Link building is the work of getting other websites to link to yours for reasons they would stand behind. I do it for UK businesses whose pages are in reasonable shape but still sit below competitors in the searches that bring in work. The links come from organisations you already deal with, mentions you have already earned and pages of yours worth citing, all within Google’s spam policies. I never buy them.
What links change, and what they cannot
A link from another site helps Google discover your pages, and it acts as a reference: a site with its own readers and reputation pointing people to you. Ten links from one directory count for far less than one each from ten sites in your trade, because they are one site’s opinion repeated. SEO tools call each separate linking site a referring domain, and comparing yours with those of the sites above you is where I start.
Between two pages that answer a search equally well, the one more relevant sites refer to tends to come out ahead. Links cannot rescue a weak page, though. If Google struggles to crawl the site, or the page does not answer the search, new links largely go to waste, and the better first spend is technical SEO or on-page improvements to the pages themselves.
Who this suits, and who it does not
It suits a business whose site is technically sound and well written but still trails competitors where it matters. Typical situations:
- A firm in a crowded market, such as a London accountancy practice, whose rivals have gathered links from trade bodies, suppliers and local press for years.
- A business whose real-world relationships, from suppliers to the chamber of commerce to the youth team it sponsors, have never turned into links.
- A site where a previous supplier bought directory or blog links, and the owner wants to know whether they are a problem.
It does not suit a brand-new site with little on it yet, since there is nothing to link to. Nor is it right if the aim is a set count of links each month rather than links that help particular pages.
What the work covers
A review of the links you already have
I go through every site linking to you, using Search Console alongside a third-party link index, since neither shows everything. Each link is sorted by whether it helps, does nothing, or belongs to a pattern of paid or manufactured links. Google says its systems neutralise unnatural links rather than count them, and that most sites never need to disavow anything. So I reserve a disavow file for two cases: a manual action shown in Search Console, or a clear history of links bought in your name.
A link gap against the sites that outrank you
I look for websites linking to at least two of the businesses ranking above you but not to you. They have already shown they link to businesses like yours, so the list is usually short and realistic. Not every gap is worth closing: some competitor links will be paid placements or directories with no readers, and copying them copies the risk. The useful targets are usually trade publications, associations, suppliers and local organisations.
Reclaiming links you have already earned
The easiest links to win are often ones you are already owed. Local news sites, event pages and suppliers name businesses without linking, and a short note to the right person often fixes it, so these unlinked mentions come first. Redesigns also leave old URLs returning errors while other sites still link to them. Redirecting each to its closest live page recovers that value, and the redirect map builder turns a list of old and new URLs into rules your developer can install.
Links from relationships you already have
Most UK businesses have more of these than they realise. Manufacturers and wholesalers list stockists and approved installers. Trade bodies publish member directories. Chambers of commerce, Business Improvement Districts and some councils list local firms. Universities link to employers on placement pages, and charities thank the companies that support them. Each link has a genuine reason behind it, and many need only an email to the right person and the correct URL.
Pages worth linking to
Outreach goes further when your site has something an editor would want to cite: figures from your own data, a calculator, a clear explanation of a UK rule your customers must follow, or a well-kept resource list. I start with what you already have. When something new is needed, I plan it with your content SEO and strategy so it targets a real search as well as earning links.
One-to-one outreach
Outreach means writing to the person who runs a relevant page with a reason to link: a broken reference your page can replace, a gap in their guide your data fills, or a listing with your details wrong. Each email is written for its recipient, sent to an address published for that kind of contact and followed up sparingly. Named business email addresses are personal data under UK GDPR, so the contact list holds only what the outreach needs, and anyone who asks not to hear from me again does not.
Business listings and citations for map rankings are a separate job, covered under local SEO.
What I do not do
Google’s spam policies treat any link made to manipulate rankings as part of a link scheme, and the list is longer than most owners expect. I do not:
- buy links or pay anyone to place them, whether sold as a guest post, a sponsored article or an insertion into an existing page;
- use private blog networks, or expired domains redirected for the links they carry;
- arrange link swaps or join groups where sites link to each other in rotation;
- submit sites in bulk to directories nobody reads, or drop links into comments and forums;
- place guest articles at scale with keyword-stuffed anchor text;
- sell packages measured in links per month.
It is slower and yields fewer links than buying them. Nobody can promise that a given link will count, or that Google will never change how it treats a type of link, and I do not. What I can say is that nothing I build relies on Google failing to notice it. If volume matters most to you, I will tell you on our first call that I am not the right consultant.
How I run it
- Check the foundations. I confirm the pages you want to rank can be crawled, are indexed and deserve links. If not, fixing them comes first, and where the problems run wider a full SEO audit is the better starting point.
- Review both link profiles. Yours and your competitors’, ending with the gap list.
- Agree targets and pace. Which pages need links, which kinds of site to approach, and a realistic rate of outreach for your market and budget.
- Reclaim first. Mentions, broken links and existing relationships come before outreach to strangers, because those sites already know you.
- Outreach in rounds. Each round is logged in a shared tracker you can open at any time: who was contacted, when, what they said and the outcome.
- Report. Each link earned, with the linking page, anchor text, target page and how it is marked, any links lost, and how the target pages perform in Search Console.
Problems I see most often on UK sites
- Every link points at the homepage. The service pages meant to rank for searches like “commercial cleaning Croydon” or “employment solicitor Leeds” have none, so the homepage competes for searches it cannot answer well.
- Old directory packages. Hundreds of links from directories that exist only to sell listings, often with one keyword-heavy anchor. Google’s systems are designed to discount them, so removing them by hand is rarely worth it, but nothing better has been built in their place.
- Sitewide footer links. A partner’s or web designer’s credit repeated in every page footer, sometimes with a keyword anchor. Google’s spam policies name widely distributed footer links, and one link from the partner’s relevant page is the cleaner arrangement.
What you receive
- The link review, with each questionable link explained and, only where justified, a disavow file ready to upload.
- The gap list, ranked by relevance and by how realistic each target is.
- Mentions and relationships to convert, with the contact route for each.
- Access to the outreach tracker throughout.
- The links themselves, as they are earned.
- A plain-English report at an interval agreed with you, tied to the performance of the target pages.
Cost depends mainly on how competitive your market is and how much reclamation and outreach the gap calls for. You receive a written quote in pounds after the review, before any outreach starts.
Next step
Request a free SEO audit of your website and say in the message which pages you most want to rank. I will look at them and the pages above them, then tell you whether links are the likely gap or whether something on your own site should come first. I work from London with businesses across the UK, and nearly all of this work happens remotely.