by Garrett French

Content-based link building is all about RELATIONSHIPS. In particular, blogger and media relationships. Whether you're writing guest posts for publication on leading industry sites or conducting massive group interviews and surveys you need to know ALL the bloggers and other media creators in your industry.

Here's how to thoroughly query your space in order to discover who you should be interviewing, requesting guest post opportunities from, listing, giving awards to, and any other ways you can think of to engage them!

1) Find the Round-Up Writers
If you're blessed to be in an industry with hundreds or even thousands of bloggers, it's highly likely that there are "round up" writers. These writers seek to thoroughly cover the events of the day or week by posting lists of their favorite articles. Since you publish great content, you should know who these folks are and let them know when you publish.

Here are some queries for finding them:
[mdkw*] intitle:roundup
[mdkw] intitle:"round up"
[mdkw] intitle:links
[mdkw] intitle:"weekly roundup"
[mdkw] intitle:"weekly round up"
[mdkw] intitle:"best of"

Note - if you're not finding anything with the intitle searches, try removing the operator.

2) Find the Guest Post Publishers
Some bloggers seek content in the form of guest posts from outside experts. If the blog or website has authority in your space and a targeted readership then you should, by all means, submit some content to them.

Here are some queries for finding these oppportunities:
[mdkw] inurl:category/guest
[mdkw] "guest blogger"
[mdkw] guest blog post writer
[mdkw] "guest post"
[mdkw] "guest article"
[mdkw] "guest column"
[mdkw] inurl:contributors

3) Find the Blogger and Twitter Lists
If you're looking to really blow out your contact lists for future engagement, then build on top of the efforts of your colleagues. It's fairly common in many verticals for bloggers and other publishers to make lists of each other. Blogrolls are another excellent example of blog lists.

[mdkw] blog list
[mdkw] top bloggers
[mdkw] blogroll
[mdkw] "blog roll"
[mdkw] twitter list
[mdkw] twitter users

4) Find the List-Writing Linkbaiters
Who has written linkbait in the past? What did they aggregate into lists? This can show you what not to write, as well as give you ideas for your "list of lists..."

[mdkw] "list of lists"
[mdkw] "top * ways"
[mdkw] "top * tips"
[mdkw] "top 10"
[mdkw] "top 100"

Make sure you outreach to the sites included on your lists and let them know they're on them!

5) Find the Interview Writers (and Interviewees)
We've found that getting interviewed is a fantastic link builder - and a lead generator. Further, group interviews with experts really help to generate links and establish relationships with the top bloggers and thinkers in your space.

Here are queries for finding sites that conduct interviews, as well as individuals who may be open to you interviewing them:

[mdkw] intitle:"q/a with"
[mdkw] intitle:"q&a with"
[mdkw] intitle:experts interview OR talk OR discuss OR answer
[mdkw] expert interview
[mdkw] intitle:interview

6) Putting it All Together...
Now that you know who publishes in your space, you know who to begin engaging with, researching thoroughly, highlighting in your content and even retweeting consistently. So start with some "aggregation" content, then move on to individual and group interviews. Make sure you're reaching out consistently when you publish new content - especially to those who you've featured. And most importantly - keep it up! Keep at it and you'll see your rankings, targeted traffic and brand buzz grow in your market!

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