- In link building, a tech stack is especially important because much of the work is manual and requires a certain degree of human oversight.
- The right tools can help you with prospecting, outreach, workflows, and analytics.
- Our team’s must-have tools for link building include Buzzstream, Semrush, Trello, and Buzzsumo, among others.
- These tools are sure to make link building more manageable and much more effective.
If you’re in any digital and technological field, then you know your tech stack is SUPER important to your success. In link building, this is especially important because much of the work is manual and requires a certain degree of human oversight. Unfortunately, at this point, there aren’t many ways to completely automate your link-building process. However, there are ways to increase your productivity and efficiency when executing link building campaigns.
In this article, we’ll share a few tools that we believe are MUST-HAVEs in the link-building space. Before we get started, let’s go over a few things that make a link building tool great.
First, what’s needed in link building
If you’re looking to build out the link building tech stack for your team or for yourself, here’s what you should be looking for:
One-stop shop
While a one-stop shop for link building would be great, you’ll likely never find software that does it all. We mean from providing in-depth backlink analytics to intuitive prospecting and project management workflows. Semrush might come the closest, but it could still use some improvements on the outreach workflow end. With this in mind, your goal should be to source as short of a list of tools as possible to improve your link building efficiency.
Link building prospect sourcing
Sourcing prospects is a key component of the link building process. When searching for a tool, you’re going to want to find one that can quickly source opportunities throughout the web for you. This is a pretty basic feature for link building software though some do it better than others. So, be sure to test out the tools prospect research functions.
Efficient prospecting and outreach workflows
Efficiency is key in link building. The prospecting and outreach processes are very tedious and time-intensive. So, keep your eyes peeled for a tool that will allow you to easily vet opportunities by their authority score, their publishing frequency, industry information, etc. This will help you make quicker decisions about whether or not a site is right for you to reach out to.
Similarly, you’ll want an intuitive outreach workflow that allows you to select from link building outreach templates that make sense for the page you are reaching out about.
Template creation and management
As we just mentioned, email templates are key in link building. It’s one aspect in the outreach process that can be streamlined. So, template management is important. Basic template storage should be just enough, but you’ll also want to make sure that you’re able to add personalized fields like names to increase your chances of getting a response.
Email sourcing
In link building, a well crafted email means nothing if it gets to the wrong person. So, be sure to source a tool that provides you with a list of verified emails for the prospective domain. Good tools have this feature baked into their outreach workflows, however, you may want to also consider acquiring an email finder to complement what your outreach software finds.
Help with backlink analytics & outreach analytics
You’ll likely need a different link building software provider for this feature. But, you want to make sure your tech stack includes some backlink and outreach analytics for you. First, you want to be sure you can benchmark and measure your website’s backlink metrics like authority score and referring domains. Secondly, you’ll want to see how your actual email templates are performing so you can tweak them if needed! Find something that gives you the open rates, response rates, and click rates.
Must-have link building tools
Now to dive into what you came here for! Here are our team’s must-have tools for link building.
To be honest, Buzzstream has to be one of the best link building outreach tools currently available (in our opinion) hence why we’ve listed it first! It does everything right from researching sites to monitoring links achieved. The software does really well with bringing together various data points for websites to help you make your outreach decisions. Additionally, the prospecting and outreach workflows are very intuitive and make link building less cumbersome.
Pricing: $24-299 per month
If you’re in digital marketing, then you’ve definitely heard of Semrush. If you haven’t, it’s a pretty well-rounded marketing tool for basically every function in digital marketing. For link building, they have Backlink Audit and Link Building Tools which allow you to audit links, research sites, and conduct outreach. Additionally, there are other toolsets to help you with brand monitoring for those linkless brand mentions. Though, if you are looking for a one-stop SEO shop then Semrush should be your pick.
Pricing: $119.95-229.95 per month
Trello is a staple! If you are conducting outreach for multiple sites or sending more than 100 emails per day then Trello is a must-have for outreach management. You can configure your boards to keep track of opportunities that are open, in progress, or completed. The best thing about it? It’s free!
Pricing: $0-17.50 per month
Ahrefs is known in the SEO industry for its extensive backlink database. So, if Semrush is just a tad bit too expensive, then Ahrefs can be a good replacement for your link-building auditing and reporting efforts.
Pricing: $99-399 per month
Leveraging linkless brand mentions or influencer marketing within your link building campaign? Then you need Buzzsumo! Buzzsumo is a content marketing tool perfect for doing research on influencers in your industry and tracking brand mentions. The best part about Buzzsumo is that it’s not solely a tool for content marketers. They cater to link builders as well by giving you the average reply rate of an influencer and whether or not a brand mention contains a link to your site.
Pricing: $99-$299 per month
If there’s a tool that’s an absolute must-have in link building, it’s Hunter.io. Hunter.io is an email finder that scrapes nearly every website looking for emails that belong to that domain, making it easy for you to find the right person to contact. The best part about it (besides also being free), if available, Hunter.io will tell the exact position or department that person belongs to! This makes your outreach 10x more effective because you’ll know exactly who you’re reaching out to. Some link building outreach tools have this feature baked into their outreach workflows, so Hunter.io can be a great tool for finding more emails.
Pricing: $49-$399
Ballin’ (or link building) on a budget?
Well, if there were just a handful of tools that we’d recommend, it would be these. With each of these, you’ll be able to successfully complete a well-rounded link building campaign:
- Semrush,
- Trello, and
- Hunter.io
Now that you have the keys to conduct a successful link building campaign, go out there and get some links! These must-have tools are sure to make link building more manageable and much more effective for you. However, if you run into trouble you can always reach out to the link building experts here at Redefine Marketing Group.
