A successful link-building campaign begins with good link prospects. To find these, you need to know how to prospect for links effectively. This guide will show you how to do just that.
First, let us cover the basics….
30-Second Summary
This blog sheds light on all the ins and outs of Link Prospecting, and how it contributes to successful link building. You can check out the significance of link prospecting, how to do link prospecting, link prospecting strategies, and so on. So, let’s make the most out of your website link-finding and building efforts….
What Is Link Prospecting?
Link prospecting is finding websites that could be relevant to your business and that you can build links. It’s a crucial part of any link-building campaign, as it allows you to find opportunities for link placements that are most likely to be successful.
Why Is Link Prospecting Important?
When done correctly, Link Prospecting can help you build high-quality links from authoritative websites that improve your search engine rankings and drive traffic to your website. Link prospecting can also help you to:
– Find new opportunities for link placements
– Build relationships with other websites in your industry
– Identify potential partnerships and collaborative projects
How to Prospect Links?
Prospecting for link opportunities can be time-consuming, but it’s worth investing the time upfront in setting your campaign up for success. You can find relevant prospects for your business in several ways. Here are a few of the most effective methods:
-
Google Search Operators
A fast and most convenient way to find link prospects is to use Google search operators. Search operators are special characters or commands you can add to a Google search to filter the results. If you want to find websites that would be relevant to your women’s fashion business, you can use the following search query:
inurl:” links” + “women’s fashion” -site:example.com
This query would return a list of websites with a page with the word “links” in the URL and “women’s fashion” on the page. The “-site:” operator excludes results from your website, so you’re only left with potential link prospects.
You can use several different search operators to find relevant prospects, including:
- inurl: – searches for a specified word in the URL
- intitle: – searches for a specified word in the title tag
- allintitle: – searches for multiple words in the title tag
- inanchor: – searches for a specified word in the anchor text
- site: – limits results to a specific domain
- related: – finds websites that are similar to a specified website
There are plenty of other search operators you can experiment with to find relevant prospects. For a complete list of Google search operators, check out this guide from Moz.
-
Competitor Backlink Analysis
Another great way to find relevant prospects is to look at the websites already linking to your competitors. If a website links to your competitor, there’s a good chance they’d be willing to link to you as well. Use one of the best link prospecting tools, Majestic or Ahrefs, to analyze your competitor’s backlink profile.
Just enter your competitor’s URL into the tool, which will show you all the websites linking to them. Once you have a list of potential prospects, you can reach out to them and tell them about your business. Many will be happy to link to you if they’re already linking to your competitor.
-
Google Alerts
It is a free service that lets you be notified whenever new content that contains a specified keyword is published. It’s an effective way to stay up-to-date on the latest industry news and find potential link prospects. To set it up, go to the Google Alerts website and enter the keyword you want to be alerted about.
You can also specify how often you wish to be notified and where you want the results to be sent (e.g., email, RSS feed). You’ll receive an alert with a link to the content whenever new content that contains your specified keyword is published. It is a great way to find relevant websites that you can reach out to for potential links.
-
Forums
Forums are another great way to find potential link prospects. There are forums for every topic imaginable, so you’re sure to find one relevant to your business. To find relevant forums, you can use the Best link prospecting tools like Google Reader or Feedly to subscribe to RSS feeds of your desired websites.
You can also use Google Alerts to be notified whenever new content with a specified keyword is published. Once you find a relevant forum, take some time to browse through the different discussions and get a feel for the community. Many forums have a “newbies” section where you can introduce yourself and get to know other community members.
You can also search for relevant discussions or start your conversation and see who responds. Many forums have a “resources” or “links” section where members can share relevant websites. It is a great place to find potential link prospects.
-
Social Media
Social media sites like Twitter, Facebook, and Google+ are great places to find potential link prospects. You can use the search function on each site to find relevant people and businesses to follow. For instance, if you sell women’s fashion, search for “women’s fashion” on Twitter to find suitable people and businesses to follow.
Use the Best link prospecting tools like Followerwonk and SocialBro to find relevant people and businesses to follow on social media. These tools allow you to search for people and companies by keywords, location, and other criteria.
When we talk about LinkedIn groups, they are a great way to find relevant prospects for your business. There are groups for just about every industry and topic you can think of, so you’re sure to find one relevant to your business. To find relevant groups, just go to LinkedIn and search for keywords related to your industry.
You can also search for relevant discussions or start your conversation and see who responds. Many groups have a “resources” or “links” section where members can share relevant websites. It is a great place to find potential link prospects. You can also use the group to build relationships with other members and promote your website.
