Demystifying Link Building: A Simple Approach
People often ask me to share my tactics and strategies for link building. When I reply, "I just search the web for good sites and reach out to them," I usually get disappointed looks. I don’t have any secret methods to find good linking partners, create great content, or make connections. For me, link building has always been straightforward, though certain aspects can be challenging.
The Challenges of Execution
While the concept of link building is simple, executing a campaign can be complex. Finding quality sites requires a significant amount of time, research can be endless, and building a working relationship can be frustrating. The "relationship" aspect might be the toughest part of search engine optimization (SEO) for me because it depends on the cooperation of others.
Link building can be incredibly fun at times and exceedingly dull at others. You can’t just sit back and wait for links to happen; you need to work hard, continually brainstorm new ideas, learn about different industries and their niches, and keep coming up with content ideas. There’s a clear process that I know works well, and I believe anyone can follow it. So why do we tend to complicate link building? Is it due to the fear of failing in a crucial part of online marketing? Is it to make our jobs seem more glamorous? Or is it because some of us can’t build links without using tools, scrapers, spreadsheets, and mass emails? It’s not entirely clear—it could be one or all of these reasons.
The "Would You Click Here?" Test
The principle of "Would you click on this link?" is very basic. While it can be subjective, common sense plays a big role. You don’t need metrics to make this determination, nor do you need to spend hours analyzing or using fancy tools. You just need to see if your link would fit well on a site.
Some types of link building are definitely more challenging. Broken link building comes to mind. It’s not feasible to simply look at a page and spot broken links; tools are essential for this task, otherwise, you’d waste a lot of time. Nevertheless, broken link building is relatively straightforward:
- Use a tool to find broken links.
- Contact the webmaster and propose a different link.
- Thank them when they use your link.
- Done.
What about using content to build links? That’s not easy, right? Content creation and promotion for link building is indeed challenging. It requires planning, investment, great writing and/or design skills. There are many logistical challenges, and coordination can be tough, but the underlying concept is simple: create content that people want, and they’ll link to it.
Once more, building links is simple in theory—it’s just that certain parts are tough.
Blinded By Numbers
I believe that an over-reliance on metrics can lead to problems. Early on, our decision was to exclude SEO aspects from our link-building process and focus instead on finding the best partners. Our link builders didn’t perform well when they concentrated solely on finding links for an SEO campaign. They overanalyzed everything, opting for irrelevant links on sites with great metrics and passing up relevant ones on sites with lower metrics.
Consider this: one of my link builders, let’s call him Bob, had almost no internet experience when he joined us. After retiring from a management career in the textile industry, Bob knew very little about the internet and nothing about SEO. Yet, he became a great link builder without the need for tools or extensive metrics. How? He simply finds a good-looking site, sends an email, and gets a link. It’s that simple.
If you’re thinking, "Simple doesn’t sell," I’d agree. Why would anyone pay for something so simple? Although simplicity might sell to the client, it doesn’t always sell well to the boss. Bosses want to see numbers and hear it was "hard" to justify the fee. The doing is easy—it’s just certain parts that are challenging.
Combating Burnout
Link-building burnout is real, and hitting a creative wall is a significant issue. Some agencies have struggled with this for years, and others have tried and failed. Developing new link-building ideas is difficult, and if the creative flow stops, people become frustrated, burn out, and leave.
Keeping team members engaged and creative is my top priority. Staying motivated in a repetitive job requires effort, which is why brainstorming sessions can help. Training is also crucial, especially for newcomers. Although there may be downtime initially, once they start seeing positive responses to their emails, they realize it’s not that challenging.
Time Investment
Every six months, I reassess the time it takes to secure a link, and it consistently averages around eight hours. It doesn’t mean we get one link every eight hours. Instead, we might secure a link one day, nothing for the next few days, and five links later in the week—but each takes about eight hours to obtain. This consistency, even after years of experience, is telling.
The time to secure one link stays the same regardless of changes with Google. Whether eight years ago or now, a good link builder still takes about eight hours to secure a relevant link. Interesting, isn’t it?
A friend recently said you should be able to build links without needing any tools, and I fully agree. If you want to complicate it, go ahead—but you don’t have to. Link building is simple, and it always has been; only certain parts are tough.
