Inbound links are beneficial to your site from both an SEO and a credibility perspective. And while it’s easier than ever to figure out who is linking to your content, that leaves one important question: what should you actually do with these links once you identify them? Of course the answer depends on the volume of links back to your site — but if it’s a manageable number, we recommend using this protocol for link follow-up.
1. Identify inbound links
The Trackbacks report is pretty easy to find within Google Analytics — you’ll find it nested under Traffic Sources. Check out this post for a closer look at how to access and understand the report.
2. Publication recon
From the Trackbacks report, you can click on the More drop down menu and hit View Trackback. Take a look through the article itself to gather context, then do a bit of research about the publication itself. Are they connected to you in some way? Do your audiences overlap? What’s their monthly traffic like? Could this relationship be mutually beneficial in the future?
3. Reach out to say thanks
Whether through social media, an email or a comment on the post itself, reach out and acknowledge the link. This is a great opportunity to build upon the relationship, whether that means a future guest post, becoming a trusted source, or further conversations on the article’s subject matter.
4. Share the article with your network
If it makes sense, you might want to share the piece with your social networks. Something like “Thanks to Publication X for mentioning us in Article Z! http://link.com” will do the trick. Not only is this a nice gesture to the publication, it reminds your audience that your work is respected within the industry.
5. Add the item to your press page
A well-stocked press page lends credibility to your brand, so go ahead and throw the piece up in your online newsroom. Standard press page format includes a thumbnail with the publication’s logo plus the title and a link — but you can feel free to set this up however you see fit.
