Advanced link building strategies and tips from SayNine team.

Advanced Link Building: Insider Tips From Our Team

Lilit Yeranyan Lilit Yeranyan
12 min read · Nov 29
Contents

Link building is dead!

А statement you can hear quite frequently. But is it true?

In fact, link building is quite “alive”. An Ahrefs study proves that there is a connection between traffic and the number of backlinks a website has. So, you need successful link building tactics in place to boost your website performance.

But how to ensure your link building efforts are going in the right direction? Don’t worry- we will guide you and share our advanced link building tips that can help achieve better results in link building.

But before that let’s speak with facts about why link building is still relevant and important.

How Is Link Building Still Alive?

First of all, if you want to rank on Google, without backlinks (authoritative and relevant ones, of course) you can’t do it. They are one of the most important ranking factors that you should pay attention to.  

But wait. Did you even hear that there is a discussion that Google doesn’t consider links as important as before? 

It’s far from being the truth. The reality is valuable backlinks remain a “vote of confidence” for Google. SEO expert Brian Dean shares his points on this topic:

In the world of SEO (Search Engine Optimization), they’re like votes of credibility from other sites. The more high-quality backlinks you have, the higher your website is likely to rank in search results.

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At SayNine, we did our own research and discovered that 95% of the SEO professionals we’ve surveyed consider link building a crucial factor in SEO.

But Google is very cautious about spammy techniques. So, you need to follow only ethical link building strategies, which can demand a lot of effort but will bring sustainable results.

Advanced Link Building: What Our Link Builders Have to Say

Now, it’s time to explore creative link building strategies I’ve gathered from our team for you. These techniques clearly worked for us and maybe can help to optimize your link building efforts.  

So, let’s get started.

Tip #1 Use LinkedIn For Link Prospecting

Finding a new relevant website open for link exchange collaboration is one of the struggles that almost every link building specialist faces. Our team of link builders has several tactics and uses a few channels to find new link building opportunities, and LinkedIn is one of them. 

Laura, a link building team lead @SayNine, suggests this:

Use the LinkedIn Search Bar and search for “SaaS Link Builder,” or “SEO Specialist.” Then, choose the People filter and click on them. Don’t forget to choose additional filters, like location or industries, to find link professionals focusing on SaaS link building.

While this is an effective technique, you need to check their companies and ensure they are legit.

Now, here comes the interesting part. Some people believe connecting with the LinkedIn Note function is too pushy and typical for link sellers. However, this isn’t the case and our link builders believe that your note can be different.

An example of the LinkedIn note to be used for link building.

In your message, you should include your potential partner’s name and highlight that you are interested in the SaaS link exchanges and not selling links.

Now, imagine a situation, where you know that a certain SaaS website is open for link building, but you don’t have any contact information- so, how to get strong links from it? There are quite simple steps link building specialist Araks recommends:

Type a company name in the LinkedIn search bar. Then, click on the People section option to see the list of employees. Next, filter the list and find people in a certain role: in our case, it is “SEO” or “Link building.”

Your last step should be connecting with these people and reaching out to them with valuable offers. 

There is another tactic that Laura also shares and you can also leverage for advanced link building.

If you have a LinkedIn Premium account, access to other link builders’ connections and start building relationships with them too.

The next strategy we suggest may sound so simple, but it’s quite effective and it’s really working for us – just write a post on LinkedIn sharing that you are open to new link building collaboration.

Exmample of a LinkedIn post from SayNine team looking for link building collaborations.

You will receive a lot of messages in this case, so just filter and find websites that match your needs.

We can go on and on about LinkedIn, it’s truly amazing. But if you are looking for ways how to get strong links, it’s not the only platform you can use to reach that goal.

Tip #2 Find New Link Building Partners With Slack

Maybe you are familiar with Slack – a famous work management platform. But this tool also helps you find new link building opportunities. Լink builders of SayNine have joined up to 10 link building channels on Slack.

Link building specialist Nely shares her thoughts on this topic.

When noticing the right advanced link building opportunity (SaaS backlink exchanges), I reach out to potential partners to check whether it’s possible to form a successful collaboration.

Ok, let’s assume our link builders have a list of websites they can target. So, in this stage, they use Ahrefs to check those websites’s link building metrics and to ensure they fit our criteria (we provide SaaS backlinks from DR 50 + websites).

Further reading:

Link Building Metrics: Which Ones Should You Prioritize?

What is Ahrefs? The Link Building Tool You Really Need

Tip #3 Manage Link Building Partnerships With Spreadsheets

Every experienced link builder that engages in advanced link building has many partners they connect with daily. 

Link builder Yeva shares her solution for this:

Create spreadsheets for every link partnership and work with them. This may sound like a very simple step, but it makes collaboration smooth and helps avoid any misunderstandings.

You can update any information on those spreadsheets like:

  • Live links
  • Pending requests
  • Your target URL and anchor text
  • Webpage your link partner should add your target URL and anchor text, and more.
Spreadsheet example from Saynine team for link building.

Link building specialist Mariam shares her advice on this matter:

Ask for guidelines from your link building partners before adding link exchange requests in those spreadsheets. These will save both your and your partners’ time and will make everything organized. However, remember that your good partners can make exceptions to the guidelines sometimes.

