Finding backlinks can be difficult. It involves a lot of emails and creating content, but your competition still seems to be a step ahead.
And the ones who say they have figured out the secret to getting backlinks, well, they’re lying. The good news is there's an example you can follow to get all the backlinks you need to grow your online presence -- your competitors.
Let's explore how to find your competitor backlinks, organize the backlinks, and automate your outreach to boost your keyword rankings up to the first page.
Finding a Competitor's Backlinks
Identifying backlinks is the first step to using them to your advantage. This is where software like Linkody is extremely useful. This platform finds competitor backlinks so you don’t have to do it manually. In the example, we use Linkody, but you can use any SEO software you prefer for tracking backlinks. When you sign-in, click on the domain itself, under "Domains":
Then, from the drop-down menu "Competitors", select "Add a Competitor":
Type in your competitor (in our case mailmunch.co) and hit "ADD COMPETITOR":
You will see Linkody is looking for your competitor’s backlinks. Wait a second then refresh the page.
Eventually, individual links from all unique domains will be listed:
There you go! How you find competitors backlinks.
Then click on the “Competitors” section and select “View all Competitors Links”:
Linkody will instantly mark a link green if it finds that you and your competitor shares a backlink from the same domain (or page):
Then you can filter all competitor’s backlinks to see which of your backlinks is also theirs and export the list of backlinks that you and your competitor don’t share.
Filtering a Competitor's Backlinks
You will find tonnes of backlinks from these search queries. Now you will need to organize them through filtering. It’s important to contact only the most relevant pages because they will be the most valuable backlinks in terms of SEO. This requires some manual work, but it will only take a couple of minutes.
Start by opening the Excel sheet that lists all the backlinks and delete links you don't want to contact:
High-quality URLs usually have a DA (Domain Authority) above 20 so delete the rest unless your own site has a very low DA.
If you notice these in the URL, they’re not worth your time:
- Feed
- Archive
- Flipboard URLs
- EU-based sites because of the new GDPR regulations
- Exclude URLs with a spam score of 8 or more
Remember, you’re going to spend a lot of time contacting these websites and answering their replies, so make sure your outreach plan is practical. If you have more than enough backlinks outlined, then leave out "no-follow" backlinks to maximize the SEO benefit of your plan.
Preparing to do Outreach
Email the admin (or editor) of all the sites outlined in your plan. (Below we’ll show you how you can instantly source this information too. No manual work for you!)
However, outreach isn’t everybody’s forte so I’ll show you how to prepare a killer template and subject line, along with some examples.
Pretend you're the admin of a site that will receive your first outreach email. Let’s be honest, nobody likes being spammed in their inbox. So you need to find a way to get people to actually read your pitch.
Here are a few tips on how to customize your email outreach:
- The subject line must draw attention so your reader WANTS to open the email
- Emojis and symbols often pique a user's interest
- Keep it short (five words maximum)
- If you can spark emotion, you’ve got a winner
- The content must be concise so your reader doesn’t feel their time is being wasted
- Mention content on their site that you like so they know you did your homework
- Compliment them on the overall quality of their site's content
- Introduce yourself in a polite, but casual manner so they know it's not an automated message
- State your request to poach a link, publish a guest post, or fix a 404 link, as well as the benefit to their site
Here’s an example of an outreach email:
Subject line: I LOVE your blog! =)
Hi [Admin],
Your blog on [topic] was very insightful and helped me solve [problem]. I also liked [topic 1] and [topic 2], and look forward to reading more posts like these.
I’m Mark, I'm a content creator based in [location] and I think our sites have a lot in common. Would it be possible to give my site a shout-out in one of your blog posts? I would be more than happy to do the same for you so your site can get exposure to our audience of 10,000+ monthly readers.
I'd also be open to writing a guest post for your blog that would be interesting to your audience. Let me know if you're up for it and I can send you a few topics!
All the best,
Mark Proctor
Launching an Outreach Campaign
Simply paste your list of links into a tool like NinjaOutreach. Copy all your URLs from the Excel sheet and paste them into the platform. It will find the relevant email addresses by combing through the list of sites.
Then, prepare the pitch and click on the Outreach section to schedule the email.
That’s all!
Grab a cup of coffee while the tool does its job and wait for the replies to come in.
Closing the Deal
Networking is all about following up and making it as easy as possible for the admin to create a backlink for you.
When someone replies with a show of interest, give them a copy and paste solution. This will maximize your chances of getting the backlink:
Don’t wait too long before answering and always stay friendly—even if you get negative replies.
If you would like to grow your company's online presence, then we can streamline your outreach efforts and provide measurable results. We're TechWyse, the full-service digital marketing solution for small businesses. To learn more, call us today at 866.208.3095 or contact us here.
