Large and small businesses often outsource link building as they lack the expertise and resources to plan an effective SEO strategy. As per the USERP State of Link Building survey, more than 60% of businesses hire link building agencies to enhance their website visibility.
You must be aware that link building is a vital aspect of SEO, but do you know why?
Some of the benefits of a successful link building strategy:
- Google considers high-quality links for ranking
- Improves the credibility of your website
- Attract target audience
- Boost Domain Rating (DR) and Domain Authority (DA)
- Increased business revenue
Therefore, the more high-quality backlinks to a website, the higher it ranks on search engine result pages (SERPs). And this can only be accomplished with the help of the best link building agency.
But the problem arises when you do not know how to figure out the best agency to choose for link building outsourcing.
We have deeply delved into this topic in the below sections. Continue reading the blog to know the points to remember before outsourcing link building services.
What is Outsourced Link Building?
Outsourced link building is when a company hires an external agency to develop a link building strategy and work on it for a positive outcome. Some of the goals of link building includes:
- Increase organic traffic
- Build brand awareness
- Boost website ranking
- Get high-quality backlinks
The process of outsourcing includes agencies generating high-quality backlinks from websites relevant to your niche.
The process of outsourcing link building lets agencies take care of your SEO needs while you enjoy the fruits of their labor. They have a team of experts to help you take your website to the top of Google search results.
Difference Between In-House and Outsource Link Building
When it comes to the link building process, website and business owners need to decide whether to hire an in-house team or outsource link building agency.
Building quality links requires expertise. And if you opt for in-house, you will need to hire more than one person to perform each task at its best. On the other hand, a link building agency will already have a team of professionals.
However, it is best to do a comparison analysis before deciding.
| In-House | Outsource Link building |
| In-house requires you to pay for SEO experts, writers, proofreaders, digital marketers, etc. | In link building outsourcing, you have to purchase a package in which everything is included. |
| You have to purchase a subscription to SEO tools. | Agencies already have a subscription to tools as they also work on other clients. |
| The team will go through trials and errors, which would require more effort and time. | You will get quick results as the team is an expert in the link building process. |
| An in-house team will take time to build links as they have to start from scratch. | Agencies have an extensive network of connections to easily get backlinks. |
Ultimately, it is your decision to opt for any of them.
If you have the budget to hire a team to handle the entire process, you can choose the in-house option. However, outsourcing is the best option for businesses lacking the expertise and resources required for link building.
9 Things to Consider Before You Outsource Link Building
So, you have weighed your options and decided to outsource link building. But how will you determine if an agency is right for you?
As necessary as link building is to your website, you must hire the right agency to do the work.
Whenever you decide to hire link building agency, always evaluate your options. Here are 9 factors to consider before you outsource link building:
Pricing
Budget is the number one factor to consider before outsourcing link building. Until and unless you have fixed a number in your mind, you won’t be able to make a decision to hire an agency.
Backlinks are a valuable aspect of SEO as they indicate to Google that your content is genuine and useful. As per the study, it was seen that the top-ranking page on Google has 3.8x more backlinks than the website in the 2nd to 10th position. Therefore, you can expect an agency to charge fairly for their services.
Get in touch with multiple agencies and find out their link building cost. Some agencies provide month-to-month services, while others require you to pay once for the entire package.
Below are the prices offered by Outreach Crayon’s link building services-
| DA 10+ | DA 20+ | DA 30+ | DA 40+ | DA 50+ | |
| Blogger Outreach | $60 | $80 | $100 | $150 | $250 |
| Infographic Outreach | $80 | $100 | $120 | ||
| Niche Edit Service | $60 | $80 | $100 | $150 | $250 |
| Broken Link Building | $60 | $80 | $100 |
Communicate clearly with your agency regarding their pricing plan, services offered, and KPIs to avoid spending on services that don’t bring desired results.
Reputation
When it comes to outsourcing link building, everyone wants to work with a reputed agency with good brand value. A reputable agency uses white hat link building tactics to drive traffic to the website.
Therefore, you need to ensure the techniques the link building agency is using as it will directly impact your website’s reputation.
Some agencies use black hat SEO techniques, including keyword stuffing, cloaking, etc., to increase the website’s ranking. Such methods can get your website penalized by Google as it has a strict policy against these types of backlinks. Google might also take down your website, leading to a great loss.
Quality Of Links
Remember to prioritize quality instead of quantity when choosing an agency for outsourcing link building.
It is important to gain backlinks from high domain authority websites. The number of links won’t matter if:
- They are from a website not relevant to the niche.
- Links are placed on irrelevant content.
- Links are from a website with a bad reputation.
- The content is poorly written.
- Links are from a spammy website.
The links mentioned above are bound to affect your website negatively, degrading its position in search engine results.
