Last updated on 13th June 2023 at 21:21 by Alex Nicholas

Understanding what exactly is outreach SEO and how it can be used to improve your website's visibility in search engine results pages (SERPs) is essential for any business that wants to succeed online.

Outreach SEO is a form of outreach that involves obtaining links from off-site (other) websites to link back to the client's site. It's an essential part of any SEO strategy, as backlinks are one of the major ranking factors for Google.

Outreach SEO should not be confused with guest posting, although the two may share some similar tactics. The goal of an outreach campaign is to acquire links, not to write articles for other sites.

The right backlinks are incredibly beneficial to a company's organic ranking as well. The arrival of incoming links will provide the firm with a new audience that may result in increased traffic levels and potential customers.

Some common methods of conducting outreach SEO include:

1. Creating a list of target sites: The first step is to make a list of websites that you would love to obtain links from. This can be done by using a variety of link building tools, such as Majestic or Ahrefs.

2. Researching the contact information of each target site: Once you have a list of target sites, the next step is to find the contact information of each one. This can usually be found on the website's ‘About Us' page or in its ‘Contact Us' section.

But if you're doing this at scale then I suggest using a software solution such as hunter.io

3. Creating a personalised message: The next step is to create a personalised message that you will send to each website's contact. This message should be short and to the point, and it should explain why you think it would be beneficial for them to link to your site.

4. Sending the message: The final step is to send the message to each of the contacts that you have researched. This can be done through email, social media, or other methods of contact such as LinkedIn.

Important Aspects of Outreach SEO

There are a few important aspects to consider when conducting outreach SEO:

1. The quality of the target site: It's important to make sure that the sites you're targeting are high-quality and relevant to your site. If they're not, then there's a chance that Google will penalise your site for having links from low-quality sites.

For example, if a site has a “write for us” section or has pages and pages of links going out to masses of other businesses then it should act as a red flag and probably isn't worth pursuing.

2. The linking page: The linking page is the page on the target site that contains the link to your own site. It's important to make sure that this page is high-quality and relevant, as a low-quality or irrelevant page can hurt your organic ranking.

3. The number of links: It's important to not go overboard with the number of links that you're trying to acquire. Google may penalise your site if it appears that you're trying to manipulate the search results by acquiring too many links. They can easily spot patterns.

It's vital to remember the quality of the target site, the anchor text, the linking page, and the number of links when conducting content outreach.

But Wait… What exactly is Outreach SEO?

Outreach SEO is the practice of expanding your website's exposure and raising its search engine rankings by contacting other websites. The goal is to get these websites to link back to your website, which will give your website a boost in search engine rankings so that your online store or service makes more money.

There are numerous methods to utilise SEO Outreach, but the most efficient technique varies depending on your website's niche and the websites you're attempting to reach. This guide will teach you everything you need to know about Outreach SEO so that you can start improving your website's rankings.

Defining Outreach

Some people may only see outreach as a technique of guest posting on other websites and obtaining those linkbacks, but it's much more than that. A simple outreach definition can be looked at as outreach is a multifaceted process that can be used in many different ways.

Outreach can include discussions about the client's branding, sales, and marketing strategies. When successful outreach occurs, it indicates that more prospects will be reached, more inbound links will be gained, and the client's website will rank higher on SERPs.

Although the SEO community is reasonably established today, it was fairly small for a long period of time, so in the early days, it became necessary to develop relationships with other SEO professionals to improve business strategies and get ahead of the competition. And those principles are still important now.

Through these relationships, many opportunities for link-building and collaboration were born.

There are several bases that an SEO outreach plan must cover to achieve the intended effect. Make sure your SEO team can fulfil these requirements before you start your outreach program:

  1. They must understand the client's business inside and out
  2. They need to be good at building relationships
  3. They have to be great communicators
  4. They should be experienced in link building
  5. They must know how to track metrics
  6. They should be able to work well under pressure
  7. They need to have a good understanding of SEO

The above sections describe what an outreach process should include. However, there are also technical elements that may help you impact the outcome of an outreach.

These are the outcomes of the team's creativity level, the publishers chosen by the crew, and the number of links produced by the crew.

When it comes to creativity, the team should be able to generate ideas that are out of the box to make the project more successful.

As for the publisher, the team must have access to high-quality websites. These websites should be relevant to the client's business, have a good Domain Authority (although this isn't essential, to be honest), and be well-respected in their industry.

Finally, the team should focus on obtaining links from a variety of sources. These links should come from websites, social media, directories, and more.

Why is Outreach So Important?

