There are many link building tools on the market. However, it can be challenging to decide which tool is best for your needs. This article will discuss the importance of link research tools and how they can help you build better links. We will also cover the best link building tools available, both free and paid. So whether you are just starting in SEO or an experienced professional, there is something for everyone in this article!
What is link building?
Link building is acquiring links from other websites to your own. This can be done in several ways, including guest posting, blogger outreach, helping reporters, etc.
While there are many different methods for building links, they fall into one of two categories: white hat and black hat.
White hat link building is building links ethically and effectively. This means creating high-quality content that people want to read and share. It also means being transparent about your link-building efforts and avoiding any practices that could get you penalized by Google.
On the other hand, black hat link building is the process of building links in a way that is not ethical or effective. This includes buying links, participating in link schemes, and using link farms.
While black hat link building can be effective in the short term, it is not sustainable in the long run. As a result, Google is constantly updating its algorithm to penalize websites that engage in black hat SEO practices.
Importance of Link Building
While content is undoubtedly essential for SEO, it is not enough. You also need links from other websites to your own to rank highly in the search engines.
Links are like votes. The more votes (links) you have, the more popular your website is in the eyes of Google. But not all votes are equal. A link from a high-quality website is worth more than a link from a low-quality website.
This is where link research tools come in. These tools help you find high-quality websites relevant to your niche.
Link building is the way to jump-start your online business or website. Statistics from many link research software have demonstrated that top websites have backlinks of at least 2,130. Therefore, if you want to make your website more successful, you will have to build and research links!
How Link Building Tools Help
There are a few different ways that link building tools can help you.
- First, they can help you to find link opportunities. This includes things like guest posting opportunities, link roundups, and directories.
- Second, they can help you to track your progress. This includes your link profile, anchor text, and link velocity.
- Third, they can help you to measure your success. This includes your rankings in the search engines and your traffic from links.
Link builder tools streamline the process and make things a lot easier. Without link-building tools, you need to spend lots of time finding relevant websites for link-building. Then you need to pitch your links with content following the rules, norms, or guidelines of that website. Some sites may accept your request some areas may refuse. It would be tough for you to track site-wise responses.
Such a long and tedious process will not be free of errors. Moreover, time means money. Whether you do it or your employees, you will waste money if you do not use any link builder tool.
Why go through the trouble of sifting through all this data when you can use SEO link-building software or link research tools? If you go through the Internet, you can find many free link building tools out there. However, if you’re serious about making your website be part of the top, you’ll have to spend some cash for the best software. Besides helping you build links, link research tools can also help you sift through the many website data.
Best Link Building Tools for SEO
You need link-building tools, whether you’re a budding blogger, an entrepreneur looking to sell products online, or a business seeking networks and advertising. The best link-building software will help save you time and money by finding high-quality link opportunities.
We have listed the following 11 best link building tools based on our experience with those.
Best Free Link Building Tools
The following six free link building tools are the best if you are just starting or don’t want to spend much on premium tools. These six free tools will support you for the whole link building process.
1. Google Search Console For All You Need to Know About Your Site
Pricing Model: Free
Price: Free
It’s no surprise that the biggest and most popular Search Engine has its tools for Search Engine Optimization! The Google Search Console is a set of free link building tools designed to help track the performance of your website. It checks explicitly how Google interacts with your website – checking on the presence of backlinks, link failures, web crawl errors, and tons of other features.
This is an excellent starting point and a must-have tool for any SEO project.
Features:
- Schema (like Breadcrumbs, FAQ, Sitelink, Logo, How-to, etc.),
- Page Experience,
- Core Web Vitals,
- Mobile Usability,
- Internal and external links,
- Advanced performance report,
- Keywords, and
- Coverage.
2. Ahrefs Free SEO Tools For Tons of Free Benefits
Pricing Model: Free
Price: Free
Features:
- Free Keyword Generator
- Backlink Checker
- Keyword Difficulty Checker
- Broken Link Checker
- YouTube Keyword Tool
- Website Authority Checker
- Amazon Keyword Tool
- Ahrefs Webmaster Tools
Ahrefs is a comprehensive toolset for SEOs of all levels of experience. It has tons of free features. It’s one of the most popular link building tools among SEOs.
The free keyword generator is an excellent tool for finding long-tail keywords with low competition. The backlink checker is also beneficial for keeping track of your link profile and detecting new links.
