Link building: Preliminary research and analysis

Research is critical to securing the links your site needs. Research is necessary to work intelligently and strategically.

A few months back, I published a post here on Search Engine Land that outlined the philosophies behind a sound link strategy. Today, I want to build on that post and show the execution of the advice I offered. I want to give you a clear example of how to execute introductory link-building research, which guides strategy development.

In this post, I’ll walk through preliminary link-building research and analysis, including:

1. finding search opportunities.
2. identifying linkable assets.
3. locating link prospects.
4. competitor research and comparable pages.

To provide tangible takeaways, I’ll use a real example site: Twproject (not a Page One Power client).

I’m always looking to improve my efficiency, foster collaboration and better manage projects; so I decided to explore the project management niche for this post. Twproject jumped out as a potential candidate for link building, as they offer a good product and have a decent site but are struggling with search visibility.

Without further ado, let’s dive in!

[Read the full article on Search Engine Land.]

Some opinions expressed in this article may be those of a guest author and not necessarily Marketing Land. Staff authors are listed here.

About The Author

Andrew Dennis

Andrew Dennis is a Senior Content Marketing Specialist at Siege Media. Along with his column here on Search Engine Land, Andrew also writes about SEO and link building for the Moz blog. When he's not reading or writing about SEO, you'll find him cheering on his favorite professional teams and supporting his alma mater the University of Idaho.