So, you must have heard all the hype surrounding HARO and link building. What do you think? Is it worth the hype? Is using HARO for backlinks worth your time? Get ready to find out in our HARO link building guide.
HARO can be an excellent platform to increase your visibility if you’re looking for strategies to do so. But it’s crucial to keep in mind that success requires a great deal of effort and commitment.
HARO has the potential to be an effective tool for your company if you’re prepared to put in the work. However, you can also hire a third-party service to do the work for you if you lack the time or resources to handle it yourself.
With a turnkey approach and years of strategy experience, our team sat down to research more about HARO and see how it can be used to create a HARO link building strategy.
So, if you are interested in learning what is HARO link building, what are HARO links benefits, and how to use HARO for backlinks, keep reading our HARO link building guide:
What Is HARO?
A platform called HARO (also known as Help A Reporter Out) was developed to assist journalists in obtaining timely and pertinent opinions from experts for their publications.
However, SEO specialists discovered how simple it was to use the platform to obtain a backlink from a well-performing online newspaper like Forbes or the Wall Street Journal, among others.
HARO is a newsletter published and delivered straight to your email three times a day, Monday through Friday. CEOs, CMOs, and CTOs signed up for it all at once. They might reply to a question pertaining to their area of expertise and have a decent chance of being published.
What Is HARO Link Building?
HARO’s primary goals were to raise brand recognition and foster thought leadership. It was created as a journalism and PR tool originally.
However, a lot of marketers discovered right away how effective HARO might be in obtaining high-authority backlinks. This explains the current surge in HARO link building firms that provide done-for-you services.
Furthermore, a lot of SEO companies currently incorporate the HARO link-building strategy into their typical link-building operations, in addition to strategies like guest posting and social media link building.
HARO Link Service
A HARO link service functions by hiring a qualified ghostwriter to create proposals and contact influential media on your behalf.
Now, what does that mean?
It means that you can use HARO for backlinks and build your own links without putting in a lot of time, energy, and effort yourself.
It goes without saying that there are certain advantages and disadvantages to utilizing HARO as a link building agency.
It can be highly expensive, but it can be helpful for busy business owners who don’t have time to pitch HARO themselves. These services are typically charged by the link. Although prices vary greatly, they usually fall between $300 to $750 per link.
Furthermore, HARO link services handle everything – including pitching – for you. By doing this, you run the risk of having a less skilled writer post quotes you don’t like under your name and make remarks you might not agree with.
8 Awesome HARO Links Benefits
HARO (Help a Reporter Out) has emerged as a powerful platform connecting journalists with expert sources.
Through this dynamic tool, reporters can easily find credible voices to enhance their stories while professionals across various industries gain invaluable exposure and recognition.
One of the most significant advantages of HARO lies in its ability to foster mutually beneficial relationships where both reporters and sources thrive. That is not the only benefit of HARO. There are plenty of HARO links benefits. We have discussed a few of them in our HARO link building guide below:
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Cost-Effective Marketing Opportunities
Using HARO for backlinks presents a cost-effective marketing opportunity, in contrast to traditional advertising strategies that frequently need large financial inputs.
In other words, you can get significant results without going over budget if you put effort into creating persuasive pitches and quickly responding to pertinent inquiries on HARO.
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Get Access to a Wide Network of Influencers
Over 1 million sources and over 75,000 bloggers and journalists make up HARO’s network. And that is why the second benefit of using HARO in our HARO link building guide highlights the extensive network of journalists that HARO houses.
You have access to a sizable pool of bloggers and influencers, which would be difficult to reach otherwise. What’s more, you can be sure that these journalists and bloggers genuinely require assistance for their stories. Your success rate should be significantly higher if you compare this to cold emailing other bloggers and influencers.
In addition to this, it is free, so there’s no need to purchase any of those astronomically expensive PR databases, such as Roxhill or CISION, which can potentially cost you thousands of dollars annually.
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Get Daily Emails in Real-time
When it comes to HARO, every day presents an opportunity to promote anything you’re interested in. All you have to do is search for the most pertinent questions. Many of these HARO requests are scheduled to be completed either the same day or in less than a week.
What does that mean?
This means that you can expect answers in a few hours, or at the very least, you can be sure that answering any questions you have will result in links in a few weeks. Just keep in mind that even if you are successful, it won’t appear instantly, and the journalist might not always let you know that they used your soundbite.
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HARO Backlinks Provide Long-Term SEO Benefits
You have to build high quality backlinks to your website if you want to rise to the top of Google’s first page. HARO actually makes the assertion to easily provide you with the chance to obtain these backlinks at a reasonable price so you can climb the Google search results page.
