Manual, one-off link building campaigns are essential for going after specific “money” pages and keywords, especially for long-tail keywords with less competition. Guest posting can help in these individual URL scenarios, but this won't boost overall domain authority.
Your best play for a massive website is to run large link-building campaigns. We’re recommending full-funnel brand awareness campaigns that will earn organic links as you pull tons of visibility. But these aren't simple:
- This kind of work is unpredictable and nuanced, and requires skills not typical for SEO work.
- These kind of links require way more than technical consideration.
- There's no way to force these campaigns. They are highly situational.
There's no formula for making these campaigns happen, but these principles put you in the best place for success.
Make it Happen: How to Build Multi-Channel Campaigns with Backlink Earning Power
1. Regularly Explore High-Value Data
Be curious. Ask yourself questions and go through the mental exercise of finding insights in data. These link building opportunities will not arrive pre-packaged. Be constantly exploring Ahrefs' Content Explorer, Google Analytics, or any other source of valuable data. We recommend scheduling time daily or weekly to do this.
Sam Oh, VP of Marketing at Ahrefs, has great advice for SEOs ready to get started with this practice: "SEOs should be regularly looking at really good data sources and asking themselves, what’s happening here? And why did it happen? You might not always have the right answer. You might not figure anything out for the first week. You just feel like you're looking at numbers and letters, but you are exercising that muscle of exploration and curiosity. Then all of a sudden connections start to make sense. We have everything in front of us and that data is painting a story that can inspire creative link building opportunities."
2. Focus on Audience
The heart of any successful marketing campaign is audience.
You need a pure and dedicated understanding of your audience so that you know what they care most about and can create link building campaigns combining this persona knowledge with current events and opportunities. This is where all of 97th Floor's strongest brand and linking campaigns have come from, including this one for sleep-deprived parents.
Case Study: Sleep Deprived Parents turned Sleep Ambassadors
SITUATION
Our Mattress Industry Client (MIC) is an American mattress and bedding brand. At its launch in 2010, MIC was among the first online, bed-in-a-box companies to disrupt the brick-and-mortar industry.
MIC approached 97th Floor to increase organic reviews and organic market share for the online sleep space. While they do sell 3 main mattresses, they also sell bedding (blankets, pillows, duvets, etc) and other sleep-related products (furniture, noise-canceling machines).
MIC wanted their blog to generate more revenue from the high traffic numbers they were seeing. The sleep space is full of very competitive keywords which made this all the more challenging.
STRATEGY
"Sleep deprivation" is found in headlines everywhere. Large mattress companies pay lip-service to better sleep, but really only focus on getting you to upgrade your mattress.
Our teams decided to focus on possibly the most sleep-deprived group of all: parents.
- Mothers lose about 40 minutes of sleep per night in the first year of their child’s birth, regardless of whether it was their first or second child.
- Fathers lose about 13 minutes of sleep.
- These lowering sleep levels linger for at least 6 years after the birth of the child.
- Only 10% of parents get the recommended sleep
- On average, parents typically only get 5-6 hours of sleep per night
With MIC, 97th Floor decided to shift the messaging by helping parents prioritize their rest and recovery so they can spend more time focusing on their family.
To accomplish this, we launched a Sleep Ambassador Program — a program where MIC would actually pay a select number of parents to improve their sleep health.
Of 331 applicants, 8 were selected. Aside from products to improve their sleep, each ambassador received a 1:1 sleep consultation with an expert and a personalized Sleep Course.
97th Floor teams then wrote 60+ newly researched, written, and designed blogs, infographics and micrographics to support parents in getting better sleep. Each piece of new content was informed by keyword research and optimized for maximum ranking and traffic potential.
Our teams created copy and design for 17 social media posts for MIC to use, and social media strategy and requirements for the ambassadors and influencers partnering with MIC for the campaign. Three separate email funnels and paid promotion and Linkedin and Meta boosted awareness and nurtured leads.
To increase the reach of this campaign, 97th Floor teams fulfilled outreach to a list of 2,000+ news media, websites, local media and blogs.
RESULTS
By taking an audience-centric approach and leaning into the power of earned media, this campaign won our client 100+ organic backlinks from authoritative and relevant websites.
And that's not all. MIC also benefited from:
- 57% increase in revenue from the same time last year
- 35% increase in total transactions from same time last year
- 529+ MM social media impressions in 3 1/2 weeks
- 93 unique earned media impressions, including Newsweek, MSN, Yahoo Finance, Tom’s Guide, Trend Hunter, CBS affiliates, and ABC affiliates
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3. Create a Think Tank
You need a group who understands the value of SEO that you can bounce ideas off of. This may include SEOs, but you can also extend this group to your PPC counterpart, to someone in development, or to a highly-supportive leader.
Get everyone looking at the data and exploring opportunities.
Sam Oh says it's best to "Refine your backlink-generation ideas with a small team of people who understand the value of SEO. This process filters out less impactful ideas, and the buy-in from the individuals involved increases the likelihood that your best ideas will ultimately see execution."
