We compiled a list of the 21 most-useful link building tools that every professional SEO should be using and that businesses should consider using to ensure their link profile is solid.
No factor influences search engine rankings more than a domain’s inbound link profile. Specifically, your domain needs:
- Links from relevant and trusted websites
- Backlinks from many different referring domains, not just many links from a small group of domains
- Inbound links from domains with higher Domain Authority scores and other indicators of domain quality
Building and earning the right kinds of links to improve search engine rankings is the top long-term priority in any SEO campaign. These 22 link building tools give you what you need to become a link building rock star.
If you still need help with your link building efforts, check out Digital Current’s link building service today.
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Best All-in-One Tool: Ahrefs
With its comprehensive database of over 1 trillion links, Ahrefs is a must-have weapon in your link building arsenal. Ahrefs Site Explorer, the core link building resource, provides an incredibly in-depth look at your existing backlink profile. It will also allow you to easily see how your competitors are doing.
When you discover spammy links, place them in a disavow file for easy upload to Google.
In addition to being a great link analysis tool Ahrefs has incredibly useful keyword ranking and content analysis tools.
Honorable Mention: SEMrush. While SEMrush is a great SEO tool overall, its link building-specific tools are not in the same league as Ahrefs.
5 Tools for Link Prospecting
These five tools make it easy to prospect for new link opportunities:
- Ontolo. Enter your keywords, choose the types of pages you’d like links from, and get a comprehensive list of options.
- Link Prospector. Identify specific publication types, such as blogs, resource pages, and directories, to target for link building.
- Fresh Web Explorer, Google Alerts, and Mention. Use these tools to keep track of unlinked brand mentions. When someone mentions you or a competitor you can do outreach to ask for a link.
4 Tools for Disavowing Links
When you find problematic or spammy backlinks, disavow them with these simple link building tools:
- Link Research Tools. Use the Link Detox option to scan all of your backlinks and prioritize them according to risk of Google penalty.
- Disavow.it. Create a batch file of links you want to disavow and upload it to Google Search Console.
- CognitiveSEO. Backlink Analysis, Rank Tracking, and other audits that will help you find and disavow undesirable links.
5 Tools to Automate Prospecting and Outreach
Track your link building efforts and your interactions with webmasters using these options:
- Buzzstream. Contact webmasters on different domains, including both email and social media options. Classify each contact according to relationship stage.
- Content Marketer. Pull in domain contact information and create multiple templates for outreach avenues, including email and LinkedIn.
- NinjaOutreach. Use this tool to automate your prospecting. It also provides tools for doing outreach.
- BuzzSumo. Great tool for finding influencers in your niche.
- GroupHigh. A pricey but very high-quality database of influencers. GroupHigh helps you find bloggers and influencers, manage relationships, and do content research.
4 Tools to Evaluate Link, Content, & Website Evaluation
Use these tools to evaluate domains in bulk. Some metrics these tools will help you look for include Moz Domain Authority, Majestic Trustflow, traffic, social signals, inbound and outbound domain, and link counts.
- URL Profiler. Nothing compares to URL Profiler when it comes to the speed and depth that you can quickly analyze website, links, and content.
- SEO Tools for Excel. This is a tool that should be in every SEO’s toolbox. It allows you to pull metrics directly into your Excel files. It integrates with Google Analytics and MajesticSEO and is able to crawl pages quickly.
- Scrapebox. This is an excellent tool for mass evaluation of websites. Be careful not to get sucked into using some of its automated link placement tools though, they can get you in trouble quickly.
- GroupHigh. On top of being a great prospecting tool, GroupHigh will help you evaluate blogs and websites using over 40 social, SEO, and website metrics.
2 Tools for Broken Link Building
Use these two tools to help discover any broken links, and offer a current working page as alternative.
- Broken Link Builder. Type in a keyword phrase, and this tool hunts the web for related pages with broken links. Then, use the tool’s Wayback Machine to see the content it linked to before.
- LinkMiner. With this simple browser extension, you’ll see not only broken links but also all the links that point to them. See the number of outbound links each page in Google’s search results has to identify targets for broken link building.
1 Tool for Local Link Building: Whitespark
Use the Whitespark Local Citation Finder to see both your citations and your competitors’ citations. Identify places you need to add a NAP and a link to improve local SEO.
Solidify Your Link Profile
Sometimes, one of the best link building tools you can have is an SEO specialist by your side. Check out Digital Current’s SEO services, and contact us for a free consultation.
