Boosting online visibility became one of the main methods companies and entrepreneurs use to advertise what they are selling. Sure, media like television and newspaper are still relevant, but without a proper online presence, you cannot reach as many people as you would want to. Also, online advertising is much cheaper, in some aspects even being free. One of the strategies companies and entrepreneurs is certainly SEO. However, there are many different “kinds” of SEO strategies. Today we are going to focus on one of the most important SEO strategies – outreach SEO. So, what is an outreach SEO strategy and how can you develop and use your SEO outreach strategy?
What is an outreach SEO strategy?
An Outreach Search Engine Optimization is an essential part of today’s online advertising. It involves creating valuable links from websites “outside” the main site, to link back to the said main site. If not done correctly, outreach can even hinder the success of SEO strategy. In short, it uses backlinks as a connection to the main site. Those links help sites get more traction, and they can help draw new audiences.
Also, the outreach SEO strategy has some secondary benefits. By using this SEO strategy, you can boost brand awareness and credibility. Links that come from credible sites are usually known as “authority websites”. “Authority” has two meanings.
First, you’ll be boosting your authority and credibility in the eyes of your readers. If you can convince reliable and authoritative publishers to mention your website and product, people will naturally be drawn to it. That way it shouldn’t take a lot of time to rank on Google and other search engines well.
On the other hand, you’ll be boosting your authority in the eyes of a search engine. Search engine algorithms are becoming more and more sophisticated in detecting “scammy” websites and SEO strategies. They can seriously slow down the rise of certain websites if they “don’t like” some of the content.
SEO is not directly influenced by the domain’s authority. However, domain authority influences the result of SEO campaigns. But this is a story for another time.
So, how can you develop your SEO outreach strategy?
Properly developing your SEO strategy can mean a difference between your brand being visible and well-known, and your business “going under”.
Don’t be generic
When you manage to get backlinks from websites, it is time to do something with them. The most common way is to write an article and get those links into an article. Every company or service or whatever is hungry for social confirmation, and they’ll gladly accept promotion.
There is nothing worse than having to read a generic text based on some template. How do you feel when you get an e-mail, for example, from a company that uses a boring template to communicate with you? You probably won’t even open that mail. The same is true if you’re reading an article.
The only thing you have to do is to create an article that is eye-catching on a website that has some traffic. This is why it is always a good idea to create a few articles first before you get in touch with a different website.
If you have a couple of authoritative websites on your own, then you can build your own network. This is called the PBN network. Although this kind of SEO strategy is looked down upon, it is nevertheless still quite successful. However, in the future, search engines might decide to remove those kinds of “systems”, and calculate the authority of a link in a different way. Even today, the most relevant search engines are breaking down on those kinds of practices.
However, by linking back to your own websites, you’re just increasing traffic, without actually providing something of value, and exchanging it with somebody else.
Your exchange value
A couple of million blog posts are published every day, so it is not easy to get a mention or a backlink from your favorite prospect. Outreach strategy allows you to bring traffic and attention to something of value, but you have to have something that is unique and stands out if you want to be on top of the game. That way you can persuade successful bloggers and influencers to exchange value with you.
In short, outreach SEO strategy should start with value exchange between you and your prospect.
Writing an e-mail
But before you start with your SEO strategy, you have to come in contact with owners of other websites and influencers. This is usually done through e-mail.
Let’s take an imaginary example. Bob the builder wants to increase the traffic of his website and attract more customers online. And before you get in touch you write an article on best builders in Bob’s area of interest. And let’s say for example you’ve put Bob’s company in 6th place.
Now it is time to actually reach Bob’s e-mail and say, for example, that you have written an article on best builders in his area, but you didn’t know that his business has gotten better over time. Bobs will usually be hungry for social confirmation, and usually, they will gladly accept. This is the way to build powerful links with e-mail outreach.
Naturally, your website has to be, look, and feel professional and serious. This is why you should have something to show before you get in touch with your potential partners.
Focus on quality more than on quantity
If you want your outreach SEO strategy to really work, you have to have a valuable website that can provide value to other websites.
One way to increase the value of your website is to focus on quality over quantity. Your article has to have something that distinguishes it from others. For example, you can use infographics to make your articles more appealing to readers.
Anyway, we hope that you’ll develop your SEO outreach strategy successfully and that you are going to get what you are reaching for! Good luck!