MAINTAINING VISIBILITY IN A COMPETITIVE SEARCH ENVIRONMENT REQUIRES A MACHINE
Buying ad-hoc backlinks to content pages isn’t how you stand out in search. You need a system that generates links at scale to your core sales pages.
HOW WE BUILD LINKS AT SCALE
Create a custom, unbranded strategy.
Refine strategy and get approval from teams.
Create and edit contextually relevant content.
Identify, contact, and negotiate placement with publishers.
Link Impact Reporting provides clear reporting for all teams.
Create a custom, unbranded strategy.
Strategy Design
We run several analyses of your link profile using in-house tools, discuss findings, design a custom strategy, and agree on set deliverables with your team.
All before signing the MSA.
Engagements are priced based on the number of links needed (based on your outreach budget). There are no retainer or service fees.
Refine strategy and get approval from teams.
Further Strategy Development
Once you sign the MSA, we further refine your strategy.
We think backward from the use case and benefit context. We think through multiple types of stakeholders and determine what content will benefit them. We also set guardrails for relevant site types to target for placement.
The Goal: Position sales pages (the individual offering for sale) increasing visibility, ranking, and ultimately—revenue.
Create and edit contextually relevant content.
Content Development
Our operations process starts with URL contextual analysis for all URLs in a given campaign.
We learn each URL backward and forward. Then, build out content ideas by asking: What topics should we write about to fully “justify” the presence of this link in an article?
No fluff. No link stuffing.
We have a team of full-time editors who help create, review, and edit content to make sure each link lives inside that asset in a good way. Nothing goes out the door without our approval.
Identify, contact, and negotiate placement with publishers.
Manage Outreach
Outreach is ongoing throughout your campaign.
Based on the URL contextual analysis, we develop 5 content ideas for outreach and a list of potential publishers that we feel would have interest in placing a topic on their website.
Outreach is custom to the publishers, not a copy/paste approach.
When a publisher confirms interest, we assign the topic to our writing team. Then, one of our editors does a line-by-line review: from subheading to where your link appears.
This is NOT begging for links to content pages in old guides and articles. We’re placing hyper-relevant, unique content on related business sites.
That’s why our links stick: 85% retention rate after 24 months.
Link Impact Reporting provides clear reporting for all teams.
Reporting and Optimization
We send out weekly progress reports for transparency, highlighting activity and progress.
Every month, we send an Impact Report that connects links to key KPIs.
The reports are designed to be easily shared with your marketing team or cut up and distributed to your leadership team, justifying spend.
We constantly assess progress to improve success rates and identify new, cool ways to get you more links.
Create a custom, branded strategy.
Refine strategy and get approval from teams.
Create and edit contextually relevant content.
Identify, contact, and negotiate placement with publishers.
Link Impact Reporting provides clear reporting for all teams.
Create a custom, branded strategy.
Strategy Design
We run several analyses of your link profile using in-house tools, discuss findings, design a custom strategy, and agree on set deliverables with your team.
All before signing the MSA.
The strategy is deeper in experimentation with more cutting-edge link-building at scale.
Examples include:
- Surveys for Good
- Chambers of Commerce
- Community PR
- Citation Worthy Content
- Newsworthy Assets
- Zipsprout
Engagements are priced based on the number of links needed (based on your outreach budget). There are no retainer or service fees.
Refine strategy and get approval from teams.
Further Strategy Development
Once you sign the MSA, we further refine your strategy.
We think backward from the use case and benefit context. We think through multiple types of stakeholders and determine what content will benefit them.
After setting up guardrails for relevant site types to target for placement, we help navigate the approval process with PR, Legal, and Compliance teams.
The Goal: Position the sales page—the individual offering for sale (Not the brand. Not the content).
Create and edit contextually relevant content.
Content Development
Our operations process starts with URL contextual analysis for all URLs in a given campaign.
We learn each URL backward and forward. Then, build out content ideas by asking: What topics should we write about to fully “justify” the presence of this link in an article?
No fluff. No link stuffing.
We have a team of full-time editors who help create, review, and edit content to make sure each link lives inside that asset in a good way.
Nothing goes out the door without our approval.
Identify, contact, and negotiate placement with publishers.
Manage Outreach
Outreach is ongoing throughout your campaign.
Based on the URL contextual analysis, we develop 5 content ideas for outreach and a list of potential publishers that we feel would have interest in placing a topic on their website.
