Musfiqur Memo - RankPa

September 11, 2024by Musfiqur MemoBlog

4 Best Backlink Checker Tools and How to Use Them – Detailed Guides

You probably wouldn’t want to spend so much resource and time on link-building without ensuring it’s working. So, how do you check the fruit of your efforts?

Backlinks are one of the two major pillars of your SEO campaign (the other being your content). While checking your content is straightforward, doing so for backlinks is not so much.

Lucky for us, there are several backlink checker tools online to help us with it. You only need to identify the good ones among them. That is why we made this article today.

In this article, we will go into detail about backlink checker tools and suggest some of the best ones to make it worth every penny.

What Are Backlink Checker Tools?

As the name suggests, you can check your domain’s backlink profile using a backlink checker tool. However, things aren’t so simple. Some of them also let you track historical data.

Presenting the data as a graph makes it convenient for the site owner. It lets them know the performance of each backlink over a long time.

For example, the following is a link summary of a site from 07/26/2021 to 08/01/2021 on a link checker tool-

Image source: sitechecker.pro

Most backlink checker sites also contain various other tools to integrate many parts of SEO into one. As such, you can use one for your whole link-building project. Ahrefs is one example.

What to Check Before Choosing a Backlink Checker Tool?

You will find tons of backlink checker tools online with attractive user interfaces and so much more. Are they all worth it? Definitely not.

Not to mention, some of them come at a cost, so picking the most suitable one is mandatory for your SEO’s ROI. Let’s list down the factors that determine a good backlink profile checker tool-

Accuracy of Data: You may check your site’s backlinks on several tools and find completely different data. The accuracy is one of the significant aspects you must consider when using a tool.

In that regard, popular ones such as Semrush, Ahrefs, Moz Pro, etc., are usually the safest options.

Historical Data Tracking: As we explained before, you need to check your past backlink data to compare and track your progress. Top-tier backlink checker tool will give you that option.

Basically, they will start saving your backlink profile from the moment you first sign up for their service with your domain URL.

Every time you return to the tool, it will update the data and show you your progression as a graph, chart, or table.

Other normal trackers will only show you only your domain’s current DA and backlinks without saving them on the way.

Competitor Backlink Analysis: This one is simple. The backlink checker tool must also let you check the backlink profiles of other websites to allow competitor analysis.
Filters: You will find many filters on a good backlink checker tool, letting you narrow down your backlink list within a specific location, period, type, etc.

These features will prove to be useful more frequently than you may expect.

Payment Options: Some backlink checkers will appear free, while others come at a cost. The latter usually provides better options and features.

If you want some quick checking during the initial phases of your link-building, a free tool will do.

Tools like Ahrefs have a free backlink checking option (like in the following image), while you can go for the premium version for a more thorough result.

User Interface: Finally, the interface of the backlink checker should be comprehensive and easy to understand.

The navigation should be a smooth experience as you will spend a long time on these tools.

4 Best Backlink Checker Tools- Step-by-Step Guide

Here is our list of the best backlink checker tools in no particular order. It is often better to check your backlink profile on multiple tools if you are cautious about the result’s accuracy.

Ahrefs

Website: https://ahrefs.com/site-explorer

Cost:

Version	Pricing
Lite	$129 per month
Standard	$249 per month
Advanced	$449 per month
Enterprise	$14,990 per month

The up-to-date nature of Ahrefs makes it one of the best. The site gets updated with new backlink data every 15 minutes. Not to mention, its web crawler count is second after Google.

Using the Ahrefs backlink checker tools is fairly easy once you are accustomed. Firstly, there is the free tool that we mentioned above. Then there is the premium option.

Here is how you can use Ahrefs premium version for backlink checking-

Go to Ahrefs and their Site Explorer section.
Sign up while providing your website’s information to let the tool track its backlink profile.
Check the ‘Referring Domains.’

Referring domains are unique websites sending backlinks to your domain. As you can guess, the graph must show increases in referring domains over time.

This growth should be gradual and not sudden. Sudden growth may indicate spam or link farms linking to your domain, requiring inspection.

Also, the quality of the links matter. Check the Domain Rating (DR) of each referring domain. You can check the DR of each in the ‘Backlink Report’ page within Ahrefs.

Most referring domains should have DR of at least 50 or higher. If you find too many ones with low DR, that may cause issues. Requesting the site owners to remove them is an option.

If that doesn’t work, then you can send a ‘disavow’ file to Google not to crawl these links. You can do that directly within Ahrefs. Otherwise, you can go to Google Search Console for it.

While you are on the Backlink Report page, use the filter- ‘404 not found’ to find all the backlinks sent to pages in your site that don’t exist anymore or have been moved to a new URL.

In that case, you can redirect each link using the 301 redirect attribute.

Next, check the ‘total backlink.’ It is the total number of all the backlinks to your site.

While most of them must be followed for a high link equity, a good chunk should be no-followed.

Check ‘Best by Link’ and select ‘External Links’ at the top to find the pages in your domain attracting the most backlinks.

They need your maximum focus to eliminate any broken links.

Finally, you can use the same methods as above to check the backlink profile of another site.

Although, you can’t make any disavowed request to Google for any backlink to that site for obvious reasons.

You can also compare your competitor’s backlink profile with yours using Ahrefs’ ‘Batch Analysis’.

Semrush

Website: https://www.semrush.com/analytics/backlinks/?msockid=03c43c2641196b7b050b2f82406a6a11

Cost:

Version	Pricing
Pro	$139.95 per month
Guru	$249.95 per month
Business	$499.95 per month

While not having as much web crawling as Google or Ahrefs, Semrush has one of the largest backlink databases online, if not the biggest. They have excellent features to help audit backlinks.

Here is how you can do it-

Head to Semrush. Start a project with your domain URL.
Select the ‘Backlink Audit’ tool on the left and click on the ‘Start backlink audit.’

Check the toxicity level of your site. It should be low. Any higher than that, and you may need to identify the toxic backlinks and remove or disavow them.
Also, check the referring domains, analyze backlinks (total number of backlinks), and the authority score.

The authority score refers to Domain Authority (DA), which is kind of the same as DR.

You will find the ‘Audit’ tab on the navigation bar beside ‘Overview’. Click it next to get a detailed view of your backlink profile.

From here, you can check the anchor texts of the backlinks, the URLs of the linking sites, their authority, and toxicity score.

Like DA or DR, toxicity scores also range from 0-100. The higher it is, the worse.

Use the ‘toxicity score’ filter above to limit it within 60-100. Use the ‘Remove’ button to add the linking sites with high toxicity scores to the remove list.

The remove button looks like a paper airplane.

Next, go to the ‘Remove’ tab. You can add your email here.

Write and send emails from within the tool itself requesting sites to remove the backlinks to your page.

If they ignore your emails, disavowing the backlinks is your next option. The disavow button looks like- Ø.

Once you add enough sites to the disavow list, visit the ‘Disavow’ tab. Export the links in a .txt file. Then, import it to the ‘Google Disavow Tool.’

Next, go to the ‘Link Building’ tool on the left side of the screen. Configure it.
Select the ‘Prospect’ tab. Click on the ‘Lost backlinks.’

The links you see here are backlinks you used to have but were lost for various reasons like your page moving to a new URL.

You can use the 301 redirects here to direct the backlinks to the newly moved place. Otherwise, you may email the site owner to replace their backlink with another page you own.

Afterward, go to the ‘Backlink Analytics’ tool on the left. Select ‘Indexed Pages.’

Here, you can see unique backlinks that each page on your site is getting. It also includes the referring domains.

Check the pages with the highest backlinks and referring domains. It will give you the type of content in your site that gets the most attention. Now you know which content to focus more on.

While you are in the ‘Backlink Analytics’ tool, select the overview tab. Here, you can add more root domains and compare your competitors with your site.

You can also use the ‘Bulk Analysis’ tool to do this and get a more detailed result.

While checking the backlinks sent to your site, don’t forget to notice whether they are followed or not. You can go to the ‘Backlink Analytics’ and use the ‘referring domains’ tab for this.

Simply use the filters above to check the followed or no-followed links.

Linkchecker Pro

Website: https://app.linkchecker.pro/links

Cost:

Version	Pricing
Lite	$25 per month
Standard	$50 per month
Pro	$100 per month
Custom	Starts at $150 per month

Linkchecker Pro is another convenient backlink checker tool, given its simplicity and pleasant visuals. The site gives you the vital information needed for your website’s link-building.

It is also one of the most cost-effective options among the paid backlink checker tools.

Let’s show you how to use Linkchecker Pro-

Visit Linkchecker Pro and sign up.
Select the ‘Links’ tool on the left. Then, create a project with your domain.
Select the project from the list, and the tool will display your total backlink count, followed or no-followed ratio, and index ratio.

You will also find the list of anchor texts on the bottom of the charts.

Select the content tab on the top right of the charts, and you can see the types of content you have on your site, such as articles, comments, infographics, etc.

Click the tab with the graph symbol to get a graph with the link and index dynamics.

The first one shows the backlinks you got over time, and the second one is for the ones that were indexed.

Scroll down a bit from any tab, and you will get a table of all the backlinks to your site.

You can find advanced filter options above the table to pinpoint specific types of links.

As you can see, there are also options to import or export links from here directly.

You will also see a ‘Users’ filter. What’s up with that?

In Linkchecker Pro, each project can have several users. It helps you divide the link builders into several teams if needed. Moreover, you can also check the performance of each team here.

Select the ‘Performance Review’ tab (the one with the symbol of two figures), and it will show you a graph of each team’s performance.

You can also turn on alerts and notifications on the tool to notify you when you get backlinks.

Click on your profile in the top right corner and select ‘Account Settings.’
Scroll down, and you will see the ‘Alert’ section.
Toggle on the ‘Email Alert’ or ‘Telegram Alert’ as you see fit.

Next, go to the ‘Report’ tool from the left of the screen. Scroll down a bit, and you will get a table full of error backlinks or toxic links to your site.

Focus on them and fix them as soon as possible. If needed, remove or disavow them.

If you want to make a competitor analysis and compare them with your domain, you can use the ‘Batch Analysis’ tool on the left.

Go to the ‘Batch Analysis’ tool and select ‘New Analysis.’
Then toggle the various filters on/off as necessary. Add all the domain links in the blank table below.
Click ‘Analyze’.

Select the newly created batch analysis, and you will find a table full of data of all the domains you have added.

There are various other tools in Linkchecker Pro that you can use. We suggest you check them as necessary to grasp the full thing.

Google Search Console

Website: https://search.google.com/search-console/welcome

Cost: Free

Google Search Console obviously has the highest number of crawlers online. So, you can rest assured that the information you find here is up-to-date and accurate.

Here is how to use it to check backlinks-

Go to Google Search Console and sign up with your domain. Verify your property (website).

Select the property.
Click ‘Links’ from the side.

Select ‘Top Linking Sites.’

These are the websites that link to your domain the most. It doesn’t necessarily mean they have high DA or DR. They just sent you the most backlinks.

Select ‘Top Linking Text.’

You will find a list of the anchor texts others used the most when linking to your site.

It is important since having any specific anchor text used too many times is a red flag by Google’s Anchor Text Guidelines.

If you find one like that, sending emails to the appropriate linking site owners to use different anchor texts may solve the problem.

Select ‘Top Linked Pages’.
Check it for both internal links and external links.

Here, the ‘top linked pages’ with external links on the left are pages that got the highest backlinks.

Meanwhile, the ‘top linked pages’ with internal links on the right are pages that received the highest links from another page in your domain. They are not backlinks, but still necessary.

If you find any toxic links or link spam, then disavow it using Google Search Console. We have already mentioned how earlier.

Unfortunately, you can’t run competitor backlink analysis using Google Search Console. On the good side, the tool is free and suitable for quick backlink checking.

Is Backlink Checking Still Necessary in the Mid-20s?

Given the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) generated results and voice searches, backlink checking has become even more relevant.

You need to ensure that the backlinks you are getting are from sites with high DA since Google is becoming more sensitive about it.

Of course, you also need to focus on on-site SEO, too. On-site SEO is becoming more essential by Google’s standard policies.

However, that doesn’t mean that off-site SEO methods, like backlinks, have gone out of usefulness. Rather, they are more necessary in order to keep up with the race.

Simply getting backlinks doesn’t suffice now. The links must be relevant and of high quality. Moreover, the anchor texts mustn’t be too generic either.

If you want to ensure all these, backlink checking once a week is almost mandatory.

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September 6, 2024by Musfiqur MemoBlog

What Is YouTube Automation? – Increase Your Workflow on YouTube with Ease

Burnout sets in soon while handling a YouTube channel. That’s where YouTube automation saves the day. Use it to plan better and elevate the quality of your content.

It won’t necessarily record your videos for you but can help automate various steps of content creation. It especially works for channels with repetitive type content, such as one that only uploads cat videos.

In this article, we will help you with the automation process of your YouTube journey and create a roadmap to earn a lot without having to do repetitive work. We also suggested some tools.

What Is YouTube Automation?

YouTube automation is the process of automating some tasks of a YouTube channel in order to reduce the burden of the creator.

While it may sound like only the usage of artificial tools, that is not always the case. One may hire video editors, cameramen, designers, and scriptwriters, and it will also be YouTube automation.

