I have been working in the world of search engine optimization for years and I’ve seen a lot of tricks, strategies, and tactics come and go when it comes to trying to increase outreach for a given site.

One of the best tactics that has been around since the start of SEO is link building through sponsored posts.

While it is certainly possible to do this work on your own, there are also specialized companies that are experts when it comes to getting articles published on great sites with fantastic domain authority and organic traffic.

One company that I discovered that helped me grow my clients’ sites in a big way was OutReachFrog.

OutReachFrog has managed to carve out a fantastic niche in the SEO landscape thanks to their ability to fine tune the process to what has become one of the most effective ways to gain strong organic traffic and improve site domain authority.

You might be wondering how link building works. How risky it is. And if the sites that they work with are truly ‘whitehat.’

Luckily, thanks to my personal experience, I can give you some insight into just how effective it can be.

Purchasing links

OutReachFrog is happy to sell links a la carte so that you can let them know what kind of site you are looking to get your great content on, and they will give you a list of sites that they have worked with in the past that will help you achieve their goals.

These links range in price based on how valuable the link is. The reason why is because the more valuable the site, the harder it is to convince that site to accept a sponsored post. Once you make a decision on the site, OutReachFrog will develop a masterfully crafted article that is pertinent to your niche, product, or service for you to approve before it is sent off.

Another options that they offer is to create a link-building strategy in which OutReachFrog will analyze your site and see what kind of link building will help your site grow the most. This is probably considered to be the best bang for your buck, but can range in price heavily based on how many links you want to be built and what timeframe you want them to be built in.

For my own strategy, I focused on getting four posts written of varying value and length.

• One 500 word guest post from a site with DA 20 ($150)
• One 1,000 word guest post from a site with DA 30 ($250)
• One 1,000 word post from a site with DA 40 ($400)
• And a tier-two links boos package ($50)

It might seem like a heavy asking price for just a handful of links, but when you consider what link building can do for your site, you will understand the price completely.

The reason why link building is so valuable is because it does a number of things for your site. First off, getting your content (with links to your site’s pages) on a popular site with great domain authority and traffic means that you will be funneling readers that are interested in learning and reading about your niche to your site.

Another huge reason has to do with the way that Google determines which sites rank high on its SERPs. The stats regarding SERP ranking is undeniable. The higher you rank, the more traffic you get, that leads to more leads, more purchases, and more organic traffic.

Getting your links onto highly regarded and highly trusted sites in your niche help your site rank much higher in Google’s algorithm.

The site I promoted

Due to the agreement I signed with OutReachFrog, I am unable to disclose which site I was working with to get links built, but it was in the self-help and personal finance niche.

As I previously mentioned, I was looking to take this site, which had been around for quite a while and had fantastic on-site content and optimization, to the next level. Getting links would give it more credibility both amongst those who were interested in the niche, and within search engine algorithms.

So, what did I get

Link 1

After my first post when live, the 500-word post to a site with a domain authority of 20, the site’s monthly organic traffic immediately jumped. According to Ahrefs, the site that was getting around 260 monthly visitors jumped up to around 450.

Link 2

Though I paid for a link with a domain authority of about 30, OutReachFrog was actually able to find me a site that had a DA of 45 for the price that I paid! That was fantastic news as I was able get a huge boost with it came to my own site’s organic traffic. It jumped from the previous 450 (thanks to the first article that OutReachFrog had published) all the way up to 835!

On top of that, I also found that I was beginning to see improvement in major keywords within my niche as well as improvement with some long-tail keywords that I was looking to get on the first page of Google for.

When it comes to ranking for major and valuable keywords, it can be quite difficult to improve your rankings in a short period of time. In fact, it can take months or even years to do so. Because of this, OutReachFrog encouraged me to instead try to rank for long-tail keywords. It was one of the best bits of advice that I had gotten in a long time.

The reason why is because long-tail keywords are much easier to rank for. While they are searched far less often than the high search volume links, it is far more likely that those who search for the long-tail keyword will be able to find your site.

Link 3

This was the most expensive link by far, and as a matter of fact it actually went on the site that seemed the most jumbled amongst the three.

This did not hurt my site, but it did not help my site as much as I had hoped. My organic traffic did jump, but it was not quite as impressive as the second link. That being said, it can become harder to gain organic traffic through link building alone. It is also the responsibility of the site that I was working with to continue to create high-quality content on their own site.

That will help maximize the value of the link-building strategy.

So, do the links work

When I purchase links, I realize that there are risks involved. There are always risks involved in the world of SEO – even when you are not purchasing links at all.

All three links were pointed towards the site’s homepage, I also used the name of the site to be as safe as possible.

In the first few months, DA did not improve by all that much even though organic traffic had seen a jump. But after that, I did start to see some of the more valuable keywords that I was hoping to rank for rise. They weren’t anywhere near to the front page of Google, but they were getting there.

On top of that, I also actually found several more sites linking to my site organically. It is hard to know whether or not this was a direct result of the work that OutReachFrog did, but it certainly did not hurt.

I was also seeing steady, if not slowed, increase in organic traffic.

The final results certainly were not mind blowing. That being said, I did not expect them to be. Link building is not a cure all for a site that is struggling to increase domain authority. It is simply one link in a very complex and important chain.

That brings me to my final question.

Would I buy them again?

Yes!

For internal pages which can be harder to pick up links I would be happy with some of OutReachFrog’s DA 20 and DA 30 links if they were all of the same quality.

The price jump to DA 40 links was difficult to swallow, especially after I found that the results were not exactly what I expected.

Still, If you or your client is looking to get links to their site fast in order to build short-term organic traffic – which can certainly lead to long-term and sustained organic traffic – working with OutReachFrog is well-worth your time.

Good luck!