Identifying the correct website to approach for your blogger outreach campaign is imperative. Most have their own niche and preferred subjects to write about, so be mindful before approaching them for your link-building campaigns. Here are some vital tips on how to identify which bloggers are the best to use.
Domain Authority
The Domain Authority (DA) of a site is a score that Google allocates to that specific site dependant on how influential it believes it to be. Other factors that the Domain Authority checks for is the age, popularity and size of the site. Sites with a higher DA are usually sites that have been established a long time and publish relevant, clear, concise content. There are tools out there that can show you the DA of every site – a good one to trial is Moz.
Social Coverage
Social coverage is an important factor of your link-building campaign. Most bloggers not only have their website but will also have social media accounts linked to their blog. The main social channels are Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter and LinkedIn. Most bloggers will post content on their blog then share it across their social channels, giving your blogger outreach campaign further coverage.
How often content is published
You should always ensure you check that a site is still actively posting content. You should look to work with sites that continuously upload new/relevant content. This will not only help with their DA but also show that they have an engaged site. Steer clear of sites that have not published content for a long time, as this could affect the DA and also their engagement with their audience.
Site speed
Many factors can affect the speed of a website – here are just a few:
WordPress plug-ins may decrease the speed of a website dependent on the size of the plug-in. Bloated code can also affect the speed, as could not compressing the size of an image. You should also watch out for too many adverts on a website, as this can significantly decrease the speed of a site.
Categories and Tags
As mentioned above, many bloggers have subjects they write about on their site, and will not publish content unrelated to this. Ensuring your campaign sits nicely in one of their tags is important for the user experience and to gain maximum exposure for your article on the website.
Overall appearance and type of site
Sites differ dramatically in appearance, and finding a good-looking site is important as this will attract more attention and is likely to have a much higher following. The appearance of a site is often the key factor in convincing someone to read your article. People may also assume that a nicer-looking site may be looked after better, and with more regular content published. Use your common sense when looking for a potential site to collaborate with.
The type of site makes a difference, too. Depending on the campaign you are trying to promote, you may be more inclined to search for a more formal style of site or something more chatty and less serious. Ensure you know the niche of your campaign and where best to publish the content.
No adverts
Whenlooking for potential bloggers to collaborate with, having a site that is not overcrowded with adverts is important. Adverts not only slow websites down but too many of them can deter readers, as it makes the post look spammy. By adverts, we’re referring to pop-up and banner ads, not guest content labeled as AD.
New Google Guidelines means that all guest content that is paid for either with goods or financial compensation needs to be marked either ‘advertorial’ or ‘sponsored’ so that there is transparency for the reader.
There are many other factors to consider when searching for a website for your link-building campaign but here are just a few. If you do not have the time or resources, you can always use an expert agency to do your blogger outreach for you. Many companies have different levels of package for link-building, so you can target the right level audience for your content.