Put simply, if you’re a blogger or website owner looking to build your backlink profile, HARO is the place to be for you.
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Get Higher Referral Traffic
You might see this benefit in every HARO link building guide. The reason for that is the high importance of this particular benefit of link building on HARO.
A successful industry roundup has the potential to generate significant traffic and possibly sales. It will be excellent for you if you’re an online retailer and your brand appears in one of the “best of” roundups; they’ll update it annually and you may even receive some organic traffic during certain seasons as a consequence of the article’s own search engine results.
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Provides Knowledge of Industry Trends
Acquiring knowledge about current events and industry trends is another advantage of using HARO for link building. By keeping an eye on HARO queries on a regular basis, you can spot new subjects or areas where your knowledge can be put to use, helping you establish yourself as an authority in your industry and giving journalists insightful information.
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Better Brand Awareness and Recognition
Owing to the sheer volume of media chances available to you when using HARO for backlinks, you may also reap the benefits of increased brand recognition and awareness. In particular, if the links are placed in publications that are related to your business, readers may be reminded of your brand by chance.
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Enhanced Web Authority and Rankings
Not to be overlooked is the link equity that these links provide you with. Occasionally, prestigious media sites like Forbes have a strict policy of only providing nofollow links. In any case, there will still be some SEO value to those connections, and some newspapers still offer dofollow links.
As long as you set up the proper internal linking on your website, even though HARO links are typically homepage links, they will still have some trickle-down effect.
Additionally, the total domain authority of your website will benefit from these links. It will be simpler for you to rank for particular terms in the future the more of these renowned, high authority links you can obtain.
Create Your Own HARO Link Building Strategy
Let’s jump onto designing the perfect HARO link building strategy for you as part of this HARO link building guide:
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Make Your Service Quotable
The very first step of your HARO link building strategy should be making your offer quantifiable. If you can provide case studies and statistics to support your comments, journalists will take you far more seriously. For instance, consider expressing, “Increasing traffic of a law firm by 138%,” rather than, “Increasing traffic of a law firm.”
Be quotable as well. Consider how you would respond to a Forbes story. Does it sound awkward or fit well? Quotable passages are sharp and memorable, yet they are also condensed and direct. Selecting your pitches over others will be easier for journalists if your writing is clear and succinct.
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Subscribe to the Right Lists
Once you have set your profile up and are ready to look for opportunities, you need to look for lists. We will teach you how to in this HARO link building guide.
There are plenty of lists on HARO that you can join. Simply choose the category “HARO preferences” and then choose the list that best represents who you are and what you want to do.
You should choose “Master HARO” if you would prefer to receive the complete list in a single email rather than each individual one separately.
After finishing, press the “update” button. And that is essentially the crux of the matter. You will receive three daily emails with a list of possibilities categorized by industry and area.
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Sign up for Google Alerts
Enrolling with Google Alerts is a smart move if you want to receive notifications each time you find a new link. In order to locate fresh backlinks, make sure you frequently perform site searches and monitor SEO tools.
You can also try doing an audit of your website! This might assist you in spotting trends and patterns in the kinds of backlinks you are receiving, such as themes and pitch styles.
From here, you can determine whether HARO link development is a viable part of your long-term SEO plan and make much more data-driven judgments about it.
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Try to Connect With the Journalists
The link-building tactics that yield positive results for your company or brand are the most effective. You don’t have to end the relationship because you were featured in one article.
In order to appear as a source in blog posts or journalistic articles frequently, promote and distribute content that has been published, giving credit to the reporter. If more information is required, send a follow-up email expressing your interest in reading future articles. Plus, make an appointment to speak with the blogger or reporter directly at their personal email address.
By staying in touch with bloggers and journalists, you can gain new clients and build relationships that can then result in future business possibilities.
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Build Different Personas
One of the most common errors that people make when using HARO that we noticed while doing research for this HARO link building guide is to solely pitch on the CEO’s behalf. This severely restricts the total number of questions you are able to submit, nevertheless.
It’s possible for different journalists to be investigating particular topics or perspectives. As a result, by having multiple identities, you can address a wider variety of questions.
For instance, to respond to questions regarding hiring new employees, encouraging employee engagement, and workplace culture, you might develop a unique HR Manager persona. Or you can create a persona of a Chief Marketing Officer to offer insightful opinions on branding, positioning within the sector, and marketing tactics.
