How to Scale Link Building Services for Agencies

As an SEO specialist, I know how critical link building is to driving organic traffic and improving search rankings. But with so many demands on your time, finding ways to streamline the link-building process is essential — whether you’re running an SEO marketing agency or a link-building service.

In this post, I’ll share my insights on how a tool like BrandWell can help lighten your load, making link-building more efficient and scalable. You will also learn the pros and cons of outsourcing vs. maintaining an in-house team — plus an introduction to BrandWell’s link-building services that can give your agency an edge.

Table Of Contents:

• What Makes Link-Building So Challenging for an Agency?
• BrandWell: Scaling Your Link Building Services Has Never Been This Easy
• Link Building Services for Agencies: In-House vs. Outsource
• Should You DIY or Call for Backup?
• Combine Efficiency, Quality, and Scalability With BrandWell

What Makes Link-Building So Challenging for an Agency?

Link building is a crucial aspect of your SEO services, but it can be a time-consuming process especially if you have limited resources.

If you’re a small- to medium-sized agency or a startup, you’re probably struggling with link-building because:

1. It is Time-Intensive

Link building requires a lot of time and effort — between finding the right sites, doing outreach, creating content, and following up, the entire process can be incredibly slow. For agencies managing multiple clients, dedicating enough time to this task without sacrificing quality can be overwhelming.

2. It is Difficult to Scale

As agencies grow and take on more clients, scaling link-building efforts becomes difficult. Link building often requires manual processes, and adding new clients means expanding the workload. Many agencies struggle to keep up with growing demands while maintaining high standards for link quality.

3. It’s Hard to Balance Quality and Quantity

Quality control is one of the biggest challenges in link building. Not all links are created equal, and earning high-authority, relevant backlinks takes skill. Agencies often find it hard to balance the number of links needed with ensuring each link is valuable and follows SEO best practices.

4. Client Expectations Are Too High

Clients often have high expectations when it comes to SEO results, but link-building doesn’t always yield immediate wins. Educating clients on the long-term benefits and time investment required for link building can be tricky, especially when clients want quick results.

5. Outreach is Not Easy

Building relationships with authoritative websites for guest posts, content collaboration, or backlinks is tough. Outreach involves personalized messaging and follow-ups, and success rates can be low. For agencies, managing outreach at scale while staying authentic often proves difficult.

6. There’s a High Risk of Penalties

Link-building strategies that violate Google’s guidelines can lead to penalties, which may harm a website’s rankings. Agencies must always be on the lookout for outdated or unethical practices such as using low-quality, spammy links or engaging with link farms — which can result in penalization.

You can read Google’s anti-spam policies here.

7. Content Creation Takes So Much Effort (and Skill)

Agencies frequently need to produce high-quality content to support link building, such as guest posts, infographics, or valuable resources. Creating unique content at scale can be difficult, especially when catering to diverse industries and maintaining quality across all platforms.

8. Authoritative Backlinks Are Rare

It’s not enough to get backlinks — you need to earn them from relevant, authoritative websites. For agencies working with niche industries or local businesses, finding suitable link-building opportunities that align with their clients’ audiences can be a challenge.

9. Search Engine Algorithms Keep Changing

Search engine algorithms evolve constantly, and agencies must stay up-to-date on the latest changes that affect link building. What worked well last year might not be effective today, and agencies face pressure to adapt their strategies without compromising results.

10. It Can Be Expensive

Building and maintaining an in-house link-building team can be expensive. Agencies may face high labor costs for specialists or content creators, and if they choose to outsource, they may encounter unpredictable costs while still being accountable for the quality of the work delivered.

These pain points can make link-building a complex and resource-draining process. But what if I told you there is an easier way to build links without adding manpower or hiring outside help?

The answer is BrandWell — an all-in-one growth engine designed for serious marketers, agencies, and publishers who want to build real authority, trust, and revenue on the internet.

BrandWell: Scaling Your Link Building Services Has Never Been This Easy

When it comes to link building, having the right strategy in place is key to boosting your SEO and improving search rankings.

If your current strategy isn’t working, read our guide on Smart Link Building Strategies for Top SEO Results.

Whether you’re an SEO agency looking to support your link-building efforts, or a link-building company trying to scale, BrandWell is the perfect solution for you.

Let me show you how BrandWell can beef up every aspect of your link-building strategy, starting with writing guest posts.

1. Guest Posting

Guest posting involves writing articles for other websites in exchange for a backlink. It’s a win-win: you provide valuable content, and in return, you get a high-quality link from a relevant site. But writing engaging content can be time-consuming.

