Link building serves as a fundamental strategy for enhancing your website’s authority and climbing the ranks on search engine results pages (SERPs). While it can be a labor-intensive endeavor, there exists a plethora of link building software designed to streamline the process for your dedicated team.

Within our link building agency, we’ve harnessed the power of 12 invaluable link building tools to orchestrate highly effective campaigns. These tools have proven instrumental in executing essential tasks such as:

• Analyzing Competitor Backlink Profiles: Uncovering valuable link building opportunities by dissecting the backlink profiles of rival websites.
• Web Scraping for Email Discovery: Leveraging web scraping techniques to harvest email addresses that facilitate direct communication with editors and site owners.
• Crafting Compelling Outreach Templates: Developing persuasive and tailored outreach templates that yield favorable responses from target websites.

The versatility of these tools extends to various types of link building initiatives. Some excel in facilitating guest posting endeavors, while others are particularly adept at supporting linkable asset campaigns. Moreover, we’ve included tools that can enhance your success rate with Help a Reporter Out (HARO) queries.

Our curated set of solutions has consistently delivered impressive results, securing thousands of valuable backlinks for our clients from reputable sources like HubSpot, Capterra, Venngage, and many more. With these tools at your disposal, your link building efforts can reach new heights and bolster your website’s online presence.

The Best Overall Software for Link Building

In our opinion, the four pieces of software below are the most effective for building links to your website.

Best for Outsourcing Links: LinkCrafters

Introducing our Link Building Dashboard, your ultimate solution for effortlessly delegating your link-building tasks to a trusted third-party vendor. Our track record speaks volumes, having collaborated with renowned brands worldwide and earning the unwavering trust of SEO teams. We specialize in crafting top-tier backlinks that supercharge your content creation endeavors.

If you’re committed to bolstering your link-building strategies without the headaches of in-house management, take a moment to explore our user-friendly dashboard. It’s your passport to seamless link building.

Best for Finding Link Building Opportunities: Ahrefs

Ahrefs stands as the quintessential SEO companion, offering a comprehensive suite of tools and features meticulously designed to unearth fresh link prospects through exhaustive competitor backlink assessments. For those deeply committed to fortifying their link-building endeavors, Ahrefs unquestionably ranks as an indispensable asset in their arsenal.

Best For Finding Emails: Hunter.io

Hunter.io simplifies the process of discovering email addresses in bulk, offering a remarkable level of precision in the contact information it furnishes.

This invaluable software stands out as a remarkable time-saving asset, especially for those orchestrating extensive outreach initiatives, firmly establishing itself as an indispensable resource in our arsenal.

Best Tool for Email Outreach: Respona

Respona stands out as an exceptional email outreach solution that revolutionizes your link-building journey, streamlining it from start to finish. What sets Respona apart is its unparalleled set of features designed to simplify the process of identifying and connecting with the perfect prospects for your outreach efforts.

With Respona, you gain access to a suite of top-tier tools that excel in prospecting, ensuring you pinpoint precisely the individuals and organizations best suited for your outreach initiatives.

12 Best Link Building Software Providers

Now it’s time to get into each piece of software in detail…

Respona

Introducing Respona, your comprehensive blogger outreach platform equipped with a wide array of essential features for crafting and executing diverse email campaigns. Whether you’re targeting link building, digital PR, marketing, or sales endeavors, Respona has got you covered.

Powered by seamless integration with Google’s search engine, Respona streamlines the prospecting process. It effortlessly fetches vital metrics like Domain Rating and Ahrefs Rank directly from Ahrefs, enhancing your campaign precision.

What’s more, Respona simplifies the often tedious task of finding the right contact information with its user-friendly email finder. No need to juggle multiple tools; it’s all right here at your fingertips.

Navigating Respona is a breeze thanks to its intuitive interface. It gracefully guides you through each campaign creation and launch, all while diligently keeping tabs on your performance metrics and the status of your conversations with each prospect.

This tool is a boon for link builders, given its origin in aiding Visme’s successful scaling of link-building outreach efforts. Thanks to Respona, Visme now boasts over 2 million organic visitors monthly.

Key Features:

• Automated Email Outreach: Streamline your outreach efforts with Respona’s automated email capabilities, saving you time and effort.
• Prospecting Made Easy: Leverage Respona’s integration with Google for efficient prospecting, and extract valuable metrics from Ahrefs seamlessly.
• Deep Personalization: Craft tailored messages to engage prospects effectively, increasing your chances of success.
• Built-in Analytics and Reporting: Stay informed about the performance of your campaigns with Respona’s built-in analytics and reporting tools.

