Link building: Preliminary research and analysis
Columnist Andrew Dennis outlines the research necessary to provide a solid foundation for your link-building strategy.

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:
- finding search opportunities.
- identifying linkable assets.
- locating link prospects.
- 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.]
Opinions expressed in this article are those of the guest author and not necessarily Marketing Land. Staff authors are listed here.
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