Building links isn’t just about getting as many backlinks as possible; it’s about creating meaningful relationships that benefit both parties and improve your website’s performance. Focusing on building connections is crucial if you want to boost your backlink profile.
A SEMrush study found that 92 of the top 100 ranked domains have at least one backlink. You can’t get those valuable backlinks without establishing strong relationships with your link-building partners.
So, it’s worth investing time in learning how to build and maintain these relationships. But before we dive into that, let’s explore why these long-term connections lead to authoritative backlinks.
Why Great Links Are Built Through Relationships
There’s a common myth that backlinks aren’t important anymore. But you know that’s not true, right? Relevant and trustworthy backlinks still play a crucial role in boosting your website’s performance.
In fact, the number of referring domains is one of Google’s top ranking factors and can really enhance how well your site performs.
That’s why focusing on building and maintaining strong relationships is key to successful link building. Here’s why having strong connections matters:
Build trust with link building partners
Authority and trust are what successful partnerships most importantly offer to the table. The likelihood of a website owner agreeing to collaborate on links is higher with trustworthy ties than it is with strangers.
Establish long-term partnerships
Keeping strong relationships helps set the stage for ongoing collaboration. By nurturing these connections, you can boost your website’s visibility and earn valuable backlinks over time.
This approach means you won’t constantly need to hunt for new link opportunities or run outreach campaigns. Instead, you can focus on building and maintaining relationships with your current partners to meet your link-building goals.
Get valuable backlinks
When you focus on building strong relationships instead of just asking for links, your chances of getting backlinks from reputable and relevant sites go way up. It’s no surprise that backlinks from trusted websites boost your profile significantly.
So, it’s clear that building trustworthy connections with partners is a key skill for successful link building. But how do you make relationship-based link building a priority? Don’t worry—we’ve got you covered!
How to build relationships for effective link building
Ahrefs’ research indicates a favorable correlation between backlinks and search traffic, as well as ranking position. For efficient backlink generation, relationship-based link development is becoming increasingly vital. Let’s talk about how you can do that now.
Personalize your outreach as much as possible
Standing out in crowded inboxes can be tough since people get so many cold emails these days. But breaking through this barrier is key when you’re starting to build relationships for link-building. To do this, you need to make your outreach emails as personalized as possible.
Start by learning more about your potential link-building partners. Find out their interests, areas of expertise, and their link-building goals for their websites.
One effective step is to connect with editors or website owners on LinkedIn before you send your outreach emails. If you’ve already interacted with them on LinkedIn, you’re more likely to get a response to your email.
Don’t be shy about mentioning that you’ve done your homework and found interesting details about them in your cold email. Be sure to include their names and specific details about their website or content.
Here’s an example of an email template you can use. It shows how our team researched and found relevant link-building opportunities for potential partners’ websites.
- Hey {{Name}},
- Backlink profile plays an important role in your website’s rankings, so why don’t we make it better via SaaS link exchanges?
- The plan looks like this:
- We add your link: {{URL 1}}
- In this article: {{URL 2}}
- With the anchor text: {{anchor 1}}
- Definitely, changes are acceptable based on your priorities.
- In exchange, you’ll make me happy by adding this.
- Insertion URL: {{URL 3}}
- My target URL: {{URL 4}}
- Anchor text: {{anchor 2}}
- Drop me a line if you’re interested. I’m sure that both of us will benefit from this collaboration.
- P.S. If you’re not the right person for this collaboration, no worries!
- I’d appreciate it if you could provide me with the contact of your colleague 🤝
- Best,
- Your name
It’s key to remember that personalizing your email doesn’t mean it has to be a novel. People have preferences for what they read, but they also don’t have time for long emails. Keep your message short and to the point. Clearly explain how working together benefits both sides. And remember, you can always provide more details in follow-ups.
Finally, to save time and effort, using email outreach tools to automate tasks is a smart move.
Not only get but also give value
In any relationship, there’s always a give-and-take, and building backlinks is no different. It’s all about mutual benefit.