SE Ranking

If you’re on the hunt for a comprehensive tool that boasts a robust backlink analysis feature, look no further than SE Ranking. This versatile platform empowers you to delve deep into the quality of your backlink profile or that of your competitors.

All you need to do is input the domain you wish to scrutinize, and SE Ranking will unveil its Domain and Page Trust metrics, which are exclusive proprietary measures that offer insights into the domain’s potential for achieving high search engine rankings. Furthermore, you can meticulously examine the ebb and flow of newly acquired and lost backlinks and referring domains, as well as the crucial dofollow/nofollow ratio for all the links identified by the algorithm.

Moreover, SE Ranking allows you to gain valuable insights into the geographical regions where your web pages receive the most referrals. The tool also provides a clear and intuitive visualization of anchor text distribution data.

When it comes to competitive analysis, SE Ranking’s Backlink Gap Analyzer steps in to help. You can easily compare your domain with up to five competitors, pinpointing the areas where they have secured backlinks that you haven’t. Armed with this information, you can strategically plan your outreach efforts to bridge the gap.

What’s even more enticing is the cost-effectiveness of the SE Ranking tool. This all-in-one SEO companion comes at a mere $39 per month, and for those who opt for annual billing, there’s an attractive 20% discount waiting to be enjoyed. With SE Ranking, you’re not only getting powerful features but also excellent value for your SEO investment.

Ahrefs

Ahrefs stands as an exceptional all-in-one SEO tool, boasting a rich array of features designed to uncover lucrative link building prospects. Here, we’ll spotlight three of its standout capabilities:

• Uncover High-Performing Competitor Pages: Ahrefs empowers you to explore which pages on your competitors’ websites are magnets for backlinks. This treasure trove of information enables you to craft content that resonates with your audience and entices them to link to your site.
• Analyze Backlinks with Precision: With Ahrefs, you can dissect backlinks on both a per-page and domain basis, allowing you to discern which websites are linking to your rivals. This insightful data unveils promising outreach opportunities, helping you expand your digital footprint.
• Leverage the Link Intersect Tool: Ahrefs’ Link Intersect tool is a game-changer, pinpointing websites that link to multiple competitors but have yet to acknowledge your site. This valuable resource unveils untapped outreach prospects ripe for exploration.

However, it’s important to note that Ahrefs’ pricing structure, commencing at $99, might deter some SEO novices. Nevertheless, Ahrefs does offer a budget-friendly $7 trial, granting unrestricted access to its feature-rich suite for a week. For those serious about SEO, the investment in Ahrefs is undoubtedly worthwhile.

Hunter.io

After compiling a comprehensive list of potential backlink opportunities using Ahrefs, the next crucial step is to initiate contact with individuals or publications associated with these opportunities. While manual outreach is an option, streamlining the process becomes essential when dealing with an extensive list of targets. Enter Hunter.io, a powerful tool designed to automate this task efficiently.

Hunter.io excels at swiftly extracting contact information from websites and professionals across the web. With this tool, you can effortlessly upload your list of websites, and within seconds, it will scour the internet to provide you with the relevant contact details.

It’s important to note that while not every website will yield an email address, Hunter.io boasts a commendable success rate, thanks to its ability to tap into multiple data sources. What sets Hunter.io apart is its email verification feature, which ensures that the email addresses retrieved by the software are accurate and reliable. This verification process is invaluable in maintaining the integrity of your outreach efforts.

Furthermore, Hunter.io is transparent about the sources it uses to unearth these email addresses, giving you the option to perform your own validation checks if needed. Once you have a refined list of contacts, you can easily export them in CSV format, making it compatible with various outreach and communication tools.

If you’re just starting out or running smaller outreach campaigns, Hunter.io offers a free plan that grants you 50 searches per month. This is a fantastic way to test the waters and explore the capabilities of the software. However, for larger companies engaged in frequent outreach, several subscription plans are available, ranging from $49 per month to $399, ensuring that you have the scalability and features required to meet your specific needs.

Pitchbox

After obtaining a list of email contacts from various websites, the next step is to establish connections. If you have only a few targets, manual outreach might suffice without much hassle. However, for larger-scale campaigns, automating the process can save you a significant amount of time. This approach is particularly beneficial for strategies like Skyscraper 2.0, guest posting, and link building initiatives.

