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Elevate Your SEO Strategy with Outreach Link Building: A Step-by-Step Guide

9 min read

External links from third-party resources are crucial for websites to maintain their online presence. As per Google’s guidelines, these links are significant in determining a site’s ranking and assessing its usefulness to users. There are several approaches to obtaining backlinks, but this article will focus on the process of acquiring outreach links.

Before diving into the methods of acquiring outreach links, let’s first understand the concept itself.

 

Elevate Your Marketing Game with Outreach Promotion

 

In SEO promotion and website ranking, outreach is utilized by specialists to place external links on referring domains. This involves establishing contacts and negotiating with administrators or resource owners.

This technique, commonly called “white hat link building, ” is favoured for selecting high-quality, non-spam sites and controlling the entire process. While Google does not endorse link exchange schemes, externally placed links appear natural, whether purchased or not.

 

Several features make outbound promotion appear natural:

  • Links are placed on dedicated resources in unique thematic publications applicable to the referring domain’s visitors.
  • When creating backlinks, your website’s search position improves, with additional traffic from the referring domain links and a positive PR effect.
  • The sites you find may not systematically sell links but place them selectively, prioritizing high-quality links. The value of placement increases and the risk of being sanctioned due to links on sites is lower due to the outgoing link profile and the outgoing and incoming links ratio.
  • Changes can be made to the posted material or links to them if necessary since there is direct contact with the administrator or site owner.
  • While many referring domains may match the parameters, only some sites will agree to place a link on your preferred conditions, requiring more work and time.
  • Placement prices may be higher than those on many platforms.

Building relationships through outreach is a valuable white hat technique that can improve your website’s search ranking, drive additional traffic, and create a positive PR effect, provided that you find suitable high-quality non-spam sites and establish direct contact with their administrators or owners.

 

A Comprehensive Guide to Link Building Strategy in 9 Phases

 

Link building is essential to search engine optimization, and several phases are involved. Here, we’ll discuss the nine crucial stages of link-building strategy in detail:

  1. Collect relevant keywords to search for potential sites in the search engine results.
  2. Analyse the competitors’ link profiles and collect potential sites for link placement.
  3. Evaluate the quality and relevance of the collected sites.
  4. Collect email addresses of site webmasters for outreach.
  5. Send a request for link placement and pricing information.
  6. Choose the most relevant and affordable sites based on metrics and quality.
  7. Create content tailored to the site’s requirements.
  8. Place and verify the material and links on the selected sites.
  9. Analyse the results of link placement to track the effectiveness of the strategy.

 

How to Collect Key Queries for Effective Search Engine Results?

 

To start a successful site search, the first step is to create a keyword list. However, simply typing in commercial search terms won’t cut it. Instead, it’s essential to focus on marker queries that best describe your site and branch out from there. This way, you can find informational articles, media outlets, and thematic news portals relevant to your niche.

To expand your list of keywords, you can use Google Keyword Planner or take advantage of our monthly SEO package. Doing so can ensure that your keyword list is comprehensive and effective for driving traffic to your site.

 

The Significance of Referring Domain Quality in Link Building Strategies

 

According to Google, the quality of links is more important than their quantity for website ranking. However, there are multiple criteria to consider when assessing the quality of a site, and it’s essential to look at these factors comprehensively. Furthermore, while higher indicators are desirable, they come at a higher price. Therefore, finding optimal referring domains with an excellent price-quality ratio is crucial for effective link building.

When analysing numerical data, it’s crucial to use data from one source for all sites, even if the accuracy of the data could be better. This approach ensures that any errors have the same effect on all results.

 

The Power of Site Traffic

 

The popularity of a site can be judged by the total traffic it receives. Therefore, a site with low traffic will have limited click opportunities on our link, reducing the chances of receiving additional traffic.

 

Traffic Source Ratio

 

When conducting outreach, it is crucial to consider the sources of traffic, particularly the proportion of organic and direct traffic. Organic traffic provides insights into the site’s standing with search engines, while direct traffic indicates user interest, loyalty, and authority.

Domain Rating (DR) and Its Significance in Building High-Quality Backlinks

A website’s backlink profile is a significant factor in its overall search engine ranking, and Domain Rating (DR) is one of the metrics used to measure it. Ahrefs, one of the popular SEO tools, assigns DR on a scale of 1-100 based on the strength of a website’s backlink profile compared to other sites in its database. However, DR does not consider other factors like link spam, traffic, or domain age.

A high DR indicates higher link popularity and opportunities for potential link building. Nonetheless, it’s important to note that Google may not consider some of the backlinks on a site with high DR, but they still count towards DR. Therefore, analysing the backlinks of high DR sites before considering them for outreach is essential.

It’s also important to note that DR can be artificially inflated; hence, it should not be the sole metric to consider while evaluating potential referring domains. Comparing DR values of similar sites is advisable; analysing the backlinks can help determine the overall quality.

To obtain a list of high DR sites, one can contact Ahrefs directly and use the Batch Analysis feature to simultaneously upload up to 200 domains. Finally, removing sites with low DR from the list is necessary, as referring domains from such sites may reduce the overall quality of backlinks.

 

The Ratio of Inbound and Outbound links

 

To ensure the quality of backlinks, it is crucial to select potential referring domains that have more inbound links than outbound links. Moreover, the website should not sell links regularly or selectively, and placing a link on it should not result in penalties for search engines.