-
Guest Blogging
Get your website in front of a new audience and build relationships with other bloggers in your industry. When you guest blog, you write a blog post published on another person’s website. Get your name and website out there, and it can also lead to potential links back to your site.
To find opportunities, use a tool like Google Reader or Feedly to subscribe to RSS feeds of your favorite websites. You can also use Google Alerts to be notified whenever new content with a specified keyword is published.
When you find a blog for which you want a guest to blog, read their guest blogging guidelines before submitting a proposal. Many blogs have specific guidelines for what they’re looking for in a guest blogger, so it’s essential to follow them.
-
Link Roundups
A weekly or monthly post rounds up the best content from around the web on a specific topic. For instance, if you sell women’s fashion, do a weekly link roundup of the best fashion articles from around the web.
To find relevant link roundups, you can use a tool like Google Reader or Feedly (mentioned above) to subscribe to RSS feeds of your favorite websites. You can also use Google Alerts to be notified whenever new content with a specified keyword is published.
When you find a relevant link roundup, look at the articles being shared and see if there’s anything you can add to the conversation. If so, be sure to leave a thoughtful and insightful comment. The blog owner or author of the roundup often includes your comment in their post, which can lead to potential links to your site.
Link Prospecting Strategies
It’s time to have a look at some of the most significant link prospecting tips so you cannot only find the relevant links pointing to your website but also build authority on the web sky.
11 Must-Follow Links Prospecting Tips
- Analyze The Top Ranking Content For Your Target Keywords
- Identify Broken Link Prospecting Opportunities
- Organize Your Research In A Spreadsheet
- Create Content Based On Your Link Prospecting
- Define the Tactic You’re Going to Use and Set Your Evaluation Criteria
- Create a List of Link Prospects
- Create your Email Sequence
- Find Contact Information for Your Link Prospects
- Email Your Link Prospects
- Launch Your Link-Building Campaign
- Monitor Your Results
-
Analyze The Top Ranking Content For Your Target Keywords
Analyze what content currently ranks for your target keywords and determine which websites are linking to that content. There are different ways to do this. One is to use BuzzSumo to find the most famous pieces of content for your target keyword. Once you’ve seen these pieces of content, could you look at who’s linking to them?
These are likely websites that would also be interested in linking to your content. Another way to do this is to use Google’s search results to find popular pieces of content. Enter your target keyword into Google and scroll through the results. If you see any articles or blog posts that are particularly popular, look at who is linking to them.
Use Moz’s Open Site Explorer to find popular pieces of content for your target keywords. Please enter your target keyword, which will show you the most popular pages for that keyword and who is linking to it. This way, you will find potential prospects who are already interested in linking to content like yours.
-
Identify Broken Link Prospecting Opportunities
Find opportunities where you can replace a broken link with a link to your website. It is known as broken link building, and it’s a highly effective link-building strategy. Use a tool (Ahrefs’ Site Explorer) to find these opportunities. Enter your competitor’s URL into the tool, and it will show you all the broken links on their website.
Contact the website owner and inform them that you have a piece of content that would replace the broken link perfectly.
-
Organize Your Research In A Spreadsheet
Once you’ve found a few manual link-building prospects, this will help you keep track of which opportunities you’ve contacted and the status of each option. To do this, create a new spreadsheet and include the following columns:
- Website URL
- Link Type (e.g., guest post, resource page, etc.)
- Link Status (e.g., open, closed, pending)
- Date Contacted
- Notes
You can then add each link-building opportunity that you find to the spreadsheet. It will help you keep track of your progress and ensure you don’t miss any opportunities.
-
Create Content Based On Your Link Prospecting
Once you’ve completed your link prospecting research, it’s time to start creating content. Take the list of link-building opportunities that you’ve found and create content that would be a good fit for each option. If you’re targeting guest post opportunities, you will develop content that would be a good fit for the website that you’re targeting.
It could be an article, an infographic, or even a video. If you’re targeting resource pages, you will create content that would be a good fit for the website that you’re targeting. It can be an article, an infographic, or even a video. You’ll quickly and easily pitch your content to the websites you’re targeting. You will save time and effort in the long run.
-
Define the Tactic You’re Going to Use and Set Your Evaluation Criteria
Before you start, you need to define the tactic you will use and set your evaluation criteria. Here are some tactics:
Direct Pitch – This is where you contact the website owner directly and pitch your content to them.
Email Outreach – This is where you contact the website owner via email and pitch your content to them.