Our preferred tool for streamlining outreach is Pitchbox. This versatile link-building tool not only helps you discover potential targets but also enables you to create large-scale, personalized campaigns using template emails. Here’s why we endorse Pitchbox:

• User-Friendly Interface: Pitchbox provides an intuitive user experience, simplifying the creation and dispatch of outreach campaigns.
• Scheduled Follow-Ups: You can schedule follow-up emails at predefined intervals, ensuring that your communication remains consistent and persistent.
• SEO Metrics Integration: Easily access SEO metrics associated with the websites in your outreach list, offering valuable insights for your campaign.
• Seamless Opportunity Handling: Pitchbox allows you to manage and respond to opportunities directly within the platform, enhancing your efficiency.
• Opportunity Pipeline: The opportunity pipeline feature provides a comprehensive overview of your outreach campaign’s progress, helping you stay organized.

Furthermore, Pitchbox offers a wide range of search metrics sourced from major software providers like Ahrefs, Moz, Majestic, and more.

However, it’s important to note that Pitchbox’s service comes at a cost, and pricing information can be obtained by contacting the company through its website.

If you’re interested in delving deeper into our comprehensive link prospecting process, including our strategies for maximizing the potential of Pitchbox, feel free to explore our detailed blog post on the subject.

Majestic SEO

While Ahrefs is renowned as an all-encompassing SEO powerhouse, Majestic, on the other hand, places its primary emphasis on backlinks.

Although it may not boast the same extensive array of features as Ahrefs, Majestic provides invaluable link-building metrics that set it apart.

Here are three of the most valuable metrics it offers:

• Trust Flow: This metric assigns a value out of 100 to assess the quality of links directed to a particular website. It helps distinguish reputable sources from potentially spammy ones, aiding in the decision of whether to seek a link from them or not.
• Citation Flow: Unlike Trust Flow, Citation Flow measures the sheer number of links. When used alongside Trust Flow, it enables a comprehensive evaluation of a website’s link profile. This combination proves effective in identifying both quantity and quality in the backlinks.
• Topical Trust Flow: This metric delves into a website’s ranking within various categories or niches. It’s particularly beneficial when searching for relevant link-building opportunities within specific industries or topics.

One of Majestic SEO’s standout features is its affordability. Starting at just $49 for a base subscription, it’s priced at half the cost of Ahrefs’ most economical plan.

Mailshake

Mailshake streamlines outreach campaigns by offering a convenient solution for sending personalized mass emails. This time-saving platform is particularly beneficial for those in the link building industry who understand the advantages of automated campaigns.

What sets Mailshake apart is its collection of ready-made templates designed for various link building strategies. These templates cater to:

• Broken link building.
• Guest posting.
• Link requests.
• PR pitches.
• Content promotion.
• And much more.

While Mailshake shines in the realm of link building, its utility extends beyond this domain. It excels in sales outreach as well, thanks to features like the virtual phone dialer. If your company is involved in sales, giving Mailshake a try is a logical choice.

Furthermore, Mailshake offers a valuable email copy analysis tool to enhance engagement and deliverability. You can explore this feature using the free tool available on their website.

What makes Mailshake even more enticing is its user-friendly interface, making it easy to import all your contacts from a spreadsheet effortlessly.

Pricing for Mailshake starts at an affordable $59 per user per month, making it an economical option for those heavily engaged in link building outreach. Keep in mind that advanced features such as the phone dialer may require additional payment.

Buzzstream

Buzzstream, an invaluable tool for link building and outreach, presents itself as a cost-effective alternative to its more robust counterpart, Pitchbox. It excels in various aspects of outreach campaigns, beginning with its ability to streamline the process of locating email addresses.

Within the platform, you can conduct targeted searches to unearth contact details for websites that align with your niche. Alternatively, you can expedite the process by uploading a CSV file containing a list of relevant websites, and Buzzstream will diligently retrieve their contact information for you.

Once you have your contact details sorted, Buzzstream empowers you to execute email campaigns directly from its user-friendly dashboard. It offers a selection of templates to simplify the outreach process and even allows you to schedule automatic follow-ups, greatly enhancing the efficiency of your campaigns.

What truly sets Buzzstream apart is its comprehensive reporting functionality. Leveraging data from across the web, it provides insightful metrics, such as Domain Authority (DA), a site’s follower count, previous promotions of your website, and prior interactions with your team. These metrics enable you to create highly targeted segments for outreach, ensuring that your efforts are focused on contacts with a higher likelihood of resulting in valuable links.

You have the flexibility to select the most pertinent metrics to create your priority segments. For instance:

• Segment one might consist of websites boasting a DA exceeding 60 with whom your team has established prior contact.
• Segment two could encompass websites with a DA of 50 or more that have previously featured your content.

