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May 22, 2019White Label Link Building: Pros & Cons of of Private Label Backlink Services
Joining a white label SEO reseller program could be the best decision your marketing firm has ever made—but this isn’t a guarantee. With a specialized, dedicated link building agency, you could build better links, work with higher-profile publishers, save money, and stop worrying about the demands of an internally executed link building strategy.
That said, not every white label SEO program is going to work in your best interest. If you end up using a link scheme, or working with an unreliable vendor, it could actively hurt your clients’ campaigns.
What factors should you consider when hiring a white label SEO services provider, so you can maximize your return without risk?
Table of Contents
How White Label Link Building Works
In case you’re not familiar, most white label backlink programs work in a similar fashion. A marketing firm (the reseller/client) will sell link building services or broad SEO service to an end client for a specified price. The reseller then works with a white label link building provider, who provides link building services and related services for a price (typically) less than what the reseller is getting, resulting in a profit for the reseller. These services are rendered such that the reseller can choose to brand these services as their own.
There are many advantages to this setup, including higher efficiency, profitability, and access to more resources and expertise. However, these all depend on your ability to enroll in an white label link building program that gets results.
Key Factors for the Perfect SEO White Label Link Building Program
There are many potential white label link building providers to choose from, but these factors should lead you to a better decision—both for you and your clients.
- Content-focused link building services. “Link building” refers to any process designed to help you get more links pointing to your site, which opens the door to some questionable practitioners claiming to be legitimate link builders. Thanks to Google Penguin and its subsequent iterations, the days of spamming links on forums across the internet are over. These days, there are only two legitimate avenues to build links, and both of them rely on content as a basis for development. One requires you to develop and promote more onsite content so you attract links from other sites naturally (which is often unreliable), and the other relies on writing high-quality guest blogs with links pointing to your client’s site. If a white label link building provider doesn’t mention content at all, it may be a bad sign.
- High-quality content writing. It doesn’t matter how many articles you write if the content is poorly researched, obviously written by a non-native speaker, or is negligent about the nature of your industry. This is where most link building service providers diverge; some put the highest emphasis on content quality, employing good writers, taking extra time to research, and always proofreading every detail. Others are more focused on output. High-quality writing can work wonders for your clients’ campaigns, helping them get into bigger and better publishers, earning them a better reputation, and even generating more referral traffic from the links built in the process. It’s a non-negotiable feature of your future link building partner.
- Dofollow backlinks. Nofollow links aren’t necessarily a bad thing, but you don’t want them to be the consistent backbone of your link building campaign. In case you aren’t familiar, by default, links are “dofollow” links, which pass authority to the site they point to. This is what’s necessary to improve a client’s domain authority and eventually increase their search rankings. Nofollow links do pass traffic, but don’t pass authority, making them valuable, but considerably less so than dofollow links—especially for SEO. Make sure you know which of these your provider is offering.
- A focus on campaigns rather than one-time orders. SEO involves hundreds of closely interwoven factors, working in tandem over a period of months. A single order of links for your client isn’t going to give them a boost in rankings, and it certainly isn’t going to improve their rankings permanently. Instead of working with a link building provider that only focuses on one-off orders, focus on one that works on long-term improvements in a campaign format. It’s also important to find a link building provider with flexibility, accommodating multiple budgets, directives, and goals—especially if you have a diverse assortment of clients with different needs.
- A wide selection of publishers. Multiple links built on the same publisher will have diminishing returns. The more authoritative the publisher, the more valuable the link will be. Publishers related to your industry are better for link building than others. These tenets of link building requires you to seek out a link building provider capable of offering links on a wide variety of different publishers. This is a sign not only of a reputable white label link building SEO agency, but one capable of serving the widest range of possible end clients.
- Clear, consistent communication. Good communication is a must throughout the link building process. You need to trust that your provider is going to deliver on their promises. You need someone who can articulate their strategy clearly. And you need someone who’s going to listen to—and understand—your goals. Spend time in conversation with your account representative to learn how they handle communication, and whether it’s compatible with your approach.
- Reasonable link building prices. We’d be remiss if we didn’t at least mention prices. Link building services vary in price tremendously. And while there may be some variation attributable to profit margins or unnecessary upsells, for the most part, you get what you pay for. If you find a link building provider that’s suspiciously cheap, there’s probably a reason for it. On the other hand, you don’t want to overpay for services if you don’t have to. Accordingly, it’s in your best interest to set a budget, set a firm minimum standard of quality, and then find a provider who meets both criteria.
- Good reviews, testimonials, and examples of past work. Good content tends to speak for itself. Before signing up for link building or content writing services, try to get some examples of work the provider has done in the past. This should be a good gauge to determine their attention to detail, and what type of work they typically produce. While you’re at it, try to dig up some past customer reviews and testimonials. While you can’t base your opinion of a white label link building provider exclusively on what other people are saying, you may get some keen insights into their core strengths and weaknesses. In general, a longer history is a sign of greater experience and capabilities.
- White label SEO discretion. The importance of this factor will depend on your brand’s disposition, and your relationship with your current clients. Generally, white label link building services allow you to claim the provider’s link building services as your own, branding them however you choose and claiming to have an internal team working on the project. You could also freely admit you’re using a third party. The point is, you should have the ability to choose how you want to handle the relationship, and that means working with a white label SEO partner you can trust to be discreet. Check their official policies and any steps they take to protect your white label status.
Treating White Label Link Building as a Partnership
One last note here. No matter who you end up choosing as your white label link building provider of choice, it’s important to treat the arrangement as a partnership, rather than a one-time or as-needed deal. Link building and SEO are strategies that take time to develop, and working with a consistent partner over the months and years is going to make it much easier for you to see those results and scale up. On top of that, forming a partnership helps your white label backlink provider get to know you better as a SEO reseller, so they can make even more personalized recommendations—and possibly get you a better deal overall.
If you’re ready to learn more about the perks of our SEO white label reseller program, or if you’re in a bind and need link building services for your clients ASAP, contact us at SEO.co today! We’ll provide you with a free analysis of your current link building efforts, and a quote, so we can start our link building partnership.
He is a recurring speaker at the Search Marketing Expo conference series and a TEDx Talker. Today he works directly with high-end clients across all verticals to maximize on and off-site SEO ROI through content marketing and link building. Connect with Sam on Linkedin.
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