This link building system is as white hat as you can get.
It’s a simple system where you initially identify content opportunities – by weeding out existing pieces of content that are very popular AND already have a fair number of backlinks to them.
By picking on a popular topic and finding a post which already has other sites linking to it – you can then go ahead and create a piece of content that is “10x” (exponentially better).
And, once you create and publish that post – you simply do email outreach to all the websites that are already linking to the initial post that you got your idea from, and tell them about your new super-awesome post.
Chances are, that these sites will openly link to your “stellar post”… because it easily outshines every other informational post that is written on the same topic – and their readers will get high value from it.
Make sure that you do a solid website seo audit so you know which keywords and topics to pick for your strategy. You can read the how to do an seo audit post if you need help.
Note: In this post – I will refer to our super-awesome piece of content we write as a “stellar post“.
Our goal here is to write and publish a stellar post that outshines all others posts on the same topic!
Do that, and you have won half the battle.
Then, once the content is published, we will use some nifty tools to scale out our “cold email outreach” methods to a very high level.
This will then help us get backlinks to our stellar post – very easily, at a high success rate when we go out and announce our stellar post asking for the backlink.
The overall process for this is not complicated, and looks like this…
Ranking Money Page with Link Juice From The Stellar Post
Do note that eventually, the aim is to “pass the link juice down from the stellar post to our money page on our site.
That is, we want the juice to pass down to our money page for our money keyword – so our money page ranks for that money keyword.
This is done by simply linking internally to our money page from our stellar post, using our exact match money keyword as the anchor text.
That said, lets get started on our method…
Finding A Topic That Will Attract Backlinks
In the initial phase of the process, we need to do our homework. We need to find a topic that is being linked to from many sites.
This is a very important step. Picking the right topic is key. You need to get this step done right.
Thankfully there are some tools out there to help you with this.
We are basically looking for topics in your niche, that already have a fair number of backlinks to it.
Not backlink numbers in the thousands or millions… but more like in the low hundreds or so…
Perhaps between around 100 to 500 plus.
This step will validate our effort required for backlinks when we reach the next phase (after we do this ersearch phase and then write our stellar post.
We are basically ensuring that we are putting our effort into creating a great post that will be popular and will get linked to from other sites – ahead of time.
That is – we are gauging our marketability (and market) – even before we create our product (stellar post).
Note – we’re looking for topics that have our keyword that we want to rank for AND that have a decent amount of backlinks to it.
Looking for Keywords with a High Difficulty
Very importantly – for this method, we are looking for keywords that are difficult.
That is, they should have a high “KD” score (Keyword Difficulty score).
Why?
Because, content that is ranking high and is optimized for these keywords (that has high difficulty score) – will typically have a high number of backlinks to it (which is why they have a high KD score for the various keywords it ranks for).
Get it?
Top Ranking content optimized for difficult keywords = High Number of Backlinks
Using Ahrefs to Find KD and Backlinks
We can use Ahrefs find difficultly levels and top ranking posts for these keywords and to find the number of backlinks to each post (and eventually the list of domain backlinks to these top posts).
However, Ahrefs is expensive but, if you have it you can simply follow the method below.
For this example, we will use the keywords “seo tools“.
Simply plug in the keyword in the search box (SEO tools). You will get the Keyword Difficulty score as under.
You can then scroll down and look at the top 10 SERPs for this keyword and decide if its juicy enough to write a post on this topic. You can use the top ranking SERPs to get the topical ideas for your stellar post.
If we find a couple or more similar topics ranking high – or topics that can be combined and written about (centered around the same keyword)… then that’s a great find.
This is because, we have now potentially multiply our backlink opportunities, because we can now approach the sites that are linking out to all these posts that are writing about the same topic. Sure there may be some overlaps and probably will – but the point here is that we get a LOT more domains and people to approach.
Alternately, if you would like to drill down and be more specific or look for similar keywords to optimize and write of instead, then you need to click on “Questions” in the left link panel as shown below.
This will show you a list of all related questions to the keyword…
You can then click on any of the question keywords and repeat the above process by scrolling down and looking at the top 10 SERPs for the newly selected keyword.
In this example we click on “what are SEO tools”.
We then examine each piece of content and check the number of backlinks each of them have.
Gathering Data for Email Outreach
As a next step, we simply take the lists of backlinks (and filter by one link per domain – so it makes things easier for us) and we create a master spreadsheet that contains information on each of these backlinks such as –
Backlink URL | Domain Name | Content Topic | Author Name | Author Email
For the above, the email will be the most tedious step.
Thankfully for you, I put out a guide here on how to find anyone’s email address quickly that is also part of my Cold Email Outreach guide here.
Getting KD and Other Data from Free SEO Tools
We can use a couple of free tools to get our initial data like – KeywordsEverywhere and the MOZ toolbar.
We just may have to pay for the last requirement of the backlinks data – but there are some clever hacks you can use to get this for free or very low cost as well, without having the need to invest in Ahrefs monthly subscription.
To get our initial data we simply use Google, KeywordsEverywhere and Moz. We search for the potential keywords and see their monthly search volume and Keyword difficulty in KeywordsEverywhere.
We then we look at the Moz Tool bar data that is overlaid in the top ranking pages for this keyword in the SERPs.
We can then look at backlinks for each of these pages using the free Moz Bar to see how many backlinks these top ranking pages have.
