Future of Link Building as a service

[Hanuman]

So, for most part of the past decade, I have made a living working with SaaS/tech firms helping them with backlinks. It has been a profitable industry and continues to be so.

However, a year or so back, I was spooked by Chat GPT and Gen AI and so figured SEO as we know it may no longer exist. And what's to say Google changes its interface so much and pushes organic results down that people don't find backlink building worth investing in anymore.

I've tried diversifying into other businesses, but I have not been as successful in anything else like I was with backlinks.

Its been a year since and when I see that companies continue to invest in backlink building like they used to, I am left wondering did I make the right move by trying to move away from backlink building?

Or do you think this will continue to hold value through the next few years at least?

 

[eliquid]

Hard to be a crystal ball reader.

50% chance you are right, 50% you are wrong.

Everyone is 100% right though, given enough time passed.

The only thing I've known to do in situations like this is.. make hay while the sun shines, strike when the iron is hot, pillage and take all you can while you can. Everything is seasonal anyways.

You can still open yourself up to new opportunities while you make hay though... but doubling down on what works for you is always the best option while it works. Just leave a little bit to explore new business.

Best way to do this is with VA's and employees though running what ever is working for you, while you explore the new.

 

[Encrypted]

make hay while the sun shines, strike when the iron is hot, pillage and take all you can while you can. Everything is seasonal anyways.

THISSSS!!!!

This mindset didn’t hit me until HCU. I lived in denial for months to the point where I didn’t improve the sites until recently…

I hoped for things to reverse back to normal so I can get back to my comfort zone.

But, this is a wrong mindset…

Why pray and wait for something COMPLETELY beyond your control to revert back to normal?

You should be grateful for the memories/war chest you’ve built, and move on the next thing that’s working!

Content site SEO was a golden opportunity to make fucking good retirement money…Yet, I only made comfortable money…I wasted my time arguing and obsessing over “good” SEO, white hat vs black hat SEO..all that nonsense..

Now, it’s pretty clear that Google doesn’t even care…

Sadly, there are tons of SEOs in this boat.. They spent their energy arguing good vs bad SEO, trying to “please Google” instead of cashing out.

What a waste!

Truth is, the average person’s MAJOR income source will change several times over his lifetime. What fed you in your 20s, 40s, 60s, e.t.c is not likely to be THE SAME THING even though it may still be the same skill or industry.

Sports/Football is a pretty good example of this.

It’s a lot more stressful adapting to change while worrying about running out of money in a couple of months.

Cash out while you can!

 

[Encrypted]

Its been a year since and when I see that companies continue to invest in backlink building like they used to, I am left wondering did I make the right move by trying to move away from backlink building?

Or do you think this will continue to hold value through the next few years at least?

Link building will probably still hold value unless there’s a major foundational change in the way Google evaluates credibility/trust.

For now, Content + Links still remains the core foundation of SEO.

HCU seems more like a business model change (i.e content-only sites vs e-com, services, e.t.c).

 

[Steve Brownlie]

You should 100% go back to building links for SaaS if you had a foothold in that market. It's by far the most lucrative and profitable linkbuilding sector out there right now given how frikking easy it is to get the top tier SaaS links for each other/from each other etc and the costs being so insanely low. I haven't managed to gain a decent foothold there but whenever I get an order from a SaaS I'm blown away by how easy and cheap it is to do compared to the usual campaigns we work on... add to the fact that SaaS traffic is up as they get the benefit of 'niche affiliate/information sites' that used to take their traffic being demoted to an extent... and it's just mad out there in SaaSland right now for content and links.

Any tips for how I can get more SaaS clients btw you obviously had a knack... totally get you not answering though if you take my advice and go back to targeting them lol.

 

[BakerStreet]

this is the future of outreach https://respona.com/

AI will scrape google for you, find emails for you, look up their linkedin, and write an email for you w/ a bit from their latest posts on LinkedIn to make it personal.

 

[Hanuman]

unless there’s a major foundational change in the way Google evaluates credibility/trust.

I don't expect Google to change it's algo itself. But given the way they have been pushing AI results and ads to the top fold, I think ranking first on the organic results is going to become increasingly irrelevant. Who cares if you rank number 1 if it's still almost on the second fold of the SERPs, and people get the answers to their questions just from the AI results.

Any tips for how I can get more SaaS clients btw

I agree, and what you say is exactly why I have never managed to get a foothold outside of the SaaS industry. I just don't know where to start. It's a lot more work getting links than I am used to.

As for where to start, reach out to agencies that do SEO for SaaS companies and offer to subcontract for them. That's where I started, and then used that experience to cold outreach other clients.

You can still open yourself up to new opportunities while you make hay though... but doubling down on what works for you is always the best option while it works.

Thank you so much for this. It really is an obvious answer no doubt, but I spent the last half year or more fully immersing myself in the new businesses since I wanted to give it my all. There are still some positives to take from this, and your response has really helped me channelize what I think is the right strategy, and something I should have done in the first place.

I am not yet ready to share what the new business I am working on is about, because I really think I can double triple what I used to make with linkbuilding. But I am going to follow your advice and do linkbuilding as my first job, while continuing to work on the new business as a side gig. Ideally even if backlinks stop being relevant in future, I hope it continues to put money on the table till the new biz reaches its full potential.