The Ahrefs webmaster tools are also beneficial for diagnosing website issues and tracking your website’s performance. It is another must-have free SEO software for both beginners and experienced SEOs.
3. Google Advanced Search for Finding Sites
Pricing Model: Free
Price: Free
You need to find sites in your niche. For that purpose, the advanced search option of Google can be an excellent free tool. Just type in your topic/industry and the word “link” or “resources.”
For example: “web design resources.”
This will give you a list of websites listed themselves as web design resources. You can then reach out to them and pitch your content.
You can also use Google’s advanced search to find sites looking for guest bloggers. Just type in your topic/industry and the words “guest post” or “write for us.”
For example: “fitness guest post.”
This will give you a list of websites looking for fitness guest bloggers.
4. Moz Bar for Domain Authority
Pricing Model: Free
Price: Free for suggested feature
Moz bar is a free Chrome extension that shows you the domain authority of any website. You can use the Moz bar to find the domain authority of websites in your niche. Just install the extension and go to any website; you will see the domain authority of that website.
Domain authority is a metric from Moz that shows how strong a website is. The higher the domain authority, the more difficult it is to outrank that website.
You should target websites with a domain authority of 40+. If you start a new website, your domain authority will be deficient (around 0 to 20). So, it will be easier for you to outrank those websites.
5. Similar Web For Analyzing Website
Pricing Model: Free and Paid
Price: Free (for suggested feature)
When you have found a list of sites your list, you need to check each of the sites. Similar Web’s free plan gives you limited but essential insights into each website.
Features:
- Website rank for the category, country, as well as Global
- Organization overview (Founding year, employees, Head office location, etc.)
- Basic website traffic analytics (visits, bounce rate, pages per visit, visit duration, etc.)
- Traffic sources in terms of geography
- Audience interests
- Competitors & Similar Sites
- Keyword Search Traffic
- Referral Traffic
- Display Advertising Traffic
- Social Media Traffic
- Outgoing Links
Similar Web is an excellent tool for analyzing your website and your competitor’s website. It provides insights into website traffic, audience interests, etc. The analytics are sufficient enough to understand the quality of the site.
For example, most SEOs will not pitch a website with meager traffic. On the other hand, a good number of outgoing links shows a chance of getting accepted for link building. There are many different use cases of Similar Web; explore the site for your site to get started.
6. Hunter.io For Finding Emails
Pricing Model: Free and Monthly Packages
Price: Free (for suggested features)
Features:
- 25 Monthly searches
- 50 Monthly verifications
- One email account
- 500 recipients per campaign
- Find email addresses of professionals
- Verify the email address
- Chrome extension and
You have found the websites in your niche and filtered to get the top-quality sites. It is time for contacting the website owner. The problem is how to get the email address of the website owner?
Hunter.io is an excellent tool for finding the email addresses of professionals. You can do 25 monthly searches and 50 monthly verifications with the free plan. You can also verify 500 recipients per campaign. It also has a Chrome extension that makes it easy to find emails on any website.
Considering your need for only 4 to 5 high-quality backlinks each month, the free plan of Hunter.io is sufficient enough.
Best Paid Link Building Tools
There are also many paid link building tools available. These tools typically offer more features and data than the free versions. Here are the most popular paid link building tools.
7. Ahrefs Premium Plans for All in one SEO
Pricing Model: Monthly
Price: Lite plan at $99 monthly, with multiple packages until agency plan at$999
Features:
- SEO Dashboard
- Site Explorer
- Keywords Explorer
- Site Audit
- Rank Tracker
- Alerts
- Content Explorer
- Domain Comparison
- Batch Analysis
- Reports sharing
Ahref is one of many link research tools and is one of the best resources on data for link building. Ahref compiles data sets from several links, competitive analysis, and many other tools. Ahref has its dedicated ranking system, which ranks which sites have the best Internet traffic etc. Their data is comprehensive and can help give you the information edge you need to know what’s trending!
8. SEMRush for All-in-One SEO and Content Marketing
Pricing Model: Monthly
Price: 99.95$ for the Pro package, $399.95 for a business package
Features:
- Keyword, domain, and backlink analytics
- Content Marketing Platform
- Domain & Keyword Analytics
- SEO Projects
- Reporting
- Listing Management (Local SEO)
- Semrush.Trends
- Agency Growth Kit
SEMRush is another set of link-building tools – focused on researching backlinks and Search Engine Optimization. The tool examines competitors’ ads, traffic, and other analytical features. The app also helps target websites in your country, helping with local ad campaigns.
