Find link building prospects with similar content

irina_nica · March 16, 2021, 6:10pm

Business Benefits

Get high-quality, contextual backlinks through existing similar articles.

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.

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).

The end result is similar to Google search results; you just save time and better qualify the prospects.

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.

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.

To strengthen an existing relationship, reach out to those who you have already mentioned on your website.

Outreach email example:

To build a long-term partnership, reach out to publications you might naturally include in your content anyway.