Once we zero down on the keyword we want to write on using the free SEO tools – we could then ask a provider on Fiverr, or someone who as access to Ahrefs, Majestic or any other backlink SEO tool to get for us for a small fee.
We could hunt around for some of the inexpensive SEO tools out there to get this list of backlinks. However, do keep in mind that the list will probably not be as comprehensive as Ahrefs data.
But, if you’re on a budget – this may be just fine to start with!
Looking for Informational Content
We are looking for informational content that is out there and is ranking for this keyword.
It is much easier to get backlinks for informational content from total strangers that we send cold emails to – than it is to ask for a backlink to a money page that is selling stuff!
Our post could be a question post, or any post that is basically providing information on the focus keyword.
And like I said above… we want to eventually “pass the link juice down” from the stellar post to our money page on our site by linking internally from our stellar post to our money page – so our money page ranks for the money keyword… from all the link juice that is collected via our off-page backlink efforts and that gets passed down to the money page.
Now, once we have all our data, we can proceed with the next phase – which is the Cold Email Outreach phase.
Doing Cold Email Outreach for Backlinks
There are many methods and tools to do email outreach – that you can use to send these mails… and infact, there is a whole system and process of doing cold email outreach!
If you need to learn how to set this up and all the steps and the various tools involved then I’ve put together a massive step-by-step cold email outreach guide (that includes comprehensive methods of finding anyone’s email address). This is a must read if you’re going to be using the method in this post!
In this phase – we’re simply approaching bloggers who are already linking to the other piece of content we found and on which we built our “stellar post”.
We’re simply mailing them politely ask them for a backlink – using some great email personalization methods, that dont sound too desperate!
Using the right email outreach tool, you will be able to send hundreds of personalized emails every day – with little effort!
You will be automating the process, so it works on its own in the background. The only manual step here is finding the emails for each webmaster / editor – but I’ve explained how that is done and how you can outsource this cheaply and plug it into your process.
Remember – if you approach people the right way, requesting the backlink – they will feel left out if they don’t link to you. 
Setting Up Your Email Outreach Funnel
A key step here is to setup your email outreach system to send a series of mails (probably about 4 to 7 in total) – each separated by a few days.
So, your initial email can go out on day 1, and then the next follow up mail after a few days and so on.
Also, make sure to write your outreach emails in a friendly casual voice.
- Introduce yourself briefly.
- Then perhaps flatter them a bit if you can by saying telling them that their post was really good etc etc.
- Then, you can talk briefly about your “stellar post” and why you think a backlink should be inserted in their post… perhaps because it will provide high value to their readers – and their readers will benefit from (and maybe thank them) for finding a top notch post.
- Just be innovative here without being too pushy.
That’s it. You’re done. Keep the emails short and to the point.
Example Outreach Emails
initial Outreach Email
Hey Charlie,Just dropped by your blog and read your post ABC.Great post and loved that you have linked out to a few other blog posts on the topic. I’m sure your readers appreciate that and it also positions you as someone who knows what’s happening in the niche.Just wanted to tip you off, that I’ve written a great blog post on the topic that outshines any of the other posts you link to (I spent a ton of time and resources doing this all by myself).I’d really really appreciate if you can take a quick look?Here’s the link to the post – ABC Topic with LinkAnd… if you like it, and if I’m not asking for too much, maybe a backlink to my post?Let me know, if that sounds fine and if I can help you back in anyway? Maybe a featured guest post or something else? Just suggesting.Looking forward to your reply,Sign off
Then you can write a follow up mail and set it to go out after a few days, if you don’t get a response.
You can typically send another follow up mail after say 4 to 5 days – asking them if they got your previous mail (and include a cut and paste version of it – and refer to it in your main body copy of the follow up mail).
You could say something like…
Hey Charlie,I mailed you a few days ago about a super awesome resource I put out that will be beneficial to readers of your blog post about ABC and, I was wondering if you had time to look at it yet?I’ve included a copy below.Do let me know as I’d be delighted to work with you on this and it won’t take you more than a few minutes to get done.Thanks,Sign off.
I would maybe include another 3 to 4 follow up mails as well, into the sequence after these go out, separated again by a few days.
Maybe you could add some humor into one of them to catch their attention – but make sure to keep them short. (If you read the cold email outreach post, you will get a lot of tips for this).
Action Steps for A Positive Response
If you get a positive response – they would have probably inserted your link already, and they would be writing to just let you know that they have done so.
You must thank them immediately and show your appreciation.
A side benefit is that you have now built a contact in the niche which is invaluable!
If they respond and ask you for money in exchange for the link – you should think about it and see if its worth the price.
Do your research thoroughly and check out the site and page to see if its worth the price they are asking for and remember you can negotiate the price!
Take Action!
Hope you enjoyed this post. This is one link building method you should take massive action on! It works very well and there have been some big names that have and are using it every day.
Now go out there and take action!
P.S. If you think about it, this is how successful product marketing is done!
Even, before professional businesses start building out their product – they look at the market and its demands.They study the market to know if there is a potential market for their product, before they even build it. Understanding what the markets needs are – is critical for success.Simply building out a cool new product and then hoping people will pour in to snap it up – is a pipe dream and is highly risky. You will probably lose all your time and money that you spent in building your shiny idea.Now, the same goes with putting out a great piece of content that you would like to market and get backlinks for!