When it comes to outsourcing link building, the reviews are a mixed bag.
Some folks strongly argue link building should be done in-house. Whereas others are happier to outsource the service to experts and await results.
As a link building agency, we strongly agree with the latter. After all, clients who outsourced their link building efforts to us saw growth in their organic traffic, revenue, and search rankings.
Having said that, we don’t wish to paint a biased picture for you. This is why, in this piece, we’re writing about all the pros and cons of outsourcing link building, so you can come to a conclusion yourself.
On that note, let’s dig in to find the pros and cons of outsourcing link building, how to outsource link building efforts, and the best practices to consider when hiring a link building agency.
Highlights
- Explore the pros and cons of outsourcing link building to an agency
- Consider expert knowledge and years of experience leading to faster, more valuable results versus the expense and vetting process.
- Learn how to choose the best link building agency for you and your business
- Best practices for hiring a link building agency
- Clear communication
- Leadership buy-in
- Customized strategy
Pros of outsourcing link building
In this section, we’re shedding light on some of the most important benefits of outsourcing link building to a third-party agency or contractor.
1. You get experts to get results for you
Once you leave things in the hands of a capable link building agency/expert, you not only benefit from their expertise but you also benefit from their established media relations, which would guarantee you get high-quality links (and faster!).
Besides, the best experts in the game don’t view link building as a singular action (i.e., obtaining links).
They also look at it from the perspective of:
- Providing the reader with intent-driven, valuable content
- Helping you attain your overall business goals
There are other benefits too of partnering with the right experts, such as:
- Considering the relevancy of subject matter/website before adding any editorial links
- Creating tailored solutions for you based on your industry and niche
- Adhering to SEO best practices
- Helping you mitigate risks
2. The tools and parameters they use are more accurate
More often than not, link building service agencies rely on sophisticated tools, templates, and workflows to get the job done. Of course, they customize the strategy to suit each client, but the foundation remains the same in most cases.
These tools and workflows often provide deeper insights, such as:
- Tracking link performance, all of which leads to more precise and effective link building campaigns
- Identifying high-authority domains
- Analyzing competitor backlinks
Besides, all of these systems have been created through trial and error, going toe-to-toe with the algorithm many times, and gathering the insights of experts — all of which makes it proprietary data.
3. You end up saving money later down the line
In any link building agency, you’ll find a thick tech stack filled with a slew of SEO, analysis, and link checker tools to ensure each link is credible. You’ll also find they’ve hired in-house writers, editors, outreach experts, SEOs, etc., to maintain efficiency.
Combined, all these efforts result in obtaining credible links for the client as soon as possible.
If you wish to achieve the same results as these link building agencies, you might need to invest a whole lot of time, energy, and money into replicating their processes. If you ask us, it’s best to skip the whole shebang and save money while at it.
Not to mention, if you hire a link building company, they help you save costs that you might’ve incurred with SEO penalties, lost revenue (due to a decline in organic and referral traffic), or dealing with the fallout of bad links.
4. It’s easier to scale with them
Last but not least, scaling is simply easier with link building agencies. In most instances, link building experts will have ready-made plans tailored to your specific requirements.
For example, uSERP’s pricing plans look something like this:
If business is going great and you wish to scale, all you’ll need to do is switch from one plan to another!
Cons of outsourcing link building
Now that we’ve covered the benefits of outsourcing link building, let’s examine some potential drawbacks associated with this practice.
1. There are tons of suspicious link building providers
When it comes to outsourcing link building, finding the right agency is crucial. While there are numerous reputable agencies available, there are also link farms that employ shady tactics.
The latter companies may also end up using black-hat SEO practices, such as:
- Using PBNs (Private Blog Networks)
- Keyword and link stuffing
- Creating doorway pages
- Adding hidden links
- Duplicating content
All of this can eventually result in penalties (aka, search engines may remove your content or drop your rankings). They can also damage your reputation, lead to increased expenses to regain organic and referral traffic, and result in legal actions.
At the surface level, it might be difficult to distinguish a good agency from a bad one. Sebastian Petrosi, a content marketer who sourced out link building before, suggests the following considerations before hiring any link building agency/expert:
- Having a clear strategy for how link building aligns with your overall SEO efforts and goals
- Assessing the agency’s methodology and ensuring they focus on quality over quantity
- Looking for transparency in reporting and communication
2. Some agencies may use spammy links or irrelevant websites
Another disadvantage of hiring the wrong agency is that they may use:
- Websites with low domain rating (DR)
- Irrelevant anchor text and websites
- No-follow links acting as do-follow
- Spammy and overstuffed links
- Hidden/cloaked links
While this may all masquerade as a link building effort, the results might not be the same. In fact, these kinds of tactics may cause short-term gains but long-term fallout.
That’s to say, once the algorithm crawls your/your partner’s site and finds such practices on the backend, it can again result in lowered search engine rankings, penalties, and an impact on your website’s domain authority.
P.S.: Such kinds of acquired link placements can also be taken down immediately (or be paid links in the first place).
3. Lack of communication (which can affect business goals)
Lack of communication or miscommunication is something that can impact any business, not just link building agencies. Due to close proximity and constant collaboration with team members, communication becomes easier when you have an in-house team.