Outreach is custom to the publishers, not a copy/paste approach.
When a publisher confirms interest, we assign the topic to our writing team. Then, one of our editors does a line-by-line review: from subheading to where your link appears.
This is NOT begging for links to content pages in old guides and articles. We’re placing hyper-relevant, unique content on related business sites.
That’s why our links stick: 85% retention rate after 24 months.
Link Impact Reporting provides clear reporting for all teams.
Reporting and Optimization
We send out weekly progress reports for transparency, highlighting activity and progress.
Every month, we send an Impact Report that connects links to key KPIs.
The reports are designed to be easily shared with your marketing team or cut up and distributed to your leadership team, justifying spend.
We constantly assess progress to improve success rates and identify new, cool ways to get you more links.
ONE OR TWO LINKS? PASS. TRY HUNDREDS OF AWESOME LINKS. EVERY MONTH.
University Increases Backlink Budget 5x After Clear ROI
Content from First-Party Data Fuels Wave of Conversions
Unicorn Startup Earns 587 Backlinks in Two Weeks
PEOPLE THINK WE’RE AWESOME!
“Most link builders give you a list of sites and their authority. Best case, you get a monthly report with a list of all the links. Citation Labs goes…beyond the extra mile…they go an extra hundred miles. They partner with you to understand your business, goals, and competitive landscape. Then, get you links that get results.
James provides a 20-page report showing the impact link building has on our traffic: improved rankings, authority, and conversions. While there’s an element of correlation, we can connect the data points to prove the ROI of our campaigns.”
“Trying to find 500 links to a page is difficult. For the scale we had, Citation Labs provided significant links. And it felt like they did their due diligence to find higher quality links than other agencies. We set up guardrails for the links we wanted (and trusted). They delivered.”
“After working with several link building agencies over six months and carefully tracking output & performance, Citation Labs was the only agency that demonstrated direct, positive impact on our priority landing pages. So I asked for a job.”
“Garrett French is one of the smartest people I know. An absolute A-List thought leader. If you’re not using any of Citation Labs tools, I suggest you start immediately, before your competition does.”
“I brought on Citation Labs after seeing their results at a former company. We got a huge win in an emerging vertical within a few months of working with them. I got a company-wide shout-out. After that, the CEO knew my name. It helped build buy-in to our SEO program and expand our budget down the line.”
“Working with Citation Labs has been an absolute pleasure. Their strategic advice has been invaluable, offering insights that have truly elevated our outreach approach. What stands out even more is their unwavering reliability and punctual delivery.”
“I started working with Citation Labs in 2019. I had heard great things about Garrett and his team and was pleased to learn the reputation was well earned – these folks ‘walk the walk’. They helped us design several projects over the years and were always eager to review effectiveness and adjust if needed. I’ve always found Citation Labs to not only be both professional and effective; but a pleasure to work with as well.”
“Garrett French has solidified his reputation as one of the few true, authoritative, innovative link builders in our industry. There are only a handful of marketers who have mastered and cultivated the craft of link building. Garrett is certainly one of them.”
LET’S TAKE LINK BUILDING OFF YOUR PLATE
FUQs ABOUT OUR PROCESS
How does Citation Labs define a successful link placement?
Success is not just about getting links—it’s about placing the right links in the right context.
Citation Labs prioritizes hyper-relevant, unique placements that support a company’s sales and marketing objectives, not the metrics of the linking page.
We look for publishers (often small businesses) that are in relevant industries (often adjacent) and identify content gaps on their websites. Then, we create contextually relevant, unique content to address those gaps with a link that supports the content.
A successful link meets those requirements, ensuring that the link will support the sales page and will likely stick around for the long term.
Why do you prioritize relevant pages over DR/DA and traffic?
Domain Authority (DA) and Domain Rating (DR) are often used as shorthand for quality, but they don’t guarantee real business impact. Citation Labs focuses on placing links where they will drive meaningful visibility and conversions, not just where they look good in a report.
What KPIs should we use to define a successful backlink campaign?
We measure success by changes in rankings, visibility, share of voice, and revenue impact. Our reporting connects backlinks to organic traffic, conversions, and business growth. This shows your leadership team the impact our work has on business metrics.
Note: We do not use the DR/DA or website traffic of linking pages as success metrics. Instead, we’re looking for websites that are relevant to your audience.
How does your approach make it easier for me to do my job?