However, in most contexts, YouTube automation refers to the tools (often AI) to automate some processes.

YouTube and YouTube Studios already allow you to schedule your videos. The latter also lets you monitor the analytics of your channel.

However, other tasks like editing your videos according to your suggestions, writing a script, or finding new content ideas are only possible with alternative tools or human workers.

AI Tools or Humans – Which Automation Process Is the Best for You?

There has been a debate over AI vs human work for a long time already in almost every sector. In light of the YouTube automation, both work fine.

However, according to experts, it is best to use both to maximize content creation quality. Most will advise leaving the editing and script to human workers while letting AI do the analytics tracking, scheduling, or research information.

Remember that both will cost you a good sum. The overall cost will depend on the number of tools you use or the people you hire.

Things You Can Automate on a YouTube Channel

There are several small to big tasks on a YouTube channel that you may automate using human or AI tools. Let’s list some of them below-

Coming up with Video Ideas: We still think you should do this part yourself instead of automating.
Writing YouTube Scripts: Possible by both humans and AI, but the former generally provides better results.
Editing the Thumbnail or Videos: Thumbnails are one of the most important aspects of your channel. Leaving their editing to a human worker is still the better option. AI isn’t to that level yet.
Dubbing Videos: If you are not ready to speak in your videos, a human or AI dubber can do the trick.
Creating Subtitles: While many often let their fans do this part, you can leave it to AI.
Moderation of Live Videos: You can keep a moderator to handle some tasks during a YouTube Live, such as restricting certain users from commenting, removing some messages, etc.
Analytics Tools: While YouTube Studio itself has this tool, many use auxiliary ones to have a more thorough display of their channel’s analytics.

Scheduling Your Videos: You can do this easily within the YouTube app itself.
Social Media Cross Promotion: You can help advertise your brand throughout different social media platforms using various AI tools.
Researching: Various videos may require ample research and information. Using AI tools for them can save you a good amount of time.

How YouTube Automation Can Improve Content Creation?

YouTube automation has the potential to save you valuable time and energy that you can spend elsewhere. Some other ways it elevates your content creation are as follows-

Keeping consistency in posting content using the automation tools can ensure more audience engagement, value, and trust.
Using AI tools to create subtitles for your videos in many languages will let audiences from various places enjoy your content. It is necessary if you make videos in your native language.
Many automation tools will help you with your brand promotion, advertisement, marketing, etc. Moreover, it can also let you get sponsorships and ads on your videos. All these are easy passive incomes.
While many only use YouTube Studio to analyze their content’s performance, a top-tier tool can show way more. Some even help monitor competitor behaviors and trends to help improve your content.
If you are making videos almost regularly, using some AI tools can be less costly than hiring someone.

Most Useful and Powerful YouTube Automation Tools You Can Use

Not all automation tools have the same features, and you may have to use multiple together. However, their effective usage can save you time and utilize that time for other valuable tasks.

Here are some of the most useful YouTube automation tools we recommend-

invideo AI

invideo AI is an AI tool that helps create videos on any topic, given you provide it with the title and tone for the video. The tool crafts the videos with powerful CTAs and hooks, ensuring a good number of views.

You may be surprised to learn that even channels with millions of subscribers often use invideo for their content. Note that you don’t have to take the edited videos from the tool as themselves.

It is possible to edit the content totally or partially within the tool using simple prompts. There are also stock templates to check out if you aren’t sure about the prompts you should use.

Website: https://invideo.io/make/youtube-video-editor/

Maestra

Maestra has two very practical tools- one is for dubbing, and the other is for subtitles.

If you want to add dubbed voiceovers to your videos at specific timeframes, Maestra’s AI Video Translator can help. It allows you to choose from various AI-generated voices.

You can also sync them perfectly to the specific video timestamp you wish. There are more than 80 languages available for dubbing. The voices sound quite realistic, too.

Meanwhile, if you require subtitles on your videos in various languages, Maestra’s YouTube Transcribe Generator is one of the best tools.

It has more than 130 subtitles. Moreover, you can sync the subtitle to your video using the YouTube Integration feature of the tool.

Websites:

Jasper

Jasper is a good alternative if you don’t plan to hire a human script writer for your videos. Its YouTube Script Writer tool can help generate scripts with hooks and CTAs.

It also can suggest video ideas using the ‘Video Topic Ideas’ based on the topic you have given. Among the various ideas it provides, you may also sort them out using the ‘Video Script Outline.’

Another important feature of Jasper is its ‘Video Script Hook and Introduction.’ Many of us often write a good script only to struggle with a proper hook. Jasper can solve the issue.

The quality of the scripts is surprisingly top-notch, prompting many successful YouTubers to use Jasper for their videos.

Website: https://www.jasper.ai/tools/youtube-script-writer

VidIQ

Many people struggle to keep up with the trends, which is understandable. VidIQ helps YouTubers with information about the latest trends and provides keyword and topic ideas.

All you have to do is answer some questions from VidIQ, and they can help with vivid things. Aside from topics, keywords, and trends, it also can provide descriptions, titles, and tags for your videos.

However, that’s not all. VidIQ can also perform competitor analysis for you and keep track of your monetization stats. Moreover, the tool lets you promote a specific link to all your videos simultaneously.

Perhaps the biggest feature of VidIQ is its research. You don’t have to spend much time surfing the internet for the latest trends and brainstorm ideas. The tool can do all that for you.

Website: https://vidiq.com/

Headliner

If you own a podcast channel, then Headliner will be a valuable automation tool to integrate it with YouTube. It will help turn your podcasts into YouTube videos.

So, how does it work? Based on the topic and discussion in your podcast, Headliner will create a ready-made video for you. You only have to add your podcast RSS feed to the tool.

The elements for the video are either templates from the tool itself or your RSS feed. You can obviously edit any part of the video you want.

Using Headliner to turn your podcasts into YouTube videos will be a great way to earn some extra followers and money. Doing all these manually would be a lengthy process.

Headliner is pretty easy to work with, even for beginners. No wonder the tool has around 2.7 billion active users monthly.

Website: https://www.headliner.app/

PlaceIt

If you want to take the visuals of your YouTube content (video or thumbnail) to the top without hiring anyone, PlaceIt is your best bet.

It is mainly for displaying your brand to the world in a shiny and eye-catching manner.

This tool has an array of templates for different video niches. They come in different forms based on the type of content.

For example, there are templates for gaming streamers, and those also come for specific games. Another example is the attractive visuals for travel vlogs.

Each template is highly customizable- from the fonts to the color gradients.

Website: https://placeit.net/youtube/videos

How to Start with YouTube Automation?

Here are some simple tips to get you set with automating your YouTube channel-

Choose Trendy Automation Tools

Check what popular YouTubers are using. Not all automation tools will be up to the task and will be worth the cost. Know that most successful YouTubers are already using many automation tools.

You can use those same tools, and your goal should be to be as top as possible within your own niche.

Pick Less Competitive Topics

So, plan to find out how to make something unique. For this, you need to find the least-covered topics within your niche. Of course, the title needs to be attractive and have a good hook.

However, avoid clickbaits and go for genuinely attractive hooks and CTA.

Get Only the Required Tools

Determine where you require the tools. You may not need an automation tool everywhere. For example, if you know video editing or thumbnail design, you can do those yourself and save the cost.

Similarly, you can also use YouTube Studio to schedule any post without auxiliary tools. Only use automation to fill the gaps where you have the least skills or don’t feel like doing a task.

For example, you may not want to find people to voiceover every single video. Use a video dubber in that case.

Hire Your Team

Assembling a team is also a form of YouTube automation. Hire skilled individuals who can do various parts of your content creation. It may also help you to keep up your motivation.

Most popular YouTubers hire a video editor or stream moderator for this reason.

Create a Content Calendar

Share a calendar across your team to keep track of your schedule. Have some core topics and divide them into subtopics to distribute throughout your calendar. Google Calendar is a suitable tool for this.

For example, if your channel is about books, your core topics can be book reviews, book suggestions, manga reviews, character analysis, etc.

Meanwhile, the subtopics can be the different series, characters, genres, etc.

During your planning, you can analyze your past video performances and focus more on the specific topics or trends that got high views or got you the most subscribers.

Create, Upload, and Promote

Once the plan and the team are ready, start creating the content per the usual schedule. Afterwards, promote your content across different social media platforms.

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September 5, 2024by Musfiqur MemoBlog

100+ Free UK Directories – Updated List

Suppose you run a supply business and are looking for companies that can purchase goods from you. However, you can’t figure out how to find them within your location. That is where a business directory helps.

Consider a business directory like a phonebook but for businesses. They contain information about every registered company within a region.

So, a UK business directory holds the contacts for the businesses in the United Kingdom. It is a handy tool that you can find as a book, a website or an app.

Learning to use a business directory is crucial for businesses to find suppliers, partners, clients, or customers.

This article will cover the various aspects surrounding UK business directories and recommend many of them.

Brief Introduction to Business Directories

A business directory contains lists of businesses and their contact information, like name, location, phone number, email, etc. The businesses are usually categorized in their types or industries.

Moreover, they are usually sorted alphabetically, especially if it is a real-life book. You can also find them divided into different chapters of the book (or pages on a website), where each includes a specific location.

Online business directories are usually more convenient since you can use search options to find any specific company you want.

Meanwhile, you can also use various filters, like location, time-of-creation, type, etc.

Why You Should Use a UK Business Directory- the Benefits

Instead of trying to search on Google or asking people around, using a business directory will get you to your desired companies or corporations way quickly. Here are some of their benefits-

Easy to Use: It is just like using a phonebook. Whether you are accessing one online or offline, you will find it very easy, even for the first time.
Updated: Since UK business directories are updated routinely, you can expect to find only accurate results. If the company changes its phone number, it must inform the authorities, who later update the directory.
Vast Inclusion: You won’t find any type of business or location excluded in the UK business directories. There are all kinds and sizes of business there.
Suggestions: Suppose you were looking for a specific company in the directory. You can type in the category to learn about all the other similar companies nearby. It makes it highly convenient.

Different Types of UK Business Directories

Currently, there are two types of business directories available. They are a physical directory and an online directory.

Physical UK Business Directory

Physical directories used to be the traditional way of finding businesses in the previous decades. It is convenient if you’re only looking for businesses within specific locations.

You can purchase physical UK business directories in various bookshops, libraries, etc. The entries in them are usually arranged like a glossary.

There is one issue with the physical directories, though. They aren’t updated in real-time when any business changes its contact, rebrands, shuts down or opens.

They only appear on the new copy or version of the directory. So, it is better not to purchase a physical directory but to visit a library to read them.

Online UK Business Directory

Online business directories are the most popular now since everything shifted online. Moreover, they have various advantages over a physical copy. For example-

An online business directory is easier to access from your home rather than having to go anywhere. There is no need to purchase any book. You still may need to subscribe to the website.
They are updated in real-time without much delay so that you can get the latest information quickly, which is often crucial for many businesses.
It lets you use search bars and filters, which makes finding any businesses within a specific type or location easier. You can also check their ratings.
They may offer various other useful features. For example- notifying you of any changes to the business you have previously worked with or bookmarking a list of companies to check them out later.

An online UK directory can come in two ways. They are-

A website
A software or app

Some of them may have both a site and an app version, where both get updated together simultaneously.

How to Use a UK Business Directory?

It is easy to use a UK business directory.

For the Consumers

First, enter the directory site or app.
Use the search bar to search for any specific business. You don’t necessarily have to enter the name. You can also search using its address, contact, or other details.
If it is not a specific business you are looking for but a general type, use the filters. For example, suppose you want a solar panel business for your rooftop. You can select that in the filter by finding that category after a short scrolling.
If you are using a physical business directory, you will need to skim through the table of contents that includes the categories throughout several pages (usually in alphabetical order).
Once you find your desired business in an online directory, you can click on it and access its description, ratings, and reviews. For physical ones, you can find it by reaching the right page.
Compare several businesses by making a list. Then contact the one you finally decide to choose.

For the Business Owners

If you are a business owner who wants to list their business in the directory, that is also possible with some simple steps.

Enter the business directory.
Check for a button that usually says ‘list/add your business’ or ‘join as a business’.
Fill out their form with the appropriate information.
If the site asks for a payment or subscription fee, complete that process.
Afterward, complete your business profile by adding all the necessary info, including videos, product descriptions, etc.
If it is a physical directory, you will need to converse with the authorities. Collect their contact and talk to them regarding the procedures.

Online UK Business Directory- Tips

You can shorten your process of finding a business using a UK business directory by following some tips. For instance-

Use filters. Choose specific locations, types, prices, and ratings. It will pinpoint your desired businesses. Some directories may also have a filter for the company size.
Be careful about typos. You can use the search bar to search for any specific business. However, avoid typing mistakes, or the company may not appear on the list.
Reviews are your best friends in this case. Even small businesses may have excellent reviews due to their service quality. Don’t go for a business unthinkably without knowing the opinions of its previous customers.
Make a list. Don’t stick to a single business. It is better to list several companies within specific types and locations and check each. It will help you find the best among them.

Some online directories will even have a listing feature that you can check back at any time.

