I asked 12 SEOs for the link building strategy that’s working best for them right now.

Here are the tactics they shared, how to do them, and tips for success. 

How to do it

Let’s say you were doing this for MailChimp. You might want to find listicles that feature brands like ConvertKit and Aweber but not MailChimp—like this one: 

To find these, run this search in Ahrefs’ Content Explorer: 

[competitor 1] +[competitor 2] -[your brand] title:(best OR top)

For example, to find listicles that mention Aweber and ConvertKit but not MailChimp, you’d search for: convertkit +aweber -mailchimp title:(best OR top)

If you spot a listicle where you feel you should be listed, find their email address and reach out to them. 

Here’s an example email Jason used: 

I don’t recommend copying Jason’s email word for word, but here’s his and Alex Tachalova’s advice on what to include: 

Some key pointers for emails: 

• Briefly highlight why your product or service merits inclusion on their list.
• Reference other reputable lists that have already featured your product or service.
• Inquire about their criteria and requirements for inclusion.
• Offer free tool access, complimentary products for review, or case studies that they can review (if you’re providing a service).

Our pitches generally include: 

• The client’s previous features in listicle posts.
• A suggestion to collaborate on enhancing the quality of their listicle post, given the client’s industry expertise.
• An analysis of top-ranking listicle posts to identify missing tools or information that could offer a competitive edge and improve their post’s rankings.

As Jason points out, this strategy has benefits beyond improving rankings for your website. It also exposes your brand to more people as you’re consistently listed as a top option in your industry. 

For example, Jason got his client mentioned in nearly every top-ranking listicle for “best dropshipping suppliers.” That’s a lot of extra brand exposure! 

Apart from the selfie battle I have with Tim Soulo, this is one of the most effective link-building strategies we’re using right now. 

How to do it

Start by finding a trending topic journalists care about. Google News and Google Trends are good places to start. 

We start by identifying current trends using tools like Google Trends and monitoring industry news. 

We use lots of techniques from monitoring news sources in real time to conducting research with Google News to understand the types of topics that have been previously covered at specific times of year. 

You can also use the Growth metric in Ahrefs’ Keywords Explorer.

For example, if I enter “vaping” and sort by the Growth column, I see lots of lung health searches breaking out in the past three months: 

I also see this echoed in Google News: 

It’s then a case of sourcing some unique data, publishing it in an easy-to-utilize format, and sending it to journalists. Matt Diggity shared a few great sources with me: 

For government databases you have usa.gov for the states. Data.gov is another alternative. UK Data Service is the equivalent for the UK. Eurostat is great for other countries in the EU. And Statistics Canada is for… yeah, Canada. Internationally, World Bank Open Data and United Nations Data are treasure troves. Pew Research Center is great for social issues, public opinion, and demographic trends. FBI Crime Data Explorer is great for crime stats. And the CDC is great for health data. 

Amanda also often uses freedom of information (FOI) requests for data, as she did for her piece on the UK’s illegal vape hotspots:

This campaign earned links from 72 referring domains and got featured in many online newspapers: 

How do you find journalists? 

Here’s Jason’s advice: 

We start by researching those who have previously covered similar topics or industries. We use tools like Muck Rack, Cision, or even X to find journalists by searching for keywords related to our story. We look at bylines in relevant publications to see who is writing about related subjects and review their past articles to understand their interests and writing style. 

How to do it

One way is to sign up for HARO and other alternatives, but Eva recommends a more proactive approach. She builds relationships with journalists relevant to her clients so they come directly to her for tips and quotes.

How can you find these people? 

Eva uses keyword alerts: 

I have Google Alerts set up for relevant keywords related to a brand or topic. For example, I have the words “vet,” “dog behaviour,” and “cat behaviour” set up for a pet insurance brand so I can see the related coverage mentioning these words. 

You can also use Ahrefs Alerts. The benefit of this over Google Alerts is that you can filter by language, traffic, Domain Rating (DR), etc. to separate the wheat from the chaff: 

Alternatively, use Content Explorer to find people who’ve talked about topics recently. Just search for a keyword and filter for pages published in the last 90 days. 