How BrandWell can help: BrandWell can suggest relevant topic ideas, do deep research about your niche, write an engaging and informative long-form blog post, and even personalize that content for the specific audience of the website you’re posting on. This saves you hours and hours of research and writing while still ensuring the content is relevant, high-quality, and gets the publisher’s approval.

Take a look at this guest post draft that I asked BrandWell to write:

The title, the headers, and even the links to external sources are all auto-generated. Just a few tweaks and it’s ready for submission!

Not sure where to submit your guest post? Read our guide on the Best Guest Post Platforms. 

2. Broken Link Building

This strategy involves finding broken (or dead) links on websites and offering your content as a replacement. It’s a great approach since you’re helping webmasters fix their content while also securing a backlink for your site.

How BrandWell can help: While BrandWell can’t find broken links on its own (not yet at least), once you’ve identified them, it can quickly create content that fits the original topic. If the broken link was referencing a blog post or article, our RankWell long-form writer can generate something similar (and potentially even better), which makes your outreach more persuasive.

💡Pro tip: You can generate a long-form article with RankWell in six ways:

All you have to do is enter a keyword or a live URL and RankWell will write a fresh article on the same topic in less than 5 minutes.

3. Creating Shareable Content (Articles, Infographics, Videos, etc.)

Creating shareable, high-quality content is a great way to naturally attract backlinks. Whether it’s blog posts, infographics, or videos, producing content that other sites want to link to is a powerful link-building tactic.

How BrandWell can help: Although BrandWell cannot yet generate images or videos, it can help you come up with content ideas based on current trends or keywords. Our WriteWell suite has a dedicated chatbot, AIMEE, and 40+ AI Agents that can help you write prompts or scripts that you can use with text-to-image or text-to-video generators. This helps you churn out high-value content more efficiently, increasing the chances that other sites will link to it.

4. Resource Pages

Many websites host resource pages with links to helpful articles or tools. If you have valuable content or a useful tool, reaching out to be included on these pages is a great way to gain backlinks.

How BrandWell can help: AIMEE or one of our email AI Agents can help you write personalized outreach emails, making it easier to pitch your content as a valuable resource.

You can also use BrandWell to tweak your content to fit the specific needs or focus of the resource page you’re targeting.

5. Skyscraper Technique

This strategy involves finding high-ranking content in your niche, creating something even better, and reaching out to the websites that link to the original content. Essentially, you’re building a taller “skyscraper” to attract better links.

How BrandWell can help: Once you’ve identified a potential content to “beat,” BrandWell can help you rewrite and improve the existing material. It can enhance readability, suggest data or examples, and ensure your content is more comprehensive than what’s currently out there. This makes your version more appealing for those looking to update their links.

6. Reclaiming Links

Link reclamation involves finding mentions of your brand or content that don’t include a link and asking the webmaster to add one. It’s one of the easiest ways to build links because the hard part — getting mentioned — is already done!

How BrandWell can help: As I said earlier, you can use WriteWell to craft personalized, polite outreach emails. This time you’ll be requesting that the webmaster add a link to the mention of your brand. It’s a simple yet effective way to secure additional backlinks with minimal effort.

Here’s an example of an outreach email that AIMEE wrote:

7. Building Relationships

Networking with bloggers, journalists, and influencers in your industry is a long-term strategy for gaining natural backlinks. The more people in your industry you connect with, the more likely they’ll link to your content over time.

How BrandWell can help: Again, you can use AIMEE or our Email Sequence Writer AI agent to create personalized email campaigns or generate social media posts to nurture these relationships. Whether it’s follow-ups, thank-yous, or sharing relevant industry news, BrandWell can help automate parts of the relationship-building process to keep you top of mind.

Want a real example of how BrandWell helps with link-building? Check out this case study on How Top UK Link Building Agency Rhino Rank Generated $14k in Revenue in Just 4 Months with BrandWell.

Bonus: Get Free Backlinks from BrandWell’s Brand Publisher Network

This fall, BrandWell is introducing a link co-op called Brand Publisher Network (BPN) which allows you to automatically build links for your client’s websites.

How does it work?

First, you’ll have to create a new project (your client’s website) on the BrandWell dashboard.

Fill out the fields for brand/company name, domain, and target audience then select a region and language. All of this information gets fed into the AI when it’s creating content.

Every time you create a project, you’re opted into the Brand Publisher Network by default.

As part of the BPN, you’ll get automatic links to your content and your content will have links to other relevant brands — helping you grow your natural backlink profile and build up domain authority quickly. BrandWell will crawl your entire site, run audits on every page, and create a knowledge graph based on what your site is all about. Your website will then be added to BrandWell’s collective brand graph, allowing you to earn ONLY high-quality, relevant links from real brands.

You also have the option to use BrandWell exclusively to create guest posts. To do this, just toggle the button that says “This project is for guest posts only.” This won’t count against your project limit — you basically get this feature for free!

If you’re a link-building agency and don’t really care about site audits, brand graphs, or getting links from related content, then this feature is perfect for you. Create as many guest posts as you want, organize them in folders, and export them to your preferred document format.

Generate research-backed articles that actually build authority and traffic, and earn relevant links from real brands on autopilot in our Brand Publisher Network!

To learn more about BrandWell’s Brand Publisher Network, watch this video:

By incorporating BrandWell into your link-building strategy, you can streamline time-consuming tasks like content creation, outreach, and personalization. While AI won’t replace human relationships or creative thinking, it can be a powerful support tool for optimizing and scaling your link-building efforts faster.

Link Building Services for Agencies: In-House vs. Outsource

One of the toughest decisions an agency has to make is whether to assign link-building in-house or outsource it to a third party.

Take Full Control of Your Entire Strategy

Managing your link-building efforts in-house offers more control since you have direct involvement with client campaigns. This can be especially beneficial if your agency specializes in a specific niche.

A Few Pros of Keeping It In-House

• Direct Control: With in-house link-building, you have direct oversight of the entire link-building process. You can tailor your strategy to align with your agency’s goals, adjust campaigns on the fly, and ensure that only ethical, white-hat link-building techniques are used.
• Better Link Quality: You have complete control over the quality of the links being built. By personally vetting the sites being targeted and ensuring they are high-authority and relevant, you can reduce the risk of receiving low-quality, spammy links.
• Closer Alignment with Brand: No one knows your client’s needs better than your team. They are deeply familiar with your brand’s voice, values, and target audience. This allows for more tailored outreach, ensuring that the websites you collaborate with reflect your brand’s identity and resonate with your audience.
• Niche Expertise: Deep industry knowledge also allows you to identify the most valuable link opportunities.
• Seamless Integration: In-house link-building services easily intertwine with other marketing efforts, maximizing impact. Think of it as a well-oiled machine.
• Data Security: Keeping link building in-house reduces the risk of sensitive client data being exposed to external third parties. This is especially important for agencies working in industries with strict data protection regulations.

Why You Should Think Twice Before Doing It Yourself

• Time-Consuming: Effective link building requires consistent outreach, relationship management, content creation, and follow-up, which can be extremely time-consuming. This can place a heavy burden on your team, potentially distracting them from other important tasks.
• Resource Intensive: Building a dedicated in-house team demands significant investment – salaries, benefits, tools, and ongoing education to keep up with SEO trends. Are you prepared for that?
• Inability to Scale: Depending on the size of your team, there may be resource limitations that hinder your ability to execute large-scale link-building campaigns or handle multiple clients simultaneously. If workloads spike, your in-house team may struggle to meet demand.
• Limited Expertise: In-house teams may not have the same depth of experience or industry connections as specialized third-party providers. Building a skilled, well-rounded link-building team takes time, and your staff may lack access to the networks that can accelerate link-building efforts.
• Keeping Up: The SEO landscape changes rapidly. If you’re a single-person agency, you might not have the time (or patience) to stay on top of Google’s algorithm updates and best practices.
• Lack of Specialized Tools and Software: Link-building agencies often invest in high-end tools and software that may be cost-prohibitive for an in-house team. These tools can provide insights into link prospects, outreach opportunities, and performance tracking that an in-house team might lack.

The Allure of Outsourcing: Scale and Specialization

Sometimes, even the most skilled agency needs assistance with SEO. This is where link-building services for agencies come in. Partnering with a specialized link-building expert equipped with the knowledge, skills, and connections can be especially enticing for agencies grappling with multiple campaigns, tight deadlines, or fluctuating resources.

