How to Do Link Outreach (Without Making Everyone Hate You)

Link outreach is one of those things that sounds simple until you actually try it.

Send some emails, get some backlinks, watch your rankings climb. Easy, right?

Except it’s not, because for every genuine outreach email sent out with actual value, there are about 500 spammy “dear webmaster” disasters clogging up inboxes worldwide.

Here’s the reality: link outreach works. But only if you do it properly. And “properly” doesn’t mean sending 10,000 templated emails and praying someone responds.

This guide will walk you through the actual process of link outreach, the kind that gets responses, builds relationships, and yes, eventually gets you those backlinks that move the needle.

No fluff. No “just add value” platitudes. Just the real, somewhat messy process of how link outreach actually works in 2025.

What Is Link Outreach, Really?

Outreach link building involves outreach to website owners, editors, and content managers to acquire backlinks to your site.

But let’s be real about what it involves: you are cold-emailing strangers and asking them to do something that benefits you more than them. At least initially.

The keyword there is “initially.” Because done right, link outreach isn’t about begging for links; rather, it’s about creating real connections with people in your industry that may want to reference your content, collaborate with you, or see value in what you’re building.

Think of this more as going to a conference and networking, and less like door-to-door sales. You wouldn’t approach someone and immediately ask them for promotion (well, you shouldn’t). You’d strike up a conversation and find common ground, building from that.

That’s link outreach, just slower and via email.

Why Bother With Link Outreach?

Because backlinks still matter. Google’s algorithm has gotten smarter, sure, but links remain one of the strongest ranking signals.

Your competitors are building links. If you aren’t, you’re falling behind. It’s that simple.

And here’s the thing: you can create the best content in the world, but if nobody links to it, Google doesn’t care. You need that external validation. You need other sites telling Google “hey, this content is worth paying attention to.”

That’s where outreach comes in.

The Link Outreach Process: Step-by-Step

Let’s break down exactly how to do link outreach without making people instantly delete your emails.

Step 1: Find the Right Prospects

That’s where the majority of folks screw up. They think more is better, so they build a list of 5,000 websites and start blasting emails.

Don’t do that.

You need volume, yes. But strategic volume. Not mass-volume spam.

Here’s what to look for:

• Relevance first: The site should be in your industry or at least adjacent. A backlink from a food blog won’t help your SaaS startup.
• Organic traffic: Using Ahrefs or SEMrush, ensure real visitors come to the site. A DR 50 website with zero traffic is worthless.
• Editorial standards: Consider the content they’ve published. Well-written? Link out naturally? Or is it thin, spammy garbage?
• Link placement opportunities: Check if they have resource pages, link roundups, or regularly publish guest posts

Start off with 50-100 very relevant prospects as opposed to 1,000 random sites.

Quick tip: Look at who’s linking to your competitors. If they linked to similar content before, they might link to yours. Tools like Ahrefs’ Link Intersect feature make this easy.

Step 2: Find Their Contact Details

You’ve got your prospect list. Now you need email addresses.

This part is quite tiresome but necessary. Here’s the hierarchy of contact methods:

1. Personal email address (firstname@company.com) – Best option
2. Editor/content manager emails – Second best
3. General contact forms – Meh, but workable
4. Info@ or contact@ addresses – Last resort

How to find them:

• Check the “About” or “Contact” pages (obvious, but you’d be surprised)
• Look at author bios if they publish bylines
• Try standard email patterns: firstname.lastname@domain.com
• Find the right person using LinkedIn then guess the email format using their website
• Hunter.io if you’re feeling lazy, just check before sending

Don’t overthink this step. If you cannot find a personal email in 5 minutes, then move on. There are plenty of other prospects.

Step 3: Write a Pitch That Doesn’t Suck

This is where link outreach lives or dies.

Your email has to achieve three things in about 10 seconds:

1. Show that you are a real person who actually looked at their site
2. Explain what you want clearly
3. Give them a reason to care

Here’s what NOT to do:

“Dear Webmaster,

I came across your site and loved your content! I have a high-quality article that would be perfect for your readers. It would be a win-win partnership. Let me know if you’re interested!

