Countless eyes scan the news every day. Not just big, mainstream news, but niche publications in your industry as well.
So what if you could score some backlinks in these news publications? What would that do for your site traffic and how the search engines see you?
The good news is there’s an organized way to reach journalists who need your expertise for their articles…
And are willing to give you a backlink in exchange.
Enter: HARO link building.
As with many non-technical SEO matters, anchor teHARO, which stands for Help A Reporter Out, is an online service that connects journalists with subject matter experts across various industries.
That way, journalists can find these experts whenever they need factual information, quotes, commentary, or interviews for a piece.
Yup—that means that when the journalist inevitably publishes that piece, you get a backlink.
HARO has over 75,000 journalists and bloggers on the platform, all looking for subject matter experts like yourself to cite as sources for their articles.
Lots of opportunities if you know what you’re doing.
xt serves search engines and users. Search engines use it to find their way around your site, Google uses it as a ranking factor, and users need it to know what’s on the other side of the link and whether they should click.
HARO link building is harder than it used to be… but that’s because so many people have realized how insanely valuable it is.
‍
High-Quality Backlinks
HARO links check all of Google’s E-E-A-T boxes:
Experience: You show your first-hand experience in your subject. You aren’t just talking about abstract matters—you do what you’re talking about. If you’re being interviewed, chances are, you’re talking about your experience.
Expertise: You show off your smarts in your field. You can flex your knowledge, skills, credentials, and so on. More of the “book smarts” than the hands-on experience.
Authoritative: Not only do you look like you know your stuff… but you have the reputation and respect to back it up. If you’re a medical doctor well known for a particular area in medicine, and you’re speaking about that topic, you’re seen as an authority by Google. And journalists will include that in their piece.
Trustworthiness: This is the most crucial factor. Accurate content sourced from experts and represented honestly gets the trustworthiness factor. And this is exactly why the journalist is coming to you, so you lock down the trustworthiness pretty easily.
Let's tailor your roadmap to success.
With extensive expertise in enhancing SERP ranking performance, we understand what truly works. Let us save you from wasting resources on ineffective strategies. A quick call with us with the option of an AI-Driven Strategy Blueprint might be all you need to attain the edge over your competition.
BOOKÂ AÂ CALL
As a result, your HARO backlinks will generally be some of your best backlinks in terms of SEO juice.
Referral Traffic
Referral traffic is the actual people clicking through the backlink.
Getting cited in a media publication can generate a nice surge of referral traffic. Big publications or pieces on hot-button industry issues can make that surge even larger.
And since you appear as an expert to the referral traffic clickers, they immediately hit your website with more trust in you. Lower bounce rates and higher dwell times result. They click your internal links and visit more of your pages.
Finally, since you’re getting more traffic… Google sees your site as more valuable and thus ranks it higher.
There’s also something to be said about pure brand visibility. Obviously you’re getting a backlink, but your brand name is also in front of tons of new readers.
Even if they don’t click through the first time they read, you’ve planted a seed in their brain. They now see you as an expert on that topic.
Build up more backlinks in that publication or across a few publications, and those readers will see you everywhere. How do you think they will perceive you if they see your name attached to a certain topic in a positive light across several articles?
Exactly: They’ll see you as the expert
HARO link building will fit a specific niche in your overall link building efforts. So you don’t want to use it all the time, but rather for a few specific needs and scenarios.
‍
You Want a Brand Reputation Boost
Want to get your brand name out there? Getting a journalist to talk about you, even indirectly, does just that. You establish credibility by appearing on a media site, and you look like an expert and an authority on the topic.
‍
You Need To Build Media Connections
Media connections can be quite helpful in the future for plenty of things.
Backlinking, sure. One journalist may need a regular expert to give them quotes, do interviews, and so on. They might also have friends who need your knowledge for their own journalistic endeavors.
But backlinking opportunities aren’t the only benefit. Media connections could be great for, say, a new product launch. Once your new product is ready to roll out, you could get the news published in industry-related media.
‍
You Can’t Create Content
Sometimes, you can’t create content. Maybe you don’t have the time or desire to do it yourself, nor the money to hire content writers for guest posts.
