searching.

HARO (Help A Reporter Out) was the only resource for a long time, but you can also use Qwoted, ProfNet, and #journorequest (Twitter hashtag) to become a source.

After creating free or paid profiles for these sites, the request lists range from marketing case studies to business management or industry-specific requests.

Look for other trends in the topics requests to determine other sources within the company.

For example, HARO has a lot of requests for AI or generative AI sources. These requests can be an opportunity to use an SME from the engineering, development, or product teams as a source.

Building these lists may seem simple, but it demands a strategic approach to maximize your chances of being picked as a source.

Here are three lists to build:

3. Marketing Team List

Set up the marketing team as sources. HARO lists general “business” topics like marketing-specific content and case studies.

4. Leadership Team List

Include your leadership team as sources. These individuals often have years of experience and unique perspectives that can provide depth to a content creator’s story.

Plus, quotes from company leaders often hold more weight.

5. Industry Subject Matter Experts (SMEs)

These individuals within your organization or network have specialized knowledge in specific areas of your industry.

Content creators often seek experts who can provide in-depth insights on specific topics.

A SaaS company will have engineering or development team members that can be excellent sources of technical information.

However, content creators also search other areas for data or sources. As you’ll see below, content creators also go to Google and Reddit in their search.

List Building For Earned Links

Earning links doesn’t require building site lists for outreach, but rather lists of keywords or communities content creators are searching for information on a topic.

Although these creators use many sources for research, they heavily use Google and Reddit to get direction, answer questions, or provide data.

Content creators are using research hubs on subreddits.

Keyword Research Lists

Instead of building a list of sites, this technique builds a list of targeted keywords for the content to rank.

6. Data Keywords

Create lists of keywords that indicate research-based queries. These often include terms like “statistics” or “data.”

By crafting content around these keywords, you stand a higher chance of earning backlinks from journalists or bloggers searching for data-driven insights in your industry.

Examples include:

• [industry] statistics [year].
• [topic] data (e.g., Christmas shopping data).
• [industry | keyword] trends.

7. Researching New Topics

Many writers create content about topics that are new to them. Thus they will search for very top-of-funnel terms like “what is” or “what are.”

8. Book Summary Search

Create a summary or outline of a book on a relevant topic.

Create a list of “[book] + summary” keywords. E.g., “product-led SEO book summary.”

9. Expert Search

Search for an expert with “top [topic] experts” for listicles. Get listed on those listicles.

10. Trendy Topics

Find keywords for trending topics, and become the expert. With new topics, SMEs will be limited.

Thus secure placements on roundup articles about experts in trending topics.

Tips:

• If your content is an order of magnitude (e.g., 10X better data quality) better than the top pieces, then build a list of referring domains that link to the top-ranking content. Use this as a primer list to do outreach and secure initial links.
• Use the People Also Ask questions to identify topics to write about.

Subreddit lists

Content creators can use Reddit to learn more about their research, as subreddits exist for almost any category.

When creating these community lists, look for trends, not just one community. As you can see below, the “helpful sources” category has multiple similar subreddits.

Depending on the company’s niche, search for topical trends like “cyber security innovation threads.”

Here are three categories to build lists around, but research your niche.

11. General News

Create a list of general news subreddits that can provide a list for sharing quotes or unique data on a trending topic. Examples include /r/news and /r/worldnews.

12. Helpful Sources

Create a list of threads that posts data or helpful content around a topic. Some examples are /r/explainlikeimfive/, /r/dataisbeautiful, or /r/indepthstories.

13. Innovation Threads

In SaaS, if the product is innovative or leadership has a value-add take on a trending topic, Reddit has threads. For example, /r/Futurology has content on AI or advanced technology topics.

Building lists are easy to write about but difficult to execute. Use the following tips to search and filter down the entire list.

Tips to filter Reddit interactions for a targeted site list.

