Link Building3 min

Agency Link Building: How to Build Links for Clients Effectively

Building links for clients has unique challenges. Here is how agencies do it right without cutting corners.

The Agency Challenge

Building links for your own site is hard enough. Building links for clients? Across multiple industries? At scale?

That's a whole different beast.

Come closer. Listen.

The Keys to Agency Link Building

Deep niche research per client. You can't use the same link building playbook for a SaaS client and a local plumber. Each client needs a customized strategy based on their industry, competitive landscape, and goals. The link building KPIs you set will vary dramatically by client type.

Clear processes. Every step — from prospecting to outreach to reporting — needs a documented SOP. Without process, quality varies wildly between team members and clients. Our guide on link building SOPs breaks these down in detail.

Quality control systems. Every link placed should meet minimum quality standards. Domain authority, relevance, traffic, editorial quality. No exceptions, no matter how behind on targets you are.

Transparent reporting. Show clients exactly what you're doing, what links you've built, and the impact on rankings. No smoke and mirrors. Our link building reporting guide covers what stakeholders actually want to see.

What Bad Agencies Do

  • Buy PBN links and pass them off as "editorial placements"
  • Use the same outreach templates for every client
  • Chase volume targets with zero quality standards
  • Hide their link building methods from clients
  • rolls eyes

    Don't be that agency.

    The Scalable Model

    One link building specialist can manage 3-5 active client campaigns. Each campaign needs 8-15 quality links per month. That's 24-75 links per month per specialist.

    Build your team and processes around these numbers. Moz's beginner's guide to link building is a solid resource for training new team members.

    Give clients visibility into their full SEO progress with SEO Checkup. 113 tasks. 4 checklists. Free.

    Keep reading