"Most people won't give a link just because you asked": an Interview with Nick Zviadadze

In our new interviews series, we talk to top SEO experts about their best link-building secrets. Whether you're new to SEO or a seasoned pro, you'll walk away with actionable insights to level up your strategy.

Today’s guest, Nick Zviadadze, Founder at the MintSEO marketing agency, takes us through the biggest changes in SEO and link-building this year, the best tactics that are working (and what to avoid), and shares expert advice on how to maximize cold outreach without sounding spammy (with examples!)

What are the biggest changes in link-building (or/and SEO) that you’ve noticed this year?

Nick: AI in link-building is the biggest new thing.

With AI, we’ve been able to automate our link prospect review (at least partially). AI basically filters out websites that don't match our criteria, and then a human does the final filtering.

We also generate personalized first lines. Instead of starting with the hyper-generic "Hey, I loved your post about [topic]," you can send an actual, genuine compliment. This has a very good impact on response rates.

What link-building tactics worked best this year? Which ones you would not spend time on?

Nick: Offering value is the best strategy in 2024, I think.

"Most people really don't care about your super high-quality B2B blog post, and they're not going to link to it just because you asked."

You need to offer something of real value if you want to get that backlink.

Here are the messages that work:

• I'll write a blog post targeting a keyword of your choice (they get a free blog post)
• I'll write a thought leadership post, and share it with my audience of X (they get exposure)
• I'll link back to your website from a future guest post (they get a free backlink)
• I'll link back to you from a third-party website in exchange for a link insert (again, free backlink)

Read more: Backlink Exchange: Good or Evil? (a 2024 Guide)

What are 2-3 biggest no-no's in link-building? Why?

Nick: Some niches are pay-to-play, no way around it.

E.g. travel blogs will, 100% of the time, ask you for money in exchange for a link.

They know that backlinks are valuable, and they're not just giving you backlinks for free because you asked. If you want to stay competitive in such niches, you'll basically have to pay up.

Another big no-no is building links from backlink farms.

"Websites that sell backlinks on a regular basis are very, very easy to detect by Google, and they get wiped out, 100% of the time. Meaning that you end up spending time and money on absolutely nothing."

How should marketers measure the success of link-building campaigns?

Nick: Some metrics we look at when evaluating success of a campaign:

• Open rates
• Reply rates
• Positive reply rates
• Links acquired / emails sent ratio
• Quality of links acquired (in terms of DA/Traffic)

Cold emails for link-building - is it still a valid approach?

Absolutely still valid. But most link-builders send very, very trashy emails.

As long as you differentiate with your email copy, throw a good joke or pun in there, and offer something of value for that link, outreach campaigns work very very well.

What tip would you give to SEOs who are struggling with link-building?

Nick: Figure out how to give value to your prospects.

Everyone knows how valuable links are these days, and it's very very rare to find someone who's just going to give you a link because you asked for it and gave them a vague, meaningless compliment.

Good examples of value:

• I'll return the favor by linking back to one of your priority posts from a future guest post / third party website / whatever
• We create a super useful resource for veterans - it includes [list of perks]. Is this something the [website] audience would be interested in?
• I'll write a 2,000-word blog post targeting a priority keyword of your choice.

Bad examples of value:

• Hey [First Name], I really loved your blog post about [Topic]. Hippity hoppity, give me a backlink pls?

Thanks a lot to Nick for the insightful chat - here's to value-based link-building that bring lasting results!