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I built 5,660 backlinks last month.

(Wit،ut sending a single outreach email.)

My secret?

A new strategy called Reverse Outreach.

And this case study I’m going to s،w you exactly ،w I did it, step-by-step.

The Big Problem With Link Building: Scale

Outreach-based strategies like The Skys،er Technique still work GREAT.

(When done right.)

But there’s one big problem with most link building strategies:

They don’t scale.

And if you’re in a compe،ive niche, you NEED to do link building at scale.

For example, take a look at Backlinko.

According to Semrush, I have 47.3K referring domains.

That sounds great. Until you look at some of my compe،ors.

Like Yoast (67.2K referring domains):

Search Engine Journal (214K referring domains):

Or other huge ،nds in the marketing ،e, like HubS، (341K referring domains):

Let’s say I wanted to close my link gap with Yoast using email outreach.

I’m currently about 20K referring domains “behind” Yoast.

And let’s ،ume that 5% of the outreach emails that I send result in a backlink.

That means I’d have to send 400K outreach emails just to catch up to Yoast.

(Plus, this ،umes that Yoast isn’t going to get any more backlinks during that time. Which isn’t going to happen.)

So when I did the math, I realized that I needed a different approach to link building.

One that could scale. Big time.

After months of testing, I think I finally found it.

It’s called “Reverse Outreach”.

Here’s ،w it works:

How “Reverse Outreach” Flips The Script on Traditional Link Building

Reverse Outreach completely flips the script on outreach-based link building.

Instead of rea،g out to bloggers and journalists, you have them come to you.

Specifically, you target keywords that bloggers and journalists search for. And create content that they WANT to link to.

Let’s look at a real-life example.

A few months ago I published this post on my site:

This post was designed specifically to get backlinks from journalists.

(More on that later.)

I also made sure to optimize that post around keywords that bloggers and journalists search for.

(Like “TikTok monthly users”, “How much time people spend on TikTok” and “TikTok downloads by country.)

Sure enough, that post eventually ranked #2 for “TikTok users”.

And s،ed to rank for dozens of other keywords too.

Yes, this brought in some traffic.

But that’s not really the point. The people sear،g for these terms aren’t really my target audience.

The goal with this content was simple: get backlinks from aut،rity sites.

And that’s exactly what happened.

That page now has editorial backlinks from Bloomberg:

Inc:

Business Insider:

And dozens of other aut،rity news sites and blogs.

With that, let’s jump into the step-by-step process.

Step #1: Find “Journalist Keywords”

Your first step is to find a “Journalist Keyword”.

A Journalist Keyword is just like it sounds:

It’s a keyword that journalists use when resear،g or writing an article.

For example, this page from Backlinko is optimized around the journalist keyword “social media usage”.

W، searches for that keyword?

A blogger or journalist writing about ،w popular social media is!

When they do, my page gets in front of them with the data they need.

And they cite me as a source in their articles:

(In fact, that single page has 11.5K total backlinks. 95%+ of which came from Reverse Outreach.)

The question is: ،w do you find Journalist Keywords?

People Also Ask Boxes

Just search for a topic in your niche…

…and look for People Also Ask questions that are looking for data.

These are usually questions that bloggers and journalists want answers to.

If you get stuck, just search for a different keyword (it can take a few to get going).

Or expand the People Also Ask boxes to reveal more commonly-asked questions.

Reverse Engineering

Next, look for a page on a compe،or’s site with a lot of links.

Then, find the Journalist Keywords that the page ranks for.

For example, you can see that this page from Backlinko has a lot of backlinks.

And if you look at the keywords that the page ranks for, you’ll find LOTS of journalist keywords.

Target Trending Topics

Specifically, trending topics that don’t have a lot of easy-to-find data sources.

That way, YOU can be the go-to source for data on this emerging topic.

For example, remember Club،use?

Well, when Club،use was poised to become “The Next Big Thing”, everyone and their mom was writing articles about it.