Choosing the Right UK Business Directory

You can’t really find all the businesses in a directory, as some may not have registered them yet. For that reason, it is better to check several ones. Also, some offer certain features that others don’t. You can use the following tips when choosing a business directory-

Physical or Online

First, choose whether you want a physical directory or an online one. We’ve already talked about the pros of the latter. Meanwhile, a physical directory has the following advantages-

They usually register small businesses in specific localities, too. So, if you only want to look for services within that area, get a local directory and search.

Online directories may miss many of those local small businesses.

A physical directory can be accessed when the power is out or when you don’t have a running device.

User Friendliness

Not all UK business directories will be as easy to navigate as you wish. So, check many and stick to the ones that are easy to use.

Accuracy

Some business directories update more frequently than others. The way to find out about this is to check the reviews. Going for them will help you get more accurate results.

Cost

Business directories can be free or paid. Usually, the ones with more features and high traffic or DA come at a cost. Moreover, they may require a monthly or yearly subscription.

Do note that the payment is almost always for the owners to list their business and not for the consumers looking for them. It is better to stick to free UK business directories if you are a small-sized company.

If you are a big business owner who needs to collaborate with other businesses or wants clients regularly, going for a paid version will be better for you.

Filters and Features

If some business directories offer more features and filter options, those are usually the better ones to target. Again, it depends on your usage.

Larger business owners looking for other businesses to collaborate may need to pinpoint their search more regularly, requiring more filters.

Meanwhile, if you are using the directory for personal reasons, like home repair, furniture shopping, or catering, you may need a directory with a listing or notification feature.

UK Directory List

We have covered the various aspects of UK directory lists. Next, let’s recommend some top-tier UK business directories to you.

Google My Business

Cost: Free

Website: https://www.google.com/intl/en_uk/business/

Domain Authority: 94

Yell

Cost: Freemium.

Website: https://www.yell.com/

Domain Authority: 72

Yelp UK

Cost: Free.

Website: https://www.yelp.co.uk/

Domain Authority: 71

Bing Places

Cost: Free.

Website: https://www.bingplaces.com/

Domain Authority: 94

TheBestofUK

Cost: Free

Website: https://www.thebestof.co.uk/

Domain Authority: 55

192.com

Cost: Free

Website: https://www.192.com/

Domain Authority: 66

Scoot

Cost: Free

Website: https://www.scoot.co.uk/

Domain Authority: 53

Hotfrog

Cost: Free

Website: https://www.hotfrog.co.uk/

Domain Authority: 48

All in London

Cost: Free

Website: https://www.allinlondon.co.uk/

Domain Authority: 59

Facebook Business

Cost: Free with some paid packages

Website: https://www.facebook.com/

Domain Authority: 96

Europages

Cost: Free

Website: https://www.europages.co.uk/

Domain Authority: 50

LinkedIn Company

Cost: Free

Website: https://business.linkedin.com/marketing-solutions/cx/21/11/linkedin-pages

Domain Authority: 99

Central Index

Cost: Free

Website: https://admin.centralindex.com/add/

Domain Authority: 58

UK Small Business Directory

Cost: Free but has some paid features

Website: https://www.uksmallbusinessdirectory.co.uk/

Domain Authority: 38

Apple Business Connect

Cost: Free

Website: https://businessconnect.apple.com/

Domain Authority: 99

FreeIndex

Cost: Free

Website: https://www.freeindex.co.uk/

Domain Authority: 55

Nextdoor

Cost: Free

Website: https://nextdoor.co.uk/

Domain Authority: 52

Cylex UK

Cost: Free

Website: https://www.cylex-uk.co.uk/

Domain Authority: 57

Foursquare

Cost: Free

Website: https://business.foursquare.com/

Domain Authority: 93

Pissed Consumer

Cost: Free

Website: https://www.pissedconsumer.com/

Domain Authority: 71

Opendi

Cost: Free

Website: https://www.opendi.co.uk/

Domain Authority: 27

Kompass

Cost: Free

Website: https://gb.kompass.com/

Domain Authority: 68

Thomson Local

Cost: Free

Website: https://www.thomsonlocal.com/

Domain Authority: 49

Cybo

Cost: Free

Website: https://www.cybo.com/

Domain Authority: 55

Opening Times

Cost: Free

Website: https://www.opening-times.co.uk/

Domain Authority: 36

Houzz

Cost: Free

Website: https://www.houzz.co.uk/

Domain Authority: 60

Brownbook

Cost: Free

Website: https://www.brownbook.net/

Domain Authority: 61

Bizify

Cost: Free

Website: https://www.bizify.co.uk/

Domain Authority: 28

MisterWhat

Cost: Free

Website: https://www.misterwhat.co.uk/

Domain Authority: 40

AiLOQ

Cost: Free

Website: https://www.ailoq.com/

Domain Authority: 69

City Visitor

Cost: Free

Website: http://www.cityvisitor.co.uk/

Domain Authority: 38

Business Magnet

Cost: Free

Website: https://www.businessmagnet.co.uk/

Domain Authority: 37

Kapitol-Infobel

Cost: Free

Website: https://www.infobel.com/en/uk/

Domain Authority: 59

Storeboard

Cost: Free

Website: https://www.storeboard.com/

Domain Authority: 63

LocalLife

Cost: Free

Website: https://www.locallife.co.uk/

Domain Authority: 66

My Local Services

Cost: Free

Website: https://www.mylocalservices.co.uk/

Domain Authority: 38

Lacartes

Cost: Free

Website: https://www.lacartes.com/

Domain Authority: 59

Smart Business Directory

Cost: Free

Website: https://www.smartbusinessdirectory.co.uk/

Domain Authority: 71

TouchLocal

Cost: Free

Website: https://www.touchlocal.com/

Domain Authority: 47

ShowMeLocal

Cost: Free

Website: https://uk.showmelocal.com/

Domain Authority: 52

iBegin

Cost: Free

Website: https://www.ibegin.com/

Domain Authority: 50

WhoDoYou

Cost: Free

Website: https://www.whodoyou.com/

Domain Authority: 46

Bizwiki

Cost: Free

Website: https://www.bizwiki.co.uk/

Domain Authority: 34

FindTheNeedle

Cost: Free

Website: https://www.findtheneedle.co.uk/clients/

Domain Authority: 44

Approved Businesses

Cost: Free with standard and premium versions available

Website: https://www.approvedbusiness.co.uk/

Domain Authority: 54

The Evening Standards

Cost: Free

Website: https://local.standard.co.uk/

Domain Authority: 93

The Mirror

Cost: Free

Website: https://directory.mirror.co.uk/

Domain Authority: 94

iGlobal

Cost: $25 per year.

Website: https://www.iglobal.co/

Domain Authority: 48

UKListing.org

Cost: Free

Website: https://www.uklistings.org/

Domain Authority: 25

Dentons

Cost: Free with £99 for the enhanced version and £249 for the premium version

Website: https://dentons.net/

Domain Authority: 31

WalesOnline

Cost: Free

Website: https://directory.walesonline.co.uk/

Domain Authority: 90

Just Landed

Cost: Free

Website: https://www.justlanded.com/

Domain Authority: 77

DesignerListings.org

Cost: Free

Website: https://www.designerlistings.org/

Domain Authority: 20

Bark

Cost: Free with paid options

Website: https://www.bark.com/

Domain Authority: 70

Fyple

Cost: Free

Website: https://www.fyple.co.uk/

Domain Authority: 33

here.com

Cost: Free with paid options

Website: https://www.here.com/

Domain Authority: 86

N49

Cost: Free

Website: https://www.n49.com/

Domain Authority: 48

TomTom

Cost: Free with paid subscription option (for all users)

Website: https://www.tomtom.com/

Domain Authority: 79

Tupalo

Cost: Free with a premium option (verification fee)

Website: https://tupalo.com/

Domain Authority: 57

2FindLocal

Cost: Free

Website: https://www.2findlocal.com/en

Domain Authority: 46

Tipped.co.uk

Cost: Free with a paid listing option for quick listing

Website: https://www.tipped.co.uk/

Domain Authority: 36

Near.co.uk

Cost: Free with a paid listing option for quick listing

Website: http://near.co.uk/

Domain Authority: 33

TripAdvisor

Cost: Free

Website: https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/

Domain Authority: 88

Local Pages

Cost: Free with the Enhanced option (£20) and the Premium option (£40) monthly subscriptions.

Website: https://www.localpages.co.uk/

Domain Authority: 20

Just Eat

Cost: Free

Website: https://www.just-eat.co.uk/

Domain Authority: 76

HomeAdvisor

Cost: Free

Website: https://www.homeadvisor.com/

Domain Authority: 80

Paint Talk

Cost: Free

Website: https://www.painttalk.com/

Domain Authority: 38

B2B Directory

Cost: The free listing requires sending a backlink and takes up to 6 months. The Standard Plus+ option requires £19.99 yearly with seven days for listing, and the Featured Listing requires £34.99 yearly.

Website: https://www.b2b-directory-uk.co.uk/

Domain Authority: 20

Task Rabbit

Cost: Free with hourly rate for the taskers

Website: https://www.taskrabbit.co.uk/

Domain Authority: 49

Dentists in UK

Cost: Free

Website: https://www.dentistsinuk.co.uk/

Domain Authority: 26

Removal Reviews

Cost: Free

Website: https://www.removalreviews.co.uk/

Domain Authority: 36

Smooth Hound

Cost: Yearly subscription-based (£50 saved for the first year)

Website: https://www.smoothhound.co.uk/

Domain Authority: 49

OpenTable

Cost: Free

Website: https://www.opentable.com/

Domain Authority: 84

The Tradefinder

Cost: Free

Website: https://www.thetradefinder.co.uk/

Domain Authority: 25

Find a therapy.org

Cost: Limited time free listing. Payment is necessary for a permanent listing.

Website: https://www.findatherapy.org/

Domain Authority: 29

InUKLocal

Cost: Free

Website: https://www.inuklocal.co.uk/

Domain Authority: 26

ThreeBestRated

Cost: Free

Website: https://threebestrated.co.uk/

Domain Authority: 79

Health Staff Discounts

Cost: Free

Website: https://www.healthstaffdiscounts.co.uk/

Domain Authority: 77

Eat In Eat Out

Cost: Free with paid options

Website: https://www.eat-in-eat-out.co.uk/

Domain Authority: 10

netmums

Cost: Free

Website: https://www.netmums.com/local

Domain Authority: 78

Plymouth Herald

Cost: Free

Website: https://directory.plymouthherald.co.uk/

Domain Authority: 74

GetSurrey

Cost: Free

Website: https://directory.getsurrey.co.uk/

Domain Authority: 73

Home and Garden Listing

Cost: Free

Website: https://www.homeandgardenlistings.co.uk/

Domain Authority: 64

Recommended Company

Cost: £14.95 GBP (One-time payment)

Website: https://www.recommendedcompany.co.uk/

Domain Authority: 54

Manchester Evening News

Cost: Free

Website: https://directory.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/

Domain Authority: 83

British Forces Discount

Cost: Free

Website: https://britishforcesdiscounts.co.uk/

Domain Authority: 73

Crunchbase

Cost: Free with paid options

Website: https://www.crunchbase.com/

Domain Authority: 90

dn.org

Cost: Free

Website: https://dn.org/

Domain Authority: 73

Clutch

Cost: Free

Website: https://clutch.co/

Domain Authority: 88

AbiLogic

Cost: Free

Website: https://www.abilogic.com/

Domain Authority: 65

Indie Retail

Cost: Free

Website: https://www.indieretail.uk/

Domain Authority: 34

121 Near Me

Cost: Free

Website: https://www.121nearme.co.uk/

Domain Authority: 55

AboutMyArea

Cost: Free

Website: https://www.aboutmyarea.co.uk/

Domain Authority: 68

Yellow Place

Cost: Free

Website: https://yellow.place/en/nearby

Domain Authority: 71

intently.co

Cost: Paid

Website: https://intently.co/

Domain Authority: 56

Locanto services

Cost: Free

Website: https://www.locanto.co.uk/g/Services/S/

Domain Authority: 53

ListedIn

Cost: Free

Website: https://www.listedin.co.uk/

Domain Authority: 33

Bunity

Cost: Free

Website: https://www.bunity.com/

Domain Authority: 47

ZipZapt

Cost: Free

Website: https://zipzapt.com/

Domain Authority: 48

First Directory

Cost: Free

Website: https://1stdirectory.co.uk/

Domain Authority: 44

County Council Directory

Cost: Free

Website: Find your specific county council directory on https://www.gov.uk/find-local-council

County Council Directory

Cost: Free

Website: Find your specific county council directory on https://www.gov.uk/find-local-council

Almost all counties will have a council business directory where people can go and list their businesses or find one. Most registered companies are often available here. However, you may not always find reviews there, making it slightly difficult to know which ones are the best.

However, they are definitely worth a check, especially because those are the actual official directories.

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July 6, 2024by Musfiqur MemoBlog

How to Use Influencer Outreach for Link Building

While influencer outreach sounds similar to guest post outreach, their strategies are not interchangeable. Besides the email structure, there are many unique parts of blogger outreach.

Influencer outreach surprisingly works well among various link-building methods that dropped in effectiveness. Doing it right boosts SEO even for newly created sites.

If you are building links for your website, you are probably trying many methods from the books. It should be apparent to you by now that link-building isn’t an easy task.