Most link-building agencies require SEOs to manage outreach, strategy, and reporting internally. Citation Labs provides a full-service approach, from strategy development and outreach to impact reporting, ensuring that SEOs can focus on broader initiatives.
How do you help us communicate wins to leadership?
Executives often struggle to see the impact of SEO efforts. Citation Labs’ Impact Reports are designed for easy sharing with marketing and leadership teams, helping SEOs justify spend and build internal credibility.
How do you make sure publishers keep new placements?
Many agencies build links that disappear within months. Citation Labs has an 85% retention rate after 24 months. This is because we seek out relevant publishers, giving them content designed to serve the needs of their buyers with contextually relevant links.
In short, it’s not spam. It’s content that serves their business goals, meaning our links stay much longer than other vendors’.
How does your approach help me stand out as an in-house SEO?
Many in-house SEOs struggle to get visibility for their work. Leadership teams tend to see SEO as a black box, not fully understanding how it helps the business generate more revenue.
Citation Labs helps SEOs drive measurable results, communicate impact effectively, and build internal support for SEO initiatives. Our goal is to help you stand out in your organization. This is why our champions get praise from their leadership teams, promotions, and exciting projects to manage.
Why can’t we do this internally?
It has taken us nearly 20 years to build a system for finding prospective publishers, conducting outreach, following up, and getting placements.
To streamline this process, we built custom tooling and a tech stack to automate aspects of our process and support more personalized pitches. We’ve also learned how to turn “No” into “Yes” with publishers and what types of content they value.
Building a similar team and tooling in-house would take considerable time and resources. Rather than getting new links to key pages, you’ll need to invest in training and development.
As such, our clients often find it more cost-effective to work with us. However, we have helped train in-house teams to run outreach internally.
How can you help us sell your service internally?
Many companies hesitate to invest in link-building because they don’t fully understand its impact. Citation Labs provides business-aligned reporting, competitive benchmarking, and real-world case studies to help teams justify the investment to leadership.
We’ll sit through numerous meetings with stakeholders, attend conferences with them, and answer their most difficult questions. We also provide guidance for our champions on how to sell link building internally. And we even go to bat for them when discussing budget.
How do you continuously refine strategy as the campaign progresses?
Citation Labs works with several enterprise clients, meaning we’re regularly refining our process and building new tech to support it. At the same time, we’re also heavily involved in the link-building space. We host events, meet with experts, and run experiments in The Lab.
We take all of this expertise and funnel it into our ongoing engagements with clients. This helps us identify new opportunities and adjust outreach tactics to maximize long-term success. It’s an iterative approach that ensures campaigns remain effective as search landscapes evolve.
How do we align link building with PR, content, and other teams?
Enterprise organizations have very complex team dynamics and difficult internal politics to navigate. Without care, SEOs and their vendors can derail the momentum of campaigns. This hurts the internal stakeholders and negatively impacts the team’s perception of that vendor.
This is why we’re very careful with where our efforts end and your other teams’ efforts begin. We are highly collaborative because we understand that momentum matters, so we work to build it with your team.
Having successfully navigated several complex internal relationships for large clients, we’ve gone on to support other teams within the organization—becoming the preferred vendor across the business.
What type of reporting will leadership expect from this engagement?
Over the years, we’ve learned to create reporting your CMO will love.
Our monthly link impact report is not a simple spreadsheet of new backlinks with DR/DA and site traffic. Instead, we use control groups to show the impact of new links on key sales pages every month. The reporting breaks down the share of voice, keyword ranking, and visibility changes on each page.
All of these insights are connected to ROI using existing sales metrics from the organization and industry conversion benchmarks. The output is a clear overview of how our link-building campaigns increase sales and conversions on the core pages we target.
What does success look like beyond rankings and traffic?
We know what’s at stake for our champions.
They need to justify their role in the organization by showing their work impacted the bottomline. This is difficult when there are so many obstacles SEOs have to navigate internally to do their jobs—from weak buy-in to approval processes to explaining the complexities of SEO over and over again.
Over the years, we’ve managed to help our champions succeed and grow in their roles while facing often unpredictable search performance. They’ve over-delivered on KPIs, earned praise from their CEOs, been promoted, and even landed new roles.
Links that impact business metrics are great. But becoming an invaluable resource to our stakeholders is our real goal.
WE’VE BEEN FEATURED IN:
