Link Building Outreach: Earning Links Site Owners Give
Outreach means contacting the people who run other websites and giving them a reason to link to a page on yours. Done badly it is spam: hundreds of identical emails asking strangers for favours, which most site owners delete unread.
Done well it is a short, personal note to someone whose page would genuinely be better with your link, such as a replacement for a dead link they have, or a resource their readers need. This guide covers choosing an honest reason to get in touch, finding the right pages and people, writing the message, following up and staying within Google's rules and UK email law.
Why most outreach is ignored
Anyone who runs a website with a little traffic receives a steady stream of link requests. Most share the same faults: a generic greeting, praise for a "great article" the sender clearly has not read, a page that has nothing to do with the recipient's topic, and a request for a favour with nothing in return. Site owners learn to delete them on sight.
Outreach that works turns that around. It is sent to a small number of people, each chosen because a specific page on their site has a specific gap your page fills. The message is short, refers to that page by name, and makes the recipient's job easy. Replies come because the link would help their readers, not because you asked nicely.
This also keeps you on the right side of Google. Its link spam policies are about links created to manipulate rankings, including paid links and large-scale campaigns with keyword-rich anchors. A handful of editors choosing to link to a useful resource is not that.
Honest reasons to get in touch
Every outreach message needs a reason that is about the recipient. Pick the angle first, because it decides who you contact and what you say.
| Angle | The situation | What you offer |
|---|---|---|
| Broken link replacement | A relevant page links to a resource that no longer exists. | Tell them about the dead link and suggest your page as a replacement if it covers the same ground. |
| Resource page addition | A council, charity, club, school or association keeps a list of useful links on your topic. | A page that fits the list and helps its readers, described in one sentence. |
| Correction or update | A page cites figures or rules that have changed. | The current information, with your page as a source for it. |
| Existing relationship | Suppliers, stockists, partners, customers and event organisers you already work with. | Your details for their partner, stockist or supplier page. |
| Local community | Local blogs, "what's on" guides and community groups in your area. | Something locally useful: an event, a guide, a free talk, an offer for members. |
| Guest contribution | A publication in your field accepts expert articles. | A genuinely useful piece written for their readers, with at most a natural link in your author bio. |
Broken link building in practice
Find pages in your field that link out to many resources, such as guides, reading lists and "useful links" pages. Check their outbound links with a browser extension or a crawler, and note any that return 404 or redirect to an unrelated domain. If you have a page that genuinely replaces the dead resource, you have a helpful reason to write. If you do not, you may have found a gap worth filling first. Look up the dead page in the Wayback Machine to see what it covered, so your suggestion is a real match.
Guest articles without the risk
Guest writing is fine when it is occasional, relevant and written for the host's readers. Google's link spam policies name "large-scale article marketing or guest posting campaigns with keyword-rich anchor text links" as a problem. The risky version is easy to recognise: a supplier offering dozens of placements a month on general "write for us" blogs, each article stuffed with a commercial anchor.
- Pick publications your customers read, not sites that accept anything from anyone.
- Write something only you could write: real experience, examples from your work, figures from your business.
- Keep links natural. A byline link to your homepage or one relevant resource is enough. Do not ask for a keyword anchor to a sales page.
- Do not pay for "guaranteed" placement. If a site charges to publish, any link should
carry
rel="sponsored", which means it will not pass ranking credit. - Accept nofollow. Many reputable publications mark contributor links
nofollow. The article is still worth writing if the audience is right.
The fix, step by step
Step 1
Decide what you are offering before you prospect
Choose one page on your site and one angle: a replacement for dead links, an addition to resource lists, an update to outdated figures, or a partner listing. Read the page as a stranger would and check it is genuinely better than what people currently link to. If it is thin or mostly a sales pitch, improve it first. No wording in an email can rescue a page that nobody would want to link to.
