What kind of links do you go after?
We go after editorial links: a writer chose to cite your page because it helped their story or their readers.
That rules out paid placements, private blog networks, link exchanges and widget links stuffed into embed code. Google's spam policies describe all of these as link spam. Our piece on ending a link-buying habit covers why the cheap route usually costs more.
| Tactic | Allowed? | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Original data study pitched to press | Yes | Editors cite it because it is new information |
| Free calculator or template | Yes | People link to useful tools without being asked |
| Expert quotes for journalists | Yes | Links come as attribution for real commentary |
| Asking for a link on an unlinked mention | Yes | The publisher already chose to mention you |
| Paying a blog for a dofollow link | No | Listed as link spam in Google's policies |
| Private blog networks | No | Built only to manipulate rankings |
| Sponsored post with rel="sponsored" | Yes, as advertising | Disclosed, passes no ranking credit |
What makes a campaign worth covering?
A campaign needs a finding or a tool that a specific audience cannot get anywhere else.
Hypothetical example: a moving company has years of anonymized job data. A study on which months cost the most to move, by city, gives local reporters a ready story. It also gives the company a page that keeps earning links each spring.
We start with the data you already have. If it is thin, we look at public datasets where your expertise adds an angle nobody else has published.
How do you measure whether link earning paid off?
We track visibility and conversions on the pages the links point to, plus referral traffic, and compare them against what the campaign cost.
Link counts are an input, not an outcome. A single link from a respected trade site that sends buyers can matter more than fifty from unrelated blogs. The SEO ROI calculator helps estimate what extra traffic to a commercial page is worth, so the campaign budget has a ceiling that makes sense.
How does earned authority reach your money pages?
Internal links carry it: we connect the asset pages that attract links to the service and product pages that convert.
Studies and tools rarely sell anything on their own. A clear path from the study to the relevant service page, with descriptive anchor text, lets that authority and those readers flow where they help revenue. For background on why link-based authority still matters, see why we still care about PageRank.
Campaign scope varies with how much research and asset building is needed. Request a proposal for a scope and timeline range.
Frequently asked questions
Do you buy links or use guest post networks?
No. Google's spam policies list exchanging money, goods or services for links as link spam. Paid placements are fine for advertising only when the link carries rel="sponsored" or rel="nofollow", and those links do not pass ranking credit.
How many links will we get?
We cannot promise a number, and you should be wary of anyone who does. Earned coverage depends on the strength of the story, timing and news cycles. We report every link and mention we secure, along with the outreach behind it.
How long before links affect rankings?
Links need to be discovered and crawled first, and their effect is gradual and mixed with everything else on the site. We judge a campaign over several months, looking at the target pages' visibility and referral traffic, not just the link count.
Do brand mentions without links matter?
They help people find and trust you, and they may help AI assistants recognize your brand, though nobody outside those companies knows exactly how mentions are weighed. Where a mention exists without a link, we ask the publisher to add one.