Some Upsides of Outsourcing Link Building

• Time-Saving: As I mentioned earlier, link-building involves a long process of outreach, negotiation, and follow-up. By outsourcing, your in-house team can focus on other core activities such as content creation, technical SEO, and client management, while the external team handles the legwork.
• Scale Your Operations: Third-party providers can often handle larger volumes of work than an internal team, allowing you to scale your efforts quickly. If you’re taking on more clients or need to ramp up a campaign, outsourcing gives you the flexibility to adjust your workload.
• Specialized Expertise: Outsourcing allows you to tap into the skills and experience of specialists who focus exclusively on link building. They often have deep knowledge of best practices, established relationships with high-quality websites, and proven strategies for securing valuable links. This specialized knowledge can be a game-changer for any search engine optimization campaign.
• Access to Networks and Relationships: Established link-building agencies often have existing connections with webmasters, bloggers, and media outlets. These relationships can make it easier to secure high-quality links that might otherwise be difficult to obtain.
• Cost Efficiency: While hiring an in-house team can be expensive due to salaries, benefits, and ongoing training, outsourcing allows you to pay for services as needed. This can be more cost-effective, especially for smaller agencies or those with fluctuating workloads.
• Focus on Results: Outsourcing partners are usually results-driven, with clear goals and KPIs in mind. This can lead to a more structured and targeted approach to link building, helping you achieve faster outcomes.
• Reduced Risk of Penalties: Reputable link-building agencies stay updated on search engine algorithms and guidelines, reducing the risk of using outdated or harmful tactics that could result in penalties.
• Global Reach: Many link-building agencies have experience working across different industries and geographic regions. If your clients target international markets, outsourcing can help you secure diverse, relevant backlinks in multiple regions.

But What About The Potential Downsides?

• Finding the Perfect Partner: Finding a reputable link-building agency aligned with your values, work ethic, and budget takes time and effort. I suggest checking platforms like Clutch, G2, Trustpilot, and Google Reviews. These are often treasure troves of honest reviews.
• Loss of Control Over Quality: When outsourcing, you have less direct oversight over the quality and methods used to build links. Not all third-party providers prioritize high-quality, relevant links. Some agencies may cut corners or use black-hat techniques and deliver spammy or low-authority links, which can harm your website’s reputation and rankings.
• Communication Gaps: Outsourcing can sometimes lead to a breakdown in communication. Misunderstandings regarding the strategy, goals, or deliverables could occur, especially if the outsourced team is remote or based in a different time zone.
• Lack of Transparency: Some link-building agencies might not provide full transparency regarding their tactics or the websites they’re targeting for link placements. This can make it hard to track progress or ensure that ethical methods are being used.
• Cost: While outsourcing can be cost-effective in certain situations, premium third-party services can be expensive. You may have less control over how resources are allocated, making it hard to assess whether you’re getting good value for your money.
• Brand Alignment Issues: An external provider may not fully understand your brand’s voice, values, or target audience. This misalignment can result in links from websites that don’t reflect your brand identity, which could harm your credibility.

Should You DIY or Call for Backup?

Before you decide between maintaining a link-building team in-house or partnering with professionals, consider the following key factors:

• Client Needs: Does your client’s industry demand laser-focused niche expertise?
• Budget Considerations: Do you have the resources to assemble, train, and equip an internal team? Or does outsourcing better align with your current budget?
• Expertise: Does your team have experience with link building? If not, there’s a learning curve involved, and mistakes could cost you in terms of SEO performance or even penalties from search engines.
• Scalability: If you’re growing rapidly or taking on multiple clients, your team may struggle to keep up with increasing demand. Link-building agencies are built to handle large volumes of work and adjust their efforts based on your needs, making it easier to grow without adding internal pressure.
• Risk Tolerance: With an in-house team, you can closely monitor compliance with SEO guidelines and ensure ethical link-building practices. While many link-building agencies use white-hat strategies, choosing the wrong partner could harm your rankings.
• Long-Term Strategy vs. Short-Term Needs: If you’re focused on long-term, sustainable link-building efforts and have the resources to invest in a dedicated team, in-house is a solid choice. For short-term projects, seasonal campaigns, or if you’re testing the waters with link building, outsourcing provides flexibility without the commitment of building an internal team.

When deciding whether to DIY or outsource link building, choose a path that best serves your clients. The right choice will depend on the balance of resources, expertise, and control you want over the process.

Combine Efficiency, Quality, and Scalability With BrandWell

Link building is essential for SEO success, but it’s no secret that it can be a time-consuming process for agencies. Whether you decide to manage link building in-house or outsource to a third party, automation can be a game-changer, making your efforts more efficient and scalable.

BrandWell has built everything you need for website content growth in a single platform. What your team of SEO experts, writers, and content strategists used to do can now run on autopilot.

With BrandWell, you can speed up outreach, craft personalized content in less time, and build high-quality links that deliver real value – all from one dashboard.

If you’re looking to simplify your link-building without sacrificing results, it’s time to give BrandWell a try and see how it can help you work smarter, not harder!