SEO
19 List Building Techniques For SaaS Link Building

A SaaS company’s link building techniques are similar to other business types.
Still, the list building methods are unique because of the type of content on publisher websites and the content resources a SaaS business possesses.
SaaS companies tend to have unique content resources, including engineering team insights, unique data, subject matter expert (SME) clients, competitor comparison pages, and a wide range of blog topics.
Using these resources, a company can secure brand mentions and links on sites that cover topics or content about:
- Software alternatives or comparison articles.
- SME listicles.
- Internal SME quotes for content creators.
- Statistical roundup articles to share SaaS clients or industry data.
- SME guest posts.
List building is the process of matching these internal resources to external entities that will benefit from that resource and finding relevant prospects.
As I explain in my SEJ article, A Guide To Linkable Assets For Effective Link Building, linkable assets will be essential to most link building campaigns.
If the site has no linkable content, then use this guide to start planning.
Although the techniques below can be used across other industries, they are currently highly effective in SaaS link building.
Now that you have content, start identifying prospective link lists using the following process.
Universal List Building Process
This process can be used for creating lists for many link building techniques. Use the following list building template with the process and methods below to start link building today.
However, choose the link research tool or technique that works best for your niche. Semrush, Ahrefs, Moz, Majestic, or a search operator in Google can yield similar results.
Step 1: Seed A List Of Competitors And Keywords By Campaign Type
- Select the type of list to build from the campaign options below, or competitor analysis. Add those to the proven link building models tab in the template (see screenshot below).
- Create a seed list of keywords.
- Identify direct or keyword competitors.
Step 2: List Identification
Create a list: Select which of these three methods.
Google Search Operator
Direct SEO Tool List
(Check out all the options here.)
- Semrush.
- Ahrefs.
- Moz.
- Majestic.
Bulk List Building Tools
Search for lists.
Step 3: List Segmentation & Filtering
Narrow the list to blogs that link to the competitor using default and advanced filters.
Default Tool Filters
- Filter by topical relevancy first.
- Metrics filter: If the list has a lot of low-quality sites, then narrow the list based on the tools’ domain-level score (e.g., Domain Rating in Ahrefs or DA in Moz).
Content-Need Segmentation
Narrow the list by:
- Content type: Each tool is a “content-type” filter to narrow the list to articles.
- Placement: Select “content.”
- Language: select your preferred language.
- Advanced filter: Find in “text.”
Export
Manually Review & Segment Sites Based On
- Topics or methods to secure links (e.g., pitch the new survey about cyber security).
- Quality of content and site.
Add The Targeted Site List To The “List Tracker” Tab Of The Template

Pro tip: Use a search operator in Pitchbox to narrow the list beyond the default campaign settings.
Use this process and the following techniques to create massive lists of prospective sites.
Competitor Backlink Lists
Competitor list building is centered around researching your competitors’ backlink profiles. You can quickly create a target list for your link building campaign by identifying the websites linking to your competitor’s content.
Writing an article about “software alternatives,” “best of,” or “top tools” is an easy way to create a valuable resource for readers. These topics are one reason why so many listicle articles exist.
These are great opportunities to generate links if they mention competitors’ brands but not yours.
1. Find Software Alternatives
{company name} intitle:alternative
For example, an SEO software like Semrush might search for:
Ahrefs intitle:alternatives
2. To Find Lists Of Competitors, Use The Search Operators
{industry name + software} intitle:tools {keyword} intitle:best of {keyword} intitle:top
By modifying the search operator to focus on company blogs, the list can filter out major publications that may need to update their list.
{keyword} Inurl:blog intitle:best of
Although competitor link building typically yields some targeted links, a link profile should include diverse and high-authority placements. Passive source lists can provide that diversity.
Passive Content Creator Source Lists
Journalists and bloggers constantly search for sources, experts, and valuable content.
Become the source when they are searching.
HARO (Help A Reporter Out) was the only resource for a long time, but you can also use Qwoted, ProfNet, and #journorequest (Twitter hashtag) to become a source.
After creating free or paid profiles for these sites, the request lists range from marketing case studies to business management or industry-specific requests.
Look for other trends in the topics requests to determine other sources within the company.
For example, HARO has a lot of requests for AI or generative AI sources. These requests can be an opportunity to use an SME from the engineering, development, or product teams as a source.