Best regards, Generic SEO Person”

This email screams spam. It’s vague, it’s obviously templated, and it offers nothing specific.

Here’s a better approach:

“Hi [Name],

I was reading your article on [specific topic] and found the section relating to [specific point]. We have just published a study on [related topic], which has some data that might be helpful to you, specifically around [relevant finding].

I thought it might be worth adding as a reference in your piece, but no pressure either way. Here’s the link if you want to check it out: [URL]

Either way, great article. The part on [specific thing] was really useful.

[Your name]”

See the difference? It’s specific; it references their actual content, it’s casual, and it makes the ask without being pushy.

Key principles:

• Keep it under 100 words
• Use their name, obviously
• Reference something specific from their site
• Be clear about what you want
• Don’t apologize or grovel
• Sound like a human, not a robot

Just one more thing: don’t over-personalize. I know everyone says to personalize every email, but there’s a limit. You needn’t write a novel about how their content changed your life. One simple specific reference is enough to prove you are not spamming.

Step 4: Send Your Campaign (The Right Way)

You’ve got your prospects. You’ve got their emails. You’ve crafted a solid pitch.

Now what?

Sending best practices:

• Send emails individually or use mail merge that looks individual
• Use your real business email address, not Gmail
• Send Monday through Thursday, 9am-2pm in their timezone
• Space out your sends if you’re doing volume, 50-100 per day max
• Warm up your domain, if you’re sending cold emails at scale

You can track your opens and clicks if you want, but don’t obsess over it. Some people have images disabled. Focus on response rate.

And for the love of everything holy, don’t use aggressive follow-up sequences. This isn’t sales. Nobody wants 7 follow-up emails about a backlink.

Step 5: Follow Up (Once)

Most people will not respond to your first email. That’s normal.

People are busy. Emails get buried. Sometimes they mean to respond and forget.

That’s why you follow up. But only once.

Wait 5-7 days, then send something like this:

“Hi [Name],

Just following up on my last email regarding [topic]. I know you must be very busy, so no worries if this is not currently on your radar.

Just wanted to make sure it didn’t get lost in your inbox!

[Your name]”

Short. Friendly. Not pushy.

If they don’t respond after that, move on. Don’t be that guy who sends follow-up number six asking if they “got your previous emails.”

Step 6: Land the Placement (And Keep the Relationship)

Someone responded. Great! Now what?

If they’re interested:

• Provide any further information they may require without delay
• Be flexible with anchor text and placement of links (within reason)
• Thank them sincerely
• Add them to your “warm contacts” list for future opportunities

If they want something in return:

This happens. A lot. They might ask for:

• A link back to their site
• The cost of placement
• A guest post from you
• Social media promotion

Decide what you’re comfortable with. There’s no universal rule here. Just don’t agree to anything questionable that can get you penalized.

Keep the relationship alive:

Don’t ghost people once you have what you want. That is transactional and shortsighted.

Share their content from time to time. Comment on their posts. Keep the relationship warm. These connections compound over time.

Link Outreach Strategies That Actually Work

Now that you understand the basic process, let’s discuss specific tactics.

Guest Post Outreach

This is the most common approach, and for good reason: it works.

You are offering them content for their site, saving their time, in exchange for a backlink in an author’s bio or inside the content.

What makes a guest post pitch work:

• You’ve actually read their site and understand their content style
• Your topic ideas are concrete and related to their audience
• You can prove you’re a decent writer by sharing previous work
• You aren’t selling overtly promotional crap

Example pitch:

“Hi [Name],

I’ve been following [Site Name] for a while now, particularly your content on [topic area]. I noticed that you haven’t covered [specific angles].

I’d love to contribute a guest post on [specific topic idea]. I’ve written for [credible publications] and could deliver something in the [X-word range] with data/examples/case studies.

Here are a couple topic ideas:

• [Specific headline 1]
• [Specific headline 2]

Let me know if either of those resonates or if you’d prefer a different angle.

Thanks, [Your name]”

The acceptance rate on guest posts varies wildly depending on your niche and the quality of your targets, but you can expect 5-15% response rates if you are doing this well.

Broken Link Building

That’s brilliant, because you’re actually offering value. You’re showing them a problem on their site and offering them a solution.