• Subreddit Research: Use the Reddit search feature to find subreddits related to your industry or niche. Each subreddit is a community with its own rules and preferences. Understand these before you post.
• Look for query-based threads: Search for threads where users ask questions or seek information about your industry or niche. These results yield great opportunities to provide a helpful response and include a relevant link to your content.
• Host an AMA (Ask Me Anything) session: If you’re an expert in a particular field, you can host an AMA session. This focus allows you to share a lot of links to your content. Ensure your AMA provides value and isn’t just self-promotion.
• Join discussions: Engage in discussions in your targeted subreddits. You can share if your content is relevant and provides more insight or a different perspective.
• Share unique, high-quality content: Reddit users appreciate unique, high-quality content. If your content meets this standard, you’re more likely to earn upvotes, comments, and potentially backlinks.

Earning links can be time-consuming and resource intensive, but the next section covers a technique that any marketer can execute: guest posting.

High-Authority Guest Posting Lists

A “high authority guest post” refers to a blog or article written by a guest author and posted on a highly reputable, authoritative website.

The credibility and recognition of the host website are expected to increase the reach, credibility, and impact of the guest post. An executive, manager, or company leader will find more opportunities for the highest authority contributions.

These team members can secure contributions to major publications or company blogs. A strong thought leader can contribute to sites like Harvard Business Review or Fast Company.

However, guest posts on relevant company blogs are available in higher volume.

14. Major Publications Contributions

To build a list of major publications that will provide a byline, search for lists in Google with search operators.

A final list of these publications will be short, as many sites publish lists of them with the contributor guidelines.

To find these lists, search in Google with the following search operator, and

{keyword} -guidelines intitle:"contributor" intext:"publication"

15. Niche Company Blogs

Some websites also allow for a guest article contribution. For example, HubSpot allows experts to create and publish on the blog.

To find these blogs, search in Google for a variation of the search operators:

{keyword} intitle:"contributor"

Although this operator uses “contributor,” swap that word out for various terms to expand the list:

• Guest post.
• Guest contributor.
• Write for us.
• Blogging guidelines.
• Contributor guidelines.
• Submit a post.

Skyscraper Technique List Building

The Skyscraper Technique is a link building technique where you find existing high-performing content on a topic related to your industry, create something even better, and then reach out to the right people so they can link to your superior content.

It was developed by Brian Dean from Backlinko, and it’s a highly effective method of acquiring high-quality backlinks.

16. Links To Original Content

This list building method is similar to competitor analysis. Use Ahrefs, Semrush, Moz, or Majestic’s backlink reports to identify links directly pointing to the URL of the topic content.

However, this process is manual, as you have to check each domain’s links individually. Using Pitchbox can make this process more scalable with the “URL backlinks” integration campaign.

17. Site & Authors That Have Covered The Topic

Use a simple Google search to find articles or blog posts about your chosen topic.

Look for articles ranking on the first few pages of Google, as these are likely high-authority sites.

You can also use Google’s ‘site:’ operator to search specific websites for relevant content.

Pro tip: Exclude the keyword from the title to find content that mentions the topic but doesn’t cover it deeply in a whole article:

 -intitle:{keyword} intext:{keyword}

The Skyscraper has become very popular in the SaaS space, as have link exchanges.

Link Exchange Lists

Link exchanges refer to the process where two websites agree to link to each other to improve search engine visibility. However, think of these as resource exchanges instead of link exchanges.

In a resource exchange, each website shares informational content with each other’s audience. These assets include blog posts, studies, or guides.

18. Identify Companies For Link Exchanges

Not all, but many companies use a /blog or /resource folder structure. This common denominator can reduce the time to build a list, as these variables can be used to design search operators.

However, some company blogs exclude the /blog from the article’s URL. Thus the blog will be example.com/example-article instead of /blog/example-article.

For the latter, use the search operator

 inurl:"blog" intitle:{keyword}

19. Non-competing Article Exchanges

Find link exchange opportunities from articles that cover the topic but are not trying to rank for the exact keywords. Filter these out by excluding them.

inurl:"blog" intext:{keyword} -intitle:{keyword}

Conclusion

Link building for SaaS companies requires leveraging unique content resources and implementing strategic techniques.

