It’s no secret that people trust other people’s opinions about products and services more than what paid ads or landing pages say. It explains why most of them check the reviews out before making a purchase decision. It is the same with search engines and links. A good backlink profile is basically other sites giving your web page positive reviews that make you look good to search engines. There is only one issue with that – most link-building methods are tough, especially for beginners.
How do you build links to your website without spending too much time and money but still getting quality results? Is this even possible? This is where testimonial link building comes in. It offers an effective way to satisfy both people and search engines while improving your marketing credibility as an expert in your niche. In this post, we will look at how this method works and why you need to add it to your list of link-building tactics.
What Is Testimonial Link Building and Why Should You Try It for SEO?
Using testimonials for link building is not a new concept. Like most backlink tactics you have used before, the main goal is building quality relationships that later result in links. How does it work? You basically review other products or services in your niche that you enjoy using. If you create an informative review of those businesses, they will gladly feature it on their website. And you’ve guessed it – link to you.
In some cases, it might even be a case study of how you used the product to turn the curve in your sales. Here is an example where Semrush links to a bakery they used as a hero for their case study.
If you use this strategy, you will get all the typical perks that come with traditional link-building methods. But at the same time, you don’t have to write lengthy guest posts to get links.
Why Traditional Link-Building Methods Sometimes Fail
All link-building strategies, including traditional tactics, like competitor analysis and guest posting, can help you advertise your business, but each has its pros and cons. Think of all the times you poured into your SEO tasks only to end up with no links or links that had very minimal returns compared to the efforts you put into it. Usually, it happens because of one or all of the following reasons:
- You were getting links from sites outside your niche, which meant the backlinks had little to no value. This is true for absolutely polar niches. For example, if you are in a fitness niche, getting a link from a healthy eating blog is great. But if you get a link from a plumbing website, it is odd.
- Spammy bots and ad-infested sites were linking back to you, which can lower your search rankings. That’s why it is crucial to monitor your backlink profile from time to time, just in case.
- You get the occasional medium- to high-quality links, and you start thinking you’ve finally figured out how it all works. Yet, suddenly, you face a new Google update that changes the rules of the SEO game, and you have no idea what to do next because your results vanish.
It’s no surprise that many people have turned to a simpler alternative – outsourcing blogger outreach to freelancers and agencies who follow their guidelines without having all the challenges of in-house link building. This type of partnership often means having greater control over the outcome, whether you’re writing testimonials, reviews, press releases, or guest posts. But this only works when you are collaborating with a service that follows white-hat practices.
How to Use Testimonial Link Building to Get Good SEO Results
Deciding to write testimonials for relevant sites in hopes of getting backlinks might sound odd, but it works. And one of the best things is that not that many people talk about it, which gives you an advantage. Yet, if you’re new to this method, here’s a simple guideline to follow:
1. Find Quality Services and Products Worth the Review
There are billions of websites in the world, and obviously, you won’t want a backlink from all of them. So, you need to find the best relevant websites in your niche. Ideally, these backlinks should come naturally when you use a service/product, you genuinely like it, and you want to share your experience.
For example, if your website is about fishing, then a site that sells fishing gear would be a natural fit. This is the page whose votes (i.e., backlinks) matter. Where do you find them? Google search, online directories, resource pages, etc.
One more thing – just because a site is relevant does not automatically mean it’s good enough. You will still need to examine all the potential websites to find a good fit. What will that look like?
- Review products or services that you’ve actually used (and enjoyed). Authenticity is a big deal, and people can always tell when a post is a paid review.
- Choose sites that have high authority (DR/DA rating and PageRank score), low spam score, and a good level of overall security. It is important to scan the prospective sites with any SEO tool if you want to secure your marketing activity and tell if a link from there will cause any harm. At the end of the day, only websites with high SEO rankings and low spam scores can pass on valuable link juice to your site.
- Go for pages that have high traffic and an audience that shares similar interests with your own audience. Low traffic won’t help you much. Plus, it is usually an indicator that the website isn’t of high quality, even if the DA/DR is high.