The process:

1. Find broken links on relevant sites using Ahrefs’ Broken Link Checker or similar
2. Check if you have content that could replace that broken link
3. Email them and mention the broken link, suggesting your content as a replacement

Example pitch:

“Hi [Name],

I was reading your post about [topic] and found that one of your links, namely [broken URL], is no longer valid.

I recently published an article on the same topic that might work as a replacement, found here: [your URL]

Just thought I’d mention it in case it’s helpful. Either way, great resource overall!

[Your name]”

This has a higher response rate than cold pitching because you’re leading with value. You’re helping them improve their content.

Resource Page Outreach

Many websites maintain either resource pages or “best tools” lists within their niches.

If you have a genuinely useful tool, guide, or resource, then pitching these types of pages can be highly effective.

How to find them:

Search Google for:

• “[your niche] resources”
• “best [your niche] tools”
• “[your niche] link roundup”
• “useful [your niche] websites”

The pitch:

“Hi [Name],

I came across your [resource page title] and found it super useful. I bookmarked like three of those tools.

I thought you might want to include [Your Tool/Resource] as well. It [brief explanation of what it does and why it’s valuable].

Here’s the link: [URL]

Let me know if you think it’s a fit!

[Your name]”

Again: only pitch if your resource is actually good. Don’t waste people’s time with mediocre stuff.

Content Promotion & Digital PR

If you have created something truly newsworthy, data-driven research, an industry survey, or even an in-depth study, then you may have a story to pitch to journalists and bloggers.

This is more advanced and requires content that’s actually link-worthy. A regular blog post won’t cut it.

What works:

• Original research with unique data
• Industry surveys with interesting findings
• Provocative expert opinions on trending topics
• Tools or resources that solve real problems

Pitch these to journalists who cover your industry. Lead with the newsworthy angle, not with “please link to my site.”

If you’re not ready to create this level of content yourself, our link building services can help you develop and execute these strategies properly.

Best Practices (The Stuff That Matters)

Let’s talk about the principles that separate good link outreach from spam.

Quality Over Everything

I know I said you need volume. And you do. There’s a difference, though: strategic volume, rather than spray-and-pray.

Strategic volume means:

• Sending 50 highly targeted emails per week
• Properly researching each prospect
• Meaningful personalization
• Following up once
• Tracking what works and iterating

Spray-and-pray means:

• Sending 500 generic emails per day
• Copy-pasting the same template
• Following up relentlessly
• Not caring about relevance

The first approach has maybe a 10-15% response rate. The second has a 0.5% response rate and burns your domain reputation.

Choose wisely.

Relationship Building, Not Just Link Building

This is going to sound cheesy, but it’s true: the best link builders are relationship builders.

When you approach outreach as networking rather than transactions, everything changes. People are more likely to help you. They’re more likely to link to you multiple times. They’re more likely to introduce you to others.

Practical ways to build relationships:

• Engage with their content on social media prior to pitching them
• Share their articles with your audience
• Introduce them to relevant contacts in your network
• Provide feedback or insights when they ask
• Remember details about their business or interests

This doesn’t mean you need to become best friends with everyone. But treating people like humans and not link opportunities makes all the difference.

Create Systems and Automation (Smartly)

Link outreach at scale requires systems. You cannot do research, email, and follow up with hundreds of prospects without some structure.

Build systems for:

• Prospect research and list building
• Email templates with fields for customization
• Tracking responses and follow-ups
• Recording what works and what doesn’t

But don’t over-automate. The moment your emails feel robotic, your response rates tank.

Save time with tools for repetitive tasks, while in real communication, retain the human touch.

If you’d rather skip the operational headache entirely, that’s where our link building marketplace comes in. You can access quality backlinks without building the entire outreach infrastructure yourself.

Send Volume (But Smart Volume)

My hot take is that most people don’t send enough outreach emails.

They send 10-20 emails, get discouraged when nobody responds, and give up.

Link outreach is a numbers game. But it’s a smart numbers game.

You should be sending at least 50-100 targeted emails per week if you’re serious about link building. That’s 200-400 per month.

