A Basic Link Building Process for Beginners

 

Anyone considering or involved in SEO will know the importance of backlinks. So, we asked some expert SEO consultants to assemble an essential process for beginners starting the link-building task. Here it is:

Here are some of the best white label link services available in 2024, based on recent reviews and industry analysis:

• Loganix—Loganix offers comprehensive white-label link-building services, including guest posting, authority, brand, and HARO link building. Their services focus on high-quality backlinks from authoritative sites and provide detailed, unbranded reports for resellers to pass on to their clients.
• Fannit - Fannit specializes in manual link building, offering link insertions and guest post services. They provide monthly reporting and ensure all backlinks are from high-quality, relevant websites. Their white-label services cater to businesses of all sizes looking to improve their SEO rankings and organic traffic.
• Click Intelligence—This company provides various link-building services, including digital PR, resource link building, and international link building. Their white-label services are designed to boost online visibility and rankings by securing backlinks from high-authority sites.
• Loopex Digital—Known for its expertise in SEO, Loopex Digital offers a range of link-building services, including white-label options. It focuses on delivering high-quality backlinks through guest posts and other link-building strategies, ensuring effective SEO results for resellers and their clients.

These companies provide robust white-label link-building solutions, ensuring high-quality backlinks and comprehensive support for SEO agencies looking to enhance their clients' online presence without handling the link-building process in-house.

1. Understand What Constitutes SEO Value

• Quality Over Quantity: Google and other search engines value high-quality links from authoritative, trustworthy sites over many low-quality links. Sites with high domain authority (DA), strong organic traffic, and relevance to your industry are considered “high-quality.”
• Relevance Matters: A link from a site within your niche or related industry is more valuable than one from an unrelated site. For example, a link from a popular fitness blog to a health supplement site is more valuable than a link from a general hobby blog.
• Avoid Toxic Links: Links from low-quality, spammy sites can hurt your site’s SEO rather than help. Regularly monitor your backlinks and disavow links from questionable sources, especially if they appear on "link farms" or sites purely created for link-building.

These are the attributes every link prospect should have:

• High Domain Authority - DA 30+, TF 20+ and DR 20+
• Unique Class C IP Address
• More than 2 years old
• Relevant to the target industry sector OR a well-known general domain such as a business or news website
• Allow “dofollow” links.

2. Identify Competitor Link Prospects

• Conduct a Competitor Analysis: Use SEO tools like Ahrefs, Moz, or SEMrush to analyze the backlink profiles of your top competitors. These tools allow you to see which sites are linking to them and what content those sites found valuable enough to link.
• Focus on “Gap” Links: Look for links your competitors have that you don’t. These “link gaps” can reveal valuable link-building opportunities you haven’t tapped into yet.
• Identify Patterns: Notice if certain websites link to multiple competitors, such as industry-specific blogs, resource pages, or news sites. These can be a priority target list, as they clearly see value in your industry.

Use one of the many SEO tools to generate a list of competitors’ linking domains. Then, review them based on the value attributes listed above to eliminate any poor-quality link prospects.

These can be sub-divided into 3 categories:

• Outreach Link Prospects – contact via an email outreach campaign
• Contributor Opportunities – apply for an author/contributor account
• Directory Listings—Submit your business to be listed, but note that many directory listings have no SEO value, so check how your website will be listed and especially how many other links will appear on the same page.

3. Identify Related But Non-Competing Websites

• Use Google’s Advanced Search Operators: Searching for related sites within your niche is easier with Google’s search operators. For instance, use “related:[your industry] blog” to find relevant websites or blogs that might welcome your link outreach.
• Focus on Complementary Niches: Target websites that don’t directly compete with you but are in an adjacent field that serves the same audience. For instance, a travel gear site can collaborate with a travel advice blog to cross-promote content and gain high-quality links.
• Identify Resource or Curated Content Pages: Many sites have dedicated pages for “recommended resources” or “useful links.” These pages are ideal for link-building because they’re specifically meant to provide value by linking to other useful content.

Produce a list of related but non-competing websites via online research that might be useful for mutually beneficial collaboration.

 

4. Discover Unlinked Mentions

• Set Up Alerts for Brand Mentions: Use Google Alerts, Mention, or Brand24 to track mentions of your brand, products, or even critical figures associated with your brand (like a CEO). When a website mentions you but doesn’t link, asking for a link is easier, as they’re already familiar with you.
• Reach Out with a Polite Request: When requesting a link for an unlinked mention, be courteous and explain the added value to their readers. Mention how linking to your site will help users learn more about the topic or brand being discussed.
• Prioritize High-Authority Unlinked Mentions: Only some unlinked mentions are worth pursuing. Focus on mentions from high-authority sites or popular blogs within your niche, as they will provide the most SEO value.