Remember when we talked about how important it is to find new websites for unique and relevant backlinks? Now, you can leverage your successful partnerships for that by sharing a list of SaaS websites with each other. If you’re both interested, you can share contact details like email addresses or LinkedIn profiles. This tactic opens new link prospecting opportunities for both of you.

The last tip again from Mariam:

Always audit your “partnerships” to check what your next step should be. Maybe you need to follow up with them and ask whether your link will be live or should suggest to them a new website list to consider for link exchanges.

As you can see it’s all about building effective and long-lasting relationships with your partners. This is something we will discuss in the next part.

Tip #4 Create Connections First, Then Backlinks

“Start building relationships first, backlinks will follow.”

This is something Laura and our whole team believe is important for successful advanced link building.

One of the first things we do for strong link building relationships is delivering partners real value. So, when we suggest a link exchange offer, we ensure that collaboration will be mutually beneficial. 

The next important tip our link building specialists Nely shares is following:

Let your link building partners know that you are interested in long-term collaboration and would like to work together for a long time.

So, always be supportive and show you put effort into making a successful collaboration. It can be finding link insertion for their anchor text in the target website and suggesting it to them. 

Link building specialist Araks brings another example.

It can be the situation when your link building partners ask whether you have a specific website for link exchange collaboration. Even if you don’t have one, you can ask your other partners, eventually creating a new link exchange opportunity for them.

There are cases when you have to reject your link building partner’s request. What to do in this case: clearly explain the reasons why you have to do that and suggest other ways to collaborate. This way, you are building more personal relationships with them.

Now, we came to the next point: as long as these are professional relationships, as a link builder you can create personal connections as well. But it’s all about the right balance: respect boundaries, be professional, but also show that you care about them. 

Let’s say you know your link building partner is going on vacation for a week. Schedule an email asking how their vacation went.

Example of an email from Saynine link builder for building better relationships.

One of our link building specialists Alina shares one of the creative link building strategies: 

Most probably you have link building partners from around the world from different cultures. So, sometimes they celebrate important holidays. Be mindful and congratulate them on those days.

It can be the case when your link building partners don’t work on holidays and other special days, so you need to plan your week smartly.

Tip #5 Learn How To Manage Your Time As a Pro

Link builders deal with hundreds of messages daily. It can be extremely overwhelming until you don’t take the right steps. There are many time management tools you can use. 

But what is interesting team lead and link building specialist Laura still believes that:

A notebook and a pen may seem old-fashioned but can still do wonders. Write down your important link building tasks for the day, complete them, and at the end, cross them off with a pen.

Link builder Nely gives another important tip: 

Create a monthly to-do list first, then break it down into weekly tasks.  Always keep your priorities in mind as you plan and organize your tasks.

Your priority is getting a live link for your client. So when you get those backlinks, don’t waste any time and check whether:

  • The anchor text is right.
  • That the anchor text and URL are in the contextually relevant place in the article.
  • Your links are do follow. Use the NoFollow extension, to check the “status” of your links. 

By taking all these proactive steps, you’ll see quick and effective advanced link building results.

Tip #6 Maintain Strong Communication

Link builders are communication gurus. One of their soft skills is the ability to build strong communication with their partners. At SayNine, link builders mostly use these three channels: email, Slack, and LinkedIn. 

While email communication can be a little bit more formal, with Slack and LinkedIn, you can be more friendly and laid back. But it all matters what kind of relationship you have with them.

But there is one golden rule that Laura thinks that link builders should prioritize in all cases:

Never, ever ignore your messages. Even if you don’t have any updates, let your link builder partners know.

Link building specialist Yeva talks about another crucial detail:

Collect all essential contact details about your link building partner. If you are connected on Slack, ask for their email and find them on LinkedIn to keep communication clear and complete.

Now, suppose you have a successful advanced link building collaboration, and your client’s link is live. Nely shares her advice for this stage:

The most important thing is not stopping and continuing your partnership. So, suggest other offers to your link building partners: it can be link exchanges in new websites or beneficial guest posting opportunities.

The key is always communicating with your partners and always finding new creative link building strategies and opportunities. 

The Key Takeaways

Now let’s go through all advanced link building techniques and highlight the most important points. 

  • Always find new link building opportunities with email outreach, or leveraging LinkedIn and Slack.
  • Organize your link building partnerships smartly using spreadsheets and doing regular audits.
  • Maintain a positive relationship with your link building partners, always trying to be helpful and delivering value to them.
  • Prioritize your most important tasks to meet all your link building goals.
  • Create effective communication with your link building partners, always be ready to answer their questions, and try to be helpful.

FAQ about advanced link building

When should I start link building?

You should start link building as soon as possible. It may take time to see actual results, so start early and stay consistent.

What is Off-page SEO?

Off-page SEO is a search engine optimization tactic that improves rankings through external strategies like link building.

Is link building a skill?

Link building involves a mix of technical and social skills to secure valuable and authoritative backlinks.

Is link building illegal?

No, link building is not illegal. But there are some black-hat, spammy link building tactics that violate search engine guidelines and you should stay away from them.

Is getting backlinks hard?

Although earning good backlinks needs some time and dedication, all your hard work will pay off, as your website performance will improve.