Building these lists may seem simple, but it demands a strategic approach to maximize your chances of being picked as a source.
Here are three lists to build:
3. Marketing Team List
Set up the marketing team as sources. HARO lists general “business” topics like marketing-specific content and case studies.
4. Leadership Team List
Include your leadership team as sources. These individuals often have years of experience and unique perspectives that can provide depth to a content creator’s story.
Plus, quotes from company leaders often hold more weight.
5. Industry Subject Matter Experts (SMEs)
These individuals within your organization or network have specialized knowledge in specific areas of your industry.
Content creators often seek experts who can provide in-depth insights on specific topics.
A SaaS company will have engineering or development team members that can be excellent sources of technical information.
However, content creators also search other areas for data or sources. As you’ll see below, content creators also go to Google and Reddit in their search.
List Building For Earned Links
Earning links doesn’t require building site lists for outreach, but rather lists of keywords or communities content creators are searching for information on a topic.
Although these creators use many sources for research, they heavily use Google and Reddit to get direction, answer questions, or provide data.
Content creators are using research hubs on subreddits.
Keyword Research Lists
Instead of building a list of sites, this technique builds a list of targeted keywords for the content to rank.
6. Data Keywords
Create lists of keywords that indicate research-based queries. These often include terms like “statistics” or “data.”
By crafting content around these keywords, you stand a higher chance of earning backlinks from journalists or bloggers searching for data-driven insights in your industry.
Examples include:
- [industry] statistics [year].
- [topic] data (e.g., Christmas shopping data).
- [industry | keyword] trends.
7. Researching New Topics
Many writers create content about topics that are new to them. Thus they will search for very top-of-funnel terms like “what is” or “what are.”
8. Book Summary Search
Create a summary or outline of a book on a relevant topic.
Create a list of “[book] + summary” keywords. E.g., “product-led SEO book summary.”
9. Expert Search
Search for an expert with “top [topic] experts” for listicles. Get listed on those listicles.
10. Trendy Topics
Find keywords for trending topics, and become the expert. With new topics, SMEs will be limited.
Thus secure placements on roundup articles about experts in trending topics.
Tips:
- If your content is an order of magnitude (e.g., 10X better data quality) better than the top pieces, then build a list of referring domains that link to the top-ranking content. Use this as a primer list to do outreach and secure initial links.
- Use the People Also Ask questions to identify topics to write about.
Subreddit lists
Content creators can use Reddit to learn more about their research, as subreddits exist for almost any category.
When creating these community lists, look for trends, not just one community. As you can see below, the “helpful sources” category has multiple similar subreddits.
Depending on the company’s niche, search for topical trends like “cyber security innovation threads.”
Here are three categories to build lists around, but research your niche.
11. General News
Create a list of general news subreddits that can provide a list for sharing quotes or unique data on a trending topic. Examples include /r/news and /r/worldnews.
12. Helpful Sources
Create a list of threads that posts data or helpful content around a topic. Some examples are /r/explainlikeimfive/, /r/dataisbeautiful, or /r/indepthstories.
13. Innovation Threads
In SaaS, if the product is innovative or leadership has a value-add take on a trending topic, Reddit has threads. For example, /r/Futurology has content on AI or advanced technology topics.
Building lists are easy to write about but difficult to execute. Use the following tips to search and filter down the entire list.
Tips to filter Reddit interactions for a targeted site list.
- Subreddit Research: Use the Reddit search feature to find subreddits related to your industry or niche. Each subreddit is a community with its own rules and preferences. Understand these before you post.
- Look for query-based threads: Search for threads where users ask questions or seek information about your industry or niche. These results yield great opportunities to provide a helpful response and include a relevant link to your content.
- Host an AMA (Ask Me Anything) session: If you’re an expert in a particular field, you can host an AMA session. This focus allows you to share a lot of links to your content. Ensure your AMA provides value and isn’t just self-promotion.
- Join discussions: Engage in discussions in your targeted subreddits. You can share if your content is relevant and provides more insight or a different perspective.
- Share unique, high-quality content: Reddit users appreciate unique, high-quality content. If your content meets this standard, you’re more likely to earn upvotes, comments, and potentially backlinks.
Earning links can be time-consuming and resource intensive, but the next section covers a technique that any marketer can execute: guest posting.
High-Authority Guest Posting Lists
A “high authority guest post” refers to a blog or article written by a guest author and posted on a highly reputable, authoritative website.