To get a backlink, you often need to offer something valuable in return. For instance, you could share some interesting stats from your website that show how linking to you could boost their profile. Tools like Ahrefs can help you track how this benefits your site.
If you notice that their blog could use some improvement, offer to write guest posts. Providing high-quality, engaging content can make a big difference for their site, and it’s a great way to build a solid relationship.
Also Read: 7 Effective SEO Link Building Tactics
Be genuine and authentic
Remember, link building is all about connecting with real people, not just chasing search engine rankings. There are humans behind every website, so keep the human touch front and center.
Be genuine in your interactions and focus on building real relationships with your link-building partners. Make sure to clearly communicate what you hope to achieve from the partnership and be honest about your goals.
Being authentic and empathetic is a key strategy for successful link building. Once you’ve built a rapport with your partners, choose the right moments to engage with them, beyond just asking for links. Chat about their interests or weekend plans to keep the conversation personal and friendly.
In short, take the time to really get to know your partners and show your genuine support.
Don’t stop engaging and interacting
Building strong link-building partnerships takes time—just like Rome wasn’t built in a day. You can’t earn trust with just one message.
Even after you’ve established a good connection and exchanged your first links, it’s crucial to keep in touch. Good link-building isn’t just about making a one-time deal; it’s about ongoing communication and looking for future opportunities to work together.
In this case, even if partners move on to new businesses or projects, they’re likely to stay engaged with reliable link-building teams like yours.
Finally, but just as importantly, don’t be afraid to thank your partner via LinkedIn or other professional networks in addition to sending personal messages if your partnership is fruitful and lasts a long time.
To be more precise, though, let us discuss our team’s expertise creating strong relationship-based links.
Better relationships, better backlinks: sharing our experience
SayNine’s success in boosting clients’ website performance comes from our focus on relationship-based link building. Our team has built strong and successful partnerships with link-building partners worldwide.
We thought it was important to share some insights and tips from our team.
Araks, the head of the SayNine team, says, “You can’t do link building without talking to people and building trust.”
Hayk, one of our link builders, believes you should be kind, patient, and responsible. He suggests finding the right balance between being friendly and professional. “There’s a fine line between being too formal and being helpful when your link-building partners need it,” he explains.
Syuzana advises being empathetic and putting yourself in your partner’s shoes. While empathy is important, she also suggests keeping your emotions in check, especially if you face rejection.
Martin, another team member, believes that great communication skills and a genuine interest in others are key to successful link building. He thinks focusing on people will lead to excellent outcomes.
Laura recommends starting with a warm introduction and providing tailored suggestions for link placements. She also suggests showing your commitment by reviewing link exchange reports thoroughly and explaining any rejections.
She adds, “It’s nice to wish your partners a great weekend on Fridays and check in on Mondays to see how their weekend went. Responding quickly to their messages shows you’re interested in the collaboration.”
Ani sums it up, saying, “Building relationships through link-building helps you meet deadlines and achieve your goals.”
Challenges of relationship-based link building
Every great strategy has its challenges, and relationship-based link building is no exception.
So, what are the biggest hurdles you might face while building strong connections with your link-building partners? Let’s dive into a few of them.
Building trust
The time required to establish solid connections is one of the primary obstacles to relationship-based link creation. You will ultimately build connections based on trust if you have patience and try to be as real as you can.
The time it takes
Once there are a few successful link exchanges, communication shouldn’t end. Eventually, building a long-lasting cooperation requires a lot of commitment. The good news is that your efforts to establish links will ultimately be rewarded for all of your hard work.
You may not get links
Another challenge is that, even after building a solid relationship, you might not always get a link. But if you focus more on building connections rather than just chasing links, you might discover more opportunities down the road.
Even if some website owners aren’t ready to link up right now, if you’ve established a good relationship with them, they’ll think of you when they do start looking for link-building opportunities.
Balancing relationships and link building goals
Even when you have good connection with certain website owners, it doesn’t guarantee that their site includes all the metrics you need to achieve your link-building objectives. Therefore, in order to prevent misunderstandings, don’t be afraid to express your expectations to them in unambiguous terms.