Do an online search for your brand/business name. Where there are mentions but no backlinks, simply get in touch and request a link be added.

 

5. Use Real-Life Contacts

• Tap into Existing Relationships: Your network can be a rich link source. Reach out to suppliers, business partners, clients, or even friends in related industries who manage their sites or blogs.
• Offer Value in Return: This could mean linking to them, collaborating on a blog post, or sharing content on social media. A mutual benefit strengthens the likelihood of a lasting, valuable link.
• Engage in Local Link-Building: For local businesses, real-life contacts are essential. Consider getting backlinks from local organizations, chambers of commerce, and community boards that support businesses in your area.

Talk to existing business contacts to see if there are opportunities to collaborate on generating links—but avoid reciprocal links.

 

6. Start an Outreach Campaign

• Research Your Prospects Thoroughly: Research each target site before crafting your outreach emails. A personalized email that references specific content or aligns with the site’s tone increases the chance of a response.
• Craft a Strong, Polite Outreach Email: Explain why linking to your content provides value to their readers. Avoid sounding salesy and focus on the informational or practical benefit they’ll gain.
• Automate for Scale, But Don’t Spam: While personalized emails yield the best results, consider using tools like Hunter.io or BuzzStream for outreach tracking and follow-up reminders. However, automation should be limited to avoid generic mass emails that appear spammy.

Find specific contact details.

• Don’t send your outreach emails to a generic address such as info@domainname.com, as they are less likely to be read by the right person.
• Identify relevant topics to pitch.

What sort of content has already been published in style and length? Does the site need good content on a certain relevant topic?

 

Use personalized emails

Make your email stand out from the masses by making it highly personalized and showing that you know their website. Never use email templates, as they are easy to spot.

 

Think carefully about the email title.

Many cold emails will never be opened, making the title stand out.

 

7. Create Content to Support Link-Building

• Focus on Linkable Content: Certain types of content naturally attract more links, such as how-to guides, research studies, original surveys, and infographics. Identify topics offering unique insights or comprehensive guides that other sites want to reference.
• Use Data and Research: Conduct original research, create case studies, or compile industry reports to create valuable data-driven content. High-quality data content is often cited and linked by others within your industry.
• Repurpose Content into Different Formats: Content like infographics, videos, and downloadable guides is highly shareable and appeals to a broader audience. Diversifying your content types increases the likelihood of different sites linking back.

Once you have started outreach, you will need to create the content that will be used as a guest post, article, press release, etc., or that will be published on your website as a guide, white paper, opinion piece, etc. If you don’t have good writing skills yourself then employ a good copywriter as the quality of the content will impact the success of the link-building campaign.

 

8. Monitor Backlink Profile

• Regularly Audit Backlinks: Use tools like Google Search Console, Ahrefs, and Moz to monitor your backlink profile. Look out for new, lost, and potentially harmful links that need to be disavowed.
• Analyze Link Performance: See which backlinks drive the most traffic or have the most SEO impact. Certain types of content or specific sites are precious for future outreach.
• Keep an Eye on Competitor Link Growth: Monitoring your competitors’ link profiles helps you stay competitive. Use this information to adapt your strategy and build quality links over time.

Monitoring the backlinks generated to ensure they still exist and add value to your SEO campaign is important. It is often easier to rectify issues with existing links than to gain new ones, so this is an essential part of your process. Use your preferred SEO software to check the following:

• Lost links are links that once existed but have now been removed from a website. Contact the site owner and request the link be reinstated.
• Links that have been changed from dofollow to nofollow. Again, ask the site owner if the link can be returned to dofollow.
• Pages that contained your link have now been removed from the website or renamed without a permanent redirect being put in place.

Additional Tips:

• Patience and Consistency: Link-building is a long-term strategy. It takes time to build relationships and see SEO results from backlinks, so consistency is key.
• Diversify Your Links: Avoid relying on a single link type (like guest posts) to reduce the risk of search engine penalties. Diversify link sources across blogs, news sites, directories, and forums.
• Test and Adapt: Experiment with different types of outreach, content, and link sources to see what works best for your niche. Based on the results, adapt to continually improve your link-building strategy.

By following these detailed steps, you can develop a more robust, effective link-building process that enhances your site’s authority, drives organic traffic, and boosts SEO over time.