You are probably also thinking about guest blogging. In that case, influencer outreach should be another trick for you to try. The process is somewhat similar, except the results are different.

Today, we have explained an effective strategy for blogger outreach. Trust us; it is way less complex than you may think. The hardest part is to make your outreach email perfect.

Things You Should Know Before Influencer Outreach

When we said that influencer outreach helps new sites, too, it wasn’t just a simple statement. In fact, the process may help newer sites more than older ones. The reason lies in how it works.

Influencer outreach refers to contacting influencers within your niche so that they send backlinks to and share your content (and you help them, too, in different ways).

It is different from linkable asset building in one huge aspect. Linkable asset building involves making backlink-worthy content first before reaching out to sites for backlinks.

Meanwhile, for blogger outreach, you should contact the influencers before writing anything.

People usually will only collaborate with you, send backlinks, or share your posts if they feel like a part of it. What does that mean, you wonder?

While the blogger in question may be within your niche, they will still want to-

Discuss the content’s topic or title before it is even created (It involves them giving ideas or collaborating throughout the whole thing).
Give constructive criticisms or feedback on the ideas you may have come up with.
Contribute to the making of the content.

If you already have blogs posted on your website, that is fine. However, if you suggest one of them to an influencer, the bloggers may-

Not be interested or like the topic
Not view things the way you do or not agree with your points
Feel limited towards your perspective and not be able to give much opinion

When a blogger shares a post from someone else, their audience sees it as the blogger’s own opinion or statement. So, it is a very serious matter for them, and they don’t want to mess it up.

So, instead of convincing them to link to any existing content you own, try to convince them to collaborate with you in making one.

Newer sites have it easier since the owners can create something from scratch that the influencer will like. It is still possible for older sites with existing content to engage in blogger outreach, though.

Influencer Outreach- The Steps

Okay, now that we have covered the important topic, let’s discuss the steps you will take during an influencer outreach. This will give you a rough idea of the whole process.

The steps are as follows-

Finding the right influencer within your niche and industry (prospecting)
Sending them a personalized email (outreach)
Following up

By the way, this is only the outreach part. The main process of writing the content, publishing it, etc., comes later.

Prospecting a List of Influencers or Bloggers for the Outreach

You can’t just choose anyone to work with; you need to find people who match certain criteria. Moreover, there are various ways to do it.

We also said in our link-prospecting strategy blog that you need to make a spreadsheet before prospecting to help you have a list. Make one in this case, too.

Afterward, start searching for potential influencers. The factors you must seek in them are-

They must be within your niche or industry
Their site or video must have a nice user interface
They must routinely update their site’s blog or upload up-to-date videos on their channel.
They should have enough audience or subscribers.

The last one isn’t as mandatory if all the previous ones check out. So, how can you find bloggers with the specifics we mentioned?

Simply make a Google search with your niche. So, if you are into the SEO industry, search with SEO or something similar. Check each site you see on the first 3-4 pages.

Also, another search on YouTube will be ideal, where you can check the videos that come on top.

Check their site or YouTube channel. If they meet all your criteria, add their name, site or channel URL, and email to your spreadsheet. Site owners often don’t reveal their email online.

In that case, you can try tools like Hunter. Type in the site’s URL and search, and the tool will display the emails connected to the domain.

Now, there is another important factor you must remember. While you should aim higher, it mustn’t be too high that your emails get ignored.

So, filter out big-profile corporations and go for only personal and lone bloggers or YouTubers. Of course, not every solo influencer will be easy to contact, either.

However, they will certainly be easier to convince than a big corporation. In most cases, if you try to reach a company for this, they will most likely not even check your email amidst all their spam mail.

However, in most cases, you won’t find big-name bloggers simply from your Google search. The search result often won’t tell the name of the author. So, checking each site is mandatory here.

When checking, you may see websites where a solo blogger has authored most (or all) of the blogs. Those are the best for you.

Solo influencers are easier to find on YouTube since you mostly come across them anyway.

You can also try another option to find these bloggers. Let’s discuss that in our next section.

Using the “Best Blog” in Your Search Query

When searching for the best bloggers, you can use ‘Best Blog’ or ‘Best Blogger’ in the search query. Trust us, it works wonders!

In most cases, you will find several blogs with suggestions about the best solo bloggers in the niche, including the best blogs you need to read. It will save you a lot of trouble from manual searching.

When searching, you can add the year, like ‘best (niche) bloggers in (year).’ This will allow you to find more up-to-date and popular bloggers.

You can also use Google search operators like Quotation Marks to pinpoint your results.

Using the Ahrefs Technique

Influencers within the same niche often collaborate between themselves. So, finding one of them can lead you to others of the same kind. Ahrefs can help you with this.

The process is simple-

Go to Ahrefs and type in the influencer’s site in the bar.
Check its backlink profile.
Use the filter section to set ‘one link per domain.’
Click on the ‘link type’ in the filter section and select ‘dofollow.’

Check out the list of sites that sent backlinks to the influencer with the dofollow command. Many of these can be worthy bloggers themselves, too. So, check each site one by one.

If there are too many results, check only the first 20 or so. Remember that you will probably do the same thing for all the other influencers you previously added to your spreadsheet.

Add any new blogger you find in this way to your spreadsheet.

As you can see, the process can be time-consuming and tiring. Of course, if you have SEO experts working for you, they may ask for a high fee.

The following video also talks about ways to find potential websites and influencers to reach out to, which you can try-

Pre-Outreach

You can perform some steps even before you start the official outreach, known as pre-outreach. The goal here is to make the targeted bloggers aware of your existence.

You can do it by commenting on their blog post, sharing their content, or talking in their site’s forum or threads. This video did a good job explaining pre-outreach, alongside some extra tips-

Reaching Out to the Influencers

What makes a perfect outreach email? Many SEO enthusiasts are still looking for the answer to that question. Instead, let’s focus on a suitable template before moving on to the case studies regarding this topic.

Unlike a guest blog outreach email, where you request them to accept your idea, a blogger outreach email will include you to persuade them to join your project in any way.

Obviously, they don’t have to create any part of the content for you (nobody will actually do that for free), but they can give you ideas in the reply email.

So, the email should include the following-

Subject and Introduction

Subject: Quick question about (topic or idea)Or,Seeking feedback on (topic or idea)Greetings, (Name) A one-liner introduction includes your name, profession, and website or company name. For example-I am Mushfiq, an SEO expert and the founder of RankPa.

Your Idea, Topic, or Project

Include one line mentioning that you are up to the topic or idea you came up with. So, it can be like-

I am planning to create/put up (the idea ), and I wanted your perspective on a certain question.

Your Question or Confusion

Ask your question or request afterward. It can be like-

The question is- (question) .Or,I would love to hear your opinion on different methods of finding bloggers for collaboration.

What You Want from Them

Your following line can be an acknowledgment of their busy schedule while adding that a short reply is okay. Add another line about what you expect from them.

Make sure to keep it formal and request-like.

I know your schedule is mostly full, so a short reply is more than okay (How about 100 words?).I would be delighted if you added stats, analytics, examples, pictures, etc., in your answer, but consider it only if you wish to.

Now, here is something. You may instead want to hear their review after you post the content. After all, that is also another way of joining the project. In that case, you can write-

I hope you will be kind enough to give your feedback on the matter once the content is live. How about I send you a link to my post?I know your schedule is mostly full. Hence, a short review would be more than okay.

The Closing Part

Add a line about how their suggestion will greatly help your current and future projects. Next, mention what you will do for them (sending backlinks and shoutouts).

Your suggestions would greatly help me remove my confusion on the matter (Or- enrich my knowledge on the topic).There will obviously be a link to your site and Twitter/LinkedIn profile in the content.Thanks for checking my email.(Your name)

P.S. Line

If other big-name bloggers have already contacted you, use that opportunity to mention it in your email. Most bloggers will be more interested if they find other popular bloggers joining.

The line can be like-

P.S. Also, I’ve previously received responses from (names). I hope you’ll join in, too.

After the Post Is Live

Remember to send another email after the post is live. It is all the more important if the blogger replies to your initial email. In this email, you must send them a link to your post.

The mail can be like the following-

Subject: It’s complete! (Or, We are live/ The content is published)Hey, (name).Let me inform you that our (topic/idea) post is out!

In the next section, include that you would want them to share your post with their audience in a polite and request-like manner. It should be something like-

I wholeheartedly appreciate your contribution to the making of this content. It means a lot! Perchance this content may provide any value to your site or audience in your opinion, we would love for you to share it.If you believe the post will help your audience learn something new, it would be great news for us if you talk about it in your blog.Afterward, mention your willingness to work with them in the future.If you want me to write something for you, feel free to let me know.Or,I would love to have your guidance/aid again in the future.Thanks again!

Blogger Outreach Email for Existing Content

Okay, we have discussed the outreach email when you haven’t created the content in question yet. However, what if you already did and want them to share or mention it in their blogs?

In this case, the email should be different. For example-

Subject and Introduction

Subject: Sharing My New Content on (Title/Topic)

Then, add the introduction like before.

Main Body

Unlike before, you will now want to get their attention on your existing content and request feedback. Later, you may edit your post slightly based on their feedback. It will make them feel involved.

When I was composing a (blog/feature/guide/infographics) about (topic) and looking for more information, I came across a very informative article by you. (URL)It was a good read!Your content helped me see some points from a new perspective. Since you also love to talk and write about (topic), I thought you might also like my .Let me know if you are considering checking out my piece.Thanks again for your wonderful article,(Your name)

Notice how it includes that their article helped you get some new perspectives?

It is an effective method for making them feel like they also contributed to your content (without actually directly doing so). Also, don’t ask for any feedback on this initial email.

P.S. Line

Again, if you have had any help from other bloggers during the creation of the content or received their feedback after it’s live, mention that in the P.S. line.

After They Reply ‘Yes’

Let’s say they replied positively. Congratulations! On to the next email-

Subject: Awesome!Thank you for showing interest.Here is the link to my : URLNow is high time you ask for their feedback or request them to share your post on their site.A short feedback from you would be appreciated. Also, let me know if you find it suitable to share on your site.Next, show your willingness to modify your content or add some extra words to their post as necessary to make it work for both.For a Blog: I’d love to add extra words to your piece (URL) related to my post since their topics are connected.For an Infographic: I’d love to add a small blog post to the content to describe everything in the infographics for both of our audiences.Have a great day.(Your name)

Remember that the small guest post implies only a piece with around 200-500 words suitable for the infographics. The same goes for the extra words you would add to their blog.

Now, note that the exemplary emails we’ve given so far should only be taken as a generic example. We highly recommend against copy-pasting them.

Using the same email everywhere isn’t the right strategy. Also, creating bespoke emails yourself is always better than copy-pasting online templates.

While you may have so many bloggers to contact, using the same generic email template for everyone will mostly result in your email being ignored or even deleted. What’s the solution?

The following Ahrefs video by Sam Oh mentions some ways you can deal with this issue-

Following Up

A follow-up is only viable after at least a 3-5 day delay from your initial mail without any reply from the blogger.

Busy individuals often see your email and decide to check it later by adding it to their schedule. Other times, they may forget about it or not even check their email (the latter being the majority).

Don’t expect a quick reply here. If it is more than three days after your initial email, they probably didn’t check their mail at all. In that case, you can try resending your previous mail.

However, if you feel there is a chance they did check your email but forgot to reply, you can alter your first email a bit. Make it more like a ‘checking in.’

Tools You Can Use for Influencer Outreach

There are tools like MailShake or Ninja Outreach, especially for link-building outreach. Make no mistake; they won’t create bespoke emails or pitches based on your target site or blogger.

Instead, they will help you with some features. For example, you can schedule your follow-up using MailShake beforehand, which will automatically be sent to them.

It will also inform you when someone opens or responds to your email. You can reply to the blogger on the platform itself. The issue is that this tool is mainly for sending mass cold emails.

Cold emails aren’t always the best for your outreach campaign. So, at least, make the template yourself based on your niche or industry.

Meanwhile, Ninja Outreach is an even more expensive tool with advanced features and many automation systems.

Using tools can become necessary, considering how many people you may need to reach.

When to Start Writing Your Piece

You probably noticed that the time it takes from the initial mailing to the follow-up, and afterward, can take around a week. The thing is, some people only check their email weekly.

Others do it once a couple of weeks. As such, running the whole outreach process for each article for around two weeks before you start writing your blog is best.

Of course, this is only viable if you don’t already have your content live.

An Interesting Case Study about the Timing of Outreach

When looking for information, we found exciting information about outreach timing. The timing of your email doesn’t matter in most cases since different bloggers live in different time zones.

However, there can still be particular times for specific niches where the bloggers are more active. According to Moz Statistics, most sports bloggers respond to emails in the late evening.

While you may not find the exact data for your own niche, getting replies from bloggers within your industry multiple times may give you a rough idea.

You can later use that info on your future outreach projects.

Keeping a Balance

Note that you may often have to add around 100-200 potential sites to your spreadsheet for the outreach. More than half of them won’t even check your email, which still leaves a lot.

A blog’s standard number of backlinks is not a definitive number. It depends on your content’s niche, topic, and type. Too many links can make Google suspect it’s spam.