Case Study: All the Rage
SITUATION
eFileCabinet is a document management SAAS company that takes the pain out of complex filing and digitizing processes. Their software is cutting-edge and intuitive, but the document filing industry is stale.
eFileCabinet hired 97th Floor at a time when their stagnant market share was shrinking daily. Without a single marketing professional to manage the crisis, 97th Floor became the company's chief marketing force.
STRATEGY
After extensive customer research, 97th Floor teams built four target personas. We then synchronized all digital channels to target these personas, including intent-based keyword SEO campaigns; PPC on Facebook, LinkedIn and search; and content audits leading to new eabooks and blog posts. We built strong Hubspot workflows for the leads coming from this omni-channel strategy.
Our omni-channel campaigns were a success, but when eFileCabinet expressed that their trade show presence has been a little lackluster, we took that to challenge.
We dove back into personas to find out what would excite this audience. Our idea was simple: we would set up a room packed with old office equipment and a sledgehammer. Before handing these professionals the hammer, we would collect their information in Hubspot. Attendees were then unleashed to beat the ink out of printers, monitors, fax machines and copiers. In the background, Hubspot nurtured these new leads.
Our final deliverables for the campaign included:
- 20 HubSpot workflows
- 100+ emails written and designed
- 60+ articles built for keywords surrounding the personas
- 100+ ad campaigns across three platforms
- 12 vertical-specific ebooks
- 8 customer case studies
- the Rage Cage trade show event, which earned substantial media coverage
RESULTS
The Rage Cage would go on to be an award winning campaign that would drive the highest influx in MQLs in a single month, which contributed to the following:
- 800+ new contacts
- 2,000+ influenced contacts
- 100+ closed deals
- Over $120K in revenue
Not bad for one tradeshow, right?
97th Floor teams don't think in terms of tactics or services. What eFilecabinet needed was an omni-channel campaign supported by content, ads, creative, and SEO. By integrating all of these capabilities, SEO received a considerable lift as one component of this brand awareness campaign.
Organic search has continued to compound its success since we started with eFilecabinet. In the past year, leads brought in by organic traffic increased by 281%.
Want more? Here are seven link-building tips from our SEO experts.
Advanced Strategies for Scaling Backlink Acquisition
Scaling your backlink strategy requires going beyond basic link-building techniques. To achieve substantial growth, you need to integrate multiple tactics and maintain a consistent focus on quality and relevance. Here, we’ll explore seven strategies for acquiring backlinks at scale, ensuring your website achieves a robust link profile.
- Develop High-Value Content: Creating high-value content that naturally attracts links is the first step you should take when boosting your backlink strategy. Invest in comprehensive guides, original research, and engaging multimedia content. When your content offers significant value, other websites are more likely to link to it, boosting your backlink profile organically. Utilize tools like Ahrefs and Moz to identify content gaps and opportunities where you can contribute unique insights.
- Leverage Influencer Partnerships: Collaborating with influencers in your industry can exponentially increase your backlink acquisition. Influencers often have extensive networks and can provide high-quality links to your website. By engaging in guest blogging, co-hosting webinars, or creating joint content pieces, you can secure valuable backlinks from authoritative sources.
- Conduct Link Roundups: Participate in or create link roundups where you feature relevant content from various sources. These roundups are popular in many industries and can generate substantial backlinks. Reach out to bloggers and websites that regularly post link roundups and pitch your high-quality content for inclusion. This strategy helps in acquiring diverse links from multiple domains.
- Utilize Broken Link Building: Broken link building is an effective technique for acquiring backlinks by identifying broken links on other websites and offering your content as a replacement. Use tools like Screaming Frog and Ahrefs to find broken links within your niche. Contact the website owners, inform them about the broken links, and suggest your content as a valuable alternative.
- Engage in Content Syndication: Content syndication involves republishing your content on third-party websites to reach a broader audience. This strategy drives more traffic to your website and helps in building backlinks. Make sure that the syndicated content includes a canonical tag to avoid duplicate content issues. Partner with reputable websites in your industry for syndication to maximize the quality of backlinks.
- Optimize for Local SEO: For businesses with a local presence, optimizing for local SEO can boost backlink opportunities. Get listed on local directories, participate in local events, and engage with local influencers. These activities can result in high-quality local backlinks, which can quickly for improve your website's visibility in local search results. Don’t underestimate the power of local SEO efforts.
- Create Shareable Infographics: Infographics are highly shareable and can attract numerous backlinks. Develop visually appealing and informative infographics related to your industry. Promote these infographics through social media, email outreach, and by contacting bloggers who may find them valuable for their audience. Providing an embed code makes it easier for other websites to link back to your original infographic.
By implementing these advanced strategies, you can scale your backlink acquisition efforts, ensuring your website benefits from a strong, diverse, and high-quality link profile. Consistency, creativity, and a focus on value are key to building sustainable backlinks that drive long-term SEO success.