For example, if I search for “vet,” I see this recent article on a DR 83 site from Jessie Quinn: 

It looks like she’s written a couple of pet-related articles recently: 

Her profile also says she writes for many well-known sites and has a pug called Daphne: 

This journalist would clearly be a great person to build a relationship with! 

How? Eva says it all starts with a simple “hello”:

Reach out and introduce yourself and your client to journalists and niche publications who cover related topics regularly. Offer them the opportunity to receive exclusive commentary when requested. After a journalist has covered your campaign or expert commentary, always drop them a note to say thank you. You never know it can also lead to another request or opportunity for your client. 

Oh, and don’t rely on AI when actually replying to requests, whether direct or via platforms like HARO. Greg explains why: 

AI is not yet capable of replacing a high quality writer. Simply copy/pasting their content over to a journalist outreach email is a fantastic way to earn your client a spot on a journalist or publication’s ban list. When our writers use AI, they use it for idea generation to overcome writer’s block. This is how I recommend using it. 

How to do it

If you’re struggling for ideas, search for a topic in Content Explorer and filter for pages with lots of backlinks. These are proven ideas you know people want to link to.

For example, if I search for “tax,” I see over 300 referring domains to a page listing countries where you have to pay “tourist tax”: 

This immediately sparks an idea: map out countries with the most and least expensive “tourist taxes.” 

Once you have your map, send it to journalists who might be interested in covering it. 

Find journalists who write about that kind of content, either literally map based data, or perhaps in the example above, they write about travel. 

George did this for his map of which states will pay the most taxes over their lifetime… 

… earning links from 188 referring domains in the process: 

As Jason suggested earlier, tools like MuckRack, Cision, and X can be useful for finding journalists interested in your topic. But you can also just search Content Explorer for pages published about a topic in the last 90 days, and extract journalist names from there. 

How to do it

1. Enter a topic into Ahrefs’ Keywords Explorer
2. Go to the Matching terms report
3. Filter for keywords that include terms like “statistics,” “facts,” “graph,” etc.

This will find keywords people search for when looking for facts and figures for their articles. Rank for these, and your page will often earn links on autopilot. 

Here’s Darren’s advice on what make a good keyword: 

The most important thing is that there isn’t just one or two top-ranking pages soaking up all the links. If there’s 3 or 4 that have 100+ and a couple with 20+ or so, that’s all good. It shows there’s a nice spread and journalists/linkers are happy to mix it up themselves. 

This is exactly how the SERP looks for “uk salary statistics:” 

In fact, Darren and his team created one of the top-ranking pages. As of today, it’s earned links from 98 referring domains: 

And this is without outreach! 

Importantly, we don’t do outreach for these campaigns. They’re designed to remove that element of time and therefore making it more affordable for clients compared to our other activities. 

How do you create a winning page? It’s all about picking low-hanging opportunities and beating the competition on the content front. 

We’re often looking for opportunities where the ranking pages aren’t properly fulfiling a user’s intention. They may not have many images to engage users, the key stats might be buried in a wall of copy, etc. So we’re utilising content marketing 101 to see where we might be able to elevate a page and make it more engaging. 

How to do it

For example, Dish Network ran a promotion offering $1,000 to anyone willing to binge watch 15 hours of The Office: 

It earned links from 150 referring domains, including big media sites like Thrillist, Business Insider, CNET, Mental Floss, and many others. 

Struggling for ideas? Try asking ChatGPT: 

Hey ChatGPT. I found a unique promotion online where Dish Network offered to pay people $1,000 to binge watch 15 hours of The Office. My brand is [brief description]. Give me a few ideas for a similar promotion I can run.

Here’s one idea it came up with for a coffee brand: 

Not bad! 

But who should you tell about your wacky campaign once you have it? Here’s a smart tip from James: 

It’s as simple as reaching out to the same publications and journalists who’ve covered similar things before. You can find plenty of these already online from movies and tv shows. 

For example, you can just export the 150 sites linking to The Office campaign via Site Explorer and reach out to them. 

How to do it

1. Search for a topic in Content Explorer
2. Filter for pages with 100+ referring domains
3. Filter out subdomains, homepages, and multiple pages per domain

In the example above, there are 1,952 pages about tax with links from over 100 websites. One of them is this federal income tax calculator with 1,500 referring domains: 

Next, run a free audit with a tool like AccessScan to check how accessible the page is for people with disabilities: 

In this case, the page is non-compliant. This means that over 1,500 sites are linking to a resource that isn’t accessible for users with vision, motor and cognitive impairments—including a few government and education websites: 

Here’s what James says to do next: 

You reach out to the website and say the resource on your page is not accessible to visually impaired users. This is a highly successful outreach method vs just sending emails at scale asking for guest posts. 

Of course, this does mean you need to create an alternative resource that is compliant. But that’s easily worth it when there’s a pool of hundreds or thousands of potential linkers. 

How to do it

1. Run an “In title” search for a broad industry term in Content Explorer
2. Filter for sites with a Domain Rating (DR) between 30-60 (this removes big sites that probably won’t accept guest posts)
3. Go to the “Websites” tab

Here you will see the top 100 sites getting the most search traffic to content about your topic. These are good sites to pitch a guest post, as they’ve already written about similar topics before. 

Bibi recommends using AI to help with your pitch: 

Ai is an awesome tool [for pitching]. It can help you create everything from catchy subject lines to compelling pitches and even eye-catching visuals. 

For example, she used AI to create Midjourney images that combined cats and dogs with her target niche. When she reached out to trucking companies, this charming approach got a lot of positive attention. 

If zany or “out there” isn’t really your jam, that’s fine. As Bibi says, it’s not a necessity. The point is to use AI to improve your pitches and make them more creative. 

You don’t always need to be funny or wild, but AI lets you create highly targeted content in formats that would typically require a whole team with specialised skills. So, even though guest posting might seem basic, the possibilities are endless with AI. Just keep experimenting with it! 

Find a page with links, make something better, pitch it as a replacement (aka the “skyscraper” technique)

How it works

This is arguably the most famous link building technique there is, but if you’ve been hiding in a cave for the last decade, here’s how it works in a nutshell: 

For example, this list of best headphone recommendations has 469 referring domains… 

… but it hasn’t been updated since 2021: 

Given how fast the headphone industry moves these days, this means that hundreds of sites are linking to a completely outdated list of recommendations. 

To take advantage of this, you would: 

1. Publish an up-to-date list of headphone recommendations (aka. “skyscraper” content)
2. Pitch this as a replacement to everyone linking to the outdated post.

Here’s a quick tip from Eric to help maximise your results: 

Give people extra incentive to link by offering to share their content on your social networks. We do this when promoting our clients’ content and it still works relatively well. 

Keep learning

New data from BrightEdge shows significant changes to Google AI Overviews, prioritizing topic-specific sites and a stronger focus on ecommerce ahead of the year-end shopping season.

Google Core Update And AIO

An interesting insight from the data is that there is more overlap between AIO and Google’s organic search results, that there is more agreement between the two results. Is AIO mirroring the organic search results or are the organic search results more closely aligned with AIO?

The organic search results themselves changed after the August 2024 core algorithm update and so did AIO. BrightEdge’s data offers evidence of how Google’s organic search results changed.

BrightEdge data shows:

• The overlap of URLs cited in AI Overviews with those ranking in the top 100 increased from 37% to 41% post-update.
• This is following Google’s August 15th Core Update.
• The shift indicates that AI Overviews are prioritizing organic results more than before, pulling from lower-ranked results to create comprehensive responses.

BrightEdge data shows that AIO is ranking lower-ranked web pages for more precise answers. Something else to consider is that both AIO and the organic search results changed and it could be the criteria for ranking changed in a similar way for both AIO and organic, that the algorithms for both are doing something similar.

A significant characteristic of the last update is that it is showing less of the big brand sites and more of the independent niche sites. BrightEdge data shows that AIO is also ranking websites that are more precisely about a topic.

