It’s no secret that links are still one of the most important ranking factors for Google.
In fact, with over 200 different factors Google considers, it’s up there in the top 3.
Source: https://userp.io/link-building-statistics/
So it’s really simple. To rank your website higher, building high-quality links using white hat strategies needs to be part of your SEO strategy.
This can be a difficult task, and there are a lot of link-building tools on the market today. But only a few of them are worth your time and money.
I’ll be sharing my top seven picks for the best link-building tools you need in 2022. And trust me, these are all essential!
By the end of this article, you’ll know link building software to:
Find link building opportunities;
- Run a backlink analysis;
- Find and contact info for prospects;
- And manage your outreach campaign
Let’s dive in.
What are the best link building tools?
The best link building tools are:
- Ahrefs
- Hunter.io
- Seamless.AI
- Check My Links
- Buzzstream
- Haro
- Linkody
| Tool | $ (starts from) | Find Backlink Opportunities? | Find Contact Info? | Manage outreach campaign? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ahrefs | $99 | Analyze competitors’ backlink profile | ❌ | ❌ |
| Hunter.io | $49 | ❌ | Finds emails | Launch and track email campaigns |
| Seamless.ai | $99 | ❌ | Finds emails, contacts and LinkedIn profiles | ❌ |
| CheckMyLinks | Free | Discover broken links | ❌ | ❌ |
| HARO | Free | Connect with reporters | ❌ | ❌ |
| Buzzstream | $24 | Find possible influencers | Find emails | ✅ |
| Linkody | $14.90 | See competitor’s backlinks | ❌ | Tracks your backlink profile |
Most businesses use these tools to build links, and I’ll show you why.
1. Ahrefs for competitor and backlink analysis
Ahrefs has many tools to help your SEO strategy and link-building process.
One of them is the Backlink Checker, which allows you to explore a site’s backlink profile from an index of up to 395.5 billion pages. This extensive index is more than any other tool can offer.
When using this tool, first find the keywords you want to rank for. For example, let’s say you want to rank for the keyword “artificial intelligence statistics.”
First, head into the Keywords Explorer, and put in your keyword:
Your competitors will appear on the Search Engine Results Page (SERP).
Alternatively, you will get the same results with a google search.
However, to analyze your competitors’ backlink profiles, you’ll need to copy the top competitor’s website to analyze their backlink profile. Like this:
For the paid tool:
Or through the free tool here: Ahrefs Backlink Checker.
On the free version, you can see the competitor’s link profile, including:
- URL Rating (the quantity and quality of backlinks that the specific page receives)
- Domain Rating (the quality and quantity of backlinks the domain receives)
- Total backlinks
- The exact pages linking to that page (if a site links to your competitor, they can link to you). For these linking pages, you’ll also see their link metrics:
- Domain Rating
- URL Rating
- Traffic
- Anchor text used