The credibility and recognition of the host website are expected to increase the reach, credibility, and impact of the guest post. An executive, manager, or company leader will find more opportunities for the highest authority contributions.
These team members can secure contributions to major publications or company blogs. A strong thought leader can contribute to sites like Harvard Business Review or Fast Company.
However, guest posts on relevant company blogs are available in higher volume.
14. Major Publications Contributions
To build a list of major publications that will provide a byline, search for lists in Google with search operators.
A final list of these publications will be short, as many sites publish lists of them with the contributor guidelines.
To find these lists, search in Google with the following search operator, and
{keyword} -guidelines intitle:"contributor" intext:"publication"
15. Niche Company Blogs
Some websites also allow for a guest article contribution. For example, HubSpot allows experts to create and publish on the blog.
To find these blogs, search in Google for a variation of the search operators:
{keyword} intitle:"contributor"
Although this operator uses “contributor,” swap that word out for various terms to expand the list:
- Guest post.
- Guest contributor.
- Write for us.
- Blogging guidelines.
- Contributor guidelines.
- Submit a post.
Skyscraper Technique List Building
The Skyscraper Technique is a link building technique where you find existing high-performing content on a topic related to your industry, create something even better, and then reach out to the right people so they can link to your superior content.
It was developed by Brian Dean from Backlinko, and it’s a highly effective method of acquiring high-quality backlinks.
16. Links To Original Content
This list building method is similar to competitor analysis. Use Ahrefs, Semrush, Moz, or Majestic’s backlink reports to identify links directly pointing to the URL of the topic content.
However, this process is manual, as you have to check each domain’s links individually. Using Pitchbox can make this process more scalable with the “URL backlinks” integration campaign.
17. Site & Authors That Have Covered The Topic
Use a simple Google search to find articles or blog posts about your chosen topic.
Look for articles ranking on the first few pages of Google, as these are likely high-authority sites.
You can also use Google’s ‘site:’ operator to search specific websites for relevant content.
Pro tip: Exclude the keyword from the title to find content that mentions the topic but doesn’t cover it deeply in a whole article:
-intitle:{keyword} intext:{keyword}
The Skyscraper has become very popular in the SaaS space, as have link exchanges.
Link Exchange Lists
Link exchanges refer to the process where two websites agree to link to each other to improve search engine visibility. However, think of these as resource exchanges instead of link exchanges.
In a resource exchange, each website shares informational content with each other’s audience. These assets include blog posts, studies, or guides.
18. Identify Companies For Link Exchanges
Not all, but many companies use a /blog or /resource folder structure. This common denominator can reduce the time to build a list, as these variables can be used to design search operators.
However, some company blogs exclude the /blog from the article’s URL. Thus the blog will be example.com/example-article instead of /blog/example-article.
For the latter, use the search operator
inurl:"blog" intitle:{keyword}
19. Non-competing Article Exchanges
Find link exchange opportunities from articles that cover the topic but are not trying to rank for the exact keywords. Filter these out by excluding them.
inurl:"blog" intext:{keyword} -intitle:{keyword}
Conclusion
Link building for SaaS companies requires leveraging unique content resources and implementing strategic techniques.
Among these, the utilization of competitor backlink lists, passive content creator source lists, earned links, high-authority guest posting, and the Skyscraper Technique are significantly effective.
With meticulous attention to creating valuable content and a dedicated focus on list-building processes, SaaS companies can significantly improve their link-building efforts.
Understanding the link building landscape is not merely a desirable skill but an essential aspect of SaaS marketing.
Future efforts should focus on continually refining these strategies in response to evolving industry trends and market needs.
More resources:
Featured Image: Sammby/Shutterstock
SEO
GPT Store Set To Launch In 2024 After ‘Unexpected’ Delays

OpenAI shares its plans for the GPT Store, enhancements to GPT Builder tools, privacy improvements, and updates coming to ChatGPT.
- OpenAI has scheduled the launch of the GPT Store for early next year, aligning with its ongoing commitment to developing advanced AI technologies.
- The GPT Builder tools have received substantial updates, including a more intuitive configuration interface and improved file handling capabilities.
- Anticipation builds for upcoming updates to ChatGPT, highlighting OpenAI’s responsiveness to community feedback and dedication to AI innovation.
