Link Building Plan

When to Use This Skill

Use this skill when you need to:

Build a link building strategy to improve domain authority and rankings
Create outreach email templates for link acquisition
Identify link building tactics appropriate for your niche and resources
Plan content assets designed specifically to attract backlinks

DO NOT use this skill for internal linking strategy (use site-architecture-plan), social media link sharing, or paid link schemes. This is for earning legitimate, editorial backlinks.

Core Principle

LINK BUILDING IS RELATIONSHIP BUILDING — THE BEST LINKS COME FROM CREATING CONTENT WORTH LINKING TO AND REACHING OUT TO THE RIGHT PEOPLE WITH GENUINE VALUE.

Phase 1: Brief

Required Inputs

Input	What to Ask	Default
Website	"What is your domain?"	No default — must be provided
Niche/industry	"What industry are you in?"	No default — must be provided
Current backlink profile	"Do you know your current number of referring domains or DA?"	Low / unknown
Content assets	"What notable content do you have? (guides, tools, research, data)"	Limited content
Budget	"Do you have budget for content creation or tools?"	Minimal — bootstrapping
Time commitment	"How many hours per week can you dedicate to link building?"	2-3 hours/week

GATE: Confirm before building the strategy.

Phase 2: Strategy Design

Link Building Tactics (Prioritized)

Tier 1: Highest ROI for Solopreneurs

Guest Posting — write articles for relevant blogs with a link back
Resource Page Link Building — find pages that list resources and get yours added
Broken Link Building — find broken links on relevant sites, offer your content as replacement
HARO/Connectively — respond to journalist queries with expert quotes

Tier 2: Content-Based Link Earning

Original Research/Data — surveys, analysis, or unique data that others cite
Comprehensive Guides — definitive resources that become the go-to reference
Free Tools/Calculators — interactive resources that earn links naturally
Infographics — visual content that others embed with attribution

Tier 3: Relationship-Based

Podcast Guesting — appear on podcasts for show notes links
Expert Roundups — participate in or create expert roundup posts
Strategic Partnerships — co-create content with complementary businesses

Target Site Identification

## Link Target Criteria

- Domain Authority/Rating: 20+ (realistic targets)
- Relevance: Same niche or closely related
- Traffic: Active site with real readership
- Link patterns: Already links to similar content
- Contact: Editor or author email findable

## Target Categories
| Category | Example Sites | Tactic |
|----------|--------------|--------|
| Industry blogs | [sites] | Guest post |
| Resource pages | [sites] | Resource outreach |
| News/media | [sites] | HARO, data stories |
| Complementary businesses | [sites] | Co-marketing |

GATE: Approve the strategy and target criteria before writing outreach.

Phase 3: Write Outreach Templates

Guest Post Pitch

Subject: Content idea for [Site Name]

Hi [Name],

I've been reading [Site Name] for a while — really enjoyed your recent piece on [specific article].

I'd love to contribute a guest post on [proposed topic]. It would cover:
- [Key point 1]
- [Key point 2]
- [Key point 3]

I recently wrote [link to published work] on a related topic, so you can see my writing style.

Would this be a good fit for your readers?

[Your name]

Broken Link Outreach

Subject: Quick heads-up — broken link on [page title]

Hi [Name],

I was reading your [page title] and noticed the link to [broken resource] appears to be down.

I actually have a similar resource that covers [topic]: [your URL]

Might be a good replacement if you're updating that page.

Either way, great resource — thanks for putting it together.

[Your name]

Resource Page Outreach

Subject: Resource suggestion for your [topic] page

Hi [Name],

I found your [resource page title] while researching [topic] — great collection.

I recently published [your content title] which covers [specific angle not on their list]. Thought it might be a good addition: [your URL]

Let me know if you think it fits.

[Your name]

Phase 4: Polish

1. Monthly Link Building Schedule

Week 1: Prospect research — find 20 target sites
Week 2: Send outreach — 10-15 personalized emails
Week 3: Follow up on non-responses, pitch guest posts
Week 4: Create/publish link-worthy content, track results

2. Tracking System

Outreach sent, responses received, links acquired
New referring domains per month (track in Google Search Console or Ahrefs)
Domain authority/rating trend over time
Traffic from referral links

3. Link-Worthy Content Ideas

Generate 3-5 content concepts specifically designed to attract links in the user's niche.

Anti-Patterns

Buying links — paid links violate Google's guidelines and risk penalties. The short-term gain is not worth the long-term risk.
Mass generic outreach — "Dear Webmaster" emails sent to 500 sites have near-zero success rates. Personalize every email.
Irrelevant guest posts — writing about finance on a cooking blog for a link makes no sense and provides no value.
Ignoring anchor text diversity — all links with the same exact-match anchor text looks manipulative. Use natural, varied anchor text.
Expecting instant results — link building compounds over months and years. Expect to see ranking improvements in 3-6 months.

Recovery

No content to promote: Build one comprehensive guide or resource first, then use it as the foundation for all outreach.
No responses to outreach: Review email personalization, subject lines, and whether targets are relevant. Follow up once, then move on.
Very competitive niche: Focus on long-tail content that targets less competitive terms. Build authority gradually.
Limited time: Focus exclusively on HARO/Connectively and podcast guesting. Both require minimal content creation.