You’re a SaaS start-up owner. You have a unicorn software product. But standing out in this crowded digital landscape is challenging, no matter how impressive your offering is.
So, how do you get people to take notice and drive organic traffic to your site? You know you need a robust SEO strategy, but where do you start?
There’s more to search engine optimization (SEO) than target keywords. Link building is a crucial part of any SEO strategy.
Link building is getting other websites to link to yours. These links act as digital recommendations and trust signals to search engines and users (read: potential customers).
However, link building is time-consuming and takes a ton of effort. As a business owner, your time is already at a premium – you can’t afford to invest hours every day in a single strategy. But you can’t afford not to when it could be the difference between success and failure.
The answer?
Hire a qualified virtual assistant – someone with the knowledge and experience to pick up your strategy and hit the ground running. Outsourcing link building to a virtual assistant has many benefits. In this blog, we’ll discuss the value of building high-quality links and how to outsource link building services to a virtual assistant.
What is link-building, and why is it important?
Link building is all about getting other websites to link to yours. It helps bring in more organic traffic.
A link to your content on a high-authority website can help search engines recognize it as trustworthy and improve its search engine rankings.
These links function like referrals from one website to another. They tell search engines, “Hey, this site is worth checking out!”
The more good-quality links pointing to your site, the more search engines (like Google and Bing) will trust your content. External linking is the third most important factor for search optimization, according to many SEO experts.
Building links
It can cost brands thousands of dollars to build quality links. Still, you can also use one of the following organic processes:
- Guest blogging: The idea behind guest blogging or guest posting is to exchange knowledge. The host receives high-quality content for their blog posts, and you can promote yourself and an inbound link to your website.
- Links to editorial content: Most online links are editorial, meaning site owners didn’t ask for them. Content creators included the links because they’re relevant to the content and provide value to readers.
Although editorial links happen more often for large, well-known brands, you can request your own. If you believe your content can be helpful in someone else’s article, simply ask them to include a link to your site or content.
- Link exchange: This method involves asking for a link placement and offering one in exchange. Although Google frowns on this as a stand-alone strategy, as long as you incorporate other link-building strategies, you won’t receive a penalty. That’s because link exchanges happen naturally as you develop relationships with other websites. Just remember to keep links relevant to your content.
What makes a good link?
A quality link possesses the following traits:
- Placed on a web page with high domain ratings (read: authority, leading to strong link juice)
- Positioned within the article’s body of text (not in the footer or sidebar)
- Has relevant anchor text, which tells Google what the target page is about
- Sends the reader to a relevant destination that adds value
As you can see, relevance is key.
A link that feels natural is the best one. The anchor text and the linked target should be relevant and add value to the content. If not, don’t use the link.
You should also consider the website’s credibility. What is its domain rating? Does it meet regulations regarding privacy policies, cookie utilization, etc.? If you don’t trust the website, don’t expect your target audience to either.
What to avoid
Just as there are qualities to look for in a high-quality link, there are qualities to avoid in low-quality links. Including low-quality links in your content can have serious repercussions, so take steps to avoid them.
Watch out for the following Black hat tactics (link building activities that may not be illegal but violate Google’s guidelines):
- Private blog networks (PBNs) – Black hat SEOs will buy expired web domains with good domain authority. They then use AI tools to generate content for these domains quickly and often sell link placements within this content.
- Buying links from link farms – Link farms are frequently websites that are part of a PBN. They exist only to generate revenue for the website owner from link placements.
While it may be tempting to use these tactics to generate links quickly, the risk of penalties from Google and damaging your reputation outweighs any short-term boost in link juice.
Never use black hat tactics, and never include spammy links in your content. Keep your link building campaigns on the up and up and earn (and retain) a reputation you can be proud of.
Virtual assistance for link-building
Virtual assistants specializing in link building and other SEO strategies are often called SEO virtual assistants (SEO VA). These experts are the perfect solution for small and medium-sized businesses that need to bridge the gap between an owner managing everything and hiring in-house link builders or contracting a link building agency via job boards.
Depending on the business’s needs, you might have a single VA or a team. While an SEO VA can handle on-page and off-page SEO, we’re focusing on off-page SEO – link building.
Those responsibilities include the following:
- Researching relevant, high-authority websites and influencers to contact regarding link building opportunities
- Building relationships with peer, high-authority websites in the industry
- Create anchor text for links to include in content
- Perform competitor link analysis
- Complete broken-link searches and provide updated links
- Execute social mention searches and ask to add brand links to previously unlinked content
Having an SEO VA manage your off-page SEO frees you up to focus on growing your business and lets you keep an eye on the big picture.
They’ll maintain a regular link-building schedule according to your goals, ensuring a steady stream of fresh, authoritative links. And keep you informed with regular updates and reports on their link-building efforts.
