Link building for trades & local
12 methods, hard rules, no spam
Most outreach fails because it ignores three things: the target’s actual situation, the legal rules around emailing UK businesses, and the fact that link acquisition only works long-term if every opportunity is treated individually on quality.
Per the plan, the engine has 12 specific discovery methods and six non-negotiable governance rules written down so I can audit them anytime.
The numbers
12
discovery methods
6
non-negotiable governance rules
2
max contacts per opportunity
24hr
my response SLA on drafts
The 12 discovery methods
Three automated. Nine manual-research. Same governance.
Competitor backlink gap
Find every site that links to your competitors but not to you. Often the easiest wins.
Trade-body directories
Gas Safe, NICEIC, NHBC, Checkatrade and 20+ more — wherever your certifications apply.
Manufacturer dealer pages
Worcester Bosch, Vaillant, Glow-worm and 15+ brand installer-locator programmes.
Resource / “best of” pages
Existing list pages already ranking for your niche terms.
Broken-link reclamation
Find dead links on relevant pages and offer your page as the replacement.
Unlinked brand mentions
Articles that name you but don’t link — a polite ask for the existing text to link.
Local sponsorships
Local teams, charities, events with sponsor/partner pages.
Digital PR (original data)
A small original-data survey that press wants to cite.
Journalist request platforms
ResponseSource, Featured, Qwoted — editorially earned links.
Supplier testimonial pages
Tools and suppliers you already trust have testimonial pages linking back.
Partner cross-links
Genuinely non-competing same-city partners with “recommended trades” pages.
Niche listicles
Existing roundup articles (“best [trade] in [city]”) where pitching inclusion is reasonable.
Why most link-building fails
Six honest failure modes
The shape of bad outreach is suspiciously consistent:
- Mass personalisation that’s obviously automated
- Pitching a link in exchange for nothing
- Quoting stats that aren’t true about the target
- Following up an already-rejected outreach
- Emailing a sole trader (PECR exposure)
- Sending to a generic “info@” without checking if a relevant person exists
Every one has a corresponding rule in how the engine behaves. None of them is acceptable; the engine logs every attempt so you can audit.
The governance rules
Non-negotiable, written down
- Hard cap: max 2 contacts per opportunity (initial + one follow-up). No indefinite chasing.
- Permanent opt-out: if a target asks not to be contacted, they’re blocked from all future discovery, ever. This is a hard rule, not a soft preference.
- Dedup at the database level: the same target domain is one record, even when surfaced by multiple discovery methods. We never fire separate outreach at the same site for what’s effectively the same ask.
- Cooldown: 6-12 months before approaching a non-responder or decline with a similar opportunity.
- PECR compliance: prospect’s entity type is the gate. LTD companies: email OK. Sole traders / partnerships / unknown: letter or phone only, never email/SMS.
- My approval gate: every outreach draft requires your explicit approval before sending. I never auto-send on your behalf.
Link building FAQ
Honest answers
Link building is the structured work of finding, qualifying, contacting, and acquiring relevant links — with governance and a human approval gate. “Just getting links” is what happens when agencies blast low-quality directories or buy link packages; both strategies produce spam signals that Google penalises.
Cap 2 (initial + one follow-up) is the respectful default. Indefinite chasing produces ignored outreach, brand damage, and PECR exposure. 6-12 months is the minimum cooldown before approaching a non-responder again, and a permanent opt-out sets a hard “never contact this domain again” rule.
I write each outreach draft from the specific opportunity (target site, opportunity type, what they publish, why a link to you makes editorial sense). I review every draft before it goes out. Nothing auto-sends.
No. Paid links violate Google’s spam policies and produce ranking instability when Google catches them. The work is editorial — genuine pitch for genuine relevance.
Every opportunity sits in a queue at /dashboard/admin/link-building. I review the relevance score, the discovery method, and the recommended channel. Then I draft the outreach; you edit and approve. Acquired backlinks show up on the client’s Backlinks panel with a “from outreach” badge.
Proactive backlink acquisition is a Growth-tier deliverable.
Want to talk about what your backlink profile could look like in 6 months? Get a free audit and we’ll score your business on the 20-point checklist that drives the work.
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