SEO
96.55% of Content Gets No Traffic From Google. Here’s How to Be in the Other 3.45% [New Research for 2023]
![96.55% of Content Gets No Traffic From Google. Here's How to Be in the Other 3.45% [New Research for 2023] 96.55% of Content Gets No Traffic From Google. Here's How to Be in the Other 3.45% [New Research for 2023]](https://articles.entireweb.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/1701464170_9655-of-Content-Gets-No-Traffic-From-Google-Heres-How.jpg)
It’s no secret that the web is growing by millions, if not billions of pages per day.
Our Content Explorer tool discovers 10 million new pages every 24 hours while being very picky about the pages that qualify for inclusion. The “main” Ahrefs web crawler crawls that number of pages every two minutes.
But how much of this content gets organic traffic from Google?
To find out, we took the entire database from our Content Explorer tool (around 14 billion pages) and studied how many pages get traffic from organic search and why.
How many web pages get organic search traffic?
96.55% of all pages in our index get zero traffic from Google, and 1.94% get between one and ten monthly visits.
Before we move on to discussing why the vast majority of pages never get any search traffic from Google (and how to avoid being one of them), it’s important to address two discrepancies with the studied data:
- ~14 billion pages may seem like a huge number, but it’s not the most accurate representation of the entire web. Even compared to the size of Site Explorer’s index of 340.8 billion pages, our sample size for this study is quite small and somewhat biased towards the “quality side of the web.”
- Our search traffic numbers are estimates. Even though our database of ~651 million keywords in Site Explorer (where our estimates come from) is arguably the largest database of its kind, it doesn’t contain every possible thing people search for in Google. There’s a chance that some of these pages get search traffic from super long-tail keywords that are not popular enough to make it into our database.
That said, these two “inaccuracies” don’t change much in the grand scheme of things: the vast majority of published pages never rank in Google and never get any search traffic.
But why is this, and how can you be a part of the minority that gets organic search traffic from Google?
Well, there are hundreds of SEO issues that may prevent your pages from ranking well in Google. But if we focus only on the most common scenarios, assuming the page is indexed, there are only three of them.
Reason 1: The topic has no search demand
If nobody is searching for your topic, you won’t get any search traffic—even if you rank #1.
For example, I recently Googled “pull sitemap into google sheets” and clicked the top-ranking page (which solved my problem in seconds, by the way). But if you plug that URL into Ahrefs’ Site Explorer, you’ll see that it gets zero estimated organic search traffic:
![96.55% of Content Gets No Traffic From Google. Here's How to Be in the Other 3.45% [New Research for 2023] The top-ranking page for this topic gets no traffic because there's no search demand](https://articles.entireweb.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/1701464168_468_9655-of-Content-Gets-No-Traffic-From-Google-Heres-How.png)
![96.55% of Content Gets No Traffic From Google. Here's How to Be in the Other 3.45% [New Research for 2023] The top-ranking page for this topic gets no traffic because there's no search demand](https://articles.entireweb.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/1701464168_468_9655-of-Content-Gets-No-Traffic-From-Google-Heres-How.png)
This is because hardly anyone else is searching for this, as data from Keywords Explorer confirms:
![96.55% of Content Gets No Traffic From Google. Here's How to Be in the Other 3.45% [New Research for 2023] Keyword data from Ahrefs' Keywords Explorer confirms that this topic has no search demand](https://articles.entireweb.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/1701464168_531_9655-of-Content-Gets-No-Traffic-From-Google-Heres-How.png)
![96.55% of Content Gets No Traffic From Google. Here's How to Be in the Other 3.45% [New Research for 2023] Keyword data from Ahrefs' Keywords Explorer confirms that this topic has no search demand](https://articles.entireweb.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/1701464168_531_9655-of-Content-Gets-No-Traffic-From-Google-Heres-How.png)
This is why it’s so important to do keyword research. You can’t just assume that people are searching for whatever you want to talk about. You need to check the data.
Our Traffic Potential (TP) metric in Keywords Explorer can help with this. It estimates how much organic search traffic the current top-ranking page for a keyword gets from all the queries it ranks for. This is a good indicator of the total search demand for a topic.