Get the right sites, and your testimonial link-building approach is already off to a great start. You need a list of products and services you can vouch for – things that you just know can make your reader’s lives easier. Keep in mind that your reputation and credibility are on the line here, so it’s best not to let sentiments get in the way of making a good call.
2. Get the Contact Information of the Prospective Sites
It’s a major bummer when you have this nice long list of suitable websites but not a single clue on how to reach out to webmasters. Luckily, with tools like hunter.io, you don’t have to sweat too much. Simply search the URL on there and get valid contact details that you can then use for your next step. Hopefully, you have all this important information carefully laid out on a spreadsheet.
Alternatively, you can use social media (especially LinkedIn) to find people who work for the website you’re interested in. Reach out to them and try to pitch yourself.
3. Shoot Your Shot
Most link-building strategies share the same origin story as a great love story – someone was brave enough to shoot their shot. Testimonial link building is no different. You have to find a way to break the ice and for you, this would mean sending in your carefully crafted personalized pitch. In your email, you want to introduce yourself, explain your idea, and how it benefits them.
That last bit is key because no one wants to waste time featuring someone else’s review unless there is something in it for them. If they say yes to your proposal, then this could be the start of something new. Not sure what your pitch should look like? Here is a template that you can personalize.
Pro tip: Suggest creating a video testimonial for your company of choice. While they are extremely effective (95% of SMBs see 10%+ higher conversions), video reviews are generally harder to get for most businesses. So, this can significantly increase your chances.
4. Your Move
This is where you finally put your “money” where your “mouth” is and live up to your claims. You want to put your best foot forward while also being sincere, authentic, and persuasive. It is not enough to say how much you liked this and that. You must be specific:
- What exactly did you like about the products or services, and how did you use them? Mention the pain points you were able to solve with this product and which features were best.
- Your results? How did this product influence a positive outcome for you? Did it improve your productivity or workflow, increase traffic to your site, or make it easier to catch the best fish?
- What areas, if any, did you struggle a bit with, and how did you manage to change them? Maybe some parts require a bit of a learning curve – mention it.
- What do you think they can improve upon (if anything), or is that solution absolutely perfect?
Before submitting testimonials, make sure you include relevant details about yourself, like your author bio, and add a link to your website (or maybe somewhere in the content itself). Each testimonial should be brief and concise. You are not writing a blog post, so don’t get carried away unless you’ve talked it through before and decided to create a longer piece (e.g., a case study).
5. Your Watch Isn’t Over (Not Yet)
The thing with testimonial link building is that you might have those moments where you will see radio silence from the other end making you wonder if they even receive your emails. The only way to know what’s happening for sure is to reach out to them. Still, only do this after a few days or a week has gone by and you have not got any response.
Your follow-up email should be even shorter than your pitch and can look like this:
6. Track Everything (Really Everything)
When doing any sort of link building, it is important to track and monitor every single step. You should do this from your first research and continue even after the link building is done. You can use a free tool (e.g., an Excel spreadsheet) to track the prospective sites, their metrics (like DA, traffic, contact emails, etc.), and your progress. Indicate which ones you have pitched to, which responded, and which is yet to. You get the idea.
Also, even when you start getting backlinks from all your efforts, it’s still important to monitor them regularly to ensure that they are still live. Keep in mind that when the website does feature your content on their page, other bloggers will see it and might decide to link to your original content on their own blog. There’s no telling what kind of state some of these sites will be in, so checking all your backlinks is crucial. If you notice spammy links, don’t panic. Just follow the instructions from SerpWatch, and you’ll be able to disavow those links in no time.
Conclusion
Testimonial link building is an effective way to score authority backlinks that count for SEO ranking. When you give positive feedback about your favorite niche products and services, you are helping your readers discover tools that can help them while also building a good relationship with others in your industry. Most marketers that go by this strategy see good results, and this can be your experience, too.
