Find link building prospects with similar content
Find link building prospects with similar content
1. If you have a recent study, research report, or thought leadership piece, find prospects by searching Google for articles related to your topic.
For example, if you published a research report about the use of “electric cars”, Google: “a study by” “electric cars” “according to” “electric cars” “a recent report” “electric cars” “a recent study” “electric cars” Search results will give you a list of recent publications and reports about electric cars. Your study could potentially fit their content.
2. If you use an SEO tool like Ahrefs, do a similar search and filter out old articles and publications with a low Domain Rating (DR).
This report shows the articles that mentioned “a study by” and “electric cars” over the last 90 days, with a Domain Rating (DR) between 40 and 70. The end result is similar to Google search results; you just save time and better qualify the prospects.
3. To build links to a product or service, search Google for reviews of similar products.
For example, if you want to build links to a product that enables people to work from home better, use search terms like: best tools to work from home best products to work remotely how to be productive when working remotely Search results will give you a list of publications that mentioned products similar to yours. If you use an SEO tool like Ahrefs, do a similar search and filter out old articles and publications with a low Domain Rating (DR). Add article URLs into a Google Sheet using this advanced Google Sheets formula to make sure the articles don’t already mention your product: =IMPORTXML(A2,"//a[contains(@href, 'yourwebsite.com')]") Here’s an example of how this formula helps you check if a certain URL includes a hubspot.com link.
4. To build links to an ultimate guide or how-to article, search Google for publications that recommend content on that topic.
For example, if you want to build links to an ultimate guide about SEO, search: “Recommended read” “SEO” “Additional resources” “SEO” “Recommended articles” “SEO” In most cases websites recommend their own internal resources, but some websites link externally which means they are more likely to link back to yours as well. If you use an SEO tool like Ahrefs, do a similar search and also filter out old articles and publications with a low DR.
5. To strengthen an existing relationship, reach out to those who you have already mentioned on your website.
Outreach email example: Hi [First Name], [Your Name] here from [Company]. Maybe you've seen this, so apologies if I'm being redundant, but I wanted to share with you an article we published a while ago that mentions [Prospect's content]: [Link to your article] Every month, this article gets around [X] views. People seem to find the information very useful so I'm working on promoting it even more. That said, I was wondering if you’d like to help in promoting the piece by adding it as an additional resource in your article: [Prospect's article] I'd really appreciate it. Either way, I look forward to hearing from you. Best,
6. To build a long-term partnership, reach out to publications you might naturally include in your content anyway.
Outreach email example: Hi [First Name], [Your Name] here from [Company]. I’m working on updating this article from our blog: [Article] For context — every month, this article gets around [X] views. Our readers seem to enjoy it so I'm working on making sure we keep it up to date. That’s why I’m reaching out to you: Would you be interested contributing with a quote to the article? I'd love to get your thoughts on [Question]. If you're interested, please send me 1-2 paragraphs on the topic before the end of the week. Either way, I look forward to hearing from you. Best, Once you publish the quote and establish a relationship, ask for a link back to the article.