Hit 200 backlinks on a client site without even trying this year

I was just checking my ahrefs dashboard this morning and saw we hit 200 backlinks on a small blog I've been freelancing for since March. That's double what I got them last year just by publishing solid guest posts and a few broken link fixes. Has anyone else seen a big jump like that with old school outreach?

3 comments

3 Comments

charlie1984d ago

The guest post strategy really pays off when you target the right sites (ones with actual traffic and engaged readers). Broken link building is underrated too, I've had some success offering replacements that are genuinely better than what was there before. That kind of organic growth snowballs fast because those sites start linking to other posts too without you even asking.

joseph483d ago

Yeah I actually just read a case study about this the other day where a guy built a site from zero to 50k monthly visits in under a year using mostly broken link building. He was super picky about which broken links he went after though, only ones on pages that already ranked well for his keywords. Said the whole trick was not just replacing the link but adding more value with your content so the site owner actually wanted to keep your link there. Makes sense to me, like you're solving their problem and getting a backlink out of it instead of just asking for one cold. I mean broken link building always seemed like a lot of manual work but that case study made it sound almost too easy if you know where to look.

haydenhayes2d ago

That case study actually touches on something people miss. The real win isn't just getting the replacement link but building a relationship with that site owner. I've had two instances where replacing a broken link turned into regular guest posting opportunities afterward just because the owners remembered I saved them time and hassle. The manual work upfront pays off way more than most people realize because it's not just about that one link, but the door it opens.