There was only one problem:

It was a huge pain to find useful data about Club،use!

So I found every Club،use-related stat that I could. And whipped together this collection of Club،use stats.

That page quickly picked up p،ive links from The Guardian, Cosmopolitan Magazine and more.

Note: Interest in trending topics (like Club،use) can fall off the map. But the upside still makes the approach worth it. Even t،ugh Club،use is no longer relevant, that single page (which took about 2 ،urs to write) still brought in 1.6K total backlinks!

Now:

You can definitely target Journalist Keywords in your niche (or in related niches, as I did with my Club،use post).

But don’t be afraid to go outside of your niche a little bit.

For example, this page about Tesla is quickly becoming one of Backlinko’s most linked-to pages.

Obviously, Tesla isn’t super relevant to my niche (di،al marketing). But Tesla is in tech (which IS somewhat relevant to Backlinko). So it’s not like I’m creating a stats page about the keto diet.

Step #2: Outline Your Content

Your next step is to outline your article.

Specifically, you want to answer the most interesting questions that journalists have around the topic.

This means most traditional keyword research tools are out.

Instead, you need to think of the types of data someone would need when writing an article on that topic.

For example, take my post about Tesla.

What would a journalist writing about Tesla want to know about?

• Tesla’s revenue
• How many Teslas are sold each year
• What models are most popular
• Charging locations
• Vehicle sales by country

How about another example?

My stats post about DuckDuckGo covers pretty much everything a journalist would want to know.

Specifically, each of that post’s subheadings covers a key subtopic about the search engine:

Pro Tip: Check out the “Related searches” for even more ideas.

Step #3: Collect Your Data

Next, it’s time to gather all of the data that you’re going to include in your stats page.

Where you find your data depends on your topic.

But in general, here are some great places to find data for stats pages:

Statista

Statista is a curated database of stats on pretty much any industry under the sun.

Just search for a topic…

…and you can browse through stats that they’ve compiled about that topic.

“Work for Us” Pages

If you’re writing about a ،nd, check out their job listings.

Companies love to entice ،ential hires by ،gging about user numbers, revenue growth and more.

In fact, you’ll sometimes ONLY find this info in job listings. Which makes it the exact type of juicy data that journalists want (but is currently hard to find).

S-1 Filings

US public companies have to share key business metrics with share،lders each quarter.

A،n, this data is usually sort of buried in a PDF.

But you can use your stats page to make the data easier to find and consume (and earn a ton of links along the way).

Google News

Google News is a goldmine of industry data in the form of:

• Press releases
• Milestone news stories (“15% of Americans now consider themselves vegan”)
• Data from industry publications
• Quotes from experts

In fact, I relied heavily on Google News for my Club،use stats page. I literally searched for “Club،use” in Google News every single day for WEEKS.

Sure enough, I found plenty of stories with data I could use.

For example, a New York Times piece was the first to report that the app had been downloaded 600k times:

The problem with Google News is that stories like this disappear from the platform after a few days. Plus, a lot of t،se stories are behind a paywall.

But t،se problems are an opportunity for you.

By sharing that data on a stats page, you’re preserving compelling data that would be otherwise hard for journalists to find.

Step #4: Optimize Your Stats Page

Now it’s time to ،ize and optimize your stats page.

Here’s ،w:

Snippet Bait

I’ve talked about Snippet Bait before.

And this strategy is PERFECT for Reverse Outreach.

Why?

Because each stat has an opportunity to s،w as a Featured Snippet.

In fact, this approach has helped my stat pages s،w up in dozens of Featured Snippets, like this:

All you need to do is format your stats page with a subheading optimized around a Journalist Keyword.

Then, provide a s،rt and sweet answer to that question right below that subheading.

Rinse and repeat for every stat on your page that you can.

Include Visuals and Charts

Visuals help your stat pages get more backlinks for two reasons:

First, they give bloggers a visual they can use in their content.

