Link Prospecting – Intro
Table of Contents
Intro
Properly optimizing your site involves a fair amount of both on-page
optimization (keyword optimization, silo structures, etc.) as well as
off-page optimization. Off-page optimization primarily involves link
prospecting and building.
This is the process wherein you’ll research high-quality sites that you
can utilize to link back to your site. These are known as
“backlinks,” and are the foundation of an optimized site. The more
high-quality links that you have linking back to your site, the more
authoritative your site is and the higher you’ll rank in Google’s search
results.
Sounds simple enough, right?
Well, the concept itself is simple, but the process of prospecting and
building links requires a good bit of effort. Of course, you can always
do things manually… but it will take an unreasonable amount of time.
The best way to prospect and build links is to use
algorithmically-driven SEO tools designed to take care of all of the
hard work for you. Ranktracker’s Web Audit tool, SERP Checker tool, and Keyword Finder tool are great places to start. If
you’re looking to hyper analyze your competitors’ pages, then SEO
Spyglass is an amazing resource that provides you with a
behind-the-scenes look into where your competitors’ traffic comes from.
In this guide, we’re going to show you all of the basics of link prospecting and building. We’ll start by explaining exactly what they
are and why they matter. Then, we’ll go over how to identify
high-quality prospective links and explain how to use SEO tools to get
the job done quicker.
It’s time to get your site ranked!
Link Building… What Is It?
Alright, so let’s start by defining exactly what link building is and
why it’s so important for your site’s SEO. We’ll start by giving you an
example that everybody can relate to…
Think back to when you were in school. Who were the popular kids? Who
were the not-so-popular kids?
Chances are, the popular kids were simply the people who knew the most
people. Sure, they probably wore some cool clothes or drove a decent
car, but the real reason they were popular was that they were
confident around people and had a network of friends. Most schools have
plenty of “cool kids” who aren’t as popular simply because they’re
introverted and don’t talk to others.
Websites work almost the exact same. You could have the greatest website
in the world, but if it doesn’t have any backlinks, then the Google
algorithm will skim right over it and pass it off as a low-value site
with little to no authority.
This is because Google’s algorithm searches for the number of links that
link back to your website. If your site is being mentioned by other
reputable sites, then chances are that your site is pretty good and has
a good level of authority (one of the key metrics Google uses to
determine your site’s ranking).
What Makes A Good Backlink?
Just having backlinks isn’t good enough to get your page to rank higher.
You need to ensure that your site’s backlinks are high-quality,
relevant, and indicate that your site is an authority in its niche. So,
with that being said, here’s how to determine a good backlink from a bad
backlink.
Link Authority
The first thing that matters is the authority of the link. Google’s
algorithm determines a link’s authority by three key factors:
- Domain authority.
- Page authority.
- Link authority.
Domain authority is the first factor that contributes to the overall
authority of a link. Simply put, this is determined by the age and
quality of the domain itself. The older the domain is, the more
authoritative it is. Additionally, factors such as overall user
engagement and daily traffic to the site also affect domain authority.
This is a great place to utilize Ranktracker’s Web Audit tool.
It allows you to input any URL and performs a quick, in-depth scan of
the domain. Within a few seconds, you’ll be able to see some of the key
metrics of the site, such as its daily traffic, how many backlinks it
has, how many pages it has indexed, etc.
The second metric is page authority. This is similar to domain
authority but checks the age and engagement of the individual page that
links back to your site. The older and more authoritative that the page
is, the better quality of a link it is for your site.
Lastly, the link authority is a culmination of both the domain and
page authority metrics. Put simply, if the page that links back to your
site is posted on a reputable domain and has received a good amount of
engagement and traffic, then it has good link authority.
Link Relevancy
Next, we have link relevancy. Google wants to make sure that the
backlinks you have to your website are relevant to the content and
subject of your website itself. If not, then the algorithm may think
that you’re trying to scam the system and may down-rank your site for
it.
For example, let’s just say that your site specializes in selling
organic dog treats. Relevant backlinks would be those that came from
sites about pets, dogs, dog treats, animal health, etc. Those are all
relevant topics that are closely related to dogs and dog treats, right?
However, if your backlinks were coming from completely random sites,
such as technology-related sites, medical sites, home improvement sites,
etc., then those links could hurt your dog treat site’s link profile.
Think about the last time you went to a specialist doctor… The chances
are that the specialist was recommended to you by your primary care
doctor. If some random construction worker recommended the specialist to
you, then you probably wouldn’t have taken them as seriously.
Link Quality
Last but not least, we need to discuss link quality. When you’re
prospecting and building links, you need to ensure that the links on
your list are high-quality links. You don’t want a bunch of
newly-minted, scammy, low-quality, random sites linking back to your
niche website. Otherwise, it’ll look like you purchased your links.
Buying and selling links is a common black hat SEO practice that has
become quite popular as competition on the internet has gotten more
intense. It’s the same as how some YouTubers and wannabe influencers
purchase likes, followers, and comments for their videos and posts.
If you’re just looking at the numbers, then it seems like it works…
However, the Google algorithm looks at more than just how many links
you have; they individually analyze the quality of each link that
directs to your site.
White Hat vs. Black Hat SEO
Since we’re on the topic, we figured that we’d take a couple of minutes
to address the two main types of SEO you’ll find; black hat and white
hat SEO.