The following video shows how you can find the correct number of internal and external links for a blog post on your site-

Should you ask for a backlink from all your hundreds of bloggers? Not really.

In the email (after the post is live) template we added above, there was a section where you requested they share your blog. Here, you can remove that part and ask for their feedback instead.

The same goes for outbound links. Add only about 5 outbound links per 1000 words. So, what about the promise to all the bloggers about adding their site’s link to your post?

Well, you can certainly do that to around 50 bloggers (the best ones) on your list. For the rest, tell them that you would be happy to credit them for their contribution in the credit section.

Refrain from sending cold emails. Bloggers online are already often skeptical about guest blogging requests they receive all the time. Many are spamming it for building links, after all.

So, keep your email heartfelt, bespoke, and personalized as possible.

The Moz Statistics we mentioned before also discussed how bespoke outreach works better than personalized ones. Sadly, the former is more costly, effort-consuming, and time-consuming.

Image Credit: Moz

Use whichever works best for you at the time.

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July 4, 2024by Musfiqur MemoBlog

Does Short URLs Affect SEO?

It may surprise you that shorter URLs don’t really rank your pages higher than longer ones.

However, there are cases when it may come into play that aren’t related to ranking.

There is a common belief that a shorter URL makes your site’s address clearer, which makes Google’s crawler easier to analyze. People also believe that it makes a page rank higher.

A recent video on the Ask Googlebot YouTube series has debunked this myth.

John Mueller, Google’s Webmaster Trends Analyst, discussed this topic in it.

In this article, we will talk about the length of URLs and their possible effects on SEO. We also included some of the best link shorteners.

What Does John Mueller Have to Say About URL’s Lengths?

In the recent video of Ask Googlebot, the following question was asked-

“Do shorter URLs actually make an impact compared to long URLs, or is this just another SEO myth?”

John Mueller answered this question and clarified that a URL’s length does not affect SEO. However, he also said that a shorter URL may help in certain aspects, albeit not ranking.

His response was this-

“The direct answer is no. The URL length doesn’t matter. We use URLs as identifiers; it doesn’t matter how long they are. Personally, I try to keep them shorter than 1,000 characters, but that’s just to make monitoring easier. The number of slashes in there also doesn’t matter.”

As you can see, he mentioned his personal preference for the URL to be less than 1,000 characters. He goes on to explain that it helps him monitor and track the information easily.

Note that he also said something similar back in 2019, recommending a URL character count to be within 1,000 characters.

Does that mean that short URLs have no advantages? No, your efforts to shorten your links weren’t wasted exactly, as there are indeed some benefits.

Let’s talk about this in the next section.

Short URL and Its Relation with Google’s Canonicalization

Suppose your website has multiple pages with the same content and similar URLs. So, when Google needs to choose one of them to show in the search result, how do they choose?

That’s right! They go for the page with the shorter URL. It is called canonicalization. Note that the URL’s length isn’t the only factor that goes into canonicalization.

It is best to use the canonical tag when you want a specific content to be picked by Google among various duplicate ones. Just use the rel=“canonical” attribute on the canonical pages.

John Mueller also talked about this in his answer in good detail. Let’s see what he had to say-

“I’m currently only aware of one part of our systems where the URL length plays a role- that part is canonicalization.

Canonicalization is what happens when we find multiple copies of a page on your website, and we have to pick one URL to use for indexing.

If we find a shorter and clearer URL, our systems tend to select that one.”

According to him, it is not just a short URL but also a clearer one.

So, any link address where the URL doesn’t contain many slashes may help any particular page to get chosen among similar ones within the same domain (canonicalization).

However, similar to the length, the clarity or structure of the URL also does not affect SEO, which is related to another myth. Many believe that the number of slashes affects SEO negatively.

According to them, a flat URL does better in SEO than one with hyphens or slashes. However, it doesn’t, which gets clearer by the rest of Mueller’s answer-

“This does not affect ranking. It’s purely a matter of which URL is shown in search. So, to sum up, when it comes to search rankings, neither the URL length nor the number of slashes matter. Use a URL structure that works for you and which you can keep for the long run.”

Mueller advises people to work with a link structure that is beneficial to the site owner. Yes, you don’t have to change a URL like-

WebsiteName.com/articles/blog-titles

To-

WebsiteName.com/blog-title

Only do it if the latter helps you track your pages better.

In the next section, we will explain the other areas outside SEO where a short link may help you.

Possible Benefits of Short and Clear URLs

Most pros of shorter and clearer URLs are about easier handling and managing. It is also visually more appealing in many cases. Without further ado, let us explain some such benefits-

User Preference

A shorter or flat URL usually attracts more users, according to Google’s Matt Cutts 2010 video. He compared two URLs; one had its keyword in the pathname and another in the filename.

He said they don’t make any difference in the SEO ranking per se, but one of their structures may appear more appealing to users.

According to him, a URL with hyphens instead of slashes seems spammy to the audience. By the way, the two URLs he used were –

/tools/wood/drills.html (keyword in the pathname)
/tools-wood-drills.html (hyphenated keyword in the filename)

His exact words were –

“As far as search engine ranking, I’m not sure that there’s really that much difference between the two.

But you might want to be a little careful because of the user experience of having a really long filename that’s just stuffed with hyphens. People might not like it if they see dash, dash, dash, dash, dash, dash, and so they might not click on it.”

Cutts reminded everyone of a very important factor: your content attracting more visitors is more important than ranking at the top.

After all, sites usually want to rank higher to gain more visitors in the first place. With a more appealing URL structure, a page may get more visits even after ranking lower than some rivals.

In cases like this, shorter or clearer URLs may help your traffic lead directly, even without pushing your site’s ranking higher.

Easier to Send a Backlink to

When linking to a website, there may be instances where one has to type in the URL manually. While copying it directly from the targeted page is easier, it may not always be viable.

In those cases, a shorter or clearer URL comes in handy. It will prevent typos and other errors while making the process faster.

Easier to Understand the Context

Check these two links in the image below-

In the first one, you can easily guess that the link is about the challenges one may face during the link-building process. The audience can learn the context of the page even before entering it.

Meanwhile, the second URL doesn’t explain any of that despite containing a blog. As such, visitors may not understand what it is about until after entering.

Additionally, having a clear URL that includes the keyword in a short and surmised way is better than having a long string of words by adding the whole title to the URL.

Let us remind you that it is all about user impact and not SEO ranking.

What Is a Link Shortener?

A link shortener is a handy tool people use to shorten and customize their links. Natural URLs often don’t include brand keywords or context in the content.

However, you can add any branding you prefer to the URL using a link shortener. Many of them can reduce the length of a URL to as low as 10 characters.

You can find various link shorteners online, some free and others paid. Some of them are better than others because of their speed, features, and accuracy.

What Is a 301 Affiliate Link?

A 301 affiliate link is one where a 301 redirect is implemented. This redirect leads the visitors to a new permanent location.

If the site owner moves a page or a domain to a new location, they use the 301 redirect to lead the visitors to the new place, even when someone clicks on the old URL.

The process transfers the link juice to the redirected page. However, if the movement is temporary, one can use the 302 redirect, which doesn’t pass any link equity.

How to Implement 301 Redirect

Implementing 301 redirect can be pretty simple if your site runs on the Apache web server. You will simply need to edit your .htaccess file.

Check your site’s root folder and locate the .htaccess file. If there are none, create one using Notepad for Windows or TextEdit for Mac (remove the .txt at the end when creating it).

There are many other ways to do it, of course.

Redirecting an Old Page to a New One

Simply insert the following code in your .htaccess file-

1 Redirect 301 /old-page.html /new-page.html

If you are using WordPress, use the redirection plugin instead.

Redirecting an Old Domain to a New One

Use the following code in your .htaccess file instead-

1 RewriteEngine on

2 RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^oldsite.com

3 RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^www.oldsite.com

4 RewriteRule ^(.*)$ https://newsite.com/\

Changing domain from non-www to www-

1 RewriteEngine on

2 RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^example.com

3 RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://www.example.com/\

Changing domain from www to non-www-

1 RewriteEngine on

2 RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^www.example.com

3 RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://example.com/\

Don’t copy-paste the ‘RewriteEngine on’ if it is already in the .htaccess file, and use the rest of the code.

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July 3, 2024by Musfiqur MemoBlog

How to Avoid Link Rot: Causes and Prevention

Suppose you found an interesting hyperlink when reading the content on a page. You click on it, only to be disappointed with a ‘file not found’ text. This phenomenon is called link rot.

Link rot is one of the major ways a page can ruin the audience’s user experience. Nobody wants to see a dead end upon clicking on a link text.

Moreover, link rot also deals critical damage to the site’s and page’s SEO. Google doesn’t like broken, orphaned, or irrelevant links. So, as a website owner, you should also avoid them.

This article describes the various points surrounding link rots, their causes, and prevention methods.

What Is Link Rot

Link rot is when a hyperlink stops leading to the page or file or opening the pop-up window it was originally supposed to. You will usually see a ‘can’t reach this page’ text.

Other times, you may also see a ‘404 error’ page, indicating that the page that the link is trying to lead no longer exists at that address.

However, in the worst-case scenario, the link may lead to the website’s homepage instead of the specific page it was initially linked to.

As such, users can get confused when they click on the hyperlink. Suppose you find a hyperlink saying ‘Generative AI vs SEO’.

However, when you click on it, it leads to the site’s homepage instead of the page that describes the topic in question. It can cause several issues that we described later in this blog.

What Is a Broken Link?

When a hyperlink has a link rot and fails to redirect the users to the supposed page, that link is known as a broken, dead, or orphaned link. You can’t easily identify a broken link until you click on it.

If your page has such broken links, you should immediately remove or edit them.

Why Is Link Rot a Problem for Your Page’s SEO?

Link rot is very dangerous for the SEO of a page and domain. Here are some common reasons-

Bad User Experience

You probably already know that the one major factor of on-page SEO is the quality of user experience.

Even if you have built your web pages with utmost care and easy navigation, a simple link rot can cause disappointed traffic.

It is even more dangerous when the anchor text of the link rot is something engaging or interesting. Readers will be curious to read the source, only to be disappointed.

It may increase the page’s bounce rate.
The readers may start to doubt the trustworthiness of your content.
In the worst-case scenario, you may lose some members who logged in or subscribed to your site.

Google Crawlers Dislike Broken Links

Google crawlers check every link on your content and page to determine its quality. Links to relevant and authoritative sites usually boost a page’s ranking.

Meanwhile, a broken link can negatively affect SEO. Broken links are widely found in outdated websites, and some neglected sites also often contain an abundance of them.

So, when Google finds multiple broken links on a page, it may deem it untrustworthy or outdated, which can lead to a lower rank on the SERP.

On the one hand, you lose a potential SEO boost for a link, and on the other hand, you risk your page ranking lower due to the broken link.

Competitors Taking Advantages of Broken Backlinks

Suppose a backlink to one of your pages isn’t working. That means that the link on the linking site is broken.

If that website has a high domain authority (DA), your competitors will want to take advantage of it.

Also known as Link Fix, your competitors will likely create high-quality content to replace the broken link with a backlink to theirs. It is also easy to persuade the site owner to send them the backlink here.

Causes of Link Rot

Link rot can happen for various reasons. Some of them are-

The targeted page by the link has been removed or moved, but the hyperlink wasn’t updated
The website owner has updated the URL of the targeted page
The domain of the targeted page has expired without renewal
The link URL was typed incorrectly during the creation of the hyperlink

Sadly, these events are happening way too often online, causing broken links to happen so much. As such, big chunks of information are disappearing permanently from the web.

The Three Types of Link Rot Cases

There are three types of broken links that may cause link rot and harm your page’s SEO or user experience. Let’s go over them one by one-

1. External Broken Link

Perhaps the most common broken links are external links, as you are unable to notice them immediately.

You often need to link to other websites to enrich your content with value. An external broken link occurs when an external hyperlink on your page does not lead to its targeted page.

These link rots can cause a bad user experience because the audience can’t access the sources or further resources you are referencing.

2. Internal Broken Link

An internal broken link is similar to an external one, except that the link here is supposed to redirect to a page on the same site.

It is basically when an internal link in a page doesn’t work. Luckily, it is easy to deal with these links. Before removing or moving a page, you can simply edit all the links that used to lead to it.

3. Backlink Rot

A backlink is a link from another website to a page on your site. When one of these backlinks doesn’t work, it is called a broken backlink. These link rots cause you to lose potential link juice.

As such, before you remove or move a page or update its URL, carefully check whether and which sites are linking to it. If many authoritative sites are sending backlinks, it is ideal not to remove that page.

How to Prevent Link Rot on Your Site

Website owners and experts use various methods to prevent link rots from harming their sites’ quality and SEO. We have discussed some of them below so you can utilize them.

Ensure the URLs Are Correct

When creating hyperlinks to interlink your pages, ensure the link URL is typed correctly. You can check by clicking on the hyperlink and seeing if it works.

Another way to prevent inaccurate URLs is to copy the link address of the targeted page and paste it directly into the right place instead of typing it manually.

Keep a Consistent URL

If your link URLs are consistent, you will likely make fewer typos when typing them on the hyperlink. Aside from that, consistent URLs are also better for your SEO.

It makes it easier for Google crawlers to assess the links.