Finding an SEO virtual assistant
To find an SEO VA that meets your needs, there are several services to help. You can go the traditional route and look on freelance job sites like UpWork, Fiverr, etc. The alternative is to seek out platforms that specialize in virtual assistants.
Companies like WishUp provide a place where business owners can browse listings of qualified individuals. Choose from pre-vetted candidates in a range of specializations. This method allows you to select exactly what you need while staying within your budget.
Benefits of hiring a virtual assistant for link-building
According to research, 51% of marketers expect to see the results of link-building efforts in one to three months. That’s not bad for organic SEO. By outsourcing, you can keep that timeline on the shorter end of the spectrum.
Here are the top benefits of outsourcing your link building.
Save time
The link building process can be a time-consuming and monotonous task. Searching the web for potential backlink opportunities, writing outreach emails, and managing follow-ups takes time.
When you hire an SEO VA, you’re hiring someone with the experience and knowledge to do the job efficiently the first time. They’ll know their way around the necessary tools and templates to make short work of every task.
Rather than teaching yourself or someone else the ropes, all you’ll need to do is point them in the right direction and let them go.
Hands-on expertise
In the same vein as saving time is having an experienced VA. Seasoned professionals understand the intricacies of linking campaigns. They have the necessary skills and expertise to enhance your backlink profile.
You can rely on that expertise – it’s what you’re paying for. They should advise you on the best ways to tweak your strategy to maximize your results. When they communicate those results, you should understand them clearly and feel confident deciding what to do next.
Affordable scalability
Hiring an in-house SEO expert can easily cost more than $150,000 per year.
Hiring a VA offers a budget-friendly alternative. And, if you find you need additional SEO help, your budget will stretch farther with VAs than with a link building agency or in-house SEO team.
Virtual assistants provide affordable flexibility. They can adapt to changing conditions quickly. A team of SEO VAs can work together remotely and optimize almost any opportunity.
A Hubspot study found that blogging alone increases backlink opportunities by 97%.
It’s quite the workload, and that’s just one part of the link-building puzzle.
The reality is that link building is a full-time gig. You can’t expect one person to do everything effectively if you want to scale your business.
To scale your efforts and grow your business efficiently, it’s essential to leverage virtual assistants. You get the same benefits at a lower cost than an in-house team.
Extended networks
A virtual assistant’s network has many connections, including web admins, bloggers, and influencers from various niches. This network is beneficial for obtaining backlinks from trustworthy sources. Access to such a diverse range of connections gives your link profile more authority and variety.
Having already established a rapport with these contacts, your virtual assistant will contact them on your behalf regarding link building opportunities.
In addition to their already established networks, SEO VAs will also research and outreach to new contacts. Some may be referrals from existing connections, while others will be cold outreach. This skill set is essential and supremely valuable in a virtual assistant. They must be exceptional communicators.
Enhanced freedom and peace of mind
A good virtual assistant will regularly inform you of campaign progress. Open communication allows you to monitor your efforts and return on investment (ROI). When needed, you can make real-time adjustments or take immediate action to improve your outlook.
Rather than relying on notifications from an AI or software, your trusted virtual assistant provides you more freedom from worry and security. You can rest easy knowing your strategy, campaigns, and analytics are in capable hands.
Experience with industry tools and technologies
The right virtual assistant will have experience with various link building tools and resources like Majestic SEO or Ahrefs. These tools act as force multipliers in the link-building process. Like a digital toolbox, they provide a variety of capabilities that can improve your campaign’s efficiency and precision.
One of the most critical functions of these tools is the identification of promising link opportunities. They can sift through mountains of information to identify websites and platforms relevant to your niche. Then, it’s just a matter of reaching out and finding a mutually beneficial arrangement to build links.
Screenshot provided by Author
Some of the most critical tools to SEO include the following:
- Ahrefs
- Semrush
- Majestic SEO
- Google Analytics
- Google Keyword Finder
- Respona
- Hunter.io
- Sitechecker
- Google Alerts
- BuzzSumo
By hiring a professional virtual assistant who’s already familiar and experienced with these tools, you save yourself the time and effort training a less experienced person. However, always have an effective training program in place to ensure that even outsourced link builders are up to date on new information. An SEO VA can jump right into your strategy knowing exactly what tools to use when.
No micromanaging or worrying for you. You’ll be able to look forward to regular reports from each tool or custom spreadsheets or reports from your favorite productivity tool.
Finding the right VA for your link building initiative
So there you have it! There are many advantages to outsourcing your link building to a virtual assistant. It brings a skilled ally into your corner.
They streamline your SEO strategy and improve your online presence. And you’ll have peace of mind knowing an expert will handle your link-building tasks.
Remember these simple steps:
- Establish your link-building objectives and criteria
- Hire a capable virtual assistant
- Provide resources, training, and a well-defined workflow
- Review progress regularly and adjust processes as needed
- Maintain open communication and acknowledge contributions
Now go out and start outsourcing! You’ll be glad you did.