On the flip side, if you work with any agency that doesn’t do constant check-ins or communicate goals/results/metrics, you might often find yourself lost about the progress of your campaigns. It also means you won’t achieve your business goals as effectively as you want.
This is obviously a setback, but if you were to partner with the right agencies, communication becomes key. For example, the uSERP team holds regular SEO calls and check-ins, shares detailed reports, and has a dedicated partnership team.
4. One-size solutions for all kinds of goals and business
While it’s common for SEO agencies to have templates and frameworks, it’s not normal for them to copy-paste the same link building strategy for every business, regardless of their goals and SEO strategies.
Having said that, some businesses have enlisted in this practice.
Such kinds of businesses will not only tank your SEO progress, but they’ll also:
- Get the wrong kind of traffic from the wrong kind of websites/anchor text
- Result in a colossal waste of your time and resources
- Not get you any return on investment (ROI)
Safe to say, it’s best to check a company’s case studies and analyze reviews of their previous clients to find how they operate before handing over your online presence to them.
How to outsource link building? Step-by-step guide
While there is a fair share of benefits as well as disadvantages of outsourcing link building activities, one thing has to be said—the reputed agencies with specialized expertise can help you avoid almost all disadvantages and take your online presence to a whole new level.
Step1: Decide the foundational elements
Before you even think about approaching an external agency, evaluate if you have all that you need to begin working. This includes:
- Having an SEO strategy in place
- Deciding on a clear goal and objective for undertaking link building activities
- Settling on a monthly budget (along with a plan of action on how long you can utilize this budget)
- Analyzing if your website is ready for the incoming traffic. This not only applies to whether your website can load quickly, but it also applies to how you make a good impression on your new users. For example, consider your UI/UX. Do you have redirects? Have you positioned your value prop correctly, etc.?
- An understanding of how link building works. That’s to say, while you may not need to be a link building expert, you’ll need to understand that link building does not guarantee immediate results.
Step 2: Research and finalize the right vendor
Once you have all the above in place, now’s the right time to look for a vendor. Here are a few tips that might help you along the way:
- Ask them SEO-related questions. (This will help you understand if they do white hat link building or if they use black hat tactics.)
- Try to assess the agency’s/expert’s backlink profile, domain ranking, and reputation
- Ask them about their link building process, best practices, and feedback loops
- Learn about the companies with which they have active media relationships
- Analyze their link building packages and what you get out of each package
- Find more about them through client reviews and case studies
- Actively ask for referrals within your established networks
- Find if they have industry-specific expertise
Once you like a vendor and wish to move forward with them, suggest a trial period contract to move forward.
Step 3: Reevaluate your relationship
Imagine this: You’ve started a working relationship with your link building agency, and it’s been six months since then. Well, now might be the time to analyze if the agency is:
- Securing high-quality backlinks from relevant blog/guest posts?
- Sharing KPI reports or their analysis of your progress?
- Getting you active links that are here to stay?
- Using any shady black hat techniques?
- Actively communicating with you?
- Attaining your business goals?
All reputable agencies adhere to these best practices. So, if your agency doesn’t, and you find something amiss in your communication/results, it might be time to reevaluate your working relationship!
Best practices to consider when hiring a link building agency
Just a couple of things to consider to ensure a great working relationship!
1. Communicate what not to do
While it’s important to communicate with your link building agency about what to do and share your expectations, it’s also important to communicate what not to do.
For example, you might not want over-optimized blog posts/anchor texts. Or, you might want to avoid backlinks from risky niches (e.g., gambling) even if they have a high DR.
It could also be that you’re looking for backlinks from authoritative websites with an 80+ DR that get XX visitors monthly—any other websites might not fit the bill.
2. Get leadership buy-in
Aino Valtonen, a Growth Marketer who’s worked with link building agencies before, states that for any link building project to be successful, you need to have leadership buy-in.
“The most important thing in outsourcing link building is getting buy-in from decision-makers. If they don’t understand the importance of links, it’s unlikely you will get a good project started. In my personal experience, the lack of buy-in has been the number one reason for failed partnerships.”
To ensure you do your link building efforts some justice, try to get your management team onboard before hiring any agencies/experts.
3. Look for an agency/expert that can provide customized strategies
We previously discussed this, but to reiterate, look for experts who can provide customized strategies.
Let’s be real: Every business is different, and all business owners have different goals when it comes to link building. You don’t want to be stuck with an agency that cannot help you achieve your goals, especially if you’re paying good money for it.
Instead, look for experts who have proven their capabilities time and again, so you can trust them with your unique goals.
Next steps
In this piece, we discussed the pros and cons of link building, how to outsource link building, and the best practices to consider.
If you’re serious about your link building goals, the next step is to look for the right agency that can help you achieve high-quality backlinks from reputable sources and relevant sites.
uSERP can not only be a link building agency for you, but it can be a true partner — helping you reach all your SEO goals, whether that includes building links, creating content, or creating an SEO strategy.
To understand what we can do for you and your business, we recommend booking an intro call to chat with our in-house experts!