Step 2
List relevant pages, not just relevant sites
Use the acquisition opportunities and competitor comparison in the Backlink Tools, plus searches such as your topic with "useful links" or "resources", to find individual pages where your link would fit. Record the exact address, why it fits and, for broken link replacement, the dead link you found. Twenty to fifty well-chosen pages per campaign is plenty; a list of hundreds usually means relevance has been abandoned.
Step 3
Find the person who looks after that page
Look for an author byline, a named editor on the contact or about page, a team page or a webmaster contact for a council or charity site. A message to the person who wrote or maintains the page is far more likely to be read than one sent to a general inbox or contact form. Do not guess or scrape personal addresses; use contact details the organisation publishes for exactly this kind of message.
Step 4
Write a short message about their page
Use their name, mention the specific page, and give the reason in the first two sentences, such as a dead link on it or a gap in their list. Offer your page in one line with its address and what it covers. Keep the whole email under about a hundred and twenty words, sign with your full name, business and phone number, and do not ask for particular anchor text or offer payment.
Step 5
Send from a real, authenticated mailbox
Send each message individually from a named mailbox on your own domain, not a free webmail account or a newly bought look-alike domain. Make sure SPF, DKIM and DMARC records are set up so mailbox providers can confirm the email is really from you. Space messages out rather than sending dozens at once. Include your business name and postal address and make it easy for the recipient to say no or ask not to be contacted.
Step 6
Follow up once, then stop
If there is no reply after about a week, send one short follow-up in the same thread that adds something useful, such as a second dead link you noticed or a summary of what your page covers. If there is still no reply, stop. Repeated chasing annoys editors, damages your reputation in a small industry and risks your messages being marked as spam, which harms delivery of all your business email.
Step 7
Log every contact and outcome
Record the date, page, contact, angle, reply and result for every message in a spreadsheet or simple CRM, and note anyone who asks not to be contacted so nobody writes to them again. After each campaign, check in the Backlink Tools which prospects now link to you and whether the links are followed. Compare angles and page types to see which earned links, and put your next round of effort there.
Example messages
These are fictional examples to adapt, not templates to send unchanged. Every message should mention something only true of the recipient's page.
Broken link replacement
Subject: Dead link on your "Starting a market stall" page
Hi Morgan,
Your guide to starting a market stall on example-town-traders.example
links to a page about food hygiene ratings that now shows a 404
(it is the link in the "Before your first market" section).
We keep an up-to-date guide covering the same ground, including how
to request a rating visit and what inspectors check:
https://example.co.uk/guides/food-stall-hygiene-rating
If it is useful as a replacement, please feel free to use it. Either
way, you may want to remove the dead link.
Thanks,
Chris Owen
Owen's Street Kitchen, 12 Market Row, Exampletown
01234 567890Resource page addition
Subject: Suggestion for your home energy advice links
Hi Priya,
I noticed the parish council's home energy page lists grant schemes
and insulation advice for residents. We have written a plain-English
guide to bleeding and balancing radiators, with photos, that a few
residents have told us they found useful:
https://example.co.uk/guides/balance-radiators
No problem at all if it is not a fit for the list.
Kind regards,
Sam Patel
Exampletown Heating Ltd, Unit 4, Mill Lane, Exampletown
01234 765432Both messages name the page, give a reason that helps the recipient, offer one link, make declining easy and identify the sender fully. Neither asks for anchor text, a followed link or a reciprocal link.
Email rules and deliverability in the UK
Outreach emails that promote your business can count as direct marketing. In the UK, the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR) and UK GDPR both apply, and the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025 has amended both. In broad terms, PECR is stricter about unsolicited marketing emails to individuals, including sole traders and some partnerships, than to limited companies and other corporate bodies, and every marketing email must identify the sender and give a valid way to opt out. Named work addresses are still personal data under UK GDPR, so you need a lawful basis, usually legitimate interests, and should mention outreach in your privacy notice. Check the Information Commissioner's Office guidance for your situation; this is not legal advice.
Email providers apply their own rules. Gmail and Yahoo introduced sender requirements in 2024 that expect senders to authenticate their mail, and bulk senders to have SPF, DKIM and DMARC in place, keep spam complaints low and offer easy unsubscribing. Personal, individually written outreach sent in small numbers should sit comfortably within those expectations; automated blasts are what trip them.