Using the 301 Redirect

When moving the content from an address, you can use the 301 redirect to lead people to the new address.

So, now, when someone clicks on the hyperlink that would have led to the earlier address, it will instead bring the audience to the place where you moved the page’s content.

Every time you move some content in your website to a new URL, use the 301 redirect.

How to Protect Against Link Rot

While prevention is better than cure, it is always best to double-check everything to keep your site safe from link rots.

Using Broken Link Detector Tools

You may use tools online to detect broken links on a domain. Here are some-

Google Search Console

Google’s free search console tool has a crawling feature that excels at finding broken links. Moreover, it is also easy to use. Here’s how-

After opening the tool, you will be able to select the website or page you want to inspect.
Click on ‘Coverage’ from the left side of the screen. If issues with the website or page are present, it will show them to you.

Go to the ‘Error’ section. You can find various crawler errors here, including the ‘404 errors’. These are the broken links.

It is better to fix all the errors and issues shown in this section rather than only the broken links.

Screaming Frog SEO Spider Tool

One of the most common ones people use for this is the ‘Screaming Frog SEO Spider Tool’.

Luckily, you can use the free version of the tool to find broken links on your website. You just need to download it.

You can search for certain URLs within your website or index for the whole site. The tool will work like Google crawlers and run a scan.
Afterward, go to the response codes tab.
Select the ‘client error 404’ on the right side of the screen. It will show you a list of broken links alongside the pages that contain them.

Now that you can identify the link rots, you can replace or edit them.

Manual Checking

As you can guess, manual checking implies checking every hyperlink and other links on each page of your website one by one by clicking on them.

It is better to do so on smaller websites, but it can be time-consuming on larger ones. If you have the latter, you can focus on your most important pages first, including your homepage.

Requesting Users for Feedback and Criticisms

Getting feedback from visitors is a fine way to be aware of any issue with the page, the user experience, or broken links. It will help your site in ways that you probably didn’t think about-

It can help detect issues and errors on the page that are undetected by many tools.
It makes the audience feel engaged and heard.
It allows you to find issues quickly that would take way longer to discover otherwise.

People love to be the first to report any issues. This may encourage them to participate more in the site’s activities and help with organic traffic.

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July 2, 2024by Musfiqur MemoBlog

How to Check My Google Ranking- Top Five Tools

Monitoring the Google ranking of your pages occasionally is nearly mandatory to track your SEO progress. So, how exactly to do it? What tools to use? You will find that out here.

When we start our SEO project, one of the first tasks is setting a realistic goal. If your site is not in the top ten of the SERP, reaching that can be your initial aim, followed by the top three.

Afterward, you must check your site’s ranking as you improve your site’s content, structure, and backlink profile. Luckily, it is not as complex as many think.

This blog assembled some of the top tools to find out the ranking of any keyword. We also explained how to use them alongside their pricing, so kindly stick to the end.

The Unreliability of Simple Google Searches to Check Your Google Ranking

When we think about checking our pages’ Google ranking, one of the very first cost-effective methods that comes to our mind is searching with its keywords on Google.

Each of your pages may contain several keywords that can help it rank in SERP. So, does this method work? Yes and no.

Suppose you searched with the appropriate keywords on Google. Low and Behold! There’s your page within the first ten rankings!

Before you start celebrating, we should break it down that this result is not always as reliable as you think. We can think of two major reasons behind that.

Personalization

Google and many other small and big online platforms utilize a personalization system to show results relevant to your recent activities. Here, the results can be biased and influenced by you.

For example, if your activity makes it seem like you own a cat, you will get results related to felines rather than canines when you search for pets.

Similarly, your constant visit to your own site may make Google recommend it more. Another example will be to find your pages rank higher in your current location but not your targeted one.

You can solve this by using a different account for your searches. This way, your personal activities won’t affect your search results. Sadly, a little influence is still inevitable.

So, turning off Google personalization on your work account is an effective method.

Search Volume

As we mentioned, there can be more than one keyword that is helping your page rank. So, you search with one of them, and your page ranks pretty high.

Now, there can be an issue here. This keyword may not have much search volume. Search volume refers to the number of visitors that enter a keyword query into their search bar.

That means that while ranked high, your site may still not get much search traffic through that keyword.

Here, you will need to check with other keywords to ensure they also aid the page rank.

Searching with Each Keyword Is Also Time-Consuming

It will take several Google searches with different keywords to check the ranking of one of your pages. Imagine doing that for many of your pages, especially if your site is big.

It will take so much time and effort, which is a total waste, given how you can use even some free tools to get better results.

5 Tools to Use to Check Your Google Ranking

Here are five of the best tools to check your Google ranking. Some of them are free, and others are subscription-based. Some also have both options, with the latter giving better features.

1. Google Search Console

The Google Search Console is one of the most standard tools for various SEO-related tasks. As a tool by Google itself, its results are highly reliable. It is also fairly easy to use.

Some features of Google Search Console include-

Knowing how well a keyword may perform to generate some potential keywords for your next content.
Checking the ranking of your site with various useful details.
Comparing earlier results to find out the fruit of your SEO efforts.
Getting tips from the tool to improve your SEO and ranking.

Here is how you can use it-

Enter Google Search Console
Verify your website or page that you want to check
Select the ‘Performance Report Dashboard’. It will show you data related to your site or page in question.

You can see all the necessary information from here, including Average Position, Click-Through Rate (CTR), Total Clicks, etc.

Price: Free

Link: https://search.google.com/search-console/about

2. Ahrefs

While most use Ahrefs primarily for link-building projects, this powerful tool offers much for your SEO journey. You can track the average position of your site using it as well.

The tool is arguably the most used in the SEO industry by professionals and beginners.

Aside from your ranking, you can also check the keyword metrics to know the keywords that help your site rank. Here is how you can do it-

Go to Ahrefs, sign in, and enter its ‘Organic Keywords’ section.
Search with your website URL.
The tool will show you a list of all your pages with a detailed description of the number of keywords that are helping your pages rank in the top 100 of SERP. It will also show the top keywords.

Use the filters above to show results within specific timeframes, locations, etc.

Next, let’s show you how you can check your site’s Google ranking-

Click on the ‘Rank Tracker Tool’ in the Ahrefs dashboard
Search with URL or add keywords to track.

You can now check the different graphs representing the average positions, traffic, and SERP features on the resulting dashboard. It will also show the top keywords for your site.

graphs representing the average positions

There is a ‘competitor’ function besides the ‘overview’ where you can find your competitors that are ranking with the same keyword as yours.

Price: Standard Plan = $179/month

Link: https://ahrefs.com/rank-tracker

3. SEMRush

If you are managing a small business or something on a small scale, SEMRush will be one of your most handy tools. It has so many premium features and services at a fairly low cost.

When checking your site’s ranking, the tool shows you the top keywords and divides them by their performance.

So, you can see how many keywords are helping your site reach the top 100th position and how many are doing so for the 20th, followed by the 10th and 3rd. It also shows the visibility for each keyword.

Let’s see how to use SEMRush-

Visit SEMRush and select their ‘Position Tracking’ tool.
Search with your site’s URL to track it. Add the specific keywords. You can add up to 10 keywords with the free version.
If necessary, filter the results.
Explore the ranking overview containing the visibility and top keywords.

If you hover your cursor on the SERP feature, it displays the keywords that are working the best.

Price: $120 per month.

Link: https://www.semrush.com/position-tracking/

4. AccuRanker

Accuranker is a free SEO tool with a subscription plan that can clear some restrictions you would face on the free version. This tool is one of the simplest yet most useful tools with a user-friendly interface.

Normally, the tool will limit you to five searches per day on the free plan. You also will have a limit to the number of keywords you can search.

However, the premium version will cost $109 per 1000 keywords monthly.

AccuRanker offers a detailed view of your SERP ranking based on the keyword you chose. We recommend using the filters.

You can also switch between desktop or mobile to see the ranking for each device. Here’s how to use AccuRanker-

Visit the site and go to its SERP Checker section.
Fill the bars with your desired keyword, select the country and location, and search.
You will be required to register to see the result. Note that the site doesn’t accept Gmail accounts, so you need to use a different type of email address.
Afterward, you can check the result. It will include the search result for that keyword, similar to how you can see it on your regular Google searches.

How is it different from a regular Google search? Well, it removes one of the inevitable issues you have with searching a keyword on Google: to have personalized results.

The result you will see on AccuRanker is not personalized and completely accurate.

Price: Free or $109 monthly per 1000 keywords.

Link: https://www.accuranker.com/rank-tracker/

5. SERanker

While SERanker is a paid tool, its low-cost services attract countless SEO experts worldwide. This tool offers the following services-

Rank Tracking
On-page SEO Checking
Backlink Checking
Keyword Distribution and Tips
SERP Competitor Analysis
Website Audit
Project Overview
Content Marketing

If you want to check your site’s ranking using SERanking, follow the instructions-

Visit the tool’s site and select the Rank Tracker tool.
Select a plat, whether the free one or the subscription.
Afterwards, you will need to sign in.
Once you do, the tool will let you enter your site’s URL, let you enter keywords manually, and select locations. They may also add some keywords by themselves.
Afterward, you can check your site’s average position and the number of keywords helping it rank from the ones you manually entered.
You can also recheck your ranking later and compare the results.

This picture only holds the SEO ranking for one day. Hence, it couldn’t show many details.

Price: $18.70 monthly. You will get a 14-day free trial with no card needed.

Link: https://seranking.com/

Tips to Check Keyword Position Correctly

Here are some tips that can help you check your keyword position accurately-

If you are searching on Google for a keyword to know the top pages with it, turn off your personalization first.
Use a separate work account to prevent your personal activities from affecting your search results.
When using an SEO tool to know keyword ranking, use the filters to pinpoint your results.
You will get an average position from all the SEO tools but not the exact location. You will need to select a timeframe to see where your site ranked over a specific period.
When adding keywords manually, add as many as possible since it can give you a better result. It can also give you ideas on which keywords to focus more on.

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July 1, 2024by Musfiqur MemoBlog

Top 5 Extensions For Browsers

Here are the best available extensions that can help you climb SEO rankings.

Ahrefs SEO Toolbar is a free-to-download extension for Chrome and Firefox, used by 200k+ SEO professionals across the world.

Free Features

Concise on-page SEO report:

Ahrefs SEO Toolbar lets you analyze the on-page elements for any page with one simple click.

The “Content” section of the report contains: title and description of the page, published and update dates, and word count.

The “Indexability” section is composed of: canonical URL check, sitemaps, directives for crawlers and Hreflang tags.

The “Social” section shows Open Graph tags and Twitter cards.

The “Images” section covers alternate texts and titles.

Checks redirects and HTTP headers: The Ahrefs SEO Toolbar enables the ability to check HTTP status codes and full redirect chains in a single click, as well as HTTP headers for indexability and crawlability.

Highlights various types of links: The toolbar presents you with the option to highlight external links (including broken links) on a page, making it easier to evaluate link opportunities.

SERP country changer: The toolbar lets you change the location of search engine result pages without a VPN or proxy to see how search results look in different countries.

Paid Features

Checks SEO metrics: With a paid subscription to Ahrefs, the toolbar lets you check crucial SEO metrics of each page or website you visit. The metrics include:

Domain Rating (DR)
URL Rating (UR)
Ahrefs rank (AR)
Numbers of backlinks
Numbers of referring domains
Estimated organic search traffic
Number of keyword rankings

Analyze top-ranking search results: Analyze the competition by instantly checking the aforementioned metrics for top search results.

2. MozBar

Mozbar is one of the leading browser extensions in the SEO industry, which helps improve SEO rankings with multiple free and premium useful features.

Free Features

Custom Searches: The MozBar toolbar lets you create custom searches by country, engine, region, or city to give you the competitive edge with the knowledge of what your region-based audience wants.

Page Analysis: Similar to Ahrefs SEO Toolbar, MozBar also lets you check the metrics like Page Authority(PA) and DA of any website you visit. It can also display on-page elements like titles, meta descriptions, or alt texts.

Authority Scores: MozBar lets you quickly assess ranking probability with PA and DA. This feature lets you know when your content needs more attention.

Data Export: MozBar lets you export your Dashboard, Insights, Rankings, Page Optimizations, Site Crawl, Performance Metrics, Links, Site Traffic, and Custom Reports as PDF and occasionally as CSV.

Paid Features

With a Moz Pro subscription, you can gain access to Mozbar Premium:

Keyword Difficulty score: MozBar Premium lets you view keyword difficulty scores for any search term on any SERP in real time.

Page Optimisation: MozBar Premium scores pages on a scale of 100 for keyword optimization; provides detailed suggestions on how to optimize the target keyword; breaks down the score by fixes needed and positive factors already in place.

3. Semrush SEO Toolkit

The Semrush SEO Toolkit provides multiple instruments in their Dashboard to help you with link building:

Backlink Analytics

Backlink Analytics presents you the ability to examine your own and your competitors’ backlink profiles and compare multiple domains side by side with the help of the Quick Comparison feature.

Backlink Audit

Backlink Audit lets you audit your domain’s profile to take an analytical look at which links positively or negatively affect your rankings with the help of integration with Google Search Console, Google Analytics, and Majestic.