The importance of outreach is clear when you consider the role it plays in improving your website's search engine rankings. Basically, you'll make more money.

Outreach helps to improve your website's rankings in many ways. First, it helps to increase the number of links pointing to your website. The more links you have, in theory, the higher your website will rank (provided your on-page SEO is good).

Finally, outreach may also aid in the improvement of links' anchor text. The anchor text is crucial when it comes to SEO. If you can get high-quality websites to use a variation of your keywords in their anchor text (providing it makes sense to do so) when linking to your website, it will dramatically improve your site's chances of ranking for each of the keywords utilised in the anchor text.

How to Do Outreach SEO

There are several different ways to do outreach SEO. The most important thing is to be creative and think outside the box and understand that there will be a cost involved in obtaining links.

There are many different ways to build links, but the best way to find link opportunities is to look for them yourself so that you understand the process and pitfalls.

One of the best ways to find link opportunities is to use a tool like Ahrefs. With Ahrefs, you can add up to 5 of the top-ranking sites into the link intersect tool and see if they have common links pointing to them. If they do then there's a good chance you'll be able to get a link from them, too.

ahrefs link intersect image

In addition to Ahrefs, you can also use other tools to find link opportunities. Some of these tools include:

  • Mention: Mention is a tool that allows you to track when your brand is mentioned online. Whenever your brand is mentioned, you will receive an email notification. You can then check out the link and see if there is a way to include a link to your website.
  • BuzzSumo: BuzzSumo is a tool that allows you to see what content is gaining the most traction on the internet. You may use this tool to find popular articles in your industry that you can then include a link to your website.
  • Google Search: You can also use Google search to find link opportunities. Simply search for your target keywords and then click on the “News” tab. This will show you all of the latest articles that have been published on the web. You can then reach out to the authors of these articles and ask if they would be interested in including a link to your website.

Pros and Cons

Like anything, there are both positive and negative aspects to doing outreach SEO. Below is our list of the pros and cons so you can get a better idea of whether or not outreach SEO is right for you and your website.

Pros

  • Helps to improve the website's search engine rankings
  • Can help to increase the number of links pointing to your website
  • Can help to improve the quality of the links pointing to your website
  • Can help to improve the anchor text of the links pointing to your website
  • Can be a great way to build relationships with other website owners and bloggers

Cons

  • Can be time-consuming
  • Requires a lot of hard work
  • You might not always get the results you want
  • You might not always get a response from the people you reach out to
  • As you can see, there are both pros and cons to doing outreach SEO. Ultimately, the decision of whether or not to do outreach SEO comes down to you and your website. If you think that outreach SEO can benefit your website, then go for it! If you're not sure, then you might want to consider another type of SEO strategy.

What Backlink Tactics Are Out There?

There are many different backlink tactics that you can use to build links to your website. Some of these tactics include:

  1. Create stats pages
  2. Creating infographics
  3. Creating blog posts
  4. Guest posting
  5. Niche edits
  6. Press Releases
  7. HARO (help a reporter out)

Each of these tactics can be effective in its own right. However, the best way to build links is to use a combination of tactics. For example, you could create an infographic and then promote it through your blog and social media channels. Or, you could create a free tool and then write a blog post about it.

But my number one tactic would have to be stats pages. People love to link to stats pages because they're usually full of great information that's easy to digest.

Just make sure that you internally link through to your money pages from those stats pages, because by doing this you're funnelling the power from those backlinks to the pages that make you money.

Can my business do SEO outreach or do I need a specialist?

Yes, any business can do SEO outreach. However, it's important to keep in mind that SEO outreach is a lot of work. If you're not prepared to put in the time and effort or you don't have the budget to pay website owners that WILL ask for money, then it might not be worth it for your business.

If this is the case then my suggestion is to focus on creating content for your site so that over time, Google starts to see you as an authority in your space.

However, if you do want to do outreach, remember it's not a quick fix. It can take months or even years to see results from your outreach efforts. So, if you're looking for a quick and easy way to improve your website's search engine rankings, then maybe get in touch with a freelance SEO specialist or link building specialist like myself.

However, if you're willing to put in the time and effort, then SEO outreach can be a great way to improve your website's search engine rankings and visibility.

Summing up

SEO outreach can be a great way to improve your website's search engine rankings and visibility. When you consider the pros and cons, it's important to decide if outreach SEO is right for you and your website. If you're prepared to put in the time and effort required to take part in outreach SEO, then go for it!

No matter what you decide, just remember that there are numerous different backlink tactics available, so be sure to experiment and try new things. Who knows, you might just find the perfect tactic for your website!