- Publish SPF, DKIM and DMARC records for the domain you send from.
- Send from a named person, with a full signature including business name and address.
- Honour every "please do not contact me" immediately and record it.
- Do not buy email lists or scrape addresses from websites.
When the reply asks for money
A common reply to outreach is a price list: "we charge a fee for adding links" or "sponsored posts cost this much". How you respond decides whether the link is acceptable.
- Decline, politely, if it is a charge for a followed link. Paying for links that pass ranking credit breaks Google's link spam policies, and sites that sell links often sell them to anyone, which Google's systems can detect.
- Accept only if the link is marked. If the placement is genuinely worth it for the
audience, such as a trade association directory or a sponsored newsletter slot, it is fine to pay as
long as the link carries
rel="sponsored"orrel="nofollow". - Treat "admin fees" and "editorial fees" the same way. A payment is a payment, whatever it is called.
- Do not swap links as a condition. Offering to link back in return for a link is a reciprocal exchange; occasional mutual links between genuine partners are normal, but exchanges done at scale are named in Google's policies.
1. What is a good response rate for link building outreach?
There is no reliable standard figure, and published rates vary wildly depending on the angle, the industry and how carefully prospects were chosen. Rather than chasing a benchmark, track your own results by angle and page type. Carefully targeted messages about a specific dead link or a relevant resource list usually get noticeably more replies than generic requests. If almost nobody replies, look first at relevance and at whether your page is genuinely worth linking to.
2. Is broken link building still effective?
It works when the replacement is genuine. Site owners generally want to fix dead links on their pages, so pointing one out is useful in itself, and offering a page that covers the same ground makes the fix easy. It fails when the suggested page is only loosely related, or when the same message goes to hundreds of sites. Check what the dead page covered in the Wayback Machine and only suggest your page when it is a true match.
3. Is guest posting against Google's guidelines?
Occasional guest articles written for a relevant audience are not a problem. Google's link spam policies target large-scale guest posting campaigns that use keyword-rich anchor text links, and paid placements without rel sponsored. Write for publications your customers read, focus on useful content, keep the link to a natural byline or one relevant resource, and accept that many reputable sites mark contributor links as nofollow. Avoid services selling bulk placements on general blogs.
4. Can I use automated outreach tools?
Tools that help you manage a list, track replies and schedule follow-ups are fine. The risk comes from using them to send large volumes of near-identical messages, which recipients treat as spam, email providers may filter, and UK email rules may cover as unsolicited marketing. If you use software, still research each prospect, write the opening lines individually, send in small batches from an authenticated mailbox and honour every opt-out straight away.
5. Should I ask for specific anchor text in my outreach email?
No. Asking for keyword-rich anchor text makes a request look manipulative to the editor, and repeated keyword anchors across many sites are a pattern Google's link spam policies describe. Let the site owner describe your page in their own words; most will use your business name, the page title or a plain description, which is exactly what a natural link profile looks like. If they ask what to use, suggest the page title or your business name.
6. Is sending link outreach emails legal in the UK?
Outreach is not illegal in itself, but promotional emails can fall under PECR and UK GDPR, both amended by the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025. Rules for emailing individuals and sole traders are stricter than for companies, every marketing email must identify the sender and allow an opt-out, and named work addresses are personal data. Keep outreach personal, relevant and low in volume, and check current guidance from the Information Commissioner's Office. This is not legal advice.
7. How many follow-up emails should I send?
One is usually enough. Wait about a week, reply in the same thread, and add something useful rather than just asking whether they saw your email. If there is still no answer, take it as a no and move on. Repeated chasing annoys people in what is often a small industry, increases spam complaints that can hurt delivery of your ordinary business email, and makes your future messages less likely to be read by anyone.
The Backlink Tools compare your referring domains with competitors and surface acquisition opportunities, giving you a starting list of relevant sites that already link to businesses like yours.
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