HARO doesn’t require making the content. You instead just talk with the journalist and they take your quotes and other tidbits to use in their piece.
It’s as close to free links as you can get!
HARO link building is a bit different in terms of strategy than most other methods.
Before you do any outreach, get your HARO profile up to par. Fill everything out:
Other contact information;
What subjects you’re an expert in.
A full profile is more appealing to journalists.
Make sure your bio is compelling too. Use it to sell your expertise and flesh out the details of what you know. Note any awards you’ve won or other publications you’re featured in. As you get HARO backlinks, consider adding these to your profile to show you’ve helped other journalists in the past.
Finally, add links to your social profiles and website. That way, journalists can check out your online presence in more detail.
Obviously, you want to get email alerts for HARO requests in your niche. But those aren’t the only opportunities—adjacent niches and even some seemingly unrelated industries could offer fantastic backlink opportunities.
For instance, say you sell a SaaS product to travel companies. Sure, you could snag HARO backlinks from the travel and tech categories—but how about business and finance as well? If you’re the founder, a business journalist might want to hear your story and write about it. Now, you’ve got a spot in a business-related media publication catering to another type of audience.
If you can get good backlinks across several categories, you diversify your audience and show strong signs of expertise to Google and land higher in Google searches.
Journalists can get an avalanche of responses, especially for more popular publications. And journalists often work on tight deadlines, too. They might even set same-day deadlines for queries to minimize inbox clutter or stop responding if they found the pitch they liked.
So check your HARO email alerts every day, and don’t wait if you see a golden opportunity.
Of course, you’ll need to set yourself up for maximum reply speed. To do that, gather your expert soundbites and information in one place.
As you build more HARO links, you’ll see more clearly what kinds of information to keep on hand for future HARO opportunities.
Generic replies won’t stand out. Not when the journalist has 100 other people to choose from.
Research your prospect for a few minutes. Skim an article or two of theirs to get a sense of their style and how they cover things. Find something of theirs you enjoy. And keep up with the latest industry news.
This info will help you find a unique and relevant way to respond. It’ll make your pitch stand out. Many journalists will be pleasantly surprised when they learn you’ve actually read their work. Don’t be too flattering, of course, but a compliment or two here and there doesn’t hurt.
Note the key points you want to touch on in the interview. Go over them a few times before the interview.
No need to be too scripted. You want the interview to be conversational, and too much of a “script” can make you appear rigid—especially if the journalist asks questions you haven’t prepared for.
Instead, use your key points to stay anchored during the interview, but let the journalist guide the discussion.
If your interview goes well, you started a potential relationship on the right foot. So don’t drop all contact with the journalist after you talk with them.
Make sure you ask them for an estimate of when the story will be published. Follow up with them after the interview, thanking them for their time and asking if they need anything else. Check regularly to ensure the link doesn’t break and continues to work. Use link building tools to monitor for these links.
Also, let them know you’re happy to participate in future interviews and speak with their colleagues if they know anyone else who needs a subject matter expert.
Grabbing digital territory on niche-relevant sites is nice, but scoring backlinks from media publications rounds out your link profile in a totally unique way.
Whether you want to spread your brand name, build media connections, or just need strong backlinks without creating content, HARO link building can help you.
But starting on the platform and standing out from the competition is a bit overwhelming. Few site owners have time to constantly scan their inboxes for HARO opportunities and whip up pitches daily.
Profit Engine is here to take that off your plate. We’ll track journalistic inquiries, rigorously analyze every opportunity to ensure it aligns with your brand values and pick only the best for you. Meanwhile, you analyze our results via a comprehensive, live report.
Ready to build massive authority through HARO link building? Book a free strategy meeting today.
An industry-leading AI link building strategy.
After years of experience growing brands just like yours, we know what gets results and what doesn’t. We’ll stop you from spending too much time, resources and money on backlinks that don’t help. We’ll stop you from building links on harmful or useless websites. We’ll use our AI Link Strategy to analyze your competition and give you a personalized action plan.
Find out more