You can also create an SEO expert persona to discuss the most effective link-building techniques. This will make it more likely that the narrative will meet the needs of different journalists. Share stories or anecdotes that support your points and humanize them because reporters are fascinated by stories.
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Do Not Forget to Add an E-signature
It’s important to end your email with a formal electronic signature after making your pitch and stating your qualifications. Consider the most important of our HARO link building guide. In addition to enhancing your credibility, this also makes it simpler for journalists to contact you with follow-up inquiries or requests for more information.
End your pitch by saying that you will be happy to respond to any further inquiries and that you plan to post their story on your social media pages as soon as it goes online. This gives the journalist additional value and raises the possibility that the journalist will choose your pitch.
Avoid Low Quality Publications When Curating HARO Link Building Tactic
There are some link building strategies that do not have any benefit. Instead, those low quality tactics often do more harm than good. A HARO link building guide will be incomplete without mentioning the tactics you should be aware of.
Some of the things that you need to avoid when building your HARO link building strategy include the following:
Link Exchange
Although it may not bother you, asking for link swaps is against HARO’s policies. You should only be getting involved in one-way link building, and you shouldn’t be requesting any link swaps. This can be frustrating, and since you have a well-written soundbite, you have already added value.
Asking for Product
About this, there are some HARO rules that you must follow if you want to use HARO for backlinks. The reporter must verify receipt of the products within one month of shipment, and the item cannot exceed a specific amount, etc.
Although these guidelines are mostly intended for journalists, it’s important to keep in mind that occasionally, you will come across people with tiny blogs asking for product suggestions. Given the magnitude of the blog, be sure to conduct your due homework and determine whether it is truly worthwhile to deliver a product.
Baiting and Backtracking
This is another practice that is a direct violation of the HARO’s rules. Some people on HARO claim to write for a single publication, but when you respond and receive a live link, it’s generally a very small blog with very little authority or traffic on it.
Asking for Money
According to HARO regulation, journalists utilizing the site are not allowed to solicit any kind of payments. Though it doesn’t happen very often, you can occasionally come across someone requesting money. According to common consensus, this is typically done by those who manage tiny blogs.
Link Farms
Yes, link farms may be found on websites like HARO!
Surprising, isn’t it?
We have seen links go live on sites where there is very little traffic, and the site owner is merely attempting to accumulate a ton of content, even though they haven’t requested payment. Make sure you avoid being duped by these kinds of links if you’re working with an agency that builds HARO links. On a website that receives fewer than 50 visits per month, a soundbite and link won’t be of much help.
How to Get the Most Out of Your HARO Link Building Tactic?
To connect with the best journalists on HARO, there are a few steps you should follow:
Answer Your Emails on Time: In order to distinguish yourself from the crowd of responses to their questions, journalists need to respond efficiently and quickly.
Always Maintain Quality: Rather than submitting a large number of responses, concentrate on offering insightful and pertinent information in your pitches.
Focus on Connecting With the Journalists: Go above and beyond simply answering their questions, follow up on your pitches, and offer to assist with upcoming articles.
Get in Touch with People Beyond HARO: To further improve your media relations, broaden your network by getting in touch with reporters and sources beyond HARO.
In summary, HARO link building is an effective method for obtaining high-quality backlinks, expanding the visibility of your brand, and boosting the authority of your website. Utilizing the right HARO link building tactic and the best practices as described in our HARO link building guide, you can fully utilize HARO to advance your link-building endeavors.
Best Pitch to Use When Using HARO for Backlinks
Once you have decided which HARO link building tactic you want to use, it is time for you to start working on your pitch.
If you have not written a pitch before and you are stressed about it, it is fine!
You don’t have to worry, we have done the homework for you.
As part of our HARO link building guide, we have created a sample pitch for you.
Take a look:
Subject: Seeking Experts for Media Feature Opportunity
Hi [Query Author or Reporter’s Name],
I hope this email finds you well! My name is [Your Name] and I’m reaching out on behalf of [Your Company/Organization]. I recently came across your request for expert insights on [specific topic] in your HARO (Help A Reporter Out) inquiry and I believe we have the perfect fit.
At [Your Company/Organization], we specialize in [brief description of what your company does or specializes in related to the topic]. With our expertise in [relevant field], we’ve been able to [mention any notable achievements or projects].
In response to your inquiry, we’d love to offer our insights on [specific aspects of the topic]. Our team consists of seasoned professionals who have [mention any relevant qualifications, experience, or accolades].
Here are a few key points we could discuss:
- [Point 1]
- [Point 2]
- [Point 3]
We’re confident that our perspectives could provide valuable insights for your piece. Additionally, we’re available for interviews, quotes, or any other information you may need to enhance your story.
