Web + Wins #18 Links Matter More Than You Think
Takeover 2/4 by Jade Pruett, HelloSEO + MetaMonster
This Week's Update
I’m a tech founder because I once asked ChatGPT to recommend me a blog post.
I was on ChatGPT one night asking it to recommend a blog about someone who had scaled an agency past a million dollars and sold it (that was my goal at the time.) I wanted to read the story of someone who'd done it. It served up a post by Andrew Askins.
I loved it. So I went to LinkedIn to connect with him, and it turned out Andrew was from Columbia and was actively building an SEO tool. We started talking. I became a power user of the product. About a year later, he invited me to become a co-founder.
That's MetaMonster! I still tell Andrew he’s my favorite (and only) friend I’ve met on ChatGPT.
Get a Web Win: Digital PR and Backlinks
A backlink is when another website links to yours. To Google, links are still one of the biggest signals that your site is worth paying attention to.
The logic: if credible websites are pointing to you, Google assumes you're credible too. It's word of mouth, but for search engines.
Digital PR is just the strategy of earning those links on purpose, instead of waiting and hoping. And most people assume it requires a big budget or a PR firm. It doesn't. Here are a few things that work and cost nothing but time:
Get listed in directories. For therapists, that's Psychology Today, TherapyDen, and similar. For other businesses, think industry associations, local directories (your Chamber of Commerce, the Columbia Business Report), and niche databases in your field. Every legitimate listing is a link back to your site.
Write a guest post. Find a blog or newsletter in your industry that takes contributions and pitch them something genuinely useful. Dana's newsletter is a great example of this. I'm here, I linked back to HelloSEO and MetaMonster, and those are real backlinks.
Get quoted. Journalists and bloggers are always looking for experts. Sign up for Qwoted and respond to relevant queries. When they publish, they usually link to you. You’d be surprised how often these work!
Ask your partners. If you refer clients to other businesses or collaborate regularly, ask if they'd add you to a "recommended resources" page. Most people say yes!
None of this is fast. Backlinks build up over time. But the businesses that treat this as a long game are the ones that end up with the kind of authority that's very hard to compete with.
Convo Corner: Devin Lee
Devin came into my world as a client (I was doing her SEO) and ended up being one of the most impactful people in my business.
Last year I hired her to build out my systems, and the results were kind of staggering. We doubled revenue in a very short period. I genuinely don't think I could run HelloSEO the way I do now without what she put in place.
Devin is a systems strategist. She helps business owners figure out how their operations actually work, then builds easy systems so the business can grow without the owner becoming the bottleneck. She's also just really good at the life side of running a business, she talks about efficiency and sustainability in a way that's practical, not preachy.
If you're a business owner who feels like you're the only thing holding everything together, she's worth following.
Find Devin atdevinlee.com.
And connect with her on LinkedIn!
Let's Talk
Want more free SEO tips? Submit an SEO Report Card on my website, and I’ll make you a video going over your current SEO and how you can improve it!
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– Jade