Price

While Semrush allows you to use certain tools for free, the ones mentioned above are locked behind a paywall. Click here to find out how much their subscription-based service costs.

4. Hunter.io

Hunter.io is a powerful SEO tool for streamlining the process of finding and contacting potential link partners. Here are the key link building features that Hunter.io hoists:

Email Finder

The Hunter extension allows you to find the email addresses of people associated with the visited website or domain with one simple click, letting you effortlessly contact fellow site owners and plan mutual features. Building such relationships is a crucial part of link building.

Domain Search

Hunter extension offers a search tool that allows you to find email addresses associated with the domain. This feature is useful for finding contact information for websites relevant to your exact niche.

Bulk Email Management

Hunter.io has a bulk email management feature that allows you to find and verify multiple emails and send personalized emails to multiple contacts at once without wasting your precious time.

Price

The extension is available to download for free on Chrome, Firefox, and Edge; however, some of the features, such as link tracking and prioritized customer service, are locked behind a paywall.

5. Grammarly

While Grammarly is primarily a writing enhancement tool, it is just as important for link-building as the other options here. The quality of your content is directly proportional to the authority of your site. Here are the key features their browser extension offers:

Grammar Check

The Grammarly extension can identify and correct over 150 types of grammar and punctuation errors before your content reaches the reader. A pleasant consumer experience is one of the building blocks for gaining brand recognition.

Plagiarism Detection

Plagiarism can not only invite unwanted lawsuits but also leave you unwanted for potential backlinks. The Premium version of the extension comes with the “Plagiarism Checker” feature.

Price

The extension is free to download on Chrome, but features like “Use Inclusive Language,” “Plagiarism Detection,” and “Adjust Writing Tone” are only available to Premium and Business users.

Conclusion

Browser extensions have become an indispensable tool for SEO professionals looking to streamline their link building efforts. By providing real-time insights and metrics, extensions like Ahrefs SEO Toolbar, MozBar, and SEMrush SEO Toolkit make it easier than ever to analyze competitor backlink profiles and improve the overall quality of your website’s link profile.

Extensions like Hunter.io simplify the outreach process by helping you find and verify email addresses associated with target websites, while Grammarly ensures your outreach emails and content are free of grammar and spelling errors.

Conclusively, leveraging the power of these browser extensions can give you a significant advantage in the competitive world of link building. By providing insights at your fingertips, they enable you to make informed decisions, optimize your link-building strategy, and ultimately drive more organic traffic for your website. So, go ahead; try one out and make your own life easier.

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June 29, 2024by Musfiqur MemoBlog

How to Hire Freelance Link Builders (And Avoid Poor Links)

Let’s be real: Having an in-house team for link building is always better than freelanced options. You can control the quality of the links and can have better results in less time.

However, it can be way too expensive, especially for a startup, to have several people working in an in-house environment for SEO.

Our link building pricing article estimated that it would take at least $14,987 per month to run a team of people for link building, $8,424 if you’re hiring from overseas.

That’s why sometimes hiring freelancers can be the only option.

There are tons, and I mean tons, of freelancers looking for the next link building client. If you put out a LinkedIn post right now, you’ll get a lot of CVs in your mail.

However, what’s the best way to get a perfect link building candidate?

Here at RankPa, we work with some of the best marketing experts in the city. As a result, we do have a bit of knowledge when it comes to hiring the right people.

With that being said, here’s your ultimate guide to hiring freelance link builders.

The Issues with Hiring Freelancers for Links

To better explain the most common issue with hiring freelancers for link building, have a look at the screenshot below –

This screenshot, fetched from Fiverr, shows a freelancer offering a staggering number of “high authority” backlinks at the lowest possible price.

On top of a cheap rate, they are also offering “super fast delivery.”

With one look, we can easily say that this is the big red flag you will come across when trying to hire link builders.

Anyone offering hundreds of links in a short time is just going to give you a bunch of spam links. Those links will do more harm than good!

With that example out of the way, here are some more pointers about the issues with freelancers working on getting you links:

1. Quality Control

When you hire freelancers for link building, ensuring the quality of the links they acquire can be a big challenge.

Unlike in-house teams or reputable agencies that follow strict guidelines and quality checks, freelancers may not always adhere to the same standards.

This becomes an even bigger issue when you don’t have sufficient knowledge of the SEO world or just a beginner.

This can lead to:

Low-Quality Links: Freelancers might acquire links by using low-quality websites or private blog networks (PBNs), which can harm your site’s credibility and rankings.
Irrelevant Links: The links may come from sites irrelevant to your niche, reducing their effectiveness and potentially raising red flags with search engines.

2. Lack of Accountability

Freelancers are independent contractors. Unlike a member of an in-house team, they may not always be available to provide updates or address issues promptly.

Misunderstandings and delays in communication can slow down your link-building efforts and lead to missed opportunities.

Without a dedicated team to monitor progress, the results can be inconsistent, making it difficult to gauge the effectiveness of your link-building strategy.

3. Risk of Penalties

Google and other search engines are continually updating their algorithms to crack down on manipulative link-building practices.

Freelancers, particularly those offering low-cost services, may engage in tactics that can result in penalties, such as:

Link Schemes: Participating in link schemes or buying links can lead to severe penalties, including deindexing.
Over-Optimization: Using exact-match anchor text excessively can trigger algorithmic penalties, harming your site’s rankings.

Now, this doesn’t mean you can’t hire freelance link builders.

Just like there are many people selling cheap, low-quality links for money, there are also respected freelancers who put a lot of effort and work with you to ensure you reach your SEO goals.

And you can differentiate between them during the hiring process. Let’s get down to the tactics of it!

Find Link Building ExpertsWhere to Find Link Building Experts

Freelance link builders are easily available on various online platforms. There, you can get outsourced talents from many countries who work on projects at a much cheaper rate.

If you’re trying to look offline, then there are some limited options as well.

Here are the places you will find link building experts:

Upwork

Arguably the best platform for outsourcing, Upwork can be your first choice to hire link building experts.

You can either post your job offer with the project budget/hourly rate you have in mind or hire from one of their experts.

The best part of using Upwork is that you will, most of the time, find excellent candidates.

However, most of these experts are looking for good pay. Therefore, you will need a good budget to hire people from Upwork.

Fiverr

Fiverr is another well-known freelance platform. However, its services are structured slightly differently than Upwork’s.

Instead of posting a job ad, you will have to select from people advertising themselves.

You will often encounter many “experts” who offer a large number of links with a short turnaround time – as we showed in the example before.

That’s why Upwork is usually better. But it does not mean you can’t find good prospects on Fiverr.

Freelancer

Similar to Upwork, Freelancer allows you to post job ads or offer to hire people directly based on their profile.

However, there are slight differences.

Freelancer’s barrier to entry is not as restricted as Upwork. As a result, you will find a lot more low-quality candidates on Freelancer.

However, compared to Upwork, you will find link builders who will charge a lot less for their work on Freelancer, which isn’t always a good thing, as we described before.

LinkedIn

Of course, the biggest network of employed people will have experts who can help with your link projects!

With LinkedIn, you have a detailed view of the profiles of potential candidates.

You can also see how connected they are in the industry, as those connections can be really helpful for securing high quality backlinks.

Forums & Communities

People who are invested in the world of SEO will often engage in online forums and communities.

The advantage of looking here is that you will usually find people who are proven experts and also help newcomers to the industry.

Here are some of the options:

1. Slack Communities

Slack is a communication platform for professionals and could be your next stop for finding link building experts.

Check out our link building Slack communities article for some great selections.

2. Forums

A lot of top link building websites have forums where experts answer questions and provide insights.

While it is easy to find such forums with a simple Google search, the hard part is contacting them and waiting for their response.

3. Reddit

Reddit, while not the best platform on this list for finding freelancers, can still be your choice for connecting with potential hires.

Here are the subreddits you should look into:

r/seoandbacklinks
r/linkbuilding
r/linkaggregators
r/seo
r/bigseo
r/seolinkbuilding

Conferences

If you want a more offline or IRL approach, then the best place to look is at conferences.

SEO conferences take place all over the world, uniting marketing experts and creating opportunities to network and grow.

These conferences can connect you with the brightest minds of the SEO community.

Here are 8 SEO conferences that you should not avoid this year!

Process of Hiring Freelance Link Builders

Now, let’s get into the details.

If you have read through the earlier parts of this article, you already have a good idea of what to look for and where.

In this section, we will explain as thoroughly as possible the process of hiring freelancer link builders in five steps.

1. Write Ad

The first step is deciding on what you are looking for in a candidate and putting them into words.

Here is a job post example that you can use by customizing it a little bit:

Job Title: Link Building Specialist
Job Description:
We are seeking a highly skilled and motivated Link Building Specialist. As a Link Building Specialist, you will be responsible for developing and implementing effective link building strategies to improve our website’s authority and search engine rankings.
Responsibilities:
Develop and execute link building strategies to acquire high-quality backlinks.Conduct thorough research to identify potential link building opportunities.Outreach to relevant websites, bloggers, and influencers to establish partnerships and secure backlinks.Create engaging and persuasive outreach content tailored to different audiencesMonitor and analyze the effectiveness of link building campaigns, making necessary adjustments to improve results.Stay up-to-date with industry trends and algorithm updates to ensure best practices in link building.Collaborate with the content team to create link-worthy content and optimize existing content for link building purposes.Maintain accurate records of link building activities and report progress to the team.
Requirements:
Proven experience as a Link Building Specialist or similar roleStrong understanding of SEO principles and search engine algorithmsExcellent research, analytical, and organizational skillsExceptional communication and outreach skillsAbility to create compelling and tailored outreach contentFamiliarity with link building tools and software (e.g., Ahrefs, Moz, SEMrush)Knowledge of different link building techniques and best practicesAbility to work independently and manage multiple projects simultaneouslyAttention to detail and a results-oriented mindset
Preferred Qualifications:
Experience in digital marketing or content marketingUnderstanding of Google Analytics and other SEO toolsFamiliarity website managementStrong network of industry contacts for potential link building opportunities
How to Apply:
If you are passionate about link building and have a proven track record of successful link building campaigns, we would love to hear from you. Please submit your resume, along with a cover letter detailing your relevant experience and examples of successful link building projects you have worked on.

Make sure your job post clearly states what your company/website needs.

For example, if you only want someone to perform outreach and guest posts, then you should have a more unique job post.

Usually, a link building specialist will handle more responsibilities on top of guest posting.

2. Post Ad

After making your job ad, it’s time to post it.

You can post the ad on platforms like the ones we mentioned above, including freelance platforms like Upwork or Fiverr.

You can even post the job offer on LinkedIn and get interested candidates within days.

It’s not unusual to get hundreds of candidates if you post your offer on several platforms. You will have to narrow it down through the vetting process.

3. Vetting

You can’t possibly interview hundreds of candidates without sufficient manpower.

That’s why it’s important to vet potential candidates by reviewing their CVs and profile.

Here are the things to look for:

Experience

Anyone can say they have 5+ years of experience. That’s why you should look for proven track records with past projects they have worked on.

Reviews

Via Upwork

Sites like Freelancer and Upwork have a review system. Check out how well clients have received their work in the past. Too many recent bad reviews can be a red flag.

Case Studies

Many excellent freelancers invest in making portfolios. The quality of the portfolio can tell a lot about the person’s commitment to work.

Case studies are excellent as they can show you how well a candidate’s effort has brought success in the past.

What to Avoid

Past examples showing poorly written articles
Candidates proposing a list of websites they can get links from
Asking for overtly low payment
Way too fast of a turnaround time
Any absolute guarantees of securing ## of links in ## weeks

4. Interview

Hopefully, you will be able to narrow down the list of candidates through the vetting process we described.

After that, it’s time to interview the lucky few caught by the net of your thorough search.

Here are some of the questions you should ask your potential link builder:

Can you secure 50 links for me in 30 days?

This is a trick question. If they answer yes, then you know that they are likely going to get your website tangled with link farms.

Good candidates will explain how it’s not probable to generate that many links while also caring about the quality of the backlinks.

What tools and software do you use for link building?

Experienced link builders usually use tools like Ahrefs, Semrush, and Moz.

What is your most successful strategy for link building?

If they claim that private blog networks (PBNs) are their best strategy, it’s safe to avoid working with the candidate.

While PBNs can sometimes improve your site’s ranking by generating links, they are usually not a good practice.

If outreach and guest posts are their speciality, then it’s a green flag.

Which industry have you worked in in the past?

Link building can differ in industries.

Securing backlinks for SaaS or similar industries is very hard, and you will need someone experienced in that field if your website is in the same criteria.

What is your approach to outreach for link building?

This is also an important question.

You don’t want the candidate to send out spam emails. It’s mostly wasted hours.

A more focused approach is always better in this regard.

How do you measure the success of your link building efforts?

It’s better if the candidate does not measure the success of their efforts via the number of links they secured.

Instead, it should be how their backlinks have brought meaningful improvement to the website’s growth.

5. Trial

Once you get good answers, it’s time to test the candidates.

You can go forward with just one freelancer or put several to work in this step.

The trial period can be a single project or two weeks of work.

In this case, you may ask the freelancer to secure two backlinks for you.