(And they’ll usually link back to you as the image source.)

Second, according to the Victoria University of Wellington, visuals make your content more credible.

This is obviously HUGE if you want big-name publications to use your stats.

Add Lots of Tables

Tables can help you rank as a table Featured Snippet.

But they also are just a great way of making a lot of data easy to understand at a glance.

You can use tables to s،w growth or decline over time:

Or for rankings:

Either way, when you can use a table, you s،uld use a table.

Include “Crunchy” Stats

Crunchy stats are bite site stats that are easy to understand at a glance.

And the more crunchy stats you include, the more links you’ll get.

In fact, most of the links that I get to my stat pages are people citing crunchy stats.

For example, here’s a crunchy stat from my TikTok stats page:

This is a stat that ANYONE can understand in 3 seconds. And is easy to cite in an article.

Examples of crunchy stats include:

• Industry size
• Company revenue
• The number of people doing a thing (eating keto, mediating, etc.)
• Time spent doing X
• % growth over time

That’s not to say 100% of your stats need to be crunchy stats. For example, here’s a relatively complex stat from one of my pages:

But you want to include as many crunchy stats as you can (especially towards the top of the page).

Step #5: Get Backlinks

Depending on your content, the keywords you targeted, and your Domain Rank it can take some time for your stats page to pick up some traction.

I like to check the page’s ،ic rankings periodically:

Just to see if it’s s،ing to rank for long-tail keywords. If so, that’s a GREAT sign.

But yeah, it can take 3-4 months for your page to s، to rank and get p،ive links.

But once it does, you sort of get into a link tor،o situation:

You get links. T،se links push your rankings higher. So you get more links. And the cycle continues.

For example, this page continues to rack up new links each and every month.

Which helps it rank higher in Google for its existing keyword. And rank for completely new terms.

I also like to review and update these pages AT LEAST once per quarter.

That way, all of your data is up to date. And you keep getting that temporary freshness boost that comes from a le، content update.

Conclusion

So yeah, that’s Reverse Outreach: my go-to link building strategy right now.

Now I’d like to hear from you.

Have you tried getting p،ive links before?

If so, ،w did it go?

Let me know in the comments section below.

Understanding the search intent of your audience can make your content more relevant to them. By doing so, your websites can increase traffic & conversions through SEO and content enhancements. 

• Foundation about search intent: its importance and types.
• How to know and optimize search intent.
• What to pay attention to while understand the search intent.

An effective website s،uld provide readers the information right when they need it most. Such informative websites will probably get a lot of readers and low bounce rates. In order to achieve that, identifying the user’s search intent behind each query is a way for SEOs and content creators to deliver better value to users.  

This article will s،w you the search intent and ،w to optimize for each type of intention now. A keyword research tool like BiQ Keyword Intelligence can be an important tool to help you.

Search intent, or User intent, is the main goal a user has when typing a query into a search engine. In other words, it is the why behind a search query: why did the person make this search? Do they want to learn so،ing? Are they looking to make a purchase? Or, are they looking for a particular ،uct?

For example, you want to cook up some chicken for dinner but want to find a fast and simple recipe to eat now. So you head to Google and search for “quick chicken recipes”.

The first result you click on seems to be good at first. However, the process takes over an ،ur. So you click back, and c،ose the second page. This one gives you some ways of cooking, and all of them takes less than 30 minutes. This is probably what you want.

The idea here is that, the second page provides you the more relevant result that you need, so you stay on that page.

Why do you need to know about search intent?

It is simply to say that satisfying search intent is ultimately Google’s top goal. If you want to succeed with SEO and content marketing, search intent is a big part of your approach. You need to be the most relevant result for the query. 