SEMrush is a comprehensive SEO and content marketing platform. It offers a wide range of features. The platform is suitable for businesses of all sizes. The price is $99.95 per month for the Pro package and $399.95 per month for the business package.
9. Buzzsumo for SEO, Content & Influencer Marketing
Pricing Model: Monthly
Pricing: $99 for Pro Package, $499 for Enterprise
Features:
- Content Ideas Generator
- Content Analysis Reports
- Domain Reports
- Influencer Searches
- Backlinks
- Journalist Profiles
- Question Analyzer
- YouTube Analyzer
- Top Author Search
- Facebook Page Analyzer
- Facebook Pages
A dedicated link research tool, Buzzsumo is designed to stay on top of all the latest trends. Buzzsumo monitors keywords, backlinks, and emerging brands on any topic. Additionally, Buzzsumo can also check other websites for popular questions on forums relevant to your business or niche.
The Buzzsumo software is dedicated to discovering all this information to help you build your business. It’s heavy on data analytics, so be warned, but all the info this software offers can only help if you act on it!
10. HARO (Help a Reporter Out) for Authority Building
Pricing Model: Free and Monthly plans
Pricing: $19 for the Standard package, $149 for the Premium package
Features:
- Media Opportunities
- Email alerts
- Text alerts
- Keyword Alerts
- Profile
- Search Online
HARO (otherwise known as Help a Reporter Out) is a unique SEO tool. It’s not a link builder tool or SEO link building software, but more of a network. When you signup on HARO as a source, journalists may look at your profile and request you to answer questions. The journalists may use the information from your conversations as material for an article posted on their news website.
This is a non-traditional way to build up your web presence by having you and your website’s name on news sites! This is a useful tool. However, it’s best to have it if you’re using it together with other link builder tools.
11. Market Muse for Outstanding Content and Link Building
Pricing Model: Free and Annual plans
Pricing: $7,200/year for the Standard package, $12,000/year for the Premium package
Features:
- Optimize,
- Research,
- Compete,
- Questions,
- Connect,
- On-demand content audit,
- Domain analysis, etc.
Market Muse is a tool that helps you with your content marketing. It provides insights about your competition, what topics to write about, and how to improve your content. The tool also helps you find journalists to pitch your story to. Market Muse is an excellent tool for content marketing and SEO.
Importance of Link Research Tool
Link research tools help you save time and money by finding high-quality link opportunities. They also provide data on the authority and trustworthiness of each website, so you can make sure you are only building links from the best websites.
They also help you avoid costly mistakes, such as building links from low-quality websites or participating in link schemes.
In short, link research tools are an essential part of any link building campaign.
Best Link Research Tools
We have listed and described six free link building tools and five premium ones. Among those tools, the best link research tools are:
- Google Search Console
- Ahrefs Free SEO Tools
- Moz Bar
- Similar Web
- Ahrefs Premium Plans
- SEMRush
- Market Muse
FAQ
The answer might differ from person to person, depending on your individual needs and preferences. However, we use and recommend all tools listed in the article.
If you are looking for a single tool for all of your SEO needs, then chose either one of the premium plans of Ahrefs or SEMRush. These tools can help you with your needs with excellence and a competitive price.
The SEMrush link building tool is a comprehensive suite of tools that can help you with all aspects of link building for your website. It includes many features, such as backlink analysis, competitor analysis, and email outreach. This tool can help you identify potential link partners, track your progress, and improve your SEO performance.
Yes, backlinks are still an essential part of SEO in 2022. They are one of the most important ranking factors, and they can help you improve your website’s visibility and authority. However, the way backlinks are used has changed over the years, and you need to be aware of the latest trends and best practices if you want to make the most of them.
There is no magic number of backlinks that you need to rank in Google. However, backlinks are an important ranking factor, and the more high-quality backlinks you have, the better.
Backlinks can be expensive, depending on the quality and type of links you are looking for. But before you plan to purchase one, please remember that buying and selling backlinks are unethical black hat practices. Therefore, we strongly recommend that you don’t buy links.
Conclusion
Link building is an integral part of SEO, and there are many tools that can help you do it effectively. We’ve listed the best link building tools in this article, six free and five paid. We hope you find the right tool for you and your needs. Thanks for reading!
Did we miss any great link building tools? Let us know in the comments below!
And as always, if you have any questions, feel free to reach out to us on social media or via our website. We’re happy to help!
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