You write the ultimate article on a topic and see it buried on page 5 of Google search results for weeks.
Even after shelling out thousands of dollars on professional writers, you’re still not ranking for the keyword you want.
We’ve all been there. So, what’s the real issue?
If your site doesn’t have the right links pointing to the correct pages, your rankings could take a hit. Nowadays, search algorithms favor legitimate link-building efforts over shady tactics or weaker site authorities.
Think about it—Google juggles tons of top-notch content, vying for that coveted top spot across various industries. It keeps an eye on both your on-page and off-page strategies to give users the best search results.
A solid backlink profile and internal link setup tell Google your content resonates with your target audience, making your site more relevant and valuable to users.
Are you investing a fortune on a content strategy and advertising campaigns but neglecting the right link-building tools? That’s just upping your risk. Save yourself money, time, and hassle by using free link-building tools.
We’ve handpicked the top-notch link-building software that consistently nail content strategy. Let’s dive into them right away!
What Should You Look for in a Link-building Software?
Before diving into our top selections, here are a few qualities that distinguish a good link-building tool:
- Simplicity: It must be simple to set up and navigate without technical difficulties
- Data reliability: Ensure it provides reliable, real-time, and accurate data on your link prospects to assist in making data-driven decisions
- Scalability: Access to most of the popular features known to aid content strategy pipelines
- Cost-effective: Pricing should be flexible to accommodate your business budget and marketing goals
- Functionality: It should be adequate for outreach campaigns, competitor analysis, tracking, and response measuring
- Easy integration: Ensure it integrates with your Search Engine Optimization, CRM, and keyword research tools seamlessly
The 10 Best Link-Building Tools to Use in 2024
1. Ahrefs
Ahrefs is a powerful software with impressive link-building functions. Initially designed to check backlinks, it has evolved into a class-leading database of keywords and backlinks in recent years.
Most SEO experts swear by Ahrefs as one of the ultimate “backlink checkers” when combined with other top-notch tools.
Ahrefs covers all your bases: research, publishing sites linking, tracking, and repurposing content. It’s a goldmine for studying and acting on your competitors’ linking strategies.
Ahrefs best features
- Overall website summary: Check out the site overview for a detailed look at domain and URL ratings. Explore an extensive profile revealing real-time link types, quality, referring domains, useful link-building metrics, backlink profiles, relevant link-building opportunities, external links, broken link-building opportunities, traffic sources, and many other link-building campaign features. Plus, you get clear, graphical illustrations showing a domain’s link growth over time
- Domain comparison: Put a competitor’s URL next to another URL and see how they stack up. Compare their link strengths, authorities, and keywords, and spot any gaps between them
- Cross-linking: Extract detailed and valuable information about referring domains
- Broken links details: Find the error pages that are impacting a domain so you can address them or collaborate more effectively
- Mentions: Use the Content Explorer feature to monitor backlinks and discover unlinked mentions quickly. Just enter your brand and activate the “Highlight unlinked domains” filter to see if those pages are related to you
- Content gap analysis: Find helpful keyword opportunities that’ll scale up your content strategy
Ahrefs limitations
- If you’re on a budget, you might not get much value since you can quickly use up the new credit system
- It does not provide traffic analytics for competing domains
Ahrefs pricing
- Free
- Lite: $99 per month for one user
- Standard: $179 per month for one user
- Advanced: $399 per month for three users
- Agency: $999 per month for five users
Ahrefs reviews and ratings
- G2: 4.5/5 (494 reviews)
- Capterra: 4.8/5 (540 reviews)
2. Link Whisper
Link Whisper is a trusted tool for internal link building. It checks your content’s relevance and conveniently suggests the best internal linking structure for your on-page SEO on the dashboard.
Link Whisper takes away the hassle of hunting for the right internal resources to link in your articles. If WordPress is your CMS, it swiftly identifies orphaned pages, fixes broken links, and tackles 404 errors, ultimately enhancing your website’s optimization for SEO.
Link Whisper best features
- Instantly access the proper internal linking recommendations for pages and posts
- Analyze your internal link profile from the number of internal links in your posts to your links statuses
- Discover the source and destination of each dead link and fix or delete the broken links with a few clicks
Link Whisper limitations
- Limited options to filter, sort, or prioritize link recommendations based on your preferences or criteria
- Restricted functionality because it only works within the WordPress CMS
Link Whisper pricing
- $77 for a single site license per annum
- $117 for three site licenses per annum
- $167 for ten site licenses per annum
Link Whisper reviews and ratings
- G2: Not enough ratings
- Capterra: Not enough ratings
3. BuzzStream
BuzzStream is a CRM and outreach tool that helps keep your link-building process consistent. Send and track link requests, customize, and arrange outreach emails in a central location.
