Introducing Citation Labs
Welcome, link builders, content marketers, SEOs and CEOs!
My name is Garrett French and I’d like to introduce you to my link building agency – Citation Labs.
I help businesses build brand, trust, buzz, relationships and links that drive targeted traffic to their websites.
Our History
with Industry Experts
WebProNews & MarketSmart
This agency has its deepest roots in my experiences from 2001-2004 when I worked at WebProNews as the chief editor. I saw firsthand the dramatic impact that high-utility content can have on an audience – and to the expert authors who contributed that content.
From 2004-2006 I had the opportunity to work directly with Andy Beal as the Manager of Communications at MarketSmart Interactive, which was then the world’s largest search marketing agency. I covered search trends and worked with internal experts to bring their expertise to search marketing publishers – and drive leads – using placed articles and white papers.
The Ontolo Link Prospecting Toolset
In late 2006 I began consulting on link and brand building with an emphasis on expert content written for onsite branding and offsite brand-building with niche publishers. In 2009 Ben Wills, who hired me initially at MarketSmart, approached me with a strong vision and some promising seeds of code that grew into the Ontolo Link Prospecting Toolset.
Ben and I funded the development of the toolset – and guided its functionality – with link building agency work for Fortune 500s and established brands that required high-touch outreach and engagement with influential niche publishers.
To build brand and links for Ontolo I published utility-rich content, interviews and worked with Ben to craft some nifty free tools that became crucial in the day to day work processes for link builders around the world. At this time I also began experimenting more with publisher and expert engagement for building crucial relationships and brand allies – and even provided the conceptual spark for the industry’s first and best local citation prospecting tool and co-wrote The Ultimate Guide to Link Building with “LinkMoses”, Eric Ward.
The Start of Citation Labs
In 2011, I branched out to start my own agency. I knew we’d want to focus content-based link building and genuinely contributing to audience needs. This was a peak period for more gray-hat techniques, and I wanted to establish a practice with a different focus. I established an agency with a focus on opportunity discovery, with an emphasis on custom opportunity discovery and an iterative process – letting the opportunities drive the content. For each client, I wanted to create content that’s genuinely worth of attention and citation.
Since the start of Citation Labs, we’ve worked with enterprise organizations in the following sectors:
- consumer package goods
- insurance, consumer health information
- online travel
- Q/A publishing
- sharing economy
- real estate
as well as national companies targeting local markets.
Citation Labs Today
Our primary service is boutique consulting for link building, SEO and content development teams. We have in-house resources for content creation and strategy, and even for website development; this enables us to work with each client to determine the level of service that fits their needs. We also have a suite of tools to help marketers find relevant prospects, and we’re working on a brand new link gap analysis tool: Link Launch is now in public beta.
Let’s work together
Let’s work together to turn your company – or your clients’ company – using high-utility content that builds brand recognition, links, search traffic, direct referral traffic and establishes crucial industry relationships.
More ways to get to know us:
- Check out insights and best-practices from our entire team on our blog
- Take a look under the hood of the Citation Labs “machine” in our webinars
- Follow a course on linkable content creation from our in-house copywriting team
- Tweet us your favorite GIF to use in our next blog post
- Meet our team
Our Mission
Citation Labs’s aim is to incorporate missions into every brand campaign (we’re meta-mission-makers, if you will). We develop content, relationships, stories, designed to reach your valued online audiences.
We also believe in experimenting. Whether you’re a newly signed customer or an old hat client, we see each meeting as a new opportunity for inspiration to strike.
Meet the Team
Our Citation Labs team is ever growing! Meet the crew that’s passionate about delivering quality outreach to you:
Garrett French
CEO
Garrett has been in the marketing, writing & link building business since 2001. He brainstorms strategy for all Citation Labs Agency clients and turns the team's internal processes into Citation Labs Tools.
Garrett's Fun Fact
Valerie French
Operations Manager
Valerie's job is a mixed bag of awesome. If you are working with Citation Labs on a new strategy or special request, chances are Valerie is helping move that project forward.
Valerie's Fun Fact
Ken McGaffin
Director of PR Services
Every business has a story to tell – even if they don't know it yet. Ken loves helping people uncover the real PR potential of their business – and then making it happen.
Ken's Fun Fact
Lindsay Miller
Content Creator & Writer
We create a wide variety of content at Citation Labs. Lindsay loves to learn more about these topics and produce compelling, informative content for our audiences.
Lindsay's Fun Fact
Beth Llanos Dee
Remote Team Manager
From her tiny office at home, Beth manages the remote team with members from all across the archipelago. She sees to it that goals are met and that each team member performs at his/her best.
Beth's Fun Fact
Katie Benedetto Jones
Lead Programmer & Web Developer
Katie’s our lead programmer, working on our latest offering, Audiential! She’s passionate about developing and refining it to deliver the muscle of a powerful database through an elegant user experience.
Katie's Fun Fact
Get Started
Set up a session with Garrett French & team to brainstorm unique outreach opportunities for your company: