There are a variety of link building tools that can help you achieve your marketing goals. The right tool for you depends on your needs as a brand, agency, or solo link builder.
Ahrefs is a well-known tool in the SEO industry, particularly for its easy-to-use backlink analysis platform. The tool also offers a few unique features like the Link Intersect tool that shows websites that link to multiple competitors.
Keyword Research
If you’re serious about your SEO, you need a tool that helps you perform thorough keyword research. This will help you discover the best keywords to target for your business, as well as identify competitors’ most-used keywords.
You can find a variety of free and paid tools that help you perform keyword research. Some of these tools even provide suggestions on how to optimize your content.
Some of these tools also include a backlink analysis feature that helps you identify opportunities for link building. One of these is Moz’s free backlink analyzer, which allows you to identify the sites that link to a domain or URL.
Other backlink analysis tools include Open Link Profiler and Seobility. These tools provide in-depth analytics, including metrics such as Domain Authority and backlink counts. They also allow you to perform bulk analysis of multiple domains, enabling you to target outreach opportunities based on expertise and other factors.
Link Building
There are a few basic types of link building techniques that work today, including guest blogging (writing and publishing an article on someone else’s website or blog to gain backlinks) and broken link building (identifying broken links on other sites and offering your content as a replacement). Some tools help with these processes, like Ahrefs’ Check My Links Chrome extension.
Other tools are more focused on the actual outreach part of the process, such as BuzzStream, which offers templates that can be customized to match your brand’s voice and tone. It’s an especially useful tool for creating large-scale outreach campaigns, saving you an incalculable amount of time compared to using a standard email client.
Another well-known and established tool is Ahrefs, which has a Site Explorer that’s useful for finding competitor information quickly. It’s also known for its content explorer, which can help identify the best content topics to pursue when creating your own linkable content.
Competitive Analysis
Embracing and mastering competitive analysis is an essential part of any link building process. It gives you a roadmap to understand the benchmarks for success within your niche and sets the stage for effective link acquisition strategies.
In addition to a comprehensive backlink profile, Ahrefs Site Explorer includes a tool that profiles your competitors’ referring domains. This helps you identify high-value link opportunities by identifying the types of links that your competitors are receiving from their own websites and what type of content they’re creating to attract those links.
SE Ranking also offers a useful competitor backlink gap analyzer which compares your backlink profile with up to five competitors. Their all-in-one SEO tool has attractive pricing (you can save 20% if you pay annually). The visual reporting of SE Ranking is especially appealing and will help you quickly identify low-hanging opportunities. This tool also enables you to track keyword progress and spot changes in competitor link velocity over time.
Outreach
When other websites link to your content, it helps search engines determine that your content is valuable. It also boosts your domain authority and SERP rankings.
Getting links is key to SEO, but the process can be daunting and time-consuming. Using the right tools can help you be more efficient, and make the process less intimidating.
There are several different types of outreach techniques, each with their own benefits. Some tactics include Skyscraper technique (finding and pitching better versions of existing content), Product Reviews, and Podcast Outreach.
Another useful tool is Google Alerts, which can be set to monitor specific keywords or the entire web. You can then receive email notifications when anyone mentions your brand. This can be an effective way to build awareness and generate organic traffic, as long as you avoid spamming. Instead, use it to find creative ways of being helpful to your audience. This will result in your site becoming a reference point for other creators, which can lead to backlinks and brand mentions.