Keep reading because there’s more about that in BrightEdge’s data which could offer insights into what’s going on in the organic SERPs.

BrightEdge Dataset

Research was conducted using the BrightEdge Data Cube X, an SEO and content performance platform for researching industries. |

Data Cube X Facilitates:

• Comprehensive Keyword Research
• Competitive Analysis:
• Automated AI-Powered Content and Keyword Research
• Traffic Fluctuation Analysis

Non-Logged-In AI Overviews

Google has rolled out AI Overviews (AIO) to users that are not logged-in to Google accounts, expanding the audience for AIO to a greater amount of people. But it’s not showing across all industries. The data shows that the integration of AIO varies.

Within the context of users who are not logged in, Ecommerce search results for not logged-in users dropped in AIO is less than logged-in users by a whopping 90%.

Users that are not logged-in didn’t see AIO in the following topics:

• Education: 21% relative decrease
• B2B Tech: 17% relative decrease
• Healthcare: 16% relative decrease

Although there’s a decrease in AIO shown to non-logged-in users for ecommerce queries, there is an increase in product grids that are shown to these users compared to logged-in users. BrightEdge speculates that Google is better able to target logged-in users and is thus showing product grids to them on a more precise basis than to non-logged-in users.

More Product Comparisons

BrightEdge’s data indicates that Google AIO is showing more product comparisons and visuals.

Their data shows:

• In August, product carousels for apparel-related queries increased by 172%.
• The use of unordered lists across industries rose by 42%.

These adjustments make AI Overviews more user-friendly by organizing complex product features and specifications for easier decision-making.

All of those features allow users to make comparisons between products by what the products look like as well as by price. A takeaway from this data is that it may be increasingly important to show original product images (if possible) and to make sure that images shown are high quality and allow users to get a good sense of the product.

Data is always important and it’s a good way to make a product listing or product review stand apart from competitors. Any information that makes improves a consumer’s decision making is valuable.

A good example is for clothing where it’s not enough to indicate that something is a size small, medium or large. Sizes are inconsistent from manufacturer to manufacturer and even within a brand’s own products. So, for clothing, it may be useful to add comparison information about actual sizes within a product line in terms of inches or metric measurement so that a consumer can make an even better choice.

Comparison between products, especially within the context of a product review, is important. One of the product review best practices (and maybe a ranking factor) that is recommended by Google is a comparison of the product being reviewed. Google’s product reviews best practices recommendation is that publishers compare a product to another product so that users can presumably make a better decision.

Google recommends:

• “Cover comparable things to consider, or explain which might be best for certain uses or circumstances.”

According to BrightEdge:

“As the holiday shopping season approaches Google is refining AIO search results to focus on comparative content, which rose by 12% in August. AIOs prioritized product carousels with engaging imagery, which rose by 172%. Unordered lists (lists of items that are related but in no specific order, such as general searches for ‘winter boots’ or ‘iPhone cases’) also increased by 42%.”

Google AIO Rankings Are More Precise

A data point that all search marketers should be aware of is that Google is ranking more precise content in AIO in a way that might reflect on what is going on with the organic search algorithms.

BrightEdge discovered that generalist sites had massive decreases in rankings while specialists sites had increases. People like to talk about “authority sites” and what they’re usually referring to is “big brands” with a lot of money and reach. But that’s not authority, it’s just a big brand with reach.

For example, most people consider news organizations as authority sites. But who would you go to for SEO information, Search Engine Journal or big sites like the New York Times or Fox News? What the BrightEdge data shows is that AIO is making a similar consideration of what kinds of sites are actual authorities on a given topic and then showing those sites instead of a big brand site.

The obvious question is, does this have something to do with Google’s last core update in August? One of the goals of Google’s last update is to show more independent sites. If the AIO trends mirror the organic search results to a certain extent, then perhaps what Google’s algorithms are doing is identifying sites that are authoritative in a topic and showing those sites instead of a more general big brand site.