Social Media – This is where you contact the website owner via social media and pitch your content to them. Once you’ve defined the tactic you will use, you need to set your evaluation criteria. It will help you determine whether or not the tactic is working. Your evaluation criteria could include:
- The number of website owners that you contact
- The number of website owners that respond to your pitch
- The number of links that you receive
- The quality of the links that you receive
- The traffic that you receive from the links that you receive
- The conversions that you receive from the traffic that you receive
- The ROI that you receive from the tactic
You can use these criteria to evaluate the tactic that you’re using. If you’re unhappy with the performance, try another tactic for link-building prospects.
-
Create a List of Link Prospects
Once you’ve defined the tactic you’re going to use and set your evaluation criteria, it’s time to create a list of link prospects. It is a list of websites you will contact and pitch your content to. You can use a tool like BuzzSumo or Ahrefs’ Site Explorer to do this.
Enter a competitor’s URL into the tool, and it will show you a list of websites that link to them. You can then add these websites to your list of link prospects. You can also use Google to find link prospects. Simply enter “your keyword + inurl:links” into Google, and it will show you a list of websites that link to pages with your keyword in the URL. You can then add these websites to your list of link prospects.
-
Create your Email Sequence
Once you’ve created your list of link prospects, it’s time to make your email sequence. It is the email you will send to each website owner on your list. Your email sequence should include the following:
A personalized message: You need to personalize each email you send. Generic emails will not get a response.
A call to action: Include a call to action in each email. It could be something like “Check out my article” or “watch my video.”
A link to your content: You need to include a link to your content in each email. It could be a link to your article, infographic, or video.
You can use these three elements to create your email sequence. Once you’ve made your email sequence, you’re ready to start emailing website owners.
-
Find Contact Information for Your Link Prospects
Find the contact information so that you can better prospect link. You’ll need to see each website owner’s email address or social media account on your list. Use a tool like Hunter.io or Voila Norbert to do this. These tools will help you find the contact information for your link prospects.
-
Email Your Link Prospects
Once you’ve found the contact information for your link prospects, it’s time to email them. Simply send them the email that you created in the previous step. Use a tool like SendGrid or MailChimp to automate this process. These tools will allow you to send mass emails to your list of link prospects.
-
Launch Your Link-Building Campaign
You’ve now defined your link-building strategy, created your list of link prospects, and emailed them. It’s time to launch your link-building campaign. To do this, simply wait for website owners to respond to your email. Once they do, you can start working on getting links from them.
If you don’t get a response from a website owner, you can try contacting them again. You can employ a different tactic (such as using social media) to contact them.
-
Monitor Your Results
Once you’ve started emailing website owners, it’s time to monitor your results. You need to track your progress and see how well the tactic works. To do this, you can use a tool like Google Analytics or BuzzSumo.
These tools will help you track your traffic and see how many people are visiting your website from the links you’ve built. Use a tool like Majestic or Ahrefs to track your progress. These tools will show you how many links you’ve built over time.
Closing Note
Link prospecting is critical for any link-building campaign – without good link prospects, it’s impossible to get high-quality links. There are different ways to find link prospects, and the best way often depends on your industry and the type of links you’re looking for.
Link prospecting usually combines Google searches, social media, and other tools to find sites willing to link to your site. Doing so can significantly improve the quality of the links pointing to your site. It can help you to improve your search engine rankings and drive more traffic to your site.
—————————————-
Frequently Asked Questions – FAQs
Q1 – What Exactly is a Link Prospecting?
The process of finding and analyzing prospective link opportunities is known as link prospecting. When done rightly, it can raise your website’s backlink profile and Google’s rankings.
Q2 – Why Does Link Building Prospects Matter Most?
Suppose you are looking to boost your site’s organic traffic, establish trust and authority in your niche and industry, and optimize your site’s search results. In that case, link-building prospects serve at their best.
Q3 – How Can I Get to Know About Outcomes of My Link Prospecting Efforts?
You need to keep an eye on your backlink profile by leveraging tools such as Ahrefs or Moz Link Explore. Also, monitor KPTs which include the total number of new backlinks, referral traffic, and improvement in Google’s rankings.
Q4 – Is Link Prospecting Contribute to Brand Relevancy and Quality?
The best thing about link prospecting is to be aware of your brand audience and strive to find how you can give value to them. The extensive list of link targets will be assessed based on specific criteria such as estimated organic traffic (SEMRush) and engagement (including social shares and average comments per post).
Q5 – How Does Link Prospecting Benefit Your Website?
Link prospecting has the potential to give your website credibility, lead to higher site metrics and SEO scores, increase visibility and exposure, lead to greater revenue opportunities, help you rank for more keywords, and so on.
