Link Building Outreach: Steps, Templates and Follow-Ups

What link building outreach is

Link building outreach is the work of getting other websites to link to yours by asking them, one site at a time. You find a page that already covers your topic, you find the person who runs it, and you email them with a specific reason to add a link to one of your pages. The reason might be a study, a guide, a tool or a dataset their readers would find useful.

A link earned this way is different from a link bought or swapped. Google's spam policies define link spam as creating links to or from a site primarily to manipulate search rankings, and they list buying or selling links, excessive link exchanges and automated link creation as examples. Paid links are acceptable only when they carry rel="sponsored" or rel="nofollow", so they pass no ranking credit. Outreach done properly stays on the right side of that line: the site owner links because the content helps their readers, not because money changed hands.

Outreach is slow, and that is the point. A site owner who links to your page is lending you some of their credibility. Nobody does that for a generic email.

Step 1: Start with a page worth linking to

Outreach fails before the first email if the page is not worth linking to. Before you prospect anyone, check that the page you are promoting gives a site owner a reason to link. It should do one of these:

• Answer a question better than the pages already ranking for it.
• Present original data, such as a survey, a price comparison or an analysis.
• Offer a free tool, template or checklist the other site's readers can use.
• Cover a topic the other site mentions but has not covered in depth.

A product page or a homepage is a hard sell. A guide, a study or a tool is an easy one. If your best page is none of these, build the linkable page first and run outreach second.

Step 2: Find prospects who already care

Prospects are sites that have already linked to similar content, or that publish on your topic. Find them three ways:

1. Search for the topic. Search for the subject of your page and list the sites ranking for it, plus the sites they link to.
2. Look at who links to competing pages. A backlink checker shows which sites linked to a similar guide. Those sites have already shown they link out on this topic. Adziq's guide to the best backlink checking tool covers what to look for in one.
3. Check resource pages and roundups. Pages that collect "best resources" on a topic are built to link out, and their owners expect to hear from people with something to add.

Qualify every prospect before you write. Open the site and check three things: it is still active, it links to outside sites, and its audience matches yours. A dead blog, a site that never links out, or a site in an unrelated niche wastes your time and theirs. Aim for a list of 40 to 60 qualified prospects for a first campaign, not 500 names scraped from a database.

Step 3: Find the right person

Address the email to a person, not a role. The site's about page, author bylines and social profiles usually name the editor or the writer who published the page you want a link from. If the site lists a general contact address, use it only after a quick search for a named editor fails.

Record the name, the site, the specific page, and why that page fits your content. This note becomes the first line of your pitch, and it is what separates your email from the hundred generic ones in the same inbox.

Step 4: Write a short, personal pitch

A good pitch has four parts and fits on a phone screen:

1. One line that proves you read their page. Name the page and one specific thing about it.
2. One line that says what you have. Name your page and what it adds.
3. One line that asks for the link. Say exactly where it would fit.
4. A sign-off with your name and site. No attachments, no pressure.

Here is a worked example. Imagine you published a study of email marketing prices across 20 tools, and you found a blog post that lists email tools without prices:

Subject: Your email tools post, plus the prices

Hi Sarah,

Your roundup of email tools for small businesses is the clearest one around, and the comparison table is exactly what a new sender needs.

A price comparison of 20 email tools, with the cost at 500, 5,000 and 10,000 contacts for each one, just went live here. It would sit well beside your table, for readers who want the numbers before they choose.

Would you consider linking to it from that section? Here is the page: [your URL].

Thanks for the post either way.

Maya, [your site]

Nothing in that email is templated beyond its shape. The first line could only have been written to Sarah, about her post. That is the whole test: if you can send the same email to 50 people by changing only the name, rewrite it.

Step 5: Follow up, then stop

Most replies arrive after a follow-up, not after the first email. Send one follow-up after about five working days, and a second a week after that. Each follow-up should be shorter than the pitch, and add something new rather than repeating the ask. A new data point, a shorter version of the page, or a note that you linked to their site first are all fair additions.

After the second follow-up, stop. A third nudge rarely produces a link and often produces a spam complaint. Move on to the next prospect. A "no" is also a result: it tells you the page or the pitch needs work.

Step 6: Track everything

Outreach without tracking turns into repeat emails to the same editors, which is how a sender gets a bad reputation. Keep a simple sheet with these columns:

Check the "link live" column every week. A promised link that never appears is worth one polite reminder; after that, let it go and note it for the next campaign.

A worked example: what 50 pitches cost and return

Take a solo marketer running one campaign a month. The numbers below are a planning example, not a promise:

• 50 qualified prospects, each taking about 15 minutes to research and pitch: roughly 12 hours of work.
• A 10% reply rate gives 5 replies. A 40% conversion rate on replies gives 2 live links.
• Cost: 12 hours of your time, plus an outreach CRM if you use one. BuzzStream's Starter plan is $49 a month for one user and 500 contacts, though bulk sending and automated follow-ups start on Growth at $174 a month. A spreadsheet costs nothing and is enough for a first campaign.
• Return: 2 links from relevant sites, plus 5 new contacts who now know your site exists.

If the reply rate is near zero after 50 pitches, the problem is usually the page, not the email. Improve the page, then pitch again. If the reply rate is healthy but nobody links, the pitch is asking for too much, or the fit is wrong.

Which tactic fits which site

Common mistakes

• Pitching before the page is ready. A thin page earns no links and burns the prospect for later.
• Leading with yourself. "I run a blog about..." tells the recipient nothing. Lead with their page and what your content adds to it.
• Mass-mailing the same email. Editors can tell, and they talk to each other.
• Asking for a link to a homepage or product page. Offer a specific page that helps their readers.
• Paying for links. A paid link that passes ranking credit is link spam under Google's policies. If a site charges for a mention, insist the link is marked rel="sponsored".
• Ignoring the follow-up. Half the replies in most campaigns come after the first nudge.

A checklist for your first campaign

• [ ] One page worth linking to, with a clear reason a stranger would link to it.
• [ ] 40 to 60 qualified prospects, each with a named person and a specific page.
• [ ] A short pitch written fresh for each prospect, naming their page.
• [ ] A tracking sheet with sent dates, follow-ups, replies and live links.
• [ ] Two follow-ups scheduled, then a hard stop.
• [ ] No payment offered for a link that passes ranking credit.

Outreach is a habit, not a campaign. One careful pitch a day, every working day, builds more links in a quarter than a single week of mass email ever will. If you would rather hand the whole job to a specialist, see outsource link building and how to build backlinks, and compare SEO reports for clients before you hire. For the questions to ask any agency first, see the questions to ask a marketing agency guide, and Adziq's own SEO services.

Common questions

Sources

• Spam policies for Google web search (Google Search Central)
• BuzzStream pricing

Adziq sells marketing services and does not accept payment for placement in its articles. See our editorial policy.