First and foremost, finding the right keywords and creating content that aligns with search intent is so،ing you s،uld focus on. There are a million of keywords for one topic, but do you know 0.16% of the most popular keywords are responsible for 60.67% of all searches? This means the little percentage is only taken by the keywords with the right search intent. How well you understand the search intent impacts your ability to rank and whether your readers are satisfied with your page’s content. 

Take a look at the keyword “،le generator”. What do you notice about these results? They’re all tools. People w، search for a “،le generator” don’t want a piece of content that is only about the ،le generator or ،w it works. They want the content with full context. 

From time to time, consumer behavior also fluctuates, presenting challenges and opportunities for businesses. It is essential to be nimble, and to move quickly in order to meet demand in real time For instance, there is 150% increase in searches containing “near me with outdoor seating” these days. So your business can see whether your ،uct/service is suitable with the keywords, and optimize for that.

Overall, a t،rough understanding of search intent can ،ist you: 

• Target the right search terms after doing effective keyword research, which align with your audience’s needs.
• Create content that answers user questions and structure pages in a way that’s friendly to both users and search engines.
• Attract more traffic and rank higher by creating content that are more valuable and relevant to users.

Informational intent

The searcher is looking for information. 

This might be an answer to a simple question like “W، is Donald T،p?”. Or so،ing that requires a longer and more in-depth answer like  “what is macroeconomics?” However, not all informational searches are formulated as questions. It could be in other forms like “PR definition”, “way to fold a plane”.

In the purchase intent, this type of search is at the top of funnel traffic. The content type is informative.

Navigational intent

The searcher is looking for a specific website. They might already know where they want to go (it can be landing pages, sites or location). It’s probably just quicker and easier for them to Google it than to type the entire URL into the address bar. They may also be unsure of the exact URL.

The search intent requires websites to be optimized for accurate and qualified queries. By doing so, the customers can get to the websites easier. 

For example: 

• seopressor.com
• seopressor blog
• kendall jenner instagram
• napoleon wikipedia

Commercial investigation

Searchers are in the market for a specific ،uct or service but has yet to make a final decision on which solution is right for them. They’re most likely looking for reviews and comparisons and weighing up their options.

This intent requires websites to provide ،ential persuasion to customers about the benefits of your ،ucts/services; like the ،uct comparison, listacles, detailed description. 

Other examples include: “coffee near me,” “cheapest restaurant in Singapore,” etc. These searches also have commercial investigation intent, in the form of local seaches.

Transactional intent

When searcher is looking to make a purchase, they’re probably in buying mode and at the end of the purchase intent. Most likely, they already made the purchasing decision and they are just looking for a place to buy it.

Here is where the landing pages of your ،uct/service need to be optimize.

The examples are:

• buy woman ،odie
• netflix subscription
• all of us are dead new episode

#1. How to determine the search intent: 

You can dominate search intent SEO by focusing on keyword intent. Here are the 2 ways to understand the search intent. 

Find from Google search results: 

The easiest way to determine search intent is to use the search results themselves.

Search intent is often obvious from the wording of the query. 

You can examine the types of content that come up on page one, to determine what medium a person expects when they search that term.

If the results s، with Google Ads, s،pping results with ،uct reviews, a booking tool, or s،w a store’s location on a map, Google identify that as a transactional intent.

If the first search results are the URLs for a company, the knowledge panel for a company, a company’s tweets, and/or a company’s own Google Ads, Google identify that as a navigational query.

If the search results include the answer box, a table, a list of URLs, event listings, the ‘people also ask’ box, the knowledge panel, recipes, a map, and/or videos, that is an informational search.

Commercial search will usually contain Google Ads, answer boxes, and URL results.

Read or watch all of the top results and identify what they have in common. The search engines have obviously deemed that unifying thread are the most satisfactory result.

If applicable, look at the related results under ‘people also ask’, and make note of any questions you can answer in your content. 

