Search Engine Optimization

In this article you will learn some tricks on how to manage your outsourced links. First of all, never outsource all your link building, especially to one company. Links are so important, you will be gambling your entire company search rankings if you do that. If you have to outsource, then use several companies and maintain good relationship with them. Preferably, outsource to several companies, and use internal resources for link building.

How To Manage Link Building Companies

Once you find a company that you like to engage, place a trial order for 10 - 20 links. See what they give you. Keep in mind that the price directly relates to the quality, so if you’re cheap you will get cheap links (they work too). Once the reports come, check their work link by link, see the last cache date of the pages, and inbound link profile to each page. Also keep in mind the IP. You do not want all the links to come from the same IP class, which can hurt.

Factors to look for:

• Quality of work. Don’t trash lower quality link builders, as you might need them for secondary properties that support the main one.
• Turn around time. Measure how fast link builders can do their work. Use the fast ones when you really need to defend positions, and use slower ones for non-urgent keywords
• Pricing. You will find that some companies offer lower prices for the same type of work. They don’t do it worse, they just charge less, so always do the trials and talk to link builders. You’ll save money long term.

Once you give a project, push them to send you a report once a week / 2 weeks, so you can see the progress. Also request to pay for work done or pay in portions for segments of the project. This way you will never risk entire budget and I guarantee you will run into bad apples. Always communicate which types of links you would like to see more and less, and direct link builders.