The not-so-secret strategy for ranking in search engine results pages (SERPs) is creating quality content that resonates with your audience. But that’s not enough to stay at the top.
Even with great content, search engines like Google still value backlinks more. It’s arguably the most important ranking factor. You get backlinks naturally when other sites link to your content.
However, to stay relevant, you must be proactive with your link-building outreach. We’re here to show you the best strategies, tools, and best practices for link building.
Why Every Website Needs Backlinks
Think of backlinks as a vouching system. The more backlinks you have, the more authoritative your site is. Google loves to rank sites with high authority—and sometimes, maybe too much.
There will always be cases where sites with better content are overshadowed by those with mediocre content but have aggressive link-building.
The good news is that the site with better content can easily catch up and get a higher rank by improving link velocity through sustainable link-building outreach.
How Does Link Building Work?
Link building isn’t overly technical. At its core, it’s about outreach. You’ll be talking to other site owners and asking them to link back to your content. But what’s in it for them? You need to provide value.
Aside from that, you need to reach out to sites that give you high-quality backlinks. These are sites with high domain authority and are relevant to your niche. Here’s how it works:
Not all Backlinks are Equal; Choose Relevant Sites with High DA
A big part of link-building is strategically choosing sites to reach out to. The best-case scenario is getting backlinks from sites with high domain authority (DA). But it has to be relevant.
For example, if your content is all about taking care of plants, you’d want to build links to sites with related content. These could be sites focusing on gardening, agriculture, or horticulture.
Even if you get a backlink from a site with high DA, it wouldn’t be as effective if it’s unrelated to your content. In this example, you wouldn’t want to get a backlink from a website about roofing.
Create High-Quality Content That People Want to Link To
Site owners will not link to your content if it is low-quality and doesn’t make sense for their audience. Always create valuable, engaging, and relevant content.
It could be a blog post with a case study, statistics, infographics, or anything that solves a pain point within your industry. Add new insights or talk about a topic from a fresh perspective.
Quality content also means being comprehensive. Be as detailed and in-depth as possible when writing about a topic. There could be gaps you can fill, making you more likely to get a backlink.
Another easy way to get backlinks is by leveraging images, infographics, and other visual elements. If you see your images used by another site, that could be an easy backlink.
Link Building Outreach At Scale
Link building is a numbers game. The more sites you reach out to, the higher the chances of getting a backlink. You need the right tools and strategies to sustain this.
The essentials include an outreach tool that can automate drip campaigns and monitor metrics, a CRM tool to manage backlink leads, and a lead finder to help you find potential backlinks.
That’s where Instantly comes in. After finding sites to reach out to, you can use Instantly for outreach automation, personalization, and A/B testing campaign performance.
Best Link Building Outreach Strategies
Link building is all about communication. But you need to have a purpose for reaching out. You can’t just say, “Hey, can I get a backlink, please?”
Instead, try out the following strategies. We’ll be showing you how the strategy works and an example email copy you can take inspiration from.
Broken Link Building
Broken links are one of the easiest ways to get a backlink. When readers want to know more about a topic and click on a broken link, they’re met with an error 404. That’s not a good look.
Your angle here is that you’re the alternative to that broken link. To find broken links, you can use tools like Semrush and Ahrefs. They have tools that check your site for broken links.
But that can also be used on your competitors. For example, you can go to Ahref’s free broken link checker, enter a competitor's website, and then look at their most linked broken pages.
If you already have similar content to the broken link, then you can easily pitch yourself as the alternative. Here is an example email you can use:
Hey, {{first name}}, Just wanted to let you know that you’ve got a broken link in your {{article}}. I recently published a study about {{topic}} and I think it would be a great replacement resource for the broken link.
All the data is updated and we even included infographics that I think your audience would love. You can read our study here. {{insert link}}.
If this interests you, feel free to hit us up any time. We’re also down for any of your suggestions or input to help us align our content more with your audience.
Best regards,
{{your name}}
Updating Old Content
SEO gets competitive. You need to constantly pump out content to remain relevant. Unfortunately, that leaves a lot of content in the dust with outdated data and information.
Offering Better Content
This strategy forces you to create better-quality content than your competitors. That alone can attract traffic and even generate organic backlinks.
The first step in this strategy is to use your SEO tools to look at your competitor’s backlink profile and find content with strong backlinks. This is the content you’ll be competing against.
After creating a better piece of content, sort your competitor’s backlink profile and find domains that link to that content. Then, pitch an email that’s concise, and complimentary, and introduce your content as a better resource than the original piece they linked to.
Hey, {{first name}} ,
I’m {{your name}}, from {{company}}. I’m a huge fan of your work on {{topic}}. I just finished reading {{article}} and noticed you were talking about {{topic you want to get a backlink on}}.
I also created an in-depth and comprehensive guide about {{topic you want to get a backlink on}}. It goes over {{reasons why it’s better than the competition}}.
I think this could be a great resource for your article because it goes into specific detail about {{where your content stands out}}. Here’s a link to our guide. {{insert link}}.
Let me know what you think. I’d love to hear your thoughts about it.