You’ll see this metric for every keyword in Keywords Explorer, and you can even filter for keywords that meet your minimum criteria (e.g., 500+ monthly traffic potential):
![96.55% of Content Gets No Traffic From Google. Here's How to Be in the Other 3.45% [New Research for 2023] Filtering for keywords with Traffic Potential (TP) in Ahrefs' Keywords Explorer](https://articles.entireweb.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/1701464168_670_9655-of-Content-Gets-No-Traffic-From-Google-Heres-How.png)
![96.55% of Content Gets No Traffic From Google. Here's How to Be in the Other 3.45% [New Research for 2023] Filtering for keywords with Traffic Potential (TP) in Ahrefs' Keywords Explorer](https://articles.entireweb.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/1701464168_670_9655-of-Content-Gets-No-Traffic-From-Google-Heres-How.png)
Reason 2: The page has no backlinks
Backlinks are one of Google’s top three ranking factors, so it probably comes as no surprise that there’s a clear correlation between the number of websites linking to a page and its traffic.
![96.55% of Content Gets No Traffic From Google. Here's How to Be in the Other 3.45% [New Research for 2023] Pages with more referring domains get more traffic](https://articles.entireweb.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/1701464168_94_9655-of-Content-Gets-No-Traffic-From-Google-Heres-How.png)
![96.55% of Content Gets No Traffic From Google. Here's How to Be in the Other 3.45% [New Research for 2023] Pages with more referring domains get more traffic](https://articles.entireweb.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/1701464168_94_9655-of-Content-Gets-No-Traffic-From-Google-Heres-How.png)
Same goes for the correlation between a page’s traffic and keyword rankings:
![96.55% of Content Gets No Traffic From Google. Here's How to Be in the Other 3.45% [New Research for 2023] Pages with more referring domains rank for more keywords](https://articles.entireweb.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/1701464168_324_9655-of-Content-Gets-No-Traffic-From-Google-Heres-How.png)
![96.55% of Content Gets No Traffic From Google. Here's How to Be in the Other 3.45% [New Research for 2023] Pages with more referring domains rank for more keywords](https://articles.entireweb.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/1701464168_324_9655-of-Content-Gets-No-Traffic-From-Google-Heres-How.png)
Does any of this data prove that backlinks help you rank higher in Google?
No, because correlation does not imply causation. However, most SEO professionals will tell you that it’s almost impossible to rank on the first page for competitive keywords without backlinks—an observation that aligns with the data above.
The key word there is “competitive.” Plenty of pages get organic traffic while having no backlinks…
![96.55% of Content Gets No Traffic From Google. Here's How to Be in the Other 3.45% [New Research for 2023] Pages with more referring domains get more traffic](https://articles.entireweb.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/1701464168_573_9655-of-Content-Gets-No-Traffic-From-Google-Heres-How.png)
![96.55% of Content Gets No Traffic From Google. Here's How to Be in the Other 3.45% [New Research for 2023] Pages with more referring domains get more traffic](https://articles.entireweb.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/1701464168_573_9655-of-Content-Gets-No-Traffic-From-Google-Heres-How.png)
… but from what I can tell, almost all of them are about low-competition topics.
For example, this lyrics page for a Neil Young song gets an estimated 162 monthly visits with no backlinks:
![96.55% of Content Gets No Traffic From Google. Here's How to Be in the Other 3.45% [New Research for 2023] Example of a page with traffic but no backlinks, via Ahrefs' Content Explorer](https://articles.entireweb.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/1701464168_883_9655-of-Content-Gets-No-Traffic-From-Google-Heres-How.png)
![96.55% of Content Gets No Traffic From Google. Here's How to Be in the Other 3.45% [New Research for 2023] Example of a page with traffic but no backlinks, via Ahrefs' Content Explorer](https://articles.entireweb.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/1701464168_883_9655-of-Content-Gets-No-Traffic-From-Google-Heres-How.png)
But if we check the keywords it ranks for, they almost all have Keyword Difficulty (KD) scores in the single figures:
![96.55% of Content Gets No Traffic From Google. Here's How to Be in the Other 3.45% [New Research for 2023] Some of the low-difficulty keywords a page without traffic ranks for](https://articles.entireweb.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/1701464168_388_9655-of-Content-Gets-No-Traffic-From-Google-Heres-How.png)
![96.55% of Content Gets No Traffic From Google. Here's How to Be in the Other 3.45% [New Research for 2023] Some of the low-difficulty keywords a page without traffic ranks for](https://articles.entireweb.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/1701464168_388_9655-of-Content-Gets-No-Traffic-From-Google-Heres-How.png)
It’s the same story for this page selling upholstered headboards:
![96.55% of Content Gets No Traffic From Google. Here's How to Be in the Other 3.45% [New Research for 2023] Some of the low-difficulty keywords a page without traffic ranks for](https://articles.entireweb.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/1701464168_125_9655-of-Content-Gets-No-Traffic-From-Google-Heres-How.png)
![96.55% of Content Gets No Traffic From Google. Here's How to Be in the Other 3.45% [New Research for 2023] Some of the low-difficulty keywords a page without traffic ranks for](https://articles.entireweb.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/1701464168_125_9655-of-Content-Gets-No-Traffic-From-Google-Heres-How.png)
You might have noticed two other things about these pages:
- Neither of them get that much traffic. This is pretty typical. Our index contains ~20 million pages with no referring domains, yet only 2,997 of them get more than 1K search visits per month. That’s roughly 1 in every 6,671 pages with no backlinks.
