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Rev up your SEO with testimonial link building tactics that also strengthen credibility. Dive into actionable strategies in this blog now!
Are you spending endless hours on outreach, writing excellent guest posts, and obsessively checking your analytics to see if Google has noticed all your effort?
Here’s the deal: Link building is challenging and time-consuming but worth it for your biz. Unfortunately, there’s no magic trick for easy, quality links. You have to work for those game-changing backlinks.
But don’t lose hope just yet! There are some smart moves you can make to snag high-quality links without all the hassle. One of them is testimonial link building. It’s a killer strategy for grabbing links from top-notch sites in your field.
In this article you’ll find out the ultimate guide on getting free backlinks by writing testimonials on other products/services.
Testimonial link building is about getting a backlink from a reputable website in your niche in exchange for a positive experience feedback of their products or services. Displaying such testimonials on a website helps other businesses get word of mouth and boost brand recognition while you get a valuable backlink to boost your SEO.
Let’s say, your company’s pretty awesome at customer service relations. Thus, you could boost your SEO game by writing testimonials for customer relationship management tools you genuinely use and appreciate, like Zendesk, Salesforce, or HubSpot. When those testimonials land on their websites, they’ll hook you up with a link back to your own site. This not only boosts your link profile but also makes you look even more legit.
But writing up stuff you don’t use, like construction gear, won’t help much. Relevance is vital here.
Here is a real case of how testimonial link-building works👇
Matthew Woodward is an SEO and online marketing expert promoting his services via a personal website. He built it with the help of a WordPress theme. This experience was great, so he shared it in a video testimonial. After creating a video, Matthew asked the MyThemeShop company reps if they’d like to feature this testimonial on their homepage. Their team agreed. So, here is what it looks like:
As you may see, there is an active link to Matthew’s website under the video.
Result: Matthew got a DR90 homepage do-follow link, dramatically boosting his brand authority and ranking higher on Google.
Simple.
But also massively effective.
Growing your website’s SEO metrics, like domain authority, traffic, or brand visibility, is the main perk of using testimonial links. But some pretty nice bonuses come with this strategy, too:
Sounds great, isn’t it? Let’s find out how to implement this tactic!
The good news is that you don’t need to be a tech expert. The base of testimonial link building is a spreadsheet for process management, writing testimonials, and sending out emails to people who don’t know.
Additionally, you may need tools to find emails or check website SEO metrics. We’ll explain all those nuances below.
Here is a list of questions to ask yourself while choosing a target:
The stuff you’d put on your website list can vary greatly based on your niche. For example, suppose you’re all about online marketing. In that case, here may be theme creators, hosting services, tools for scheduling social media posts, email marketing apps, design tools, SEO agencies, web developers, and more.
Sure thing, you’ll start with a list of tools you’ve used before. When it ends, try the following methods:
As a result, you’ll have a list of potential websites for testimonial link building. It is better to keep them in such a spreadsheet:
There’s always an option to find business contact details just by browsing a website. This strategy is great when you have 10-20 websites on your list. But if there are over 1,000 URLs, it is time to automate this process.
Among the best email lookup tools here are:
They all work the same: you put a website URL, and service finds for your email addresses or LinkedIn profiles associated with that domain. Additionally, you can specify roles you need, like CEO, CMO, marketer, etc.
After you’re done, there’s one more column that should appear in your spreadsheet:
The primary rule here is to pitch the testimonial idea first and, only then, work on the testimonial itself!
As for the email copy, start by explaining what you want to do and how it can help the recipient’s business. Avoid generic email. Keep your message short and personalize elements like website, industry, product title, name, how it affected your work, etc.
Here are a few script examples for you:
Pro-tip: It is better to test several pitch variants to identify the one that converts the best.
Indeed, this is only the first email (the most important one). After that, you need to define the type of testimonial: will it be a short blurb or a video? How long should it be?
Eventually, don’t forget to track this step in your spreadsheet:
When the testimonial pitch gets a green light, it’s time for writing or video editing. Here are some best practices to write a compelling testimonial.
Bad Testimonial Example:
This service is great! I recommend it to all my friends!
Good Testimonial Example:
As a marketer using [product], I’ve used it for various tasks, including creating engaging social media posts, designing email marketing campaigns, and crafting stunning presentations. I’m impressed that it took me only 5-10 minutes to create visuals with [product].
The bad example has a strong chance of never being published. It has no value as it’s so generic and doesn’t offer any insights of your experience.
Your testimonial goal is to persuade potential buyers that a product/service is worth their time and money.
Here are some advice on crafting a killer testimonial:
If you don’t see a reply 3-5 days after sending the first email, send a polite follow-up email. People tend to read and forget things, or your email gets lost in the inbox/spam.
Here are some follow-up email examples for your inspiration:
We recommend tracking this process in the same spreadsheet:
By the way, there can be more than one follow-up. For instance, two or three with 2-3 day intervals.
Once you’ve got your backlinks live, monitoring them from time to time is vital. Why? Companies tend to change their websites, team members, and strategies. As a result, they can update the website and delete your testimonial.
Thanks to services like Google Analytics or Ahrefs, you can notice that and contact the company to fix the issue.
Now you know why many marketers chose testimonial link building over other methods. Crafting testimonials is a practical approach for effortlessly getting free backlinks. By selecting products that resonate with your site and audience, you can secure links with significant weight in Google’s consideration.
Just follow these steps:
Remember, consistency and genuine engagement are your best tools in this journey!
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