Best regard,
{{your name}}
Guest Posting
Guest posting is probably the most popular method of getting backlinks. It’s a win-win situation for both parties. They get content, you get a backlink. But, because of how essential backlinks are, most sites will likely ask for monetary compensation.
So, be prepared to have a budget allocated for this type of link building. As always, ensure that you’re reaching out to websites with high DA and have content that’s relevant to your niche.
Hey, {{first name}}
I just finished reading your article on {{latest article}}. I loved what you said about {{topic}}. I’ve been saying that for years. Thanks for shedding light on it.
Since your audience also loves {{topic}}, I thought they might be interested in {{your topic}}. {{give one or two sentences about why readers would care about your content}}.
I’d love to do a guest post on {{blog name}} in exchange for a backlink. I also understand if you’re asking $$$ for it. Let me know if this is something you’re interested in.
Thanks in advance,
{{your name}}
Journalism Sourcing
News and publishing websites are the holy grail. If you become a resource for journalists, you’re sure to have quality, high-DA backlinks.
The best way to connect with journalists is through sites like HARO (now Connectively), Qwoted, Cision, and Muck Rack. Here’s an example of copy you can use to reach out to journalists from these sites:
Hey, {{first name}},
I just read your article on {{topic}} and {{your thoughts on topic}}. We recently studied {{similar topic}} to determine {{reason for study}}. Since you cover {{topic}}, I thought you might be interested in our findings:
{{key point 1}}
{{key point 2}}
{{key point 3}}
{{key point 4}}
{{key point 5}}
You can get an in-depth look at our findings here. {{insert link}}
As {{topic}} is becoming more relevant in {{industry}}, I thought our study could be of value to your audience. I’m happy to send our data or visuals if you’re interested in sharing it.
Looking forward to hearing what you think.
Best regards,
{{your name}}
Stealing From the Competition
Data is on your side when doing link-building outreach. You don’t have to spend hours researching and prospecting potential sites that can link to your content.
All you have to do is to look at your competitors’ backlink profiles. They must be doing something right if they’re getting consistent quality backlinks. So, just copy their strategies.
Look at their top pages. See what content brings in traffic. Study the keywords they’re targeting. Then, learn which pages get the most links and the sites that link to them.
These are your potential prospects for link-building outreach. But, if you can’t find their email, try using lead finder tools like Instantly B2B Lead Finder.
Share Content on Forums
Sharing content on platforms like Reddit, Quora, and social media groups is great for brand building. Although they don’t provide value as a backlink, they still improve organic traffic.
But make sure not to shill your articles. Don’t spam your content. Instead, focus on helping others and only mention or link to your article when it provides value to the overall conversation.
There’s even a chance that you’ll find somebody you can build backlinks with. Just ensure that you’re doing the following best practices:
- Give tips and advice
- Follow community guidelines
- Only link to your article as an extra resource
You can also use the questions asked in forums to inspire the next topic you want to write about. As always, the topic should be related to your niche.
Link Reclamation
When you find people who use your content, data, or media but don’t link back to your site, you can try link reclamation. It’s a backlink goldmine.
They already use your data, the least they could do is credit you. This strategy is all about social listening. Use tools that can notify you when your brand is mentioned.
There are two types of link reclamation—reclaiming lost links and un-linked organic mentions. Lost links are sites that link back to you but remove the link. Unlinked mentions are websites that use your content or brand name but don’t link to the source.
If you find either of the two, you can try reaching out to the website admins using this email:
Hey, {{first name}},
I noticed you mentioned {{your brand}} in your {{article name}}. {{link to their article}}.
Thank you so much for giving us a shout-out! Much appreciated!
I’m reaching out because I wanted to ask if you could link back to our page using the {{anchor text}} anchor text. I think it’ll be beneficial to your readers if they could have easy access to our site for more information about {{topic}}.
Let me know what you think or if there’s anything else we could help with.
Thanks in advance,
{{your name}}
Create Content With Thought Leaders
Regardless of how many core algorithm updates Google rolls out, EAT (expertise, authority, trust) will always be a relevant ranking factor. Collaborating with thought leaders gives you just that.
For example, you could interview with a thought leader on a topic. That interview can then be broken down into a blog that provides an easy reading structure for your audience.
If you want to reach out to thought leaders or influencers in your industry, try using this email:
Hey, {{first name}},
I’m {{your name}}, from {{your company}}. We’re big fans of your work. We’ve used your strategy for {{topic}} for a lot of the content we do and our audience loves your insight.
Here are some of our most popular pieces. {{provide links to one or two of your articles}}.
I’m reaching out right now to ask if you would like to be a guest speaker in our webinar about {{topic}}. There’s a lot of crossover between our content and I think it’ll bring value to both our audience.
Is this something you’d be interested in?
Best regard,
{{your name}}
Key Takeaways
Link-building outreach strategies ensure sustainable and competitive link velocity for every business. To recap, nine of the most popular link-building strategies include:
- Broken link building
- Updating old content
- Offering better content
- Guest posting
- Journalism sourcing
- Stealing from the competition
- Link reclamation
- Creating content with thought leaders
At the end of the day, link-building outreach comes down to great cold email marketing practices. The best tool for cold email is Instantly.ai. Try it out today and start scaling backlink outreach.
