Free Resource

The Complete
Link Building Checklist

33 steps across 5 phases of a complete link building campaign — from research and strategy through optimization and scale.

Competitor backlink gap analysis
Daily, weekly, and monthly action cadences
Red flags to spot toxic link vendors
Campaign benchmarks for months 3, 6, and 12
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Download the Free Checklist
The step-by-step checklist for every phase of a link building campaign.
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What's Inside

33 Steps Across 5 Phases

Every action item from a complete link building campaign — the same process behind 500+ client campaigns since 2017.

1
Research & Strategy6 steps
Define campaign goals, run a backlink gap analysis, audit your existing profile, identify your top target pages, set a realistic budget, and choose your link building methods.
2
Preparation & Assets7 steps
Identify your spokesperson, build a media target list of 50+ publications, create a content calendar of pitchable angles, prepare bios and headshots, set up journalist sourcing platforms, write pitch templates, and create link-worthy content assets.
3
Execution & Outreach7 steps
Monitor journalist query platforms daily, pitch 5–10 relevant queries per week, follow up after 3–5 days, track every pitch, place link insertions monthly, publish link-worthy content, and build new journalist relationships.
4
Monitoring & Measurement7 steps
Set up brand alerts, monitor new backlinks weekly, check for lost links monthly, track keyword ranking changes, measure organic traffic growth, calculate ROI quarterly, and audit anchor text distribution.
5
Optimization & Scale6 steps
Review which link types drove the most impact, identify your highest-converting publications, update target page priorities, expand to new verticals, scale what works, and document your process for repeatability.
Also Inside
Campaign Benchmarks
What a well-run campaign looks like at months 3, 6, and 12 — and what drives each metric.
Also Inside
Vendor Red Flags
Five warning signs a link provider will hurt your site more than help it.
Also Inside
Field Insights
Per-phase callouts on what actually works, drawn from 500+ client campaigns.

Every step includes a short explanation of how to do it and why it matters.

FAQ

Questions, Answered.

33 action items organized into 5 phases — research and strategy, preparation and assets, execution and outreach, monitoring and measurement, and optimization and scale. Each step comes with a short explanation of how to do it and why it matters. You also get a campaign benchmarks table for months 3, 6, and 12, plus five red flags for vetting link vendors before you spend money with them.
Marketing leaders, SEO managers, and founders who want a clear, repeatable process for earning editorial backlinks — whether you're running link building in-house for the first time or tightening up an existing program. It assumes you know what SEO is; it doesn't assume you've run a link building campaign before.
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A few steps — like the backlink gap analysis and backlink monitoring — reference tools such as Ahrefs or SEMrush. Most of the checklist requires nothing but time and consistency: sourcing platforms, outreach cadences, tracking, and process documentation all run without paid software.
That's the other path. Reporter Outreach runs this exact process for clients — earning editorial placements on high-authority publications through digital PR and link insertions. If you'd rather skip the DIY, book a strategy call and we'll walk through what a campaign would look like for your site.

Grab the Checklist — or Skip the DIY.

33 steps across 5 phases, free. Or hand the whole process to the team that built it — editorial placements on high-authority publications, done for you.

Book a Strategy Call