Two Teams, One Goal, Zero Coordination
In most organizations, the content team creates content. The link building team tries to get links to it.
They rarely talk to each other.
sighs
This is like a restaurant where the kitchen and the waitstaff don't communicate. You end up with beautiful dishes that nobody ordered.
The Alignment Framework
Step 1: Joint planning. Link builders should have input on the content calendar. If they know what's being created, they can prepare outreach in advance.
Content creators should know what's linkable. If they understand what earns links, they can build linkability into their content from the start. Our guide on building a content strategy from scratch covers the content side.
Step 2: Create content FOR link building. At least 20-30% of your content calendar should be specifically designed to earn links. Data studies, free tools, comprehensive guides, statistics pages.
Step 3: Build links TO strategic content. Don't just build links to whatever's new. Build links to pages that move the needle — product pages, money pages, and pillar content.
Step 4: Repurpose content across channels. A research report becomes a blog post becomes a guest post pitch becomes a PR angle becomes social media content. Each touchpoint is a link opportunity.
The Content-Link Matrix
For every piece of content, define:
This prevents the common problem of creating content that's great for traffic but useless for links (or vice versa). Moz's beginner's guide to link building reinforces this content-first approach to link building.
The Compound Effect
When content and link building are aligned:
We've seen this alignment double link building efficiency across our campaigns.
Track your combined content and link strategy at SEO Checkup. 113 tasks. 4 checklists. Free. No credit card.
Align your teams. Multiply your results.