An expert in PPC and content-led link building campaigns, Paddy Moogan, co-founder of Aira, participated as a panelist in the “How To Drive Inbound Links In The Age Of Content Skeptics” discussion during SMX East. Many attendees had questions about link-building tools and strategies, and he answered a few more after the event.
1. What have you found to be the most effective tools to manage link building outreach?
Moogan: At Aira, we still heavily depend on Google Sheets with some custom formulas/scripts that allow our team to collaborate effectively on outreach campaigns. We also utilize BuzzStream for certain campaigns and are considering expanding its use across more teams. Additionally, we use Streak to track when emails have been read and opened, and some team members use Boomerang to schedule emails.
2. What tools do you use to determine the quality of a site you want to request a link from, particularly with influencers/bloggers? Is a high number of page views enough?
Moogan: Much of our link prospecting is done manually, meaning a team member checks and reviews a website before it’s added to our outreach list. This ensures that the websites we target for outreach are high quality without relying on metrics or tools. We do use the Moz Bar to monitor Domain Authority, but it’s more of a rough guide and not strictly adhered to.
3. Have you seen email addresses using a client domain have better results in outreach?
Moogan: We haven’t noticed a significant difference when using a client’s email domain instead of our own. Most clients don’t require us to use their domain, so we typically use our aira.net email addresses, which hasn’t seemed to hinder our efforts.
4. Do you believe we need to focus more on social shares instead of “traditional” link building from websites? Like 25% on social shares and 75% on links?
Moogan: It depends on your goals and the industry your client is in. Social shares can be excellent for brand awareness and beneficial for generating traffic, especially in consumer industries. However, if organic search is key for you and you aim for its growth, a significant amount of time should still be devoted to link building.
5. Do you feel that evergreen content will ever become oversaturated with major publications like Guardian and Refinery29 investing more in it?
Moogan: I don’t think so, provided the content quality remains high. Evergreen content focuses on depth, quality, and relevance, so if you excel in these areas, your content will stand out even in a crowded market. While oversaturation is a potential risk, as was thought with infographics, they can still be effective if they are of high quality.
Search Engine Land’s SMX West, the premier event for search marketers, is returning to San Jose on Jan. 30-31. The agenda features over 50 world-class speakers providing actionable search marketing tactics you can apply immediately to enhance awareness, traffic, and conversions.
