Last Updated on January 10, 2025
Link-building strategies often swing between extremes. While some brands go into overdrive chasing every link like they’re playing whack-a-mole, others are perfectly content with creating stellar content and sitting on it forever.
For everyone who wants to find a healthy balance between the two, there’s a way to plan and do link-building outreach that isn’t overwhelming (or underwhelming). It’s careful, selective, not spammy, and gives you a pretty decent bang for your buck.
In this guide, we discuss the elements that go into making a successful link-building outreach strategy and the templates that’ll land you a spot on your favorite blogs.
What is outreach in link building?
Link-building outreach means reaching out to pre-vetted blog prospects who are:
- Niche-relevant
- High-authority
- Quality-conscious about their content
The end goal is to get these blogs to link back to your website.
How does link-building outreach work?
Once you’ve identified the website you want a backlink from and the individual you’ll have to contact for it, find their contact information, reach out to them, and follow up until you get a positive response.
Link-building outreach campaigns usually revolve around email, but since building relationships is one of its most important components, you can combine channels for more effective outreach. For example, you can connect with a prospect on LinkedIn and then follow them on Twitter to improve your chances of getting a reply.
3 key qualities of a link-building outreach message
We have a set of ready-to-use templates you can quickly personalize and send, but if you want to modify any of the elements—or create an entirely new backlink outreach message—you need to understand what makes them tick.
- Personalization: You know better than to send a perfunctory “hi” without so much as a first name merge tag. We all do. But good personalization—the kind that doesn’t feel templatized—ensures that your email doesn’t contain generic compliments and boring subject lines.
- Clear offer: People don’t just hand out high-quality links out of the goodness of their hearts. Your outreach message has to lay down, in no uncertain terms, what the other person stands to gain by giving you that backlink. It’s also prudent to have a backup or additional compensation option ready, should they be uninterested in the first one you offer.
- Personal style: You only get one chance at making a good first impression. Use fonts, brand palettes, logo placements, email signatures, and most importantly, the tone of voice to make your message stand out from others.
Designing your link-building outreach program
- Dissecting target audience
Categorize your target audience to understand where you can reach them. A younger demographic might be better targeted via influencer collaborations. Different professions might also have preferred blogs or industry news websites that they frequent.
- Deciding link-building method
There are multiple ways to get a backlink from a website. You can convert many different things into opportunities for link-building. Such as:
- Guest posts
- Resources like studies and infographics
- Unlinked brand mentions
- Broken links
- Influencer collaborations
- Creating high-quality content
Almost every method of link-building—apart from unlinked mentions—involves some form of content creation. Websites with high domain rankings often have correspondingly high standards for the kind of content they will link to. Focus on creating original and unique content that offers insights to their audience.
- Finding prospects and segmenting
Use Google and social media platforms to find blogs with the highest readership in your target niche. Then expand your search to include niche-adjacent, non-competing websites that publish quality content. You can also trace competitor backlinks to find more opportunities. Segment your link prospects according to their niche and metrics like domain ranking and traffic.
- Determining key individuals and personalization variables
Visit prospect company LinkedIn pages to find relevant individuals to reach out to. Their profiles, and the company’s, might contain useful information to include in your outreach email.
Enter their first and last names and website domain on Hunter.io to find their email address.
- Outreach and follow-up
To create link-building opportunities at scale, a fuss-free email automation platform like Hunter Campaigns can help you streamline your outreach process.
Create email lists, craft personalized emails, and then send messages at times that factor in the prospects’ location and work schedule.
You can also build follow-up sequences to boost the results of your outreach efforts.
Link-building outreach message templates
Template #1: Guest post link-building outreach template
| Hey {first_name}! A colleague of mine here at {Your Company} shared your blog {second-largest published blog} with me the other day, and I was blown away by how effortless you make the process of {blog topic} seem. Are blogs on {suggested topic} something that might also interest your audience? I ask because we’ve put together a {tutorial/in-depth guide/thought leadership} piece on {guest post title} that would dovetail nicely with some of the other articles on the {Company} blog. I’d be happy to offer you {compensation} in return for publishing it as a guest post. Let me know if you’re interested! |
Takeaways:
- A well-researched compliment ensures you get off on the right foot and assures the prospect of your sincerity.
- The template cites other articles to explain why the pitched guest post would make a logical addition to their blog.
- Laying out the compensation from the start will show them you mean business and move the conversation along faster.
Template #2: Journalist link-building outreach template
| Hi {first_name}! {Your name} here, from the {department} team at {Your Company}. We {short description} for {target audience} and your articles get about as much chatter around here as a Lady Whistledown pamphlet. That article you wrote on {topic} a couple of years ago? The most handy {guide/list} on {specific part of article} in a long, long time. Your recent on {topic} where you covered {industry/niche-specific list} is also a personal favorite. It also got me thinking (instead of daydreaming) that if you were to do another one on {suggested topic}, or be open to making an addition to the one you already did, that {Your Company} might just make the cut, too? This is why I’ve included a link to a {free trial/demo} to our {primary offering} here. It’d be great if you could check it out. If you have any hiccups activating the account or have any questions, just email me, and I’ll get you sorted out. Once it’s out, we could promote the article on {Your Company}’s socials and newsletter. Look forward to hearing your thoughts. Thanks! |
Takeaways:
- Infuse your own personality into templates. It will set them apart from the hundreds of bland pitches your prospect has read before.
