3 Best Practices in Linking for Crisis Awareness

Here we are in March 2021, about a year since the COVID-19 pandemic really took hold in the United States.

As the health crisis rages on, many SEO professionals have questions and concerns about running link serving during a pandemic.

Over the past year, my team has had to find ways to continue to deliver the same level of quality and relevant backlinks that our clients have come to expect.

Through this process, we learned some useful information on how to adjust the scope of links during a pandemic.

The lessons learned from these difficult times can be applied to your outreach to be more successful in securing backlinks under all circumstances, but especially in times of crisis.

Link Outreach Personalization is king

In the era of COVID-19, personalization is king, especially when it comes to communicating via email.

Times are tough and people are struggling, and you have to be sensitive to that.

Now more than ever, you need to be able to put yourself in the shoes of the person you are contacting and consider how things may have changed in their industry due to bottlenecks, restrictions, mandates etc.

You really need to understand what is important to them in the context of the pandemic and how your assets fit into it.

For example, if you are promoting a mental health and wellness asset, your primary targets might be .edu websites that are still struggling to reopen and accommodate their students.

Most of these sites would welcome content that promotes the mental well-being of students and staff.

If you can clearly state how your asset would help its audience in the context of “pandemic life,” you are much more likely to be successful.

The stress and challenges of our current pandemic world also mean that people have less time, shorter attention spans, and even less patience for lazy, patterned emails.

Personally, if I receive an email with a generic greeting (“Hello”, “Hello team”, “Hello sir”, etc.), I immediately delete it without reading it.

If the person emailing me can’t find my name, why should I spend time reading their email?

Take that little extra time to find the name of the person you are contacting and take it a step further by asking how they are holding up or mentioning something that has helped you through these difficult times.

It humanizes your awareness and shows that you have taken the time to consider the position they find themselves in. These types of awareness emails are read.

Tracking awareness emails is even more critical

Obviously, a lot has changed in our lives since the start of the pandemic. Even now, I still adapt in my daily life to dealing with new challenges (like closing my boys’ daycare for two weeks due to a fear of COVID) that arise due to COVID, and that. is the case for everyone.

With this constant chaos in our lives, it’s easy to see why tracking is even more critical in the context of link dissemination.

Keep in mind that people are even busier than usual and might not have time to accommodate your request.

In fact, it’s entirely possible that their website just isn’t a priority right now, and you should just go back later when things calm down.

Many people had to take on additional responsibilities during the pandemic.

Replying to external emails may not be their main task. Be patient with these people and send a simple follow-up message to let them know that you are still trying to reach them.

While consistent follow-up is essential during these times, you should also be respectful in your follow-up emails.

A common practice that I have seen is to send an email with a humorous or more aggressive approach after sending multiple unanswered emails.

For example, something like:

” Hello ? Is there anyone there? Am I screaming into the void ?! “

While this approach can be effective under the right circumstances, I strongly advise against it in times of crisis.

You have no idea what the person on the other side of your email might be going through, whether it be the loss of a loved one, having to lay off staff, bankruptcy itself, or any another potential tragedy caused by this health crisis.

More than ever, you need to be sensitive and polite in your follow-up.

Now is not the time to be arrogant or try to shed some light on the situation.

Don’t limit your reach to email

While emailing is still the most common and effective way to promote your web pages for links, you shouldn’t limit your outreach efforts to email alone.

The pandemic has forced us to make many behavioral changes, but not all of them are negative.

I think the shift to communicating almost exclusively online has opened up new doors in terms of link dissemination.

As a company, we have become more comfortable with video conferencing as more and more workers find themselves working from home.

This presents an opportunity for link acquisition, as you can see that the contacts are ready to participate in a quick video chat to discuss the asset that you are promoting.

This can simplify the whole outreach process as you can skip a long email thread by making a call and succinctly explaining why you think they should add your link.

Plus, with screen sharing, you can show them exactly where you think it would fit on their site and why, and you can show them your asset and highlight the parts that are most relevant to their audience.

If nothing else, it could save time on an email exchange of over 10 that ends in a rejection.

You should also take advantage of social media within your reach.

Not only does social media offer another way to reach your target contact, it can also provide the essential context for creating a personalized outreach message.

Social media can provide the most recent information on how well that person’s business or website is performing and adjusting during the pandemic, which will allow you to create awareness that stands out from other link requests.

During this pandemic and other times of generalized crisis, it’s even more important to devote a little more time to your link dissemination.

You need to identify the right person to contact, then really put yourself in their shoes to understand what they might be going through so that you can write a sensitive and humanizing message.

In addition to learning more about their personal circumstances, this additional investment in research can also help you better frame your assets in a context that interests them.

Obviously, this health crisis has created unique challenges for all of us, but if you approach your link outreach carefully, you can still successfully earn relevant backlinks.

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