If you’re interested in featuring us in your article, please don’t hesitate to reach out. We’re looking forward to the opportunity to collaborate and contribute to your publication.
Thank you for considering us, and we eagerly await your response.
Best regards,
[Your Name]
[Your Position]
[Your Contact Information]
And there you have the perfect pitch for your HARO link building efforts.
HARO Link Building Guide Frequently Asked Questions
Now that we have told you what is HARO link building, what are some of the amazing HARO links benefits, and how to build your own HARO link building strategy, we couldn’t just end our HARO link building guide without answering your most asked questions when it comes to link building and HARO and using HARO to do link building.
What is HARO, and how does it relate to link building?
HARO, short for Help A Reporter Out, is a platform that connects journalists with expert sources. It’s a valuable tool for PR professionals, businesses, and individuals seeking media exposure. HARO relates to link building in the context of digital marketing strategies. By responding to journalists’ queries with insightful contributions, you can earn backlinks to your website when your input gets cited in their articles. These backlinks from reputable news sites can significantly boost your website’s authority and search engine rankings, making HARO an essential component of any comprehensive link building strategy.
Why is link building important for SEO?
Link building is a cornerstone of SEO (Search Engine Optimization) for several reasons. Firstly, search engines like Google view backlinks as votes of confidence from other websites. When a reputable site links to yours, it signals to search engines that your site is trustworthy and relevant, leading to higher rankings in search results. Additionally, backlinks provide pathways for users to discover your content, increasing your website’s visibility and traffic. Therefore, a robust link building strategy is essential for improving your website’s authority, visibility, and ultimately, its performance in search engine rankings.
How can HARO help in acquiring quality backlinks?
HARO offers a unique opportunity to acquire quality backlinks by connecting you with journalists writing articles related to your industry or expertise. By monitoring relevant queries on HARO and providing thoughtful, expert responses, you can increase the likelihood of journalists including your insights in their articles along with a link back to your website. These earned backlinks from reputable news sources carry significant SEO value, enhancing your website’s authority and credibility in the eyes of search engines.
How do you identify relevant HARO queries for link building?
Identifying relevant HARO queries for link building requires strategic planning and active monitoring of the platform. Begin by subscribing to HARO categories that align with your industry, expertise, and target audience. Regularly review incoming queries within these categories and focus on those that closely match your expertise and offer opportunities to provide valuable insights. Additionally, pay attention to the journalist’s requirements and guidelines to ensure your responses meet their criteria and increase your chances of being selected for inclusion in their articles.
What are some common mistakes to avoid when using HARO for link building?
While HARO can be a powerful tool for link building, it’s essential to avoid common mistakes that can hinder your success. One common mistake is submitting generic or irrelevant responses to queries, which can diminish your credibility and reduce the likelihood of being selected by journalists. Additionally, failing to tailor your pitch to the journalist’s needs or provide valuable insights can result in missed opportunities for backlinks. Neglecting to follow up on your submissions or not adhering to HARO’s guidelines and etiquette can also reduce your chances of success. By avoiding these pitfalls and focusing on delivering high-quality, relevant responses, you can maximize your link building efforts on HARO.
How can I measure the success of my HARO link building efforts?
Measuring the success of your HARO link building efforts involves tracking various metrics to assess their impact on your website’s SEO performance. Firstly, monitor the number of backlinks acquired from published articles and evaluate their quality and relevance. Finally, assess the overall impact on your website’s SEO performance, including improvements in domain authority, organic traffic, and conversion rates. By monitoring these metrics regularly, you can effectively measure the success of your HARO link building efforts and refine your strategy accordingly.
Concluding Our HARO Link Building Guide
And this is where our HARO link building guide ends!
If you think HARO is nothing but just a platform to spend your time sending generic pitches to clients everyday, then you have got it all wrong. HARO is a lot more than that and we have tried our best to establish this in our HARO link building guide.
It all comes down to building relationships, providing value, and developing into a voice that editors want to feature. Therefore, we suggest you strive to be more than just an informational resource when using HARO for backlinks.
When creating a HARO link building strategy, aim to be a collaborator who aids reporters in crafting engrossing, perceptive tales. Make use of your experience to offer original viewpoints, in-depth analysis, and insights that are unavailable elsewhere. Our HARO link building guide can help you accomplish that.If you achieve that, you will not only receive extremely high authority backlinks from reputable publications but will also be recognized as a leader in your industry and receive media attention.
