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Links That Rank
Testimonial link building is a great way to score authoritative links from the homepages of your favorite products and services.
You probably already have all of the tools you need to start using this method.
With a bit of time and some elbow grease, you can win these links easily.
So I am going to show you how, step by step-
What Will I Learn?
What Is Testimonial Link Building?
Testimonial link building is the process of getting your positive comments about a product or service, featured on the provider’s website.
At its essence, the testimonial link building technique is about providing a lot of value to the owner in exchange for a link from their site.
This Is How It Works
I recently created a video testimonial for MyThemeShop.
I’m incredibly happy with the service they provided when creating my Authority theme, and I wanted to share my thoughts about it.
I pitched them and asked if they’d like a testimonial from me.
They wanted one. And now it’s featured on their homepage:
The link beneath the video is active and users can click through to my website from it.
Not only that:
But this is a DR90 homepage dofollow link-
It’s free advertising for them, and a great way to build my brand and build a link to my site.
I’ve done this in numerous other places, too. Like this written testimonial as part of my Surfer SEO review–
That resulted in a DR61 homepage dofolliow link-
As you can see:
It’s a simple, effective and great for link building and generating authority for your brand.
All you have to do is identify products and services in your industry that match up to what you offer, pitch them and then create a testimonial.
I highly suggest you only do this for products/services you actually love and use!
With that said, I am going to show you how to build testimonial links step by step.
PRO TIP: Before starting any link building campaign, it’s best to determine how many backlinks you need to rank.
How To Build Testimonial Links
Building testimonial links really boils down to a simple 5 step process that anyone can follow-
- Create a target list of products/services
- Find the contact information for each of them
- Send an email pitching your testimonial offer
- Write the testimonial itself
- Bonus step – back it up with video
That really is all there is to it and you can do this in just about every niche you can think of.
Step #1: Create A Target List Of Products And Services
The first step in this process is to identify a list of target products and services you could provide testimonials for.
Your ideal target will:
- Be relevant to your website
- Provide a solution for your readers
- Have a medium-to-high-traffic website (or sales page)
- Be a product or service you actually use (like these link building packages)
This will ensure the links are more valuable in the eyes of Google, and ensure the traffic you get through the link is a good fit for your website.
If your an Amazon affiliate – you might want to make a list of the products you are recommending across your site.
But a safe bet here is to start with the tools you use regularly. This can offer great insight into where you can leave your first testimonials.
Another way to do it is to look through the resource pages of bloggers/influencers in your niche-
Finally, you can look at people in your network who are creating or launching products.
They often need testimonials to help the sales of their product and you could help them.
Regardless of how you collect your products, you need to add them into a spreadsheet:
Click Here To Make A Copy of My Sheet
Step #2: Find The Person To Contact
I like to use FindThatLead to find contact details quickly and easily.
The free account will give you 50 free credits a month which should be more than enough to get your started.
Just enter the domain you want to find the contact details for-
Or if you want to be super speedy – you can install their Google Chrome extension-
Any email address that are marketed with a tick or “correct” are verified emails that will respond.
If you run out of credits with FindThatLead, you can also use the free trials of-
To keep looking for emails without spending any money. Or you can also follow my email address lookup guide!
Step #3: Pitch Them On Your Testimonial
This is an important step lots of people miss.
Don’t create your testimonial up front and send it to them.
Instead, pitch them on the idea of having your testimonial on their site. This can save you a lot of time and effort and wasted work.
Your email can be simple and set you to add a lot of value.
Here’s a script you could use-
“Hey [Name],
My name’s [your name] and I’m the owner of [your website]. I’ve been using [their product] for the last few [weeks/months] and it’s helped me achieve some great results!
I especially like [specific feature] that has helped me get [desired outcome], it’s amazing how simple and effective it was.
I was wondering if you’d like me to put together a testimonial for the product?
I’d be more than happy to put something together you could feature on your site (maybe even a video if that’d be more helpful). More people need to know about [their product] and I’d love to help you convert even more people into customers 🙂
Have a great day,
[Your name]”
Step #4: Write Your Testimonial
There’s an art to crafting a good testimonial for a website.
You’re here to help them sell new customers on their service. So your job is to identify a problem and explain how this service solved it for you.
Take a look at my testimonial over at FixMySite.com:
I mentioned the problem that other users might have. I positioned their service as the solution to that problem.
I also used some emotional words like:
- “professional”
- “responsible”
…that can soothe the worries of a potential buyer.
But its important to state that the testimonial you provide does need to be honest and truthful. If the service genuinely sucked, don’t pitch a testimonial!
Step #5: Go The Extra Mile With Video
If you want to add extra value to someone and increase your chances of having your testimonials accepted, you could explore the video route.
Video testimonials add an insane amount of value to the site owner AND customer.
Here’s an example of a video I created for AlphaInvestors:
Or…
Check out our latest and greatest case studies.
Wrapping This Up…
Testimonial link building is a great way to build relationships and free backlinks.
By finding products that a relevant to your website and audience you can get high-value links back to your site that are meaningful in the eyes of Google.
You can do this by:
- Identifying products in your niche
- Creating a list of them
- Gathering their contact information
- Pitching them on your testimonial
- Writing a value adding testimonial
- [Bonus] Creating a video testimonial
Note: You can not use testimonial link building to get edu backlinks or gov backlinks.
Now it’s time to take a look at another type of link building, crowd funding link building.
This is a seriously underrated link building strategy but it’s just as easy to execute as this one!
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What Are Your Thoughts?
102 Responses
Perfect tips, thanks for sharing
No problem!
Thank you for a great article. It’s super nice and complete and helpful.
No worries- Glad you found it helpful!
Really nice and useful info. Plus, I think the style and design of your site is great.
Thank you very much!
Sharing a testimonial is one of the best ways to show off your services to new prospects. That’s why Yelp has built such a solid business by letting people know how others feel about their services. An online service might not enjoy the same level of brand awareness, but testimonials and reviews are still an important way for prospective customers to gain insights into what you offer, and whether or not you’re a good fit for their needs.
Couldn’t agree more! Well-said, Ivan!
This is a great tutorial! Thanks for the easy walk through. I am excited to see the results I get from doing this!
I would be happy to hear about the results, Zach!
SHOW DE BOLA MEU BROTHER. ESPETACULAR O CONTEÚDO.MUITO OBRIGADO.UM GRANDE ABRAÇO.
Obrigado, Guilherme!
Thanks for sharing this very informative post about link building.. This is so interesting to know. I really love reading your stuff being posted here.
Thank you, cheers!
No problem, Malcolm!
Brilliant! Many thanks for taking the time to explain, I appreciate it.
Hey Malcolm, This is what I do: 1. Create a list of targets2. Find The Right Person To Pitch To3. Send Your Testimonial Pitch. This is where you: – Introduce yourself- Tell them how their tool has helped you- Include specific results- Ask them if you can put together a testimonial…in exchange for a backlink.Don’t worry; they perfectly know why you are contacting them. But it’s a win-win situation. They are happy because they get a personalized testimonial to show on their site, and… you are happy because you get a backlink. But the most important is to keep your pitch: direct, short and friendly. The worse that can happen it that they say no… that’s it, so don’t worry too much. Then you can write and send your testimonial over so it gets published.But if you don’t like the idea of ‘asking’ for a backlink, you can only target sites that have ‘testimonial submission forms’ like mine. All you have to do is complete the forms with your data such as name, email, website name, website URL (and so on), and if your testimonial is good enough, it will get published with your link.
Sorry Matthew, I checked out your link but it seems to replicate the info in this post. And, indeed, links to this post for the ‘full testimonial link building tutorial.’ So I can, like a dog chasing its tail, go round and round. The point is, if you offer to write a testimonial for someone and they gratefully accept, then at some point you are going to have to ask for a link back and this strikes me as a bit tricky because it suddenly becomes obvious that your offer had an ulterior motive. I think explaining how you handle that aspect is rather important and would like to know how you do it. Thanks.
Thanks
Hey Matthew, great idea – so simple and foolproof! One question, though, you don’t mention the ‘tricky’ bit of asking for a link back in return. How do you handle that?
Hey Malcolm! Just read this https://searchlogistics.com/seo/link-building/strategies/#1_Leverage_Testimonials_In_Your_Niche you’ll find your answer 🙂
Brilliant! Thanks Matthew for the free tips. This technique sound great. Will implement starting today!
Way to go Steve! Good luck 🙂
Thanks for sharing this helpful article
No problem! Cheers!
Very good information Pure genius, I cannot believe I have never thought of this. Thanks for such a thorough complete guide
You’re welcome! Hope you’ll apply what you learned!
Nicely explained, definitely, I will try this method to build backlinks.I have a question, a brand like yours will surely get a backlink but what about others?
Everyone can get backlinks- no matters the size of your company or brand- the thing is to know ‘how. Here are a few more link building strategies that you can implement- https://searchlogistics.com/seo/link-building/strategies/
Very informative and useful piece of article
Thank you! I really appreciate it 🙂
This is a great technique, since creating a list of providers to my website & products we use, I cannot believe how many are on our list now ready to start implementing. Once you dig deep there are Sooo many….Thanks For Sharing Mathew.
No problem, Sean! Let me know how it goes!
Wow! That’s awesome.I like the strategy very much and starting to create a list of the products I use. No doubt, that it will boost my site’s ranking too by getting high-quality links.Thank you, Matthew.
No worries! Let me know how it goes!
Hello sir Great Article.Sir i want to know that in every image there is a border how you add theme menially or by css. Please replyand which tool you are using for taking screenshots and by which tool you making images
Hey Niraj! We add the border by css. I take my screenshots with Skitch. It’s a great tool, I highly recommend it!
This is one of the best and easy methods. I have seen. I have tried this method and it’s working like a charm for me.
Glad to hear that! Keep it up!
Very nice article keep it up our best wishes with you
Thank you!
Your selection of content is very good and also well written. Thanks for sharing. I feel like all your ideas are incredible! Great job!!!Nice and excellent article ever .keep it up bro
Thank you for reading!
Very nice article keep it up
Thank you Shahid!
Nice Post
Thank you, Jasu!
Article has been written very nicely.Thanks and keep posting more
Thanks! Don’t worry, I will!
This is article very nice thank you so much for sharing this amazing article
No problem! Hope it has helped!
very good post easy to understand i like it
Great, thanks, Touseeque!
Very Nice Post
Cheers!
Excellent! Very Very helpful. I think this one is the way to go in building backlinks!
Yep! Try it and tell me how it works for you!
It is certainly one method you should be using. I like websiteGood information
Great content thanks for this you are try to do some best of peoples I will share this content with my friends once again thank you so much
Always happy to share my tips and strategies with my readers!
Really great info here. Definitely would have never thought about your testimonial link method. I’m one of your subscribers and always get great stuff from you. Thanks for sharing as this could really help me out.
Hey Manoj! Makes me happy to know that you learned something from me!
Excellent article.
Thanks, Patel!
Thanks for this wonderful article. Its really helpful.
Thanks for reading!
Such a wonderful article! Very informative and helpful. Best technique 🙂
Thanks Muhammad!
Great article thank you, but what if the site owner uses your testimonial but doesn’t include a link? I noticed you don’t ask for one specifically.
Then just circle back to them and request the link.
The only newsletter that I am interested about.Thanks for the wonderful suggestion. I am going to try it for sure.
Cheers Samar!
Yes, some powerful links just waiting to be built!
Yep they certainly are 🙂
Hello!Thanks for the post, but I disagree with the method.This is almost the same as broken link replacement technique. This wont work in 99.9% of the cases. Also, you need to be a high authority person or brand or no one will care about your testimonial.Linking from a homepage to another high authority site is not the same as linking to an unknown site.These “email begging” methods are old and useless, I receive 30 emails like these everyday that I completely ignore.
Hey, all viewpoints are welcome here. Not one size fits all but in my experience, this method has been very successful.
Pure genius, cannot believe I have never thought of this. Thanks for such a thorough guide complete with templates!
No problem Ruti – make sure you tweak the templates to make them your own!
This is so thoughtful and strategic. Will surely give it a try for some juicy homepage backlinks because is purely a win-win game. Thanks for sharing.
Yep a no brainer if you can find the suitable websites to work with.
Hi Matthew, this is a real good technique and I will test with it. Thank you for sharing!
Thanks Peter, let me know how you get on with it.
Always great stuff Matthew!!
Cheers Matthew!
Awesome technique. And get a chance to get links from not any page, but the homepage!
Yep, some powerful links just waiting to be built!
Awesome idea and an easy way to get quality backlinks.Couple of months back I was looking out for reliable hosting for my site.I came across WPXHosting and saw your testimonial which redirected to your Fastest Wordpress Hosting test.I was very convinced and I switched over to WPXHosting immediately.
Thanks for the feedback Akash.
Hey Matthew, Really great info here. Definitely would have never thought about your testimonial link method. I’m one of your subscribers and always get great stuff from you. Thanks for sharing as this could really help me out.Thanks again.Jay
Great news Jay – thanks for subscribing! There’s plenty more like this hitting your inbox in the coming weeks/months
Excellent article. Just shows the different approaches that can be used to help with link building.
Focusing on these kinda links is often more powerful than building a bunch of low authority backlinks.
Wow. Very helpful. I think this is the way to go in building backlinks!
It is certainly one method you should be using where possible!