Once you have collected numerical data and removed sites that don’t meet your criteria, you can start the manual analysis of referring domains for outreach. This includes checking the topics and content of the site, examining its inbound link profile, analysing backlink anchors, and reviewing its growth dynamics. By doing so, you can ensure that the referring domains you choose are high-quality and relevant to your website.

 

Finding the Right Topics for Effective Outreach and Backlinking

 

When selecting potential referring domains, it’s essential to consider the subject matter and content of the website. One of the best practices in link building is to choose referring domains that are similar in topic to the site being promoted. It’s recommended to analyse the remaining resources after the initial screening manually.

Here are some things to check for when analysing the topic and content of a site:

  • Check if the site is a competitor. If so, it’s best not to place a link there.
  • Look for a relevant section on the site to post your article.
  • Evaluate the overall appearance of the site and the user-friendliness of its elements.
  • Check for any intrusive ads.
  • Examine the structure and quality of the publications, including the presence of typos.

 

Analysing Referring Domain Backlinks

 

To ensure the safety and quality of placement, it’s crucial to analyse the backlinks of potential referring domains and avoid spam and low-quality sites.

To view a site’s incoming links, it’s recommended to use the “One link per domain” mode in Ahrefs’ “Backlinks” report, which provides a better understanding of the site’s link profile.

Understanding Backlink Anchor Text

To ensure safe placement and avoid suspicion from search engines, it’s important to check the anchor text of backlinks to potential referring domains. It’s best to look for natural anchors, such as the site’s name, and minimize the use of commercial anchors.

Ahrefs provides an anchor text report to help with this analysis.

 

The Power of Link Equity

 

To ensure stability in your website’s backlink profile, it’s recommended to monitor the growth of your links over time. A smooth and gradual link increase is more beneficial than sudden spikes, which could raise red flags for search engines.

To keep track of link growth, use Ahrefs’ Overview report to view a graph of your link profile over time. This can help you identify any sudden spikes and take necessary action to ensure the health of your backlink profile.

 

Creating Content that Meets the Demands of Different Sites

 

Once you’ve identified suitable sites based on price and quality, the next step is to prepare content that meets their specific requirements.

To do this, you’ll have to create a brief for your copywriter detailing the following:

  • The article topic
  • Language requirements (if any)
  • Word count
  • Keywords
  • Desired placement and format of any included links (including whether the anchor can be declined)
  • Requirements for meta tags and article titles (if any)
  • Whether H2-H3 level headings are needed
  • Main points to cover in the article
  • Requirements for formatting (such as lists or tables)
  • Image requirements, including alt and title attributes
  • Required uniqueness percentage and any necessary plagiarism checks

Crafting a comprehensive technical brief is crucial for successful outreach marketing and ensuring the quality of your site’s content.

 

Referring Domain Outreach

 

Once the article is complete, it should be sent to the webmaster of the referring domain. After placement, it’s important to check the following:

  • Link accuracy: Common mistakes include using “HTTP” instead of “HTTPS,” adding an extra slash at the end of the link, or omitting it altogether, which can cause redirects during transitions.
  • Link attributes: Ensure the links are correctly labelled as “do follow” or “no follow,” depending on prior arrangements. In the former case, indexing the links can add additional link weight.
  • Noindex tag: Check whether the article’s page has been closed off with a noindex tag.
  • Technical requirements: Ensure that the article conforms to the technical specifications, such as correctly marked-up headings, spelled-out alt and title attributes for images, and correctly displayed lists and tables.

If any errors are found, contact the site representative and request corrections. Typically, changes can be made quickly, often within a few hours. If everything is placed correctly, thank the webmaster for posting the article.

 

 Assessing Your Link-Building Efforts

 

Check the page’s position by the anchor link, if applicable, and traffic levels two to three months after your link placement.

To check the page’s position, you can use Google Search Console to view data from the last two months and compare it with the data from two months before the link placement.

For traffic data, you can use Google Analytics to view the number of new users in the Landing Pages report for the specified date range. Additionally, in the Traffic Sources – Channels report, you can see the sources of referral traffic and determine whether there were any visits from the referring domain following the posted link.

 

Summary

 

Outreach is a safe and effective method for building links. Selecting relevant and high-quality sites and creating helpful content can significantly improve your site’s position and traffic.

 

When choosing sites for link placement, you should consider the following criteria:

  • The primary region of the potential referring domain.
  • Site traffic.
  • The ratio of traffic sources.
  • Domain Rating.
  • The ratio of incoming and outgoing links.
  • Subject matter and content.
  • Site backlinks.
  • Anchors of incoming links.
  • Link growth dynamics.

 

Here’s a step-by-step algorithm for acquiring links through outreach:

  1. Gather a list of keywords.
  2. Use competitor analysis or other methods to compile a list of sites for those keywords.
  3. Evaluate the relevance and quality of the collected resources based on your criteria.
  4. Collect email addresses for site representatives.
  5. Send emails to inquire about the cost and conditions of placement.
  6. Select relevant sites based on the price and metrics.
  7. Prepare content that meets the requirements of the selected sites.
  8. Place and verify articles and links.
  9. Analyse the results of your link-building efforts.

 

Following these steps can create a successful outreach campaign and boost your site’s position and traffic.

Shilpi Mathur
[email protected]