Ensure that your agency only focuses on building high-quality backlinks for your website. This is possible if an agency has a team thorough with all the aspects of SEO along with knowledge of the latest Google algorithm.
Relevance
Relevancy is the key to a successful link building strategy. The right link building agency should know where to acquire a link from.
Gaining backlinks from irrelevant websites will increase bounce rates, leading to the website’s downfall.
For example, if you have an apparel-related website, the link gained from a website about food recipes or automobiles will be irrelevant. Instead, your website will benefit from clothes-related blogs, such as how to style a certain piece of clothing, etc.
Therefore, you need a link building agency that understands the link relevancy and doesn’t place links just for the sake of it.
Proof of Work
Whenever you purchase any product or avail of any services, you must first check their reviews. This gives you the confidence to buy or reject the product.
Similarly is the case with link building agencies. Look at their past work and client testimonials.
Proof of work helps determine which link building agencies can deliver results.
The agency must provide you the proof of work to help you measure the effectiveness of their link building strategy. A good agency will guarantee positive results based on a solid foundation of past accomplishments.
You must beware of agencies who claim to provide you with top ranking on Google without showing any of their work.
Convenience
The reason most businesses choose to outsource link building is convenience. Hiring experts saves you the hassle of recruiting new employees and putting link building strategy into place.
This way, you can focus on enhancing your business without having to work on the link building process.
When it comes to outsourcing, it is easier to work with link building agency that understands your business requirement. You would want an agency to be flexible at your convenience, whether you want to work online, in a different time zone, or in your preferred time.
Success Metrics
In link building, results are not achieved overnight. Creating and implementing a good link building strategy takes effort and time to achieve the desired results.
When you hire a link building agency, it is their responsibility to set and track key performance indicators (KPIs). This helps measure the success and effectiveness of their link building strategy.
You must communicate your business goals to set KPIs. Here are some of the indicators:
- Ranking
- Organic Traffic
- Conversion Rate
- New Users
- Total Revenue
- Return on Investment (ROI)
- Lifetime Value of a Customer (LTV)
- Customer Retention
Agencies must measure the impact of these goals for the website to grow. However, it’s also your responsibility to ensure they are measuring your metrics’ success.
Case Studies
Along with proof of work, link building agencies must provide an insight into the case study data that showcases their efforts. A case study helps businesses analyze the past success stories and success rates of agencies.
This can include relevant screenshots, graphs, and numbers acquired with the help of SEO analytics tools like Ahrefs. What would be more helpful is if the agency shows the results of an industry relevant to your niche. The case studies will help you determine if they are the right fit for your business needs or not.
Trust
Trust is an important factor when hiring link building agency, as you are putting your entire business into their hands.
Therefore, you must do thorough research and understand the nits and grits of how the agency works. This can include looking at their past work, checking their success rate, company’s reputation, client testimonials, etc.
If you have any concerns regarding their strategy, you must have transparent communication, which will help you establish a firm trust in them.
Lastly, they are experts in their field. That is why you hired them. So, it is expected of you to trust their process of working.
Benefits of Outsourcing Link Building
Outsourcing link building allows companies to accomplish their goals without spending time, money, effort, and resources. Let’s have a look at some of the benefits of link-building outsourcing:
It helps to save time and money
One of the best aspects of outsourcing link building is it helps you save time and money.
Link building is the complex and most challenging part of SEO, of which 52.3% of digital marketers agree. And if you hire an in-house team, it will cost you a lot of your time, money, and effort. Also, it will take time for the employees to reach the expert level.
Therefore, you need an expert for the job to fulfill your goal of taking your website to the top.
Get high-Quality links
Outsourcing is an excellent option for companies who want high-quality links in a shorter time. Agencies have a team of experts who thoroughly understand all the strategies that will work for a business. In contrast, the in-house team must learn and understand each aspect of link building to develop a strategy.
Therefore, outsource link building to the right agency instead of opting for an in-house team and putting in your efforts, time, and money. The agencies have the required workforce with advanced knowledge of link building.
Strategized link building process
Link building is a consistent process that never ends. As per 50% of marketers, the average time to see the result from link building is 1 to 3 months.
Despite its demand for more efforts, link building is rewarding in the long run. This is the reason why most businesses prefer outsourcing link building.
The link building agencies have a strategized process in place to yield the best results. There are various aspects of link building in SEO, and agencies are thorough with each.
Conclusion
Outsourcing link building is a huge investment that you must ponder carefully. You want to ensure you are working with the right agency to meet your business goals.
Before hiring an agency, you must consider many aspects—take your time and research to make the right decision.
It is imperative to build high-quality backlinks to increase your website ranking. And a good link building agency has experts to handle your business needs.
Setting your expectations right from the beginning will make outsourcing an easy and smooth process. It is a cost-effective way to improve your website’s SEO and investment returns.
Therefore, to grow a successful business, remember these points before outsourcing link building.