At a 10% positive response rate, which is realistic with good targeting, that is 20-40 potential links per month.

But this only works if those emails are going to the right people with the right message. Sending 1,000 bad emails gets you nothing except a damaged sender reputation.

Be Patient (Seriously)

Link outreach is slow.

You’re not going to see the results in two weeks. Probably not in a month. Perhaps not even in two months.

Give it three months of consistent effort before you evaluate whether your approach is working.

Why so long? Because:

• People take time to respond, if they respond at all
• It takes time for the links to get indexed
• It takes even more time for those links to impact the rankings
• Relationship-building compounds over time

I know this isn’t what you want to hear. You want quick wins. But link building doesn’t work that way. Anyone promising fast results is either lying or using tactics that will get you penalized.

Set realistic expectations and commit to the long game.

When to DIY vs When to Outsource

Let’s talk about the elephant in the room: should you even be doing this yourself?

Do it yourself if:

• You’re early-stage and bootstrapped (budget constraints)
• You have time to dedicate 10-15 hours per week to outreach
• You’re naturally good at networking and building relationships
• You want to understand the process well before you delegate

Consider outsourcing if:

• Your time is more valuable than the cost of the service
• You’ve tried DIY, and it’s not working
• You need results faster than you can produce them alone
• You’d rather focus on your actual business

But here’s the thing: link outreach is time-consuming and requires a very particular set of skills. If you’re a founder, your time is probably better spent on product, sales, or strategy.

That said, if you’re going to outsource, don’t just hand it off to the cheapest provider you can find. The link building market is filled with low-quality services that will do more harm than good.

Look for providers who:

• Show you exactly where links will be placed before you pay
• Use manual outreach (no spam, no link networks)
• Provide full transparency and reporting
• Understand your niche and can create relevant contextual backlinks

Or you can use a hybrid approach: handle the strategy yourself but use a marketplace or service for execution. That’s what we built Search Royals for, actually. Get access to quality links without the agency markup or the DIY time sink.

The Geographic Advantage That Nobody Talks About

Quick note on something most guides won’t mention: where you’re based matters.

Outreach to US-based sites is generally easier than outreach to European sites. American site owners tend to be more responsive to cold emails and more open to link exchanges or guest posts.

European sites are generally more conservative about outreach responses, especially in Northern Europe. Not impossible, just different.

Adjust your expectations and approach accordingly. If you’re targeting global audiences, US outreach might have a 12% response rate while European outreach hovers around 6-8%.

This doesn’t mean you should only target US sites. Just be aware that response rates vary by region and don’t get discouraged if your European outreach takes longer to yield results.

What Success Actually Looks Like

Let’s set realistic expectations.

Good link outreach results:

• 10-15% positive response rate
• 5-10 quality backlinks a month with consistent effort
• Visible ranking improvements after 3-4 months
• Growing network of industry contacts

Warning signs you’re doing it wrong:

• Zero responses after 100+ emails
• Responses but no actual placements
• Links from irrelevant or spammy sites
• Burned bridges because you were too aggressive

Track your metrics: know your response rate, conversion rate, and ultimately, what links are moving the needle on your rankings.

And remember: not all backlinks are equal. Ten highly relevant, contextual links from real sites in your niche will outperform 100 directory submissions or forum spam links every time.

Final Thoughts

Link outreach works, but it’s not magic.

It’s systematic relationship-building via email. It’s pattern matching. It’s persistence without being annoying.

Most quit too early or poorly execute. They send generic templates, give up after 20 emails, or target the wrong sites entirely.

Don’t be most people.

Build your prospect list thoughtfully. Create custom, valuable pitches. Follow up once. Be patient. Track what works. Iterate.

And if you realize six weeks in that you’d rather focus on building your product instead of chasing backlinks, that’s fine too. That’s literally why services like ours exist.

The key is to start. Send those first 50 emails. See what happens. Adjust. Send 50 more.

In three months, you’ll have a portfolio of links that actually drive rankings. In six months, you’ll have relationships that open doors you didn’t even know existed.

Or you’ll realize you hate outreach and decide to invest in professional link building instead. Either way, you’ll be further along than you are today.

Now stop reading and start sending.