BrightEdge’s data shows that AIO rankings of generalist technology review sites dropped. TechRadar.com dropped by 47.3 and TomsGuide.com dropped by 16.4%. This trend was also seen in health related queries where the kinds of sites that AIO quotes also became more precise.

AIO showed less consumer-focused sites and blogs and began showing more sites that are precisely about health. The BrightEdge data showed that consumer news and general sites like VerywellHealth.com experienced 77.9% drop in AIO exposure and EverydayHealth.com virtually dropped out of AIO with a 95.6% decline.

Sites like MayoClinic.org experienced a 32.4% increase and citations of the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services AIO increased by +83.2%. It’s not just a trend away from consumer and general news sites, it’s a trend toward more precise rankings of expert and authoritative content.

BrightEdge noted that the following precisely-focused sites experienced increases:

• Spine-Health.com +266.7%
• Arthritis.org +89.5%
• BrightEdge’s report observes:

“This demonstrates Google’s push toward more detailed, factual content in AI Overviews.”

AIO And Organic SERPs

Google has significantly increased the use of product carousels for apparel-related queries, reflecting a 172% rise. These carousels and grids allow for easier product comparisons based on visuals, pricing, and features.

AI Overviews and Google’s organic search results have more overlap than before. The reason for that may reflect a change to prioritize increasingly precise answers from sites that are authoritative for specific topics. Niche sites have gained prominence in both organic and AI Overviews while large more general sites have lost visibility.AI Overviews continues to evolve but the changes from last month indicate that there is a certain amount of agreement between what’s in the SERPs and AIO.

Read more about AI Overviews data at BrightEdge

Featured Image by Shutterstock/BobNoah

These are the 100 most asked questions on Google, along with their monthly search volumes.

Top Google questions by growth

Many popular questions don’t change from year to year. For example, people have been asking measurement-related questions since forever (e.g., ” how many cups in a gallon”). I ask that often too.

But there are new questions, too. These are the questions that have seen the most growth recently.

1. Who shot Trump

Monthly search volume: 188,000

Change in search volume over the past 3 months: +73M%

The spike in searches for this keyword was due to the assassination attempt on the former U.S president and then presumptive nominee of the Republican Party for the 2024 presidential election. Searches for this topic has dwindled since then.

2. Where to watch summer olympic games

Monthly search volume: 82,000

Change in search volume over the past 3 months: +19M%

The spike in searches was due to the 2024 Summer Olympics which was held in Paris. It concluded on 11 August 2024, which is why searches around this topic have died off since then.

3. How to register to vote in the US

Monthly search volume: 70,000

Change in search volume over the past 3 months: +16M%

The spike in searches is due to the upcoming 2024 United States presidential election. It is set to be held on November 5, 2024. I foresee searches will go the way of the Summer Olympics once the election concludes.

4. How did rich homie quan die

Monthly search volume: 28,000

Change in search volume over the past 3 months: +11M%

Rich Homie Quan (real name: Dequantes Devontay Lamar) was an American rapper. The spike in searches was because Rich Homie Quan was found unconscious at home on September 5, 2024. His girlfriend told 911 that he was on the couch in the morning and had not moved when she returned home later. He was later pronounced dead at an Atlanta hospital on the same day at the young age of 34. An autopsy has been performed, but the cause of death is currently unknown.

5. What is demure

Monthly search volume: 23,000

Change in search volume over the past 3 months: +5.6M%

The word “demure” is an adjective that means “reserved, modest, and shy.” However, this particular spike was because of TikTok creator Jools Lebon. In a video that has now more than 30 million views, Jools used the phrase “very demure, very mindful” to describe herself. It went viral and many creators on social media started replicating the catchphrase in their own content.

Looking at the dip in searches, it is likely that this trend is, like most Internet trends, merely temporary and will die off soon.

Here’s how to find the most asked questions in your niche:

1. Go to Keywords Explorer
2. Enter a relevant keyword
3. Go to the Matching terms report
4. Toggle the Questions tab

For example, if you search for “coffee”, you can see 142,000 questions which you could potentially create content for.

Want to do keyword research for your site? Sign up for Keywords Explorer.