How do you prospect for link? Asked B.
If you have ever heard the saying that the quality of your link building effort is in the list, then you realise why link prospecting is one of the most important yet most difficult part of link building.
A link building process is usually broken down into 3 core parts:
- Link prospecting
- Outreach to list
- Placement
As you can see from this stage, the first and probably the most fundamental part of your link building process is link prospecting.
What is Link Prospecting
Link prospecting is the process of finding web partners that you can get links from. Link prospecting is a fundamental part of link building and when done right, it makes all other aspect of your link building effort easier.
Why Link Prospecting
The ides behind link prospecting is that it is practically impossible to just create content and expect people to link to it. In this study by Ahrefs, 90% of website on the first page of Google do not get any traffic while 50% of do not get any links.
As is generally known, backlinks is one of the core Google ranking factor. This means that the more relevant backlinks a web page has, the better the chances of ranking on Google.
Afterall, Google does not rank website but web page. So it is important to find link building opportunities for linkable assets that you have on your website.
How Do You Prospect for Links
There are different methods which you can use to find links. Basically, there are 2 methods that have worked for me and which I use regularly.
They are:
- Using Google Search Operators
- Use SEO Tools
All these three methods of finding links will work depending on what you are looking for. But knowing how to combine them is going to be a real game changer and that is what we will cover in the remaining part of this article.
To make this article actionable, we are going to pretend that we are building links to a website that sells examination pins for students.
Since the website is in the education niche, we will be prospecting for links from education blogs and website, trying to get links on education resource and also analysis competitors.
Let’s dive in.
How to Prospect for Backlinks Using Google Search Operators
Link prospecting using Google search operators is usually my favourite. This is because you can quickly find tons of links that you might not otherwise have found if you are using other methods for link prospecting.
The challenge with this method is that it can be time-consuming, and you really need to know how to identify and find the best footprint that you can use.
Luckily, what type of links you are looking for will determine the footprints that you will use. Usually, two search operators are going to be your friend.
Using the intitle and inurl operators.
Based on our keyword, we will be using the following search operators to identify the right places to get links.
For finding guest post opportunities
inurl:blog “education”
inurl:resource “education”
inurl:link “education”
inurl:education “write for us”
If you are using this search string, just replace the word education with your own target keyword for your niche or for the target keyword for the page you are building link to.
Note: Using this link to see a complete list of Google Advanced Search Operators
Link Prospecting Using SEO Tools
There are tons of SEO tools that exist that can help you prospect for link. The advantage of using link prospecting tools is that you can save time, thereby improving your ability to prospect for more links.
Whatever tools you are using, you need to learn how to use it effectively.
Some of my go-to tools for link prospecting are and how to use them for link prospecting
The downside to using link building tools for prospecting is that most of the good tools out there are paid. Luckily, a good many of them have a trial period, so you can test drive it to see which one suits your need based on your budget and personality.
Once you settle on a link building tool, you will find that it is very effective and can save you tons of time.
What Next:
Now that you have your initial set of link prospect, then you want to clean up your prospect. Remember link building is all about relevancy and quality.
The more qualified link prospect you have, the better your chance of getting good links.
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