Is your website failing to attract quality inbound links? We hear you. Over the last five years, Google has got better at judging the quality of backlinks. And guess what? Quality backlinks are hard to acquire. Why? Because every SEO goes after them. This means quality domains get bombarded with link requests. And this makes life difficult for SEOs. Very difficult!
Now we offer you some tips for overcoming link building objections. This will allow you to build better backlinks for yourself or your clients. And this will hopefully result in ranking increases.
Tip #1: Approach the correct targets
One of my unofficial mentors, Dan Kennedy, talks about something called ‘message to market match.’ He referred to paid advertising in the direct mail tradition. Specifically, he meant the advertising message you put out must match the list you aim it to. So, if you want to sell a golf ‘how to’ product, you’d be best sending the direct mail piece to a list of people who’ve previously bought a golf ‘how to’ product recently.
And such lists can be bought from list brokers.
The same is true for SEO link building outreach. You must craft relevant and useful content, and then send outreach request to people who’ve linked to similar content. Find similar content, and then use a tool such as AHREFS.com to find people who’ve linked to this similar content in the past. Then add these people to your outreach schedule.
Tip #2: Appear to be local
When you send out outreach requests, look where the website owners are based. Then mention their city in the outreach email. If you live nearby, say so. If you’re been in the city laterly, say so. Even if you haven’t, consider bending the truth a little to say you have. Appearing to be local is one way to set you apart from the pack.
Tip #3: Do broken link building
When you collect backlink targets, use a tool such as “Check my links” for Chrome to see if these pages have broken links. If you find broken links, always point this fact out in your outreach email. Why? Because you offer them a definitive ‘reason why’ to login to the page to make corrections. You also offer them a value piece of information, so they may reciprocate by adding your link. So, if you find a broken link, always be willing to point that out.
Tip #4: Keep testing your outreach letters
You must continuously improve the email outreach letter you use. Please analyse ‘no’ responses for common objections that arise. Try to re-write your outreach email to overcome these objections.
If you receive a ‘no,’ it’s highly unlikely you will be able to overturn that no-response. This usually means your initial pitch wasn’t strong enough in ‘reason-why’ copy.
Tip #5: Scrape directories
This point relates to tip #1 above: approach the correct targets. Scraping link targets from directories allows you to pull in location details, people’s names and lots of other stuff you can use to tailor your email outreach. This results in a targeted outreach list that also includes custom fields. This allows you to send out an email that appears to be highly tailored. This usually improves your response rate.
Tip #6: Use Google advanced search operators
Google search operates allow you to collect link targets that are specific to the content piece or homepage you are trying to build links to.
My favourite is [keyword] inurl:links
This restricts results to websites around your chosen outreach topic that contain pages hosting lists of ‘useful links’. Now use tip #3 and try to find broken links on these pages. In your outreach, follow tip #2 and appear to be local to these websites. Send your outreach request and see the new backlinks roll in!
Tip #7: Be clear about the value your content offers
Many people are quick to write an outreach email that essentially says “give me a link”. They put no thought into how the content benefits people who will read it.
Make a list of all your content’s ‘selling points.’ Many a link request is rejected simply because the sender put no thought into explaining why the receiver of that message should link back to the content in question.
Generally, you will want to outline that your website’s content is crafted with them in mind, and that your content complements the content they already produce themselves.
Tip #8: Link to your ‘about us’ page
Many link requests are rejected simply because the sender did not outline enough about his or her website. This is easily overcome by linking to your ‘about us’ page in your outreach email. You must consider re-writing your ‘about us’ page so that it appeals to the people you target in your link building efforts.
If you are an authority in your industry, create an ‘about me’ page, explaining why you are an authority, awards you have won and a biography. Remember, people buy people, so sell yourself and you will acquire more and more quality backlinks.
About Maxweb
Maxweb is a digital marketing agency in Wirral, North West England. For SEO Liverpool and SEO Wirral, contact us today on 0151 652 4777.
Posted on Friday, February 12th, 2016 in SEO.
