I'm Frustrated With HARO Link Building

NoobWAffOffer

Joined
Dec 3, 2020
Messages
2
Likes
1
Degree
0
Hi All,

I'm new here but learned about this site from Tom De Spiegelaere. I'm having some issues with getting good results with HARO linkbuilding.

My site has a few competitors using this technique and they are getting some crazy DR 60+ links. I've tried with several providers and haven't had much success or when they do get links it's no-follow or they get the same domain --- which isn't as valuable. I'm hoping to get 3-5 HARO links a month.

Anyone had luck with HARO? Maybe have a provider to recommend? I'm thinking of trying the freelancer route next month if the new provider strikes out for the second month in a row.
 
What's your and your competitors' DA? I've heard a theory that some reporters might check your DA and social media to see that you're legit. So, if you have a low DA and no social media, you don't pass the eye test, and you might not get as many links and references as those with "more authority".
 
Prose said:
I've heard a theory that some reporters might check your DA and social media to see that you're legit.
Click to expand...
I think this is true- especially for the HARO queries that ask you to include your social media username(s) when submitting your response.

EDIT: You shouldn't let this stop you from responding to queries, however, as the article responses tend to hold much more weight than the social following of responders (that's what HARO is for after all).
 
Last edited:
NoobWAffOffer said:
I've tried with several providers
Click to expand...

This is one of those scenarios where you have to do it yourself to get the best results and then hire someone in-house and train them to do it. It's sort of like people that were outsourcing "social media activity" - you can't fake social engagement or get people interested if YOU aren't interested. No outsourcing solution is going to get the best results for YOUR brand other than you because you know your brand best.

Similar to people that want to outsource traffic leaking, it ain't going to happen.

The phrase "Dialing It In" comes to mine - low enthusiasm or effort will get you low results - with this and everything in life.
 
I did this myself, every morning, for a little over a year when I worked in-house for a professional services SaaS startup. Did it this year for my biggest/best looking affiliate site. Hit rate pretty different, assuming because of the industries... some will publish any drivel submitted, others require you to be blood type O, a MD and also be published..

Hit rate was never above 5% I'd say, lower end with professional services responses, higher end with my affiliate niche. Of that 5% I'd say .5% were real bangers, meaning it would get published on a solid authority site and then syndicated on other industry sites. Those wins were what kept me me from figuratively blowing my brains out.

Also, from personal experience responding (within a team of individuals responding) and also submitting pitches as a "journalist" I can pretty confidently say that more than half these people are lying through their teeth.. so, if you have flexible interweb ethics, that could also help your hit rate..
 
A company that offers this as a service released this graphic, which is undoubtedly going to hurt their SEO-related sales but probably not do anything to their Marketing-related sales.

9CMgzLl.png


This is a low sample size to have much confidence in the percentages, but I doubt they'd change much if you 10x'd the sample size over the same period of time.

In case the image goes down, this is for DR50+ links, and I don't recall the amount of time that has passed, but since that time has passed:
  • 14.3% of the dofollow links are still good to go
  • 8.6% of the links were flat out removed
  • 77.1% of the links were switched to nofollow
So basically, let's say your goal is to build 10 dofollow links on DR50+ sites, and you get a 5% success rate.

You need to pitch 2000 sites to get land 100 links, knowing that 85.7% of those will become "worthless", leaving you with 14 live dofollow links. And this is assuming all 100 links were dofollow, which won't be the case. So plan on pitching 4000 sites maybe, or 6000.

Better train a really inexpensive but large team that can do high quality work, if we're to trust these numbers.
 
I'm citing Mark Webster from Authority Hacker, who replied to a similar question in another forum:

"25% conversion rate is ok. But as a metric it's the total number of links you are getting and the cost/time of getting them at really mattes.
A decent number of HAROs are mega roundups where almost anyone who responds gets featured. VAs can easily handle those.
It's also important to make your message easy to copy/paste. Make sure they can lift a paragraph directly into their article. Hassle free = better chance of success.
Push your story and your experience hard. You are the source here and communicating your experiences in a HARO response is what really makes your stand out.
Finally, be different. If they are doing a roundup on the best books for entrepreneurs and you answers 4HWW, chances are 20 others people have done the same. Pick something unique."
 
I've been trying all with staff now since that is how one of my main competitors is getting them. They just use fake profiles to get them. I've been using the people who help me since they are Americans and I can use LinkedIn, twitter, and other profiles to link them.

I've had the best link with using just me personally. If I did ones specific for my site - I would never have any inquiries to respond to.
 
Heard some guys called Jolly SEO do this HARO link-building stuff. Got the info from a FB group. Cannot exactly remember the name of the community group by Digitty or Spencer, not sure. Anyone heard of these guys or tried their services?
 
I just talked with Jolly SEO last week. They seem like they have a great service and charge $575 per published link above a DA metric. I don't remember, but I think it was DA50+ was the only thing you were charged for. My only issue was a 4 month contract.

I started doing it myself after realizing they weren't going to be a solution for me.

I've submitted 10 pitches and had two confirm they were going to use my quote. A couple tips...

1. Keep it short and sweet. Give the journalist a quote they can copy and paste.
2. Give them exactly what they want, nothing less. If they ask for a word count, meet it exactly. Same for a headshot, URL, social media links, etc. If they have to reply to get more info, they will move on.
3. Give a benefit to smaller sites. I include so extra info below my content that would benefit a smaller website (exposure to my social media networks).

Here is a reply I sent this morning, not sure if they'll use it, but shows the process.

87fJjuL.png


I gave some additional details in this presentation two weeks ago.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back