- Both of the sites they’re on have high Domain Rating (DR) scores. This metric shows the relative strength of a website’s backlink profile. Stronger sites like these have more PageRank that they can pass to pages with internal links to help them rank.
Bottom line? If you want your pages to get search traffic, you really only have two options:
- Target uncompetitive topics that you can rank for with few or no backlinks.
- Target competitive topics and build backlinks to rank.
If you want to find uncompetitive topics, try this:
- Enter a topic into Keywords Explorer
- Go to the Matching terms report
- Set the Keyword Difficulty (KD) filter to max. 20
- Set the Lowest DR filter to your site’s DR (this will show you keywords with at least one of the same or lower DR ranking in the top 5)
![96.55% of Content Gets No Traffic From Google. Here's How to Be in the Other 3.45% [New Research for 2023] Filtering for low-competition keywords in Ahrefs' Keywords Explorer](https://articles.entireweb.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/1701464169_37_9655-of-Content-Gets-No-Traffic-From-Google-Heres-How.png)
![96.55% of Content Gets No Traffic From Google. Here's How to Be in the Other 3.45% [New Research for 2023] Filtering for low-competition keywords in Ahrefs' Keywords Explorer](https://articles.entireweb.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/1701464169_37_9655-of-Content-Gets-No-Traffic-From-Google-Heres-How.png)
(Remember to keep an eye on the TP column to make sure they have traffic potential.)
To rank for more competitive topics, you’ll need to earn or build high-quality backlinks to your page. If you’re not sure how to do that, start with the guides below. Keep in mind that it’ll be practically impossible to get links unless your content adds something to the conversation.
Reason 3. The page doesn’t match search intent
Google wants to give users the most relevant results for a query. That’s why the top organic results for “best yoga mat” are blog posts with recommendations, not product pages.
![96.55% of Content Gets No Traffic From Google. Here's How to Be in the Other 3.45% [New Research for 2023] It's obviously what searchers want when they search for "best yoga mats"](https://articles.entireweb.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/9655-of-Content-Gets-No-Traffic-From-Google-Heres-How.jpg)
![96.55% of Content Gets No Traffic From Google. Here's How to Be in the Other 3.45% [New Research for 2023] It's obviously what searchers want when they search for "best yoga mats"](https://articles.entireweb.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/9655-of-Content-Gets-No-Traffic-From-Google-Heres-How.jpg)
Basically, Google knows that searchers are in research mode, not buying mode.
It’s also why this page selling yoga mats doesn’t show up, despite it having backlinks from more than six times more websites than any of the top-ranking pages:
![96.55% of Content Gets No Traffic From Google. Here's How to Be in the Other 3.45% [New Research for 2023] Page selling yoga mats that has lots of backlinks](https://articles.entireweb.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/1701464169_945_9655-of-Content-Gets-No-Traffic-From-Google-Heres-How.png)
![96.55% of Content Gets No Traffic From Google. Here's How to Be in the Other 3.45% [New Research for 2023] Page selling yoga mats that has lots of backlinks](https://articles.entireweb.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/1701464169_945_9655-of-Content-Gets-No-Traffic-From-Google-Heres-How.png)
![96.55% of Content Gets No Traffic From Google. Here's How to Be in the Other 3.45% [New Research for 2023] Number of linking websites to the top-ranking pages for "best yoga mats"](https://articles.entireweb.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/1701464169_703_9655-of-Content-Gets-No-Traffic-From-Google-Heres-How.png)
![96.55% of Content Gets No Traffic From Google. Here's How to Be in the Other 3.45% [New Research for 2023] Number of linking websites to the top-ranking pages for "best yoga mats"](https://articles.entireweb.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/1701464169_703_9655-of-Content-Gets-No-Traffic-From-Google-Heres-How.png)
Luckily, the page ranks for thousands of other more relevant keywords and gets tens of thousands of monthly organic visits. So it’s not such a big deal that it doesn’t rank for “best yoga mats.”
