Should you Outsource your link building campaign?

Hey, let me share a story with you first.

It was the early days of my SEO career. I used to work for a Digital Marketing agency. I was handling a brand new website there.

As the website was new, thus my primary focus was working on on-page & technical SEO. I spent most of my time building Content strategy and fixing Site architecture.

But there was pressure from the client-side, as they want to strengthen their link profile too.

Whereas, Our Agency did not have the resources to build high-quality relevant links. Thus, they outsourced the complete Link building work to another agency.

End of the first month, they have created around 60 links. ( Most of them were profile links, blog commenting and web 2.0)

End of the 2nd month, they doubled the number of similar kinds of shitty links.

But DR remained 0.

There is no significant improvement in the 3rd month as well.

As a result, My agency lost the client.

But, It does not mean those profile links, blog commenting and web 2.0 do not work today.

It still works, Only if you are doing it strategically.

Thus, before outsourcing your link building campaign, ask the following questions to yourself.

1. Have you just started working on your brand new website?
2. Do you have the budget to hire a professional link builder, a professional content writer and the maintenance cost of tools?
3. Are you passionate about learning different techniques of Link building & want to pursue a career upon that?
4. Do you have the time to invest in a link building campaign?
5. Is your business heavily dependent on SEO?
6. Do you know how to hire the right link building service provider?

Let’s jump into the first question.

1. Have you just started working on your brand new website?

If yes! Then you must focus on your content and on-page SEO first. I have seen people crazy about building links while they are just starting.

At Startuptalky, we were able to generate 5000 daily pageviews without building significant links. (We got some natural links due to our quality of content and created very few profiles and blog commenting links.)

Links work as fuel to your traffic. Thus build a strong foundation with your content and proper On-page SEO first, and bring decent organic traffic. You can always invest later in Link building to boost your traffic and Domain Authority.

2. Do you have the budget to hire a professional link builder, a professional content writer, and the maintenance cost of tools?

If the answer is yes, then go for it and launch your link building outreach campaign.

If the answer is no, then simply outsource. You need professionals to bring results and get your ROI back. Else, end up losing your money and time.

3. Are you passionate about different techniques of Link building & want to pursue a career upon that?

If you are passionate about link building, then do it by yourself. You can explore this field in your own way and may end up with your own link building methodologies.

4. Do you have the time to invest in a link building campaign?

If you don’t have time or you have other important tasks to run your business smoothly. Then outsourcing to the right person or agency is the best option for you.

5. Is your business heavily dependent on SEO?

If SEO is the core of your business. Then always hire an expert. Not just to build high-quality links but also to ensure that you are not building spammy links which may affect your website badly. No matter what Google says, Link is still a key factor to outrank your competitor and scale your website traffic.

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StartupTalkyAlan Joseph

6. How to Choose the right Link building provider?

If you are about to hire a link builder or any agency, here are a few questions you should ask them.

1. Ask about their process. How will they create links?

2. Ask them to share some relevant sites from where they will create links for you. Then check and verify the quality of those websites.

3. Always ask for sample links and check their indexing status.

4. Confirm the duration of the live links.

5. Avoid people who send you the list of hundreds of profiles, directory submission, and PBN  links. Also, ignore who offers you guest posts in bulk on low-quality irrelevant sites with cheap prices.

6. Ask about their previous clients or any successful case study. You can cross-check the backlink profiles of those websites. It may give you an overview of their links.

7. Always focus on quality over quantity.

Conclusion

However, you need to understand link building is not a one-time investment. It’s a process. It takes time and money.

Thus don’t invest in link building randomly. Keep tracking and measuring the KPIs. Analyse what results they are bringing.

According to my experience, there is no single way to get success in SEO. It’s about finding the winning process that will work best for your website. Till then, keep experimenting and keep hustling.

FAQ

What is link building?

Link building is a search engine optimization technique that increases your search engine ranking. Having a good number of links to a website indicates that the content there is valuable.

How much does link building cost?

You can expect to pay around $100-$250 per hour or $2,000 – $8,000 per month on average.

Is link building still relevant to SEO?

Yes, Link building is a crucial part of any successful SEO strategy.