Outsourced Link Building
-
Hello,
I'm pretty sure everyone will just tell me to do the link building myself, but the truth is I don't have time.
I've looked at link building firms in the past (and even used one), and they were all pretty dodgy. What should I look for in a quality link builder? What costs do you think are reasonable for a quality link? Is there anything you wish you'd known before going down a similar path?
Thanks in advance for any help!
-
I agree, some clarity on what you mean by "outsourced link building" would be a good idea because if you mean hiring the cheapest labour you can find and giving them the remit to build links for you then yes you are likely to get burned.
In my opinion 'outsourcing' has negative connotations and working with an experienced external link acquisition company isn't necessarily a bad idea.
Working with an expert whether that be an agency or a freelancer can offer incredible benefits provided you are involved at the strategy and quality control level. 2nd or 3rd opinions on strategies and output are often worthwhile seeking if you are unsure of the 'right' direction.
-
I encourage you to be very clear about what you mean by "link building." Do you mean hiring inexpensive folks to submit your site to directories and do low-quality article marketing for you? Or do you mean hiring a professional content-marketing team to attract valuable links?
-
Yep! There are some things SEO companies can do for you that are important but not quit as risky. Page optimization, keyword research, content development, etc.. but the link building tactics that have been used for the last few years have been to kin to carpet bombing, and Google don't like that.
That said I'm sure there are some great SEO companies out there but you also want to make sure you pick a company that is intimately familiar with your industry for best results.
Here is SEOmoz's recommendations
Hope it helps!
-
Hi Donford,
Appreciate the response. The article you linked to was great.
It is also the exact thing I don't have time to do properly. We all know that SEO is important, so it's best that I step aside in favor of people with the time to focus on doing a good job.
Cheers!
-
There was a good YoMoz post on this subject today.. here:http://www.seomoz.org/ugc/build-relationships-not-links
The truth is if you outsource this aspect you are taking a risk. I understand that you already prefaced your question with time. So, perhaps I may suggest that you hire somebody in house to help with SEO, in this case they would have access to you and your industry knowledge which would help build reliable relationships with communities, forums and blogs.
If the website is your baby or bread and butter, then outsourcing something as important as link relationships is very risky. There have been hundereds of post about people getting smashed by Google's penguin and panda updates which directly crushed the way 90% of the SEO companies used to build links for SEO reasons.
I am not trying to be harsh on you, I just don't' want you to end up in a Panda situation 6 months from now.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Link Building On a Budget
Hello! We are a small online business with a tight budget. Most of the content, social, ppc is done in-house to keep things under control & cost down. Can anyone suggest a local or offshore link building agency that we can trust or that someone else has used with good success? Some of the local agencies we've contacted quoted us 150-200/mth per keyword, is that typical? Has anyone been successful with agencies overseas? Thank You!!
Link Building | | TP_Marketing0 -
Should I build links to wordpress category pages?
Hi guys, I'm working on http://www.top-10-dating-reviews.com and planto build links to the category pages - is that the best strategy for a comparison site like this? This is a wordpress site and I read that category pages should be no indexed is that the case? If so then obviously I'd be wasting my time building links to these pages as google wouldn't index them anyway. Any advice on the best strategy for link building would be much appreciated!
Link Building | | SamCUK0 -
How Long Does It Take For opensiteexplorer.org To Find Links Ive Been Building?
Hello, The past 1-2 months I managed to get a website on some high authority news sources. For some reason I still cannot see them with opensiteexplorer, but they are showing up in the Webmaster account? Is there typically a big delay? Thanks1
Link Building | | TP_Marketing0 -
Backlinking / Link Building Services
Hello, Our site is struggling organically and one of the key factors (not surprisingly) is a lack of backlinks. We have hired a content writer and are working on a content strategy to generate quality, relevant backlinks. But this is more of a long term project. After reviewing backlinks to our competitors' sites, it seems clear that they are using agencies or services to generate backlinks (most coming from low quality sites). I'm aware that this isn't a good long term strategy (although it seems to be serving them well at the moment). I was hoping the community could provide some insight on products or services out there that provide "safe" backlinking strategies. I don't want to do anything that is going to harm us in the future. I've read a bit on the hoth, and it seems fairly safe and potentially effective, but it's hard find much objective advice on the topic. Any insight is much appreciated - thanks in advance! Jason
Link Building | | ba_seomoz0 -
Creative link building ideas for law sites
I have a client who does not actively participate in the content writing or resource providing part of optimization or link building. I want to build some more links to the site outside of content spreading and guest blogging. I have read a lot of the recent articles on creative ways to build links but feel that most would not apply to this kind of site. Any ideas on creative link building methods for a law services info site?
Link Building | | webfeatseo0 -
Link Building Template
Hi all, I am looking to find an actionable, easy to use, link building template to be used by myself as well as across office/clients. Key subject areas for link building have been defined but I am keen to apply a template to past and future link building opportunities as I build on the link building tactics I have a number of link building targets e.g. form competitor analysis, existing links from websites and looking to reach out to amend their anchor text, prospect websites Does anyone have a good insight into categorising the different link building targets by sector? Many thanks Simon
Link Building | | simonsw0 -
Good link building companies
I'm wondering if anyone has had good experiences with any of the link building companies out there. I'm really looking to hear about those companies who go beyond the mundane forum links, blog commenting, bulk directory submission, article directories etc. It's all been done to death. I've used webuildpages.com, they are pricey, but are good at getting high quailty links.
Link Building | | PeterM220 -
Link building companies for a short term campaign?
Hi! I am not specially good at super fast link building campaign in the UK. My company has launched a website for a special event which is going to be held in a month and I have to boost it super fast. Luckily,the 2-3 keywords we are trying to rank for are not super competitive. Would you recommend any agency which would do this? Thanks!
Link Building | | jorgediaz0