Outreach is about building valuable links that come from real people rather than from generic, mass-produced texts where links are placed sporadically. The latter has more or less been the standard approach within the SEO world when it comes to link building. At Brath, however, we believe that outreach is a far more successful method for acquiring inbound links—but how do you actually go about it once you decide to invest in outreach?
Outreach requires certain personal traits as well as a significant investment of time. Anyone hoping for a magical formula for outreach will be disappointed—outreach is about dedicated work and extensive research. You also need a degree of social competence and the ability to persuade people. Why should they link to your site? What can you offer them? These are questions you must be able to answer, because you will inevitably be asked. If you have a background in or natural aptitude for sales—congratulations. That skill will take you far in this type of work. PR professionals may also have an advantage, as there are many similarities. Below, I will go through some of the most fundamental elements of how to work effectively with outreach.
Understand your business
Understanding your own—or your client’s—business is the most important part of outreach work. Why? Because you want to build links that are relevant. You need insight into the different aspects of the business in order to communicate effectively and build links that actually add value. This part goes hand in hand with all other forms of marketing: to create content that delivers results, you must understand what your business offers. This becomes even more critical in outreach, since you are trying to persuade someone else to link to your site. Without clarity on the points below, you will be working uphill from the start.
The first thing you need to understand is your target audience and personas. You must identify who you are marketing to. Is it a middle-aged man who plays golf and drives a Volvo, a woman aged 18–25 living in the moment and having just bought her first home, or a company selling SaaS solutions? You need to understand the characteristics and attributes of your audience in order to prospect effectively and focus on the opportunities that create the greatest value for your business.
The second pillar is understanding what your brand stands for and what your branding strategy looks like. Make sure you have full clarity here so you can align this with your outreach efforts and the links you build.
The final part is having clearly defined USPs (unique selling points) that distinguish what your company offers. When these are clear, there will be no ambiguity in what you communicate externally. This becomes even more important if multiple people are working with outreach, making it wise to establish this from the very beginning.
Work in a structured way
“No shit, Sherlock.” It may sound obvious, but the importance of structure cannot be overstated. As with any growing project, it is difficult to anticipate how large it may become in a few years, months, or even weeks. Do your best to implement a system that can handle large volumes of data—because once you crack the code for effective outreach, that’s exactly what you’ll have. This can range from a simple spreadsheet to a dedicated CRM system tailored for outreach. It’s well worth researching what suits your organization best. I learned this the hard way, and let’s be honest—it’s not much fun reorganizing six months of outreach work into a new, more sustainable system. Hopefully, you can learn from my mistakes and avoid wasting time redoing work.
A free and very useful tool for getting started with outreach is Google Sheets. You’ll want to store information about your contacts to enable smooth communication over time. Think of it like an acquaintance you meet occasionally—you don’t track their entire life, but staying updated on the basics is beneficial. Another tip is to consider your business or campaign when deciding what data is relevant. There are no fixed rules here; this is something you will learn over time. Practice makes perfect.
Prospecting
Once your structure is in place, it’s time to start prospecting. You can use :contentReference[oaicite:0]{index=0} (good old-fashioned searches using relevant queries) or analyze competitors’ backlinks to identify potential targets. I recommend defining KPIs in advance to help filter which sites are worth pursuing.
Accuracy is crucial during prospecting. By doing solid groundwork, you save time and energy later. By integrating your requirements early on, you ensure that you build the right type of links—relevant ones—which is the core objective of outreach.
Let’s say we are an electronics company operating in Sweden, with :contentReference[oaicite:1]{index=1} as a competitor. With that in mind, we can easily identify which sites link to them using tools such as :contentReference[oaicite:2]{index=2}. Initially, we arrive at a page similar to the screenshot above. We then click on “Backlinks” to access the relevant data.
Here, the primary KPI we look at is “Domain Trust Flow” (highlighted at the top), which we then match against the market we are targeting—Sweden in this case. This is why the two Swedish sites are highlighted. Why avoid links from other languages? Because Google uses country-specific indexes and algorithms, prioritizing links from sites in the same language and region.
Understand the prospect’s business
At this stage, you should have a list of sites that match your criteria. Now it’s time to familiarize yourself with each site and the people behind it. The research you do here will significantly increase your chances of success.
With sufficient background information, you can persuade more effectively—by understanding the site’s purpose and its audience. This allows you to clearly articulate how linking to your site benefits both the site owner and their readers. If you adapt your tone and communication style to match theirs, you’re already well on your way. Understand their motivations and their audience’s needs. Just like in sales, realizing that this is not about you is crucial. Focus instead on how you can help them. Ultimately, the ability to communicate persuasively is one of the most important skills in successful outreach.
Develop a contact strategy
At this point, it’s time to think about how you will approach the selected sites. Expect a fair number of failures—especially in the beginning—but over time, you’ll develop a feel for what works, improving your success rate. Industry matters here as well: highly niche or sensitive sectors tend to be more challenging, while industries with strong news value offer better opportunities.
Basic principles apply: be polite and personal. Many sites also have guidelines—make sure you read them. Once you succeed in building links, maintaining the relationship requires ongoing effort. Think of it as networking: a single introduction does not create a relationship. Value must be mutual and continuous. Staying in touch ensures that both parties benefit from the relationship.
For those looking to work with outreach effectively, the pillars above provide a solid foundation. Once you have momentum, feel free to experiment with what works best for your business. At Brath, we have had great success with this method across multiple industries. If you’re curious about how outreach can help your business, you’re very welcome to get in touch with us.