Simply put, black hat SEO uses questionable SEO techniques designed to
“trick” the Google algorithm into up-ranking a website. Often, black hat
SEO works great in the short term and can cause your site to quickly
move upwards among the ranks of SERPs results.
However, the Google algorithm is constantly on the lookout for sites
using blackhat techniques and cheats to increase their ranking. If the
algorithm suspects you’re using black hat SEO (such as buying bulk
links, for instance), then it will red-flag your site and down-rank you.
This means that all of your hard work and money invested will have been
for nothing.
White hat SEO, on the other hand, involves using tried and tested
methods of search engine optimization. There’s nothing scammy, shady, or
dishonest about white hat SEO. It typically involves traditional methods
of link building, appropriate usage of keywords, etc.
All in all, white hat SEO takes longer but has longer-lasting results.
You’ll never have to worry whether or not you’re risking your site’s
overall integrity or ranking. Black hat SEO is often tempting, but it
often results in your site getting permanently down-ranked.
Use Backlink Checker To Find High-Quality Backlinks
Earlier in the article, we mentioned an incredibly useful tool called
Backlink Checker. This tool is hands-down one of the best backlinking
tools ever created. First off, it will analyze your site. You’ll be able
to calculate how many backlinks your site already had along with the
quality of each backlink that’s directed back to your site. This is a
great tool to set benchmarks for your own site’s performance.
Secondly, Backlink Checker allows you to analyze your competitors’
backlinks. You’ll be able to see all of the backlinks that your
competitors are using to rank their sites. You can then contact these
sites directly to figure out what you need to do to get a backlink from
them!
Lastly, Backlink Checker has a built-in algorithm that suggests the
highest-quality link prospects that you should look into. It analyzes
the niche of your existing site and then cross-references that with the
top-ranking SERPs results for primary keywords on your site. Then, it
analyzes the top-performing websites and lists them out for you.
Double-Check Link Prospects With Ranktracker’s SERP Checker
Backlink Checker is a great tool for identifying potential link
prospects and spying on your competitors. However, it may not give you a
full picture of the quality and authoritativeness of each link. This is
where Ranktracker’s SERP Checker tool comes in clutch.
The tool allows you to input keywords relating to your site’s niche.
Then, you’ll be able to manually scroll through the top-ranking sites
and pages in that particular niche.
If you cross-reference these results with the link prospects generated
by Backlink Finder, then you’ll have a great starting point for
potential link prospects that you can use for your own site.
The Difference Between Follow and No-Follow Backlinks
When you’re developing your link building strategy, it’s important to
understand the difference between follow and no-follow backlinks.
Once upon a time, all links were the same and all backlinks
contributed equally to a site’s ranking. However, this is no longer the
case. In the early days of the internet and search engines, black hat
SEO experts would exploit this and create fake, scammy sites full of
irrelevant or made-up links, using them to boost their site to the top
page of Google with little to no effort.
So, Google decided to create “no-follow” links. These links are those
that have very little authority when it comes to your site’s overall
backlink profile. They’re commonly attributed to links left in comment
sections or links that are on a page without any relevant context.
The type of links that you really want to focus on are follow links.
These are high-quality links that are posted on relevant authority sites
within the same niche as you. They’re often used in context as a direct
reference. They aren’t scammily posted in the comments section of a
blog, posted on social media, or sent via instant messenger (these are
all examples of no-follow links).
Creating A Link Building Strategy
If you want to quickly up-rank your site, then you’ll need to develop a
solid, reliable link building strategy. This often involves delegating
tasks to a team of multiple individuals. To review, the key steps to
link building are:
- Research and analysis: This involves using tools to research
top-ranking sites in your niche and analyzing your competitors’
backlinks to see what backlinks they’re using. - Outreach: After identifying potential link prospects, you’ll
need to reach out to the webmasters to see what it takes to get a
backlink. This could be writing a guest post, paying for a
promotional post, etc. - Content Creation: Most of the time, link building requires a
fair amount of content creation. This means you’ll need to have a
dedicated copywriter on-hand to help out with writing guest posts,
press releases, and other content that will be used to link back
to your site.
If you can break each step down and delegate it to team members, then
you’ll be able to effectively up-rank your site with high-quality
backlinks. Sure, you could do it all yourself… but it would take a lot
longer and the process would be a good bit slower.
Use SEO Tools To Improve Link Prospecting
If you’re serious about your SEO and link building, then having an SEO
toolkit is a must. Without it, your research and analysis will take a
lot longer and will generate limited results. Without the ability to
perform in-depth analysis on your site, link quality, and your
competitors’ links, then you’re just floating in open water with no
direction to go.
Ranktracker’s full SEO toolkit is one of the best places to start.
Their Web Audit tool is great for analyzing both your site and your
competitors’. Their SERP Checker tool helps you find valuable
keywords and competitor data for specific keywords (which can also be
good link prospects). Ranktracker’s toolkit also comes with a Rank
Tracker tool that tracks the SERP ranking of sites as they move up or
down Google’s search results, measuring key SEO metrics.
Last but not least, Backlink Checker is a must-have if you really want
to create a solid backlinking strategy. It allows you to analyze every
single one of your backlinks and your competitors’ backlinks so you
can hijack their traffic and their success without having to put in
half as much work!
Just think about how much you could do with your site ranking on the
first page of Google results with tons of high-quality backlinks… You’d
have more traffic, make more conversions, and become a true authority
site in your niche. Isn’t that worth investing in?