Buzzstream automatically shortlists website backlinks metrics and contact details for potential prospects. It helps build a reliable database of marketers, boosting your chances for better link metrics. Launching link-building outreach campaigns is easy if you’re looking to fast-track your strategic milestones.
BuzzStream best features
- Intensify your contact search, lead inclusion, link analysis, and mail creation for campaigns using custom-made themes—in one place!
- Organize tasks, tag prospects, set reminders, and filter leads according to preferences
- Customize campaigns through the custom fields feature for tailored outreach
BuzzStream limitations
- Clunky interface; requires more time to learn how to use the software
BuzzStream pricing
- Starter: $24 monthly (1 user and $24 per extra user)
- Growth: $124 monthly (3 users and $40 per added user)
- Professional: $299 monthly (6 users and $50 per added user)
- Custom: $999 monthly (15+ users)
BuzzStream ratings and reviews
- G2: 4.1/5 (150+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.5/5 (20+ reviews)
4. BuzzSumo
BuzzSumo helps you locate and evaluate the most well-liked and relevant content for any topic or keyword. You’ll discover trending topics, content ideas, guest posting opportunities, brand mentions, niche influencers, and more.
BuzzSumo best features
- Discover popular content trends based on shares and engagements in any keyword, domain, and topic
- Monitor the web, social media, and blog to discover sentiments and mentions on your keywords
- Research, track, and compare content from various domains, keywords, and topics with ease
BuzzSumo limitations
- Does not have email, and hence, you cannot automate link-building outreach campaigns.
BuzzSumo pricing
- Content Creation: $199 per month (1 user)
- PR & Comms: $299 per month (5 users)
- Suite: $499 per month (10 users)
- Enterprise: $999 per month (30 users)
BuzzSumo ratings and reviews
- G2: 4.5/5 (100+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.5/5 (140+ reviews)
5. SEMrush
SEMrush is a popular keyword and link research tool. It helps marketers tackle SEO, PPC, and all aspects of content strategy by pinpointing opportunities for link-building.
With more than 39 unique features, SEMrush keeps updating itself with new functions to enhance a website’s domain authority and online visibility.
SEMrush best features
- Robust SEO research and tools: Conduct rich and comprehensive analysis on any website to understand what links influence their rankings. Also, evaluate the quality and condition of those links
- Site auditing: Figure out issues that could be harming your search engine ranking
- Organic and PPC keyword research tools: Track the keywords that drive the most traffic to a website, whether through paid search or organic results
- On-page SEO: Simply paste your article into SEMrush’s content optimizer tool to improve the ranking potential of your target queries
- Competitor analysis: Find out what links and keywords your industry competition is using to their advantage
- Domain comparison: Put a competitor’s URL next to another and see how they stack up. Compare their strengths, like links, authorities, and keywords, and spot any gaps between them
- Broken links details: Find and identify the error pages that impact a domain, so you can fix them or collaborate more effectively
SEMrush limitations
- The user interface isn’t the most user-friendly
- Quite expensive if you’re working with a low-budget
SEMrush pricing
- Pro: $119.95 per month
- Guru: $229.95 per month
- Business: $449.95 per month
- Custom: negotiable
SEMrush ratings and reviews
- G2: 4.5/5 (1800+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.6/5 (2100+ reviews)
6. Postaga
Postaga is a link-building tool that helps you build quality links to your website with AI-powered tools. It covers everything–from link-building metrics analyzing content relevance to finding contacts and outreach–making link-building faster and more effective.
Postaga best features
- Integrate with other SEO tools, including Moz, Ahrefs, and Hunter
- Create suggestions for your outreach campaigns, including campaign type, target audience, and follow-up strategies
- Create white-label reports about your campaigns’ performance
Postaga limitations
- No guarantee of email deliverability; emails might bounce or land in spam folders
Postaga pricing
- Pro: $84 monthly (with 2000 contacts)
- Agency: $240 (with 15000 contacts)
Postaga ratings and reviews
- G2: Not enough ratings
- Capterra: 4.6/5 (60+ reviews)
7. Pitchbox
Pitchbox is a go-to link-building and sales outreach tool for experienced link builders. It helps with prospect research and identification and email creation and distribution. Keep track of conversations, follow up, and measure results—all in one place.
Pitchbox offers a user-friendly interface that simplifies large-scale link building.
Pitchbox best features
- Ideal for large content marketing agencies or companies with increased workflows and outreach team
- Enhances team collaboration as several people can work on the same campaign
- Access customized workflows to automate and optimize your outreach process
Pitchbox limitations
- Users struggle with the platform’s extensive capabilities, finding them difficult to navigate and handle
Pitchbox pricing
- Professional: $550 per month
- Enterprise: $1500 per month
Pitchbox ratings and reviews
- G2: 4.7/5 (90+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.7/5 (40+ reviews)
8. NinjaOutreach
Ninja Outreach is a link-building and outreach tool perfect for reaching prospects, bloggers, journalists, and influencers. It digs into your prospects using various criteria like contact details, social followers, blog posts, domain authority, and past interactions.