Buzzstream also stands out in terms of affordability. Starting at just $24 per month for its basic plan, it caters to small businesses seeking a budget-friendly outreach solution. With plans extending up to $299 per month for six users, it offers scalability and options to suit various needs and team sizes.

HARO

HARO, short for Help A Reporter Out, stands as a valuable platform that bridges the gap between journalists and potential sources. It plays an integral role in any successful link-building campaign, often resulting in coveted backlinks when journalists select you as a source.

What sets HARO apart is its extensive network of journalists, many of whom represent websites with a Domain Rating (DR) of 80 or higher. This makes it an exceptional avenue for securing high-authority backlinks, provided you employ an effective strategy.

Getting started with HARO is a straightforward process. Simply navigate to their website, sign up as a source, and specify your areas of expertise. HARO will then send you daily emails containing relevant requests from journalists. Your task is to sift through these emails to identify requests that align with your expertise and can benefit from your insights. Each request comes with a brief overview of the story and specific instructions to guide your response.

However, it’s important to note that HARO’s popularity among website owners has created fierce competition. To stand out and increase your chances of being featured, it’s crucial to master the art of crafting compelling responses. Here are some key elements to keep in mind:

• Response Time: Journalists often work under tight deadlines, so it’s imperative to submit your response promptly. Being among the first to respond significantly boosts your chances of being selected.
• Conciseness: Journalists appreciate brevity. Include only the most pertinent information in your response to make it easy for them to extract valuable content for their articles.
• Quotability: Craft your response in a way that lends itself to easy integration into the journalist’s article. Ensure your insights are concise, relevant, and quotable.

The best part about HARO is that it offers a free signup option for sources. If you have the time and dedication to compose high-quality responses, HARO can be a fantastic avenue for acquiring valuable backlinks.

However, if time is a constraint, you may explore alternative options such as our HARO link-building service. Several other platforms offer similar services as well:

• ResponseSource: This platform is based in the UK and serves as a media requests hub, connecting sources with journalists.
• SourceBottle: SourceBottle is another similar service that facilitates source-journalist connections. For a monthly fee of $25, businesses can create an expert profile, which SourceBottle will promote to journalists seeking sources.
• Qwoted: Qwoted offers a more comprehensive suite of features compared to HARO. It caters to both experts and PR professionals, providing access to journalists and source requests. Advanced features like in-app messaging and request response statistics enhance the platform’s utility.

MOZ

MOZ stands out as a comprehensive SEO toolbox, encompassing a wide range of functionalities that cater to various facets of search engine optimization. From conducting meticulous keyword research to conducting insightful competitor analyses, MOZ has got it covered.

One of its standout features, the Link Explorer, particularly shines in the realm of link building. It provides invaluable insights into the web of connections surrounding a domain or URL, revealing which sites are linked to a specific target. Moreover, it arms users with crucial metrics such as keyword performance and Domain Authority, which are instrumental in gauging a site’s SEO strength.

A strategic approach to leverage this tool involves reverse engineering your competitors’ backlink profiles. By scrutinizing the sites linking to your competitors, you can identify potential opportunities to outreach and negotiate links to your own content.

Another noteworthy feature within MOZ is the Spam Score, which serves as a safeguard against potential pitfalls. Worried about the quality of your own site’s backlinks? Simply plug your URL into the Link Explorer, and it will assess whether your backlink portfolio contains an abundance of low-quality links. If issues are identified, you can take steps to disavow these links, signaling to Google that they should be disregarded, reducing the risk of algorithmic penalties.

Beyond these vital capabilities, MOZ boasts an array of other SEO tools, including a Link Intersect tool akin to Ahrefs’ offering. This tool empowers you to identify domains linking to your competitors but not to your site, opening up new avenues for link-building outreach.

It’s worth noting that MOZ’s pricing starts at $99 per month, positioning it as a premium choice for link-building software. However, if budget constraints are a concern, you can access limited versions of many of its tools for free by signing up. Additionally, MOZ generously extends a 30-day trial period, allowing you to thoroughly evaluate the software’s effectiveness for your specific needs.

Google Disavow Links Tool

Incorporating link management into your comprehensive link building strategy is crucial to maintain a clean and reputable backlink profile for your website. The goal here is to ensure that your site doesn’t inadvertently accumulate spammy or low-quality links that could potentially harm your search engine rankings.