Among these, the utilization of competitor backlink lists, passive content creator source lists, earned links, high-authority guest posting, and the Skyscraper Technique are significantly effective.

With meticulous attention to creating valuable content and a dedicated focus on list-building processes, SaaS companies can significantly improve their link-building efforts.

Understanding the link building landscape is not merely a desirable skill but an essential aspect of SaaS marketing.

Future efforts should focus on continually refining these strategies in response to evolving industry trends and market needs.

More resources: 

Featured Image: Sammby/Shutterstock

Social Media Tools for Link-building

Social media enables connections with reporters, writers, and bloggers. It’s an overlooked link-building method.

Here are my favorite social media tools to identify and engage with potential link providers.

Tools for Link Building

Twitter search offers a handy “People” tab to find individual Twitter profiles based on your keywords. My favorite feature is the list of common connections for potential introductions. Here’s an example of searching for “CNN reporter.”

Twitter search can find individual profiles based on keywords and list common connections. Click image to enlarge.

—

FollowerSearch, a third-party tool, finds Twitter profiles with queried terms in their bio. It also shows the number of followers for each profile. FollowerSearch can filter results by the number of followers or location (handy for local business outreach). A $39 per month premium version allows CSV exports.

FollowerSearch finds Twitter profiles with queried terms (“CNN reporter”) in their bio. Click image to enlarge.

—

Twitter Lists and Tweetdeck. Finding promising profiles is one step. Knowing what they publish will help develop an outreach strategy, such as aligning a linkable asset with their interests. It’s also a good way to build relationships by engaging with their tweets and answering questions.

For both outreach and relationships, I create Twitter Lists for journalists and reporters relevant to my niches. TweetDeck is the best way to follow profiles on those lists. Click “Add column” in the left panel of TweetDeck, and select your list in the “Your Lists” tab.

In TweetDeck, click “Add column” in the left panel and select your list in the “Your Lists” tab. Click image to enlarge.

—

Drippi can export connections or threads of any Twitter profile. Exporting connections acts as a Twitter bio search:

• Enter your target profile.
• Choose to search for followers or following.
• Enter desired keywords in the bios, such as “reporter,” “blogger,” or “journalist.”

For example, Drippi can identify reporters followed by a CNN Twitter account and then filter them by industry or keyword as contained in their profile.

From there, you could automatically direct message those filtered and imported Twitter accounts. But I avoid automated outreach, preferring instead to create a Twitter List and monitor and engage with their tweets and decide how to reach out meaningfully.

Drippi can identify reporters followed by a CNN Twitter account and then filter them by industry or keyword. Click image to enlarge.

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Devi is primarily a lead generation tool for Twitter, LinkedIn, Reddit, and groups on Facebook. Devi can find prospects and facilitate outreach.

To use the tool, install the Chrome extension, provide your keywords (e.g., topics of your linkable assets), and select those groups or profiles to monitor. Then participate in relevant discussions to understand how your topic fits and its influencers, for outreach. Engage only with meaningful content, such as a study, and don’t overdo it.

Use Devi’s “Commented” tab to reply to comments and re-engage with lapsed connections. You can also save contacts. Devi costs $49.50 per month.

Use Devi’s “Commented” tab to reply to comments and re-engage with lapsed connections. You can also save contacts. Click image to enlarge.

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IGFollow is a Chrome extension for Instagram. The tool extracts and exports the followers or followed users of any Instagram account and people using a particular hashtag. For each user, it will provide a username, full name, bio, and email or phone number if available.

IGFollow helps find Instagram contacts to engage with. The tool provides no filters, however, so it could take time to sort through the exports.

You can export your data to a CSV file and extract more. For free, you can extract up to 30 users. For unlimited access, upgrade to a premium plan costing $19 a month.

IGFollow extracts the followers or followed users of any Instagram account as well as people using a particular hashtag, such as “SEO” in this example. Click image to enlarge.