How AI and Machine Learning Can Supercharge Your Link-Building Process and Boost Your SEO

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

If there’s one piece of advice I would give to new search engine optimization (SEO) specialists and business owners investing in SEO, it is the following: do not underestimate the power of link building for your website. Having spent many years building links and optimizing websites, this is perhaps the most crucial lesson that I’ve learned.

But those in the know also realize what an arduous and time-consuming process link building is. This is why incorporating artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) tools into your processes can speed things up. As such, they should not be overlooked in the increasingly competitive space for search engine rankings.

Below, that’s exactly what I’ll cover to give you a breakdown of the essentials you should master as you speed up your processes to faster and more powerful link building.

Understanding AI and machine learning in link building

Link building, when done the right way through white-hat link-building strategies, is one of the best ways for your website to get better rankings, more traffic, higher conversions, more sales, better credibility and a range of other benefits, which I’ll go into more depth below.

In short, when your site links to and gets links from other high domain ranking (DR) sites, it becomes more “powerful” in a sense and also more authoritative. Through the exchange of this so-called “link juice” between your site and other authoritative sites, you can enjoy a great many business advantages.

Now, this process can be streamlined by incorporating AI in your link-building efforts. Let’s explore this in more detail below.

The role of AI in SEO and link building

Those who are in the game already know that link building, until very recently, was a process that entailed long hard hours spent in front of your PC.

Typically, link-building specialists had the unenviable task of searching for authoritative sites, studying the competition, looking for appropriate keywords, fixing broken links, doing roundups, sending cold outreach emails and follow-ups, commissioning the writing of guest articles, writing strong pitches for Help a Reporter Out (HARO), creating skyscraper content, designing infographics, publishing their own research and gathering data for publication, and the list goes on.

However, with the advent of AI tools, SEO and link building, which are inextricably linked, have become a streamlined process that can save you a lot of valuable time and resources through the automation of many of the tasks mentioned above. And with ML, algorithms get smarter and yield even better results for us. Therefore, it’s definitely worth considering incorporating AI in your link-building strategies.

Benefits of incorporating AI in link-building strategies

Still not convinced? Here are just a few of the reasons to use AI in link building:

Improved efficiency and automation
Quick and better analysis of large amounts of data and insights
Automated outreach tasks
Improved link quality and relevance
Increased scalability, identifying and securing more links faster
Personalization of user experiences

Implementing AI and machine learning in link building

Ready to implement AI and ML in link building? The answer lies in utilizing and understanding what the right AI-powered tools and software out there are.

Here are just a few of the tools that I’d like to emphasize as you get started on the road to streamlined link-building processes.

ChatGPT:

I generate ideas for pitching websites by using ChatGPT with the WebPilot plugin. This combination allows ChatGPT to crawl a website and suggest relevant topics. For example, if I want to publish a guest post on a specific website, I ask for 10 unique and engaging titles.

You can also specify the topic for more tailored suggestions. Here is my prompt: “Suggest 10 catchy topics for [target website] that have not been covered yet. They must be SEO-related only.”

Perplexity AI:

After a topic is selected by the editors, I use Perplexity AI to pitch them an outline with the following prompt: “Suggest a detailed outline for an article I’d like to publish as a guest contributor on [website name] about ‘topic.'” This forms the basis of my outline. Based on my experience, and the best articles on the topic, I can create an outstanding outline in 5-10 minutes.

SEMrush:

The SEMrush AI Writing Assistant can also help with my SEO and link-building efforts. Through its 75 tools, I really have my pick when it comes to content options. Entering prompts is easy, and the content I need can be generated in mere minutes.

Some of its more impressive features relevant to my link-building efforts include: adding keywords, generating multiple ideas from one prompt, choosing creativity levels, adjusting the tone of voice, and many others.

PitchBox:

The PitchBox AI Keyword Assistant helps you generate relevant keywords for your outreach campaigns. You can also find relevant websites for link building. What is more, the AI tool enables me to write better link-building emails through the AI Template Assistant.

There are over 20 outreach prospecting options you can choose from. Among these include: blogger outreach, roundups, skyscraper outreach, product reviews, guest posting, competitor backlinks and a whole lot more.

HARPA AI:

And then there is HARPA AI, which is available as a Chrome extension and enables you to get AI insights on any webpage you may be on. Here, you start by opening a search engine and defining your anchor text and target URL. Type in the site followed by your keyword and then look for relevant articles where your keyword would fit naturally.

Once you’ve identified a relevant article, open it to check for placement opportunities. If the anchor text doesn’t exist in the article but the article is niche-relevant and the keyword can add value, suggest an edit. You can also use HARPA to type: “Suggest a relevant place for my anchor text ‘your keyword’ in this article [[page]].”

Through these AI tools and techniques for link building, I can proudly share that my own website has reaped the rewards. What started out as a DR of 49 quickly rose to 62 within the space of just one month. The reason behind this? Publishing high-quality content that received numerous strong links naturally. What is more, our team saved a lot of time and resources, making our efforts more streamlined for the business while ensuring we optimized our processes.

The future of link building with AI and machine learning

AI and ML in SEO and link building are considered to still be in their infancy. This means we can expect big and bold moves by industry leaders in the near future as algorithms become “smarter” and help us work better and faster. That’s why it’s good to look toward the future and see some of the predicted developments and AI advances we can look forward to.

So, without further ado, here’s what I think we can expect in the future from AI and ML tools in the link-building space:

Continued evolution and improvement of AI and ML technologies
More sophisticated algorithms that analyze even larger amounts of data
Better ability to make more accurate predictions about the effectiveness of backlinks
New link-building tools that can automate and streamline many aspects of the process
Automating keyword research and backlink analysis, resulting in a shift from traditional approaches
Greater reliance on automation and data-driven decision-making, from link acquisition to analysis and optimization

All in all, based on my predictions for the future, I can only add that any effective SEO strategy will continue to depend heavily on link building.

For this reason, it will be essential for businesses and SEO experts to stay current on new developments and ensure they use the right tools to help them boost their efforts in a highly competitive space.

https://www.entrepreneur.com/growing-a-business/how-ai-and-machine-learning-can-transform-your-seo-efforts/469460