![96.55% of Content Gets No Traffic From Google. Here's How to Be in the Other 3.45% [New Research for 2023] Number of keyword rankings for the page selling yoga mats](https://articles.entireweb.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/1701464169_1_9655-of-Content-Gets-No-Traffic-From-Google-Heres-How.png)
![96.55% of Content Gets No Traffic From Google. Here's How to Be in the Other 3.45% [New Research for 2023] Number of keyword rankings for the page selling yoga mats](https://articles.entireweb.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/1701464169_1_9655-of-Content-Gets-No-Traffic-From-Google-Heres-How.png)
However, if you have pages with lots of backlinks but no organic traffic—and they already target a keyword with traffic potential—another quick SEO win is to re-optimize them for search intent.
We did this in 2018 with our free backlink checker.
It was originally nothing but a boring landing page explaining the benefits of our product and offering a 7-day trial:
![96.55% of Content Gets No Traffic From Google. Here's How to Be in the Other 3.45% [New Research for 2023] Original landing page for our free backlink checker](https://articles.entireweb.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/1701464169_536_9655-of-Content-Gets-No-Traffic-From-Google-Heres-How.jpg)
![96.55% of Content Gets No Traffic From Google. Here's How to Be in the Other 3.45% [New Research for 2023] Original landing page for our free backlink checker](https://articles.entireweb.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/1701464169_536_9655-of-Content-Gets-No-Traffic-From-Google-Heres-How.jpg)
After analyzing search intent, we soon realized the issue:
People weren’t looking for a landing page, but rather a free tool they could use right away.
So, in September 2018, we created a free tool and published it under the same URL. It ranked #1 pretty much overnight, and has remained there ever since.
![96.55% of Content Gets No Traffic From Google. Here's How to Be in the Other 3.45% [New Research for 2023] Our rankings over time for the keyword "backlink checker." You can see when we changed the page](https://articles.entireweb.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/1701464169_302_9655-of-Content-Gets-No-Traffic-From-Google-Heres-How.png)
![96.55% of Content Gets No Traffic From Google. Here's How to Be in the Other 3.45% [New Research for 2023] Our rankings over time for the keyword "backlink checker." You can see when we changed the page](https://articles.entireweb.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/1701464169_302_9655-of-Content-Gets-No-Traffic-From-Google-Heres-How.png)
Organic traffic went through the roof, too. From ~14K monthly organic visits pre-optimization to almost ~200K today.
![96.55% of Content Gets No Traffic From Google. Here's How to Be in the Other 3.45% [New Research for 2023] Estimated search traffic over time to our free backlink checker](https://articles.entireweb.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/1701464169_112_9655-of-Content-Gets-No-Traffic-From-Google-Heres-How.png)
![96.55% of Content Gets No Traffic From Google. Here's How to Be in the Other 3.45% [New Research for 2023] Estimated search traffic over time to our free backlink checker](https://articles.entireweb.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/1701464169_112_9655-of-Content-Gets-No-Traffic-From-Google-Heres-How.png)
TLDR
96.55% of pages get no organic traffic.
Keep your pages in the other 3.45% by building backlinks, choosing topics with organic traffic potential, and matching search intent.
Ping me on Twitter if you have any questions. 🙂
SEO
Firefox URL Tracking Removal – Is This A Trend To Watch?

Firefox recently announced that they are offering users a choice on whether or not to include tracking information from copied URLs, which comes on the on the heels of iOS 17 blocking user tracking via URLs. The momentum of removing tracking information from URLs appears to be gaining speed. Where is this all going and should marketers be concerned?
Is it possible that blocking URL tracking parameters in the name of privacy will become a trend industrywide?
Firefox Announcement
Firefox recently announced that beginning in the Firefox Browser version 120.0, users will be able to select whether or not they want URLs that they copied to contain tracking parameters.
