Build human connections to build better links

Amit says: “Ultimately, the core essence of link building is human connection. Obviously, with AI coming to the forefront, there is a lot of talk about automation methods and using the best tools. However, your aim should always be to use a human-first and audience-first approach to link building.

Is the link relevant? Does it provide value? Does your outreach provide value?”

Does a human-first approach include building relationships with the person you're reaching out to?

“Definitely. ‘Relationship building’ is one of those buzzwords that gets used a lot, but it's important to do your research before you reach out to a person or certain types of websites. It’s easy to lose sight of that, especially when you’re trying to do it at scale.

Even if it’s not an individual person that you're reaching out to, what type of website is it and who is the audience? Try to speak to that. If you do that, you can't go too far wrong in your outreach.”

Do you want to have a relationship with someone prior to asking for a link?

“People have different tactics they use for building links. I talked to somebody the other day who had existing relationships with a bunch of SaaS companies because their company was already using these tools. They used that as leverage to get a link from them and create a piece talking about a specific topic. Things like that do help.

Reaching out without directly asking for the link is definitely one approach. You can then move the conversation forward to asking for a link or offering content, and you would at least have provided some context to that. It would make sense for them to link to you if you are providing the content.”

Can you also reach out to thought leaders and ask them to contribute to a piece of content then offer to provide content for them in return after it goes live?

“That is one approach that works. There are obviously different ways of doing it. Some sites might not want to work on a large roundup piece, but I have seen that approach work before. If you get 10, 15, or 20 thought leaders to comment on something, you can leverage that. Then you have quite a few people who could potentially link back to you.

Another approach is doing it on a one-to-one basis. You can reach out to businesses that are in related sectors, ask them to contribute to a piece and you can get a link back. Industry news sites that are in your own industry are also quite hungry for content. Of course, an approach we’re utilising right now is interviewing thought leaders for your own podcast, which is a great way to build relationships.”

How would you define a valuable link in 2024?

“There are different degrees of relevance. What you would define as a relevant link to you is quite a wide spectrum. What everybody really wants is links within their own industry. That can be hard if it's a particularly tight niche. You might run out of sites to reach out to, and not everyone will give you that link.

Then, you have to think about crossover sectors and industries that are related to your own. They might not specifically be in your industry but that is a valuable link, and I believe that’s what Google is looking for.

There are different schools of thought and different theories about how it really works but your ultimate goal should be to get relevant links that are, if not from within your own industry, at least from industries where it makes sense for that link to be there. When you do that, the link quality should go up in tandem.

A crossover sector could be a feeder sector, a sector that does some of what you do but not all of what you do, or a business that is likely to appeal to the same sort of audience. You can sometimes get an idea from analysing competitors in terms of who's mentioning them. That gives you some insight as to where you might reach out to get a link.

You should also think about linkable audiences. If you have a way of relating your business to the wedding sector, for example, newlyweds could be a target audience. You could reach out to sites targeting that audience and get them to link to your content piece or publish content that could link back to you. Analyse your competitors.

A lot of people know their core business and they know who the target audience is. Sometimes that gives you an idea as to who you should be reaching out to. It could be the wedding industry, sites aimed at parents, female entrepreneurs, etc. Whatever target audience you would deem relevant can give you some seed ideas to work with.”

Could you try to approach customers one step before they get to your particular service?

“We do that for clients in terms of looking at their business and thinking about what their products or services are, who they service, who their target audience is, etc. You can get a lot of ideas there.

Even if competitors don't have a lot of links from a specific sector, it's still worth trying because it might just be that they've not tried that sector before – as long as it's relevant, of course.”

Are websites likely to charge money for valuable links or are they happy to link to good content for their audience?

“We’ve seen everything. People are saying that they are finding a lot more people asking for money for links that they wouldn't have before. You particularly find that with bloggers. It is a revenue source, and it’s expected with certain types of websites. That's why we do try to reach out to other businesses, particularly small to medium-sized businesses, because we tend to find that they are more hungry for content.

As long as you serve that purpose, and it is valuable content, they're usually quite happy to publish it. Of course, they may link to you and they may not, but it's always good to establish that beforehand and look to see if they've got any guidelines.

You will have people asking for money as well. There are different schools of thought on that. You have to vet the site quality, of course, if you are going to use paid link strategies.

Small and medium-sized businesses may become bigger businesses in the future and low-authority websites may become higher-authority websites in the future. At the end of the day, they still have a target audience of some sort. There will still be some traffic there as well. It's a relevant link. With time that site could also grow so, if it's a good link, it's worth going for it.”

How do you stand out with your outreach to ensure that you’re not being labelled as spam?

“There are a couple of things you can do. One good way of doing it, which ties in with your strategy and prospecting, is to really think about who you're going to be reaching out to. If you do have a particular target audience in mind, make sure you have tight prospecting lists. They should actually be from that industry or a particular type of website. Then, frame your outreach and segment or theme your template so that it looks like it's very specific to them.

Also, leave room to personalise. You want to at least show that you've done some kind of research, whether it's a personalised icebreaker or you specifically mention a content idea that you know they'll find valuable. I find that works, as opposed to generic icebreakers.

I've seen a lot of AI first-line writers and I don't feel it gives you a good human-first approach to link building. I'm not always keen on AI line writing. Having a bit of a human touch on the emails, whether it's one line or a few phrases, does make a big difference.

Even things like email deliverability on the technical side of things can help as well. You want to keep your bounce rate low and, when you frame your outreach a certain way and it comes across well and is personalised, you'll be less likely to have people marking you as spam. More of your other emails will get to the inbox as well, just from a technical deliverability point of view.”

If you are using software to automate the sending of your emails, are you better off using a different domain name from that of your website?

“There are different ways of doing it, but I would always recommend using a separate domain if you are trying to do it at scale. Use a secondary domain that is related to your brand name. Obviously, it can't be your main domain, but something that's related to it.

If your main domain is brandname.com, you could use brandname.co.uk or brandname.net. I’ve seen people use trybrandname.com or something else that is related to it. That way, you’re protecting the emails from your main domain.

Do you have a preferred piece of outreach software at the moment?

“We use Pitchbox. We've tested a few over the years, but I find that Pitchbox is really good for tracking things like success rate, win rate, etc. It gives you a lot of detail and you get some great reports. We also find it really useful in terms of doing things at scale.”

If an SEO is struggling for time, what should they stop doing right now so they can spend more time doing what you suggest in 2024?

“Find a balance with outreach. The ‘spray and pray’ approach doesn't work. Don’t take a generic single template and blast it out. The kind of numbers you would need to do to get decent links is huge. That’s the first thing to avoid doing.

At the same time, have enough personalisation so that it serves the purpose of what you're trying to achieve. Don't overly personalise to the point where it's not relevant to the outreach or to the value you're trying to provide. Otherwise, you can get too bogged down in the personalisation and you start to overthink it. That's important, especially if you're trying to do it at scale.

If you're genuinely helpful and you're adding value to people when you're reaching out to them – you're showing them the right type of content and you've got the right content ideas – that will come across. That’s where using themed, segmented templates can be really helpful because you can do things at scale while still relating your content to a particular type of website or group of websites.”

Amit Raj is CEO of The Links Guy, and you can find him over at TheLinksGuy.com.