There are various reasons why your site might acquire spammy links over time:

• Legacy Links: If your website is built on a domain that was previously used for another website, it may still have residual low-quality links pointing to it.
• Competitive Tactics: Unscrupulous competitors might attempt to tarnish your SEO standing by directing spammy links to your site, hoping to trigger a penalty from search engines like Google.
• Previous Link Building Errors: You might have employed a subpar link building agency in the past, resulting in an undesirable backlink profile that now needs cleaning up.
• Past Black Hat SEO Practices: In the past, you may have engaged in black hat SEO techniques, but you’ve now made a conscious decision to rectify your approach and remove these problematic links.

Regardless of the reason, it can be advantageous to inform Google to disavow these unwanted links. Here’s a simplified process:

• Identify Spammy Links: Start by discovering which websites are linking to your site. You can obtain this data by visiting Google Search Console, clicking on “Links,” and then selecting “External links.” This will provide you with a list of domains linking to your site.
• Select Domains for Disavowal: Carefully choose the domains you want Google to disavow. Compile a list of these undesirable domains, which will be used in the next steps.
• Create a CSV File: You can create a CSV (Comma-Separated Values) document containing the URLs of the domains you wish to disavow. This is the file you will submit to Google.
• Use SEO Tools: Alternatively, you can employ SEO tools like SEM Rush to analyze your link profile comprehensively. Such tools can help identify and categorize low-quality links, simplifying the process of creating a CSV file to disavow them.
• Upload the Disavow File: Submit the CSV file, containing the list of domains to disavow, to Google’s disavow links tool. Google will typically process your request within a few weeks.

It’s important to note that disavowing links is considered an advanced SEO practice and should be undertaken with caution. If Google’s algorithm has not yet flagged these links as spammy, there’s a possibility that your rankings could be temporarily affected. Therefore, only employ this tactic if you are certain that these links are likely to have a detrimental impact on your website’s SEO performance.

SEMrush

SEMrush stands out as a comprehensive SEO powerhouse, boasting a rich feature set that rivals popular tools like Ahrefs and Moz. Beyond these familiar capabilities, SEMrush offers a plethora of unique tools designed to empower your digital marketing efforts.

One standout feature is the Backlink Analytics tool, which enables you to conduct a thorough comparison of your website’s backlink profile against your competitors. This invaluable resource helps you pinpoint new outreach opportunities to enhance your link-building strategy.

The Link Building Tool within SEMrush simplifies the process of identifying and managing link-building opportunities for your website. With this tool, you can create customizable templates and even send outreach emails directly from the platform.

For webmasters concerned about the quality of their backlinks, SEMrush’s Backlink Audit tool comes to the rescue. It meticulously analyzes your backlink profile and promptly alerts you to any potentially harmful links. Moreover, you can take proactive measures like sending link removal requests to site owners right from the tool or crafting a disavow file for Google.

One striking advantage of SEMrush is its integration of an email outreach tool. This is particularly beneficial if you lack access to dedicated outreach software like Mailshake or Pitchbox. It streamlines your outreach efforts and brings efficiency to your communication with potential link partners.

SEMrush doesn’t stop at link building; it also excels in keyword research, a cornerstone of both SEO and paid advertising strategies. Its robust keyword research capabilities equip you with the insights you need to optimize your content and campaigns effectively.

As for pricing, SEMrush offers plans starting at $99.95 per month, making it accessible to a wide range of users. If you’re looking for an all-inclusive package, they also offer a premium plan priced at $399 per month. To explore SEMrush’s capabilities risk-free, you can take advantage of their generous seven-day free trial.

In a world teeming with SEO tools, SEMrush stands tall with its feature-rich offerings, unique tools, and integrated email outreach functionality, all designed to empower your digital marketing endeavors.

Link Building Software Makes Your Campaign More Efficient

Link building tools play a pivotal role in the success of any robust link-building strategy. Here at LinkCrafters, we rely on a multitude of these tools in our daily operations to supercharge our link-building efforts.

However, it’s crucial to understand that even with access to the finest link building software, there’s no escaping the need for dedicated effort and commitment to your campaign. These tools should be viewed as enablers, enhancing your efficiency rather than substituting hard work.

For those who prefer a more hands-off approach or lack the resources to manage link building in-house, the solution lies in engaging a professional link building agency.

At LinkCrafters, we offer a diverse range of link building services designed to secure the vital links your website needs to thrive. If you’re interested in exploring how our expertise can elevate your online presence, we invite you to connect with us through our contact page. Let’s discuss how we can collaborate to achieve your link building goals.