When users select a link to copy and click to raise the contextual menu for it, Firefox is now giving users a choice as to whether to copy the URL with or without the URL tracking parameters that might be attached to the URL.
Screenshot Of Firefox 120 Contextual Menu
According to the Firefox 120 announcement:
“Firefox supports a new “Copy Link Without Site Tracking” feature in the context menu which ensures that copied links no longer contain tracking information.”
Browser Trends For Privacy
All browsers, including Google’s Chrome and Chrome variants, are adding new features that make it harder for websites to track users online through referrer information embedded in a URL when a user clicks from one site and leaves through that click to visit another site.
This trend for privacy has been ongoing for many years but it became more noticeable in 2020 when Chrome made changes to how referrer information was sent when users click links to visit other sites. Firefox and Safari followed with similar referrer behavior.
Whether the current Firefox implementation would be disruptive or if the impact is overblown is kind of besides the point.
What is the point is whether or not what Firefox and Apple did to protect privacy is a trend and if that trend will extend to more blocking of URL parameters that are stronger than what Firefox recently implemented.
I asked Kenny Hyder, CEO of online marketing agency Pixel Main, what his thoughts are about the potential disruptive aspect of what Firefox is doing and whether it’s a trend.
Kenny answered:
“It’s not disruptive from Firefox alone, which only has a 3% market share. If other popular browsers follow suit it could begin to be disruptive to a limited degree, but easily solved from a marketers prospective.
If it became more intrusive and they blocked UTM tags, it would take awhile for them all to catch on if you were to circumvent UTM tags by simply tagging things in a series of sub-directories.. ie. site.com/landing/<tag1>/<tag2> etc.
Also, most savvy marketers are already integrating future proof workarounds for these exact scenarios.
A lot can be done with pixel based integrations rather than cookie based or UTM tracking. When set up properly they can actually provide better and more accurate tracking and attribution. Hence the name of my agency, Pixel Main.”
I think most marketers are aware that privacy is the trend. The good ones have already taken steps to keep it from becoming a problem while still respecting user privacy.”
Some URL Parameters Are Already Affected
For those who are on the periphery of what’s going on with browsers and privacy, it may come as a surprise that some tracking parameters are already affected by actions meant to protect user privacy.
Jonathan Cairo, Lead Solutions Engineer at Elevar shared that there is already a limited amount of tracking related information stripped from URLs.
But he also explained that there are limits to how much information can be stripped from URLs because the resulting negative effects would cause important web browsing functionality to fail.
Jonathan explained:
“So far, we’re seeing a selective trend where some URL parameters, like ‘fbclid’ in Safari’s private browsing, are disappearing, while others, such as TikTok’s ‘ttclid’, remain.
UTM parameters are expected to stay since they focus on user segmentation rather than individual tracking, provided they are used as intended.
The idea of completely removing all URL parameters seems improbable, as it would disrupt key functionalities on numerous websites, including banking services and search capabilities.
Such a drastic move could lead users to switch to alternative browsers.
On the other hand, if only some parameters are eliminated, there’s the possibility of marketers exploiting the remaining ones for tracking purposes.
This raises the question of whether companies like Apple will take it upon themselves to prevent such use.
Regardless, even in a scenario where all parameters are lost, there are still alternative ways to convey click IDs and UTM information to websites.”
Brad Redding of Elevar agreed about the disruptive effect from going too far with removing URL tracking information:
“There is still too much basic internet functionality that relies on query parameters, such as logging in, password resets, etc, which are effectively the same as URL parameters in a full URL path.
So we believe the privacy crackdown is going to continue on known trackers by blocking their tracking scripts, cookies generated from them, and their ability to monitor user’s activity through the browser.
As this grows, the reliance on brands to own their first party data collection and bring consent preferences down to a user-level (vs session based) will be critical so they can backfill gaps in conversion data to their advertising partners outside of the browser or device.”
The Future Of Tracking, Privacy And What Marketers Should Expect
Elevar raises good points about how far browsers can go in terms of how much blocking they can do. Their response that it’s down to brands to own their first party data collection and other strategies to accomplish analytics without compromising user privacy.
Given all the laws governing privacy and Internet tracking that have been enacted around the world it looks like privacy will continue to be a trend.
However, at this point it time, the advice is to keep monitoring how far browsers are going but there is no expectation that things will get out of hand.
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