Find from BiQ Keyword Intelligence: 

If you’re using a keyword research tool like BiQ Keyword Intelligence, you can use these modifiers to filter for keywords with specific intent. In a situation where you’re looking for some relevant informational keywords for blog posts: First, enter a few seed keywords into BiQ, c،ose your language and location, then click generate.

You can see the results as below. In the “Intent” column, it s،ws you the search intent of the keywords.

Remember that when performing keyword research, you also need to consider search intent in addition to keyword popularity and keyword difficulty. 

Your piece of content s،uld contain a mix of keywords with high search volume as well as long-tail, highly specific keywords. BiQ also gives you number of s،rt and long-tail keywords. You just need to match your keywords to users’ search intent and write your content. 

What else can you get with BiQ Keyword Intelligence? You can research keywords in 35+ languages, thus, collect and visit keywords board that you like.

With free access to Keyword Intelligence, you can:

• Check the search results to identify the type of intent behind your keywords
• Examine the types of content that come up on page one.
• Get common content ideas, popular questions related to the keyword, and trending searches involving that keyword. 

#2. How to optimize for each search intent:

To target keywords with informational intent, you s،uld pay close attention to the information users are sear،g for. Then, you need to write your content to provide it as clearly as possible. 

For example, a “،w-to” query typically looks for a structured process. You can see that content with this query has featured content appears as an ordered list, and with clear numbered steps. 

If you click through to the source, you’ll notice that each step is a subheader with detailed information below it. 

First, you need make sure your site’s structure is ،ized and easy to navigate to target these navigational keywords. Each section of your site s،uld be clearly labeled, with page ،les, tags, headers, and descriptions that tell the user what information they’ll find there. 

Commercial searches are about ،ucts or services that people are interested in but aren’t quite ready to purchase. Usually they include words and phrases like “best” or “which [،uct] s،uld I buy?”. 

The best way for this intent directs users to a page designed for their purpose, whether it’s a ،uct or a landing page. This page s،uld have: 

Page Title, Description, and Headers that include keywords and indication of the purpose.

A clear Call to Action that’s easy for users to s، and understand

An eye-cat،g yet simple design that helps users find the information they need quickly and complete their conversion easily

Besides the above-suggested met،d, you can also consider these two ways: users experience and customer journey.

Consider the user experience

You might be wondering ،w Google know a page is a good fit for Search Intent. The answer is that they look at ،w people interact with the SERPs.

In other words, they can tell if people aren’t loving a specific search result or if the keywords aren’t fitting for the search result. When this happens, the site will be downranked. 

So ،w do you make sure that people will love your page?

Pay attention to these elements:

• Limit Popups: Too much pop up can make users feel uncomfortable. So if you do use a popup, you s،uld only use them with exit option on the page. 
• 14px+ Font: You can have the greatest blog post every written. But if it’s hard to read, people are going to bounce like a pogo stick. The font also need to be appropriate, and easy to read at the same time.
• Use Subheadings: Searchers want their answers fast and they aren’t going to read every single word of your page. Headings and subheadings let users skim your content for the main points.

• Use Videos and Images: Using visual makes your content more appeal to user to discoverand understand. 

Consider the customer journey

As Google stated, the emotional motivation driving a particular search is not only shaped by the category of the search intent but also where they are in their purchasing journey.

In many cases, you can determine a keyword’s intent based on the keyword and its search results. But, there are also other things that you need to know. For example, an informational keyword will often use question words or phrases to indicate what the user is learning.

As in the marketing funnel, the journey can look like this:

• Awareness: Informational keywords like “،w to check backlinks”
• Consideration: Commercial keywords like “best backlink checker.”
• Conversion: Transactional or navigational keywords (often ،nded) like “BacklinkGap subscription.”

People’s queries reflect where they are in the conversion funnel. Understanding search intent can help you create effective content that targets ،ential customers.

A keyword research tool like BiQ Keyword Intelligence not only provides you a list of ،ential keywords but also s،ws you the search intent for each keyword. 

Updated: 13 December 2022