NinjaOutreach best features
- Analyze and track leads using different metrics while staying updated on your relationships with prospects
- Work together with your team to handle outreach campaigns and develop link-building strategies
NinjaOutreach limitations
- Lots of users struggle with navigating the link-building software, often having a poor experience
NinjaOutreach pricing
- Bronze Ninja: $99 monthly
- Silver Ninja: $199 monthly
- Gold Ninja: $399 monthly
NinjaOutreach ratings and reviews
- G2: Not enough ratings
- Capterra: 3.8/5 (60+ ratings)
9. LinkBuilder.io
LinkBuilder.io is a link-building agency that secures top-notch backlinks from trustworthy sites. Their experts handle every aspect of link development, from outreach and negotiation to placement and prospecting.
LinkBuilder best features
- Plan and manage your link-building campaigns in one place
- Monitor backlinks and assess your link-building efforts’ ROI. Check the number of links acquired, their cost, and how they influence traffic and search engine rankings
LinkBuilder limitations
- LinkBuilder is expensive for small businesses
LinkBuilder pricing
- Startup: $2999 monthly
- Growth:$5999 monthly
- Pro: $9999 monthly
- Enterprise: $19999 monthly
LinkBuilder ratings and reviews
- G2: Not enough ratings
- Capterra: Not enough ratings
10. BrightLocal
BrightLocal is a specialized platform for local SEO, helping manage your reputation and reviews, boosting traffic and leads from local searches, and optimizing your local rankings.
It ensures your NAP (Name, Address, Phone Number) consistency online by spotting and fixing citation issues like missing, duplicate, or inconsistent entries.
BrightLocal best features
- Analyze your site’s SEO health to spot any issues or errors that could impact rankings, your link-building strategy, or user experience
- Create review questions and gather feedback from customers or users to enhance your site’s digital reputation
BrightLocal limitations
- BrightLocal only works with WordPress websites since it’s a WordPress plugin
BrightLocal pricing
- Track: $39 per month
- Manage: $49 per month
- Grow: $59 per month
BrightLocal ratings and reviews
- G2: 4.6/5 (200+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.8/5 (250+ reviews)
Other Marketing Tools
While link-building and SEO tools are super-critical in your marketing stack, they only form a small part of your overall growth setup. You need various aspects, such as content, email marketing, and paid ads, among other strategies and tactics, to work together to grow your business.
One such tool is ClickUp—which brings together all your marketing teams to work together to achieve your revenue goals.
ClickUp
ClickUp is a complete task and project management solution that helps you =level up your marketing. Create and track campaigns with ClickUp Marketing Teams. Use the ClickUp AI to generate campaign ideas like blogs, case studies, and briefs.
The task management software includes a ClickUp Marketing Campaign Management system to help you create, plan, organize, expedite, and track the effectiveness of your marketing campaigns.
ClickUp also provides a library of pre-selected templates for design and creative processes in marketing teams. With the help of these frameworks, you can create a design workflow that effectively replicates your ideal workflow, encouraging productivity and creativity.
ClickUp best features
- Prioritize projects: Structure projects or compare different link-building campaigns using a project prioritization matrix
- Customized automation: Eliminate human dependency and automate the planning process
- Utilize AI strength: Use simple prompts to create compelling that other websites will want to link to
- Seamless reporting: Generate reports about your internal link-building efforts. Discover the best-performing links and any limitations to make smarter decisions
- Optimize campaigns: Organize and streamline your link-building plans, assess your connections, monitor notifications, and remain up-to-date with the ClickUp Marketing Campaign Management tool
ClickUp limitations
- ClickUp is heavily customizable, which can make it daunting for beginners
ClickUp pricing
- Free Forever
- Unlimited: $7 per month per user
- Business: $12 per month per user
- Enterprise: Custom pricing
- ClickUp Brain: Available on all paid plans for $5/Workspace member/month
ClickUp ratings and reviews
- G2: 4.7/5 (9000+ reviews)
- Capterra: 4.7/5 (3500+ reviews)
Level Up Your SEO and Marketing Game in 2024
Link Whisper and other premium link-building tools focus on improving link quality and outreach to various websites. This enhances your credibility on the web and boosts your online presence—be it more website visits, mentions on other websites, or Social Media.
Combine the power of these tools with a complete solution such as ClickUp for managing marketing tasks, ensuring smooth collaboration among teams and tools, and ultimately enhancing productivity across multiple projects within the organization.
Sign up for free today.
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