After they have done it, you can check the quality of the links by:

Checking the domain rating of the websites they got the link from
Looking at the anchor texts and their placement
Testing if you are getting any link equity from the backlinks

If you get positive results, it’s safe to say that you’ve found your perfect candidate!

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June 27, 2024by Musfiqur MemoBlog

When to Start Building Links: Steps Before Getting Backlinks

Despite being one of the crucial aspects of a website’s SEO strategy, you shouldn’t rush into link building. There are a few obligatory steps to complete before delving into it.

When it comes to SEO, early birds get the worms. Starting in a niche where the competition has yet to build up is a nice way to build up your backlink profile quickly.

However, just because you have a website with little to no content doesn’t necessarily mean it’s time to start link-building.

In fact, as the process is continuous, your site should be totally ready before initiating that project. Overall, the readying-up process may take three to five months.

In this guide, we will show you the necessary activities to improve your website before you start getting backlinks from other domains.

Plans to Make Before Link Building

Before you even start with anything on your website, it is ideal to make some plans regarding the site. They can be on a wide range of topics. Some notable examples are:

Focusing on a Niche

After building a website and adding content, we usually have a particular niche in mind. However, this niche is often not as focused as it needs to be.

A focused topic usually attracts more traffic. Let’s say a website is on all things automotive, and another is about vehicle headlights. Now, you have an issue with your headlamps.

When searching online, you will likely prioritize the content specific to headlights as your guide to solving your issue. As such, focusing on your niche is often very important.

Alternatively, you can divide different topics in your preferred industry into multiple sections.

If your website has some content that isn’t focused yet, it is time to choose any particular topic unless the whole niche has low competition.

Making Your Aims

Aside from your niche, there are other goals you need to set regarding your SEO strategy. Some examples are-

How much traffic are you looking for within a specific amount of time?
What type of audience or community are you trying to attract?
Your budget and the amount you can spend on various parts and processes of the site.
How much money are you willing to make from your website?
How will you monetize your website’s traffic? It can be through commercials, purchases, getting your service, or other means.

If you have these goals set, it will be easier to stay on track once you start getting a steady number of backlinks and traffic.

Learning Link Building

Whether you build your links yourself or have someone do it for you, it is always best to know the nooks and crannies of link building beforehand.

Information about backlinks can help you determine your goal and learn more about your competitors. It also tells you what to avoid when building links.

Knowing Your Audience

Researching your target community is a task that you must complete even before you start creating content for your site. It will give you insight into the people’s needs and wants.

Many website owners are experts in their niche but detached from their audience. Hence, what they deliver doesn’t often align with what the public wants.

It is better to go into community forums, groups, and channels specific to your niche to investigate your target audience thoroughly. Additionally, you can do the following-

Research the market and find trendy stuff or products.
Check your competitors for ideas or inspirations.
Take expert suggestions.
Reading the comments or threads under online blogs related to your niche.

This step is especially necessary when your industry deals with trendy products or services (like fashion or electronic gadgets).

Here, the public’s queries change constantly. So, getting in touch with the crowd is mandatory.

Processes to Complete Before Building Links

Knowing when you are ready to build links will prevent your site from facing unexpected challenges later on. After all, you need strong ground before building anything on it.

Let’s discuss the mandatory steps to finish to make your site ready for backlinks-

Having a Well-Rounded Website

A poorly built website is not suitable for link building for several reasons, such as:

It won’t appear alluring to the people who would send backlinks your way.
It may look uninteresting to the audience that comes to your site using the links.
A poor user experience is very bad for your site’s SEO.

Before link-building, it is crucial to develop your website in a quality manner that works smoothly without any bugs. It should also have a nice interface and user-friendliness.

So, what makes a website’s display more appealing to visitors? Let’s find out below.

A Good User Experience

Certain aspects of websites are preferred by the general public. For example, some sites need a sticky notification bar, while others require it on the side.

Once someone enters your website, they may frequent it if they love the experience. A part of this falls on the appearance. Other notable factors are-

Proper intractability
Suitable color combination for the site, depending on your niche or industry (some color combinations look very bad)
A visually appealing front page that showcases what your site has to offer
A detailed ‘About’ and ‘Author’ page with information about yourself, your goal, and other important information
Different sections for different parts to make it easier for the audience to navigate
Quick operation and loading after the user interacts with anything
Right placement of advertisements and links on the pages

Website Responsiveness

The responsiveness of a site means how well it appears and works on different devices and screen sizes. For a site to be well-developed and ready for link-building, it must be responsive.

A poorly built website may look astounding on a desktop screen but not nearly as good on a mobile device. Meanwhile, a good site will look striking, regardless of device or screen size.

You can see how a website works in different screen sizes by reducing the size of your tab or opening it on your mobile or tablet.

Having Indexed Pages

Your pages are unlikely to appear on SERPs if Google or other search engines have not indexed them. So, how do you get them indexed?

Most of it is possible simply by following our previous point, i.e., making a well-structured website with good navigation, structure, responsiveness, and content placement.

Additionally, there need to be some keywords related to your niche. While keywords are not very useful in SEO now, they still have pros, especially in getting your pages to appear in search results.

Making Quality Content

Quality content doesn’t necessarily mean only factually correct content. Your audience doesn’t necessarily come to read an essay but an engaging article.

So, while the content needs to contain accurate information, it must also be attractive, engaging, and, if possible, interactive. Of course, it should be helpful and solve the readers’ queries.

Remember our earlier section when we advised you about knowing your target audience? That task will come in handy here. Since you understand what your community wants, you can give them that.

Other attributes that you should consider when making your content are-

Better Than Your Competitors

During your link-building process, you will want to take some high-quality backlinking websites from your competitors to your site. It is called the Skyscraper Technique.

That will be possible if your content is better than that of your competitors. You can thoroughly observe their blogs, videos, etc. Then make yours more informative, add more pointers, etc.

You will have to get their attention in order to shift those linking sites to your domain. This can be done through guest blog posts, comments, or forum posts.

Emailing the website owners is another less effective method.

Aside from high-quality websites finding your content more linkable, Google may also notice your better content, which can raise your rank in SERPs.

Crawlable Content

Google uses crawler bots to analyze pages throughout the web and rank them properly. Since these bots follow the robots.txt policies, your content must also be according to them.

A non-crawlable content may not appear on the SERPs. Crawlers are what index your pages on the search engine. If you are wondering how to make your site crawlable, follow these points-

Keep internal links between your pages, but make them look natural rather than artificial or forced.
Make an XML sitemap and give it to Google.
Last but not least, arrange your robots.txt files in the correct order.

Videos and Pictures

If words can’t describe something, visuals and infographics can. When creating content for your site, don’t stay fixated on blogs. Add other types of content and maybe nestle them together.

For example, if you explain something complex, like a DIY tutorial, a video of the whole process will attract more audience than blogs without it.

Natural Anchor Texts

A well-made piece of content or blog should have internal and external links. The former shares link equity throughout the domain, while the latter is also important for Google’s SERP.

The anchor texts must also seem natural for these links to appear natural. So, generic ones like ‘click here’ or ‘read more’ will only make the content look poor.

You can check some of the anchor texts we used in this article as examples.

Improving Your Content

You may already have content that is years old and not up to date. Some of this content may also not be suitable for your site’s current structure.

In that case, updating and improving these blogs and making them suitable for your site is necessary. You can-

Update them according to recent times.
Add more information, if possible.
If you are offering new services or products that you didn’t offer before, you can include those in your content, too.
Add more engaging and cohesive writing with better outlines.

Sometimes, you may even have to remove some content if it doesn’t align with your current goal or if you already have better versions.

Gathering Necessary Resources and Manpower

Link building is hard for various reasons. One of them is the cost of link building. There are multiple steps during the process that will require you to spend a good sum. The following are some-

Buying Backlinks: The cost will depend on the linking site’s Domain Rating (DR) or Domain Authority (DA). There may also be subscription-based offers.
Hiring Content Writers and Creators: Hiring writers for your site will cost a significant amount. However, the expense is well worth it.
Hiring Link-Building Experts: Professionals such as link-building managers and assistants usually cost a lot to hire.
SEO Tools: Before you start building links, competitor analysis is necessary. Tools like Ahrefs or Semrush will help here. If you get premium versions, each of these may cost over $590.

Of course, once you see the fruit of your link-building efforts, you will need to manage those backlinks and extra traffic, which may require additional manpower.

We should remind you that after all these expenses, you may still need resources to focus on your industry or business. So, assess your budget correctly before starting link building.

Checking Your Current Audience

Chances are that you are already getting some audience even before your backlinking campaign. These audiences may come from a wide range of places.

It will be good if you manage to find out where they are coming from. Many sites and apps do this in the form of surveys.

Once you have this information, you can check the places that are sending the most crowds your way.

It will greatly help you later during your marketing and link-building process.

Setting Some Goals

We have already mentioned the aims of your link-building projects and website. However, while these aims are about results and budgets, there are other goals to set here. For example-

You need to analyze and target some high-profile websites for backlinks as your goals. Using the skyscraper technique, you can get them from your competitors.
You can use Ahrefs or Semrush to analyze your competitors’ backlinks. Of course, you will need to find your competitors first. Not all of them are worth researching.
In that regard, keyword research related to your niche is imperative. Look at the keywords helping your websites rank, then check the top websites on SERP for those keywords.

Those are the competitors you should pay attention to and analyze.

Another goal to set is a predicted timeline for the entire process. You may plan to drastically improve your backlink profile within a few months. However, there is a catch.

The time it may take for your website to develop a good backlink profile and rank high may depend on your current position on SERPs.

If a site is already on the first few pages of SERP, it won’t take long since convincing reputable websites to send links won’t be difficult.

However, if the site’s ranking is much lower, it will take more time and effort. You may ask your SEO experts for an idea of the time it may take.

Steps to Take at the Beginning of Link Building

Okay, you have developed a well-structured website, made it easy to navigate, and filled it with high-quality content. So, what’s next?

We have already talked about keyword and competitor analysis. So, we won’t repeat those. Let’s say you have done these and found your target sites from which to get links.

It is the appropriate time to get their attention through various means. These methods are also part of your link-building scheme. Let us explain some factors here.

Creating Guest Posts

Guest posts are blogs you can post on other websites as a guest after getting their permission. Of course, you have to pitch in your idea of the article first and wait for their reply.

If they accept it, you can start writing a quality guest post to post it on their site. Making it engaging and high quality is crucial as audiences from that high-authority website will read it.

Make sure that the blog’s content is attractive to readers and suitable for generating leads. Nestle a backlink to your website inside the blog, but don’t add it repetitively.

The anchor text for this backlink also needs to be convincing for the readers to click on it, yet it should come off as natural.

Remember that not all websites will want to have guest posts. Some of them may even be very picky about them. These websites often set strict rules about guest posts.

Getting your ideas rejected can be common, and you may have to try several ideas on various websites before one accepts them.

Manually Reaching the Website Owners

Another way to get their attention is to reach out to website owners using personalized emails, letters, and other means. However, note that not all website owners may check their emails.

If you don’t receive any response, you can follow up. Don’t overdo it, though, and try other methods instead.

Of course, if you manage to build a collaboration, maintain it and stick to any set terms and conditions by the website owner.

Remember that you should start linking buildings as soon as possible. However, that doesn’t mean that you should ignore the necessary steps before that.

Readying everything before starting the link-building will be a clever move that increases the chance of success.

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4 Best Backlink Checker Tools and How to Use Them – Detailed Guides

Table of Contents

What Are Backlink Checker Tools?

Image source: sitechecker.pro

What to Check Before Choosing a Backlink Checker Tool?

4 Best Backlink Checker Tools- Step-by-Step Guide

Ahrefs

Cost:

Semrush

Cost:

Linkchecker Pro

Cost:

Google Search Console

Is Backlink Checking Still Necessary in the Mid-20s?

What Is YouTube Automation? – Increase Your Workflow on YouTube with Ease

Table of Contents

What Is YouTube Automation?

AI Tools or Humans – Which Automation Process Is the Best for You?

Things You Can Automate on a YouTube Channel

How YouTube Automation Can Improve Content Creation?

Most Useful and Powerful YouTube Automation Tools You Can Use

invideo AI

Maestra

Jasper

VidIQ

Headliner

PlaceIt

How to Start with YouTube Automation?

Choose Trendy Automation Tools

Pick Less Competitive Topics

Get Only the Required Tools

Hire Your Team

Create a Content Calendar

Create, Upload, and Promote

100+ Free UK Directories – Updated List

Table of Contents

Brief Introduction to Business Directories

Why You Should Use a UK Business Directory- the Benefits

Different Types of UK Business Directories

Physical UK Business Directory

Online UK Business Directory

How to Use a UK Business Directory?

For the Consumers

For the Business Owners

Online UK Business Directory- Tips

Choosing the Right UK Business Directory

Physical or Online

User Friendliness

Accuracy

Cost

Filters and Features

UK Directory List

Google My Business

Yell

Yelp UK

Bing Places

TheBestofUK

192.com

Scoot

Hotfrog

All in London

Facebook Business

Europages

LinkedIn Company

Central Index

UK Small Business Directory

Apple Business Connect

FreeIndex

Nextdoor

Cylex UK

Foursquare

Pissed Consumer

Opendi

Kompass

Thomson Local

Cybo

Opening Times

Houzz

Brownbook

Bizify