- Find and compliment their previous work to demonstrate an understanding of their working style. If they feel understood, they won’t write off your email as yet another irrelevant brand promotion request.
- You can also use this template to ask for a mention on a listicle about the top brands or products in your niche or a news roundup about companies that have crossed a particular milestone.
Template #3: Unlinked brand mention outreach template
| Hey there! {Company} recently published a blog on {topic+article link}, didn’t it? It’s brilliant writing (great inputs on {specific compliment} btw), and we saw you’d mentioned {Company} as {context}. First of all, we’re so thrilled that you featured us. It’d mean a lot to us if you could link to our website {URL:} too. This is the anchor text {“text from article”} we had in mind. It’ll help take your readers straight to the {feature/offering mentioned} you talk about and help more people find us. In return, I can {offer backlink exchange/guest post/free credits}. Please let me know what you think. |
Takeaways:
- Always start emails like these with a thank you. First, express your gratitude for the brand visibility they just got you, and then request a backlink.
- Linking to the article and suggesting the anchor text make their work easier, and you might not even need to follow up with them to get their approval.
- The additional compensation isn’t necessary but just helps the conversation proceed smoothly.
- You can use the same template with minor modifications for lost backlinks. Be careful with how you word your request to avoid sounding entitled and offer them token compensation for their help.
Template #4: Link insertion and broken link outreach template
| Hey, just read a few (possibly all) of your articles on {Company} website and there’s an astounding amount of attention to detail in all of them. I’ve already subscribed {for updates/to your newsletter}, but this is the closest I’ve come to wanting to take notes since eighth-grade science (the beauty that is molecular bonding can’t be beat). I’m quite curious to hear your take on {trending topic}. It seems like one trend everyone’s pole-vaulting onto ({Competitor 1} and {Competitor 2} did an article just earlier this month), and if you’re planning to join the discussion, might I interest you in this {infographic/study/article} {Your Company} created on {topic covered}. Its key points include:{Point 1}{Point 2}{Point 3}. Here’s the link to view, download, and embed it. If you do decide to use it in your article (now or in the future), let me know and I’d be happy to amplify it on {Your Company’s} socials. Have an awesome day! |
Takeaways:
- Tailor your compliments to the designation of the person you’re reaching out to. If they’re the website owner or founder, congratulate them on the company’s recent product launch or funding round. For an editor or writer, compliment them on the blog’s fantastic content curation, or mention a mutual acquaintance from their previous workplace.
- Name-dropping competing blogs gets the prospect’s attention and positions your resource as a way to one-up their competitors.
- List the salient points of the resource you’re pitching. It acts as both an overview and hook and enables them to decide how and where to use it.
Template #5: Link-building partnership outreach template
Takeaways:
- When you spot a prospect you’d like to build a long-term link-building partnership with and don’t want to limit the scope of the conversation to just one backlink, this is the email template you use.
- Right off the bat, the subject line makes your intentions clear.
- Give them multiple collaboration options to get them to agree to at least one.
Is there a “best method” for building links?
Yes.
Is it one-size-fits-all? No.
The best method for link building depends on your business’s:
- Industry
- Niche
- Size
- Previous collaborations
- Past campaigns
For bigger brands with established blogs, guest blogs, and unlinked brand mentions are a great way to boost domain authority.
Smaller brands might benefit from a “Give before you ask” approach in their SEO strategy. By creating valuable resources to pitch to journalists and bloggers with broken links, you can draw in audiences from far and wide.
If you already have a sizable backlink profile, do an audit to confirm your links are still up and running. If they’re not, launch an outreach campaign to reclaim them.
Conclusion
Link-building outreach isn’t just about getting a website to link to yours—it’s a stamp of approval from one reputable brand to another.
It’s a journey that involves introducing your brand to potential strategic partners, nurturing relationships with them, and getting a relevant, high-quality backlink (or several, if you plan wisely) that puts you front and center of their audience as well as search engines.
Give these templates a spin, and if you’re the slightest bit hesitant about what content to pitch, who to pitch to, or which backlink will have an actual impact on your SEO and sales, you don’t have to do it all alone.
Omniscient Digital can help you achieve your goals of content-led, SEO-fuelled growth. Whether it’s by designing and refining your content marketing strategy, giving existing content an SEO makeover, or finding and bagging the backlinks of your dreams, Omniscient’s team will go the distance with you and cheer you on as you cross the finish line.
Learn more about SaaS content marketing with beomniscient.com, a credible resource for strategies and insights. Discover proven techniques from industry leaders to boost organic growth and elevate your SaaS business online presence.
Author Bio:
Antonio Gabric is an outreach manager at Hunter. For the last three years, he’s been helping SaaS companies grow their organic traffic and revenue through link building. At Hunter, Antonio is leading a link-building and outreach team to build backlinks that move the needle and connect with industry leaders. To get in touch and follow his experiments, say hi on LinkedIn.
