Curated Links: What Are They & How to Get Them in 2024

Curated links are a powerful link-building strategy that can boost your website to the top of the search engine results pages.

However, it's important to use this technique with caution or search engines might flag your website.

We have been building links professionally for over 5 years now.

And in this article, I'll share with you what are curated links, their benefits, how to get them, and curated link-building best practices.

Key Takeaways

• Curated links (niche edits or contextual backlinks) inserted into pre-existing content can quickly boost SEO by leveraging current authority, without the need for creating new content.

• Key benefits of curated links include higher search rankings from increased link juice, swift SEO results due to existing content’s credibility, cost-effectiveness, and driving more referral traffic.

• Best practices for acquiring high-quality curated links involve targeting authoritative websites with solid backlink profiles, ensuring relevancy of content, varying anchor text, placing links contextually, and avoiding pages with excessive external links.

Understanding Curated Links in SEO

Curated links, also known as niche edits, link insertions, and contextual backlinks, are links that are strategically inserted into pre-existing, high-authority, and relevant content.

The idea behind this technique is to leverage the authority of established content to enhance your own visibility and search engine rankings.

Benefits of Curated Links

1. More Link Juice & Higher Rankings

Link juice refers to the value or equity passed from one page or site to another through links.

It plays a vital role in improving your website’s visibility and ranking on search engine results pages (SERPs).

Unlike guest post links that come from new pieces of content, curated links are often inserted into existing pages with a solid backlink profile.

These established pages with backlinks funnel more link juice than new pages that only get link equity from the domain’s authority.

Simply put, more link juice equals higher rankings.

So, by using curated links, you’re essentially tapping into an existing reservoir of link juice, which can help boost your website to the top of the SERPs!

2. Faster Results

Businesses are always on the lookout for SEO strategies that can deliver quick results.

And this is where a curated link-building campaign shines.

Curated links are placed on pages that are already indexed by search engines.

This means that Google can discover and understand your pages faster with the help of this link, leading to quicker indexation and ranking.

3. Boost EEAT

EEAT stands for Expertise, Experience, Authority, and Trust.

According to Gary Illyes, a Google Webmaster Trends Analyst, EEAT is largely based on links from high authority sites. But beyond sounding like something you might order at your local deli, what does EEAT have to do with curated links?

Curated links from reputable sources can improve a website’s E-E-A-T score by demonstrating experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness.

This means that by including curated links from high-DA sites, you’re not only improving your site’s visibility but also its credibility in the eyes of Google and other search engines.

This can have a significant impact on your SEO, making your content more helpful and valuable in the eyes of search engine algorithms.

4. They Don’t Require Content Creation

Creating new, high-quality content can be a time-consuming and costly process.

So, wouldn’t it be great if there was a way to boost your SEO without having to create new content?

Well, that’s one of the major advantages of curated links.

With curated links, you’re not creating new content from scratch.

Instead, you’re inserting your links into existing, high-quality content.

This not only saves time and resources but also ensures that your links are being placed in content that already has a proven track record of success.

In essence, how curated links allow you to piggyback on the success of existing content, providing a cost-effective and efficient way to boost your SEO.

5. Referral Traffic

Traffic is the lifeblood of any website. The more traffic you have, the greater your chances of converting visitors into customers. And this is another area where curated links can make a big difference.

Curated links placed on high-traffic pages can direct a portion of that traffic to your website, thereby increasing the number of visitors and potential customers

They also help increase brand visibility and recognition, as users from other trusted sites are directed to your content

6. Cheaper

It all comes down to content creation. With curated links, there’s no need to create new content.

Instead, you’re leveraging existing content. This not only saves time but also significantly reduces costs.

Add to this the fact that curated links can be implemented quickly, and you have a cost-effective link-building strategy that delivers quick results without breaking the bank.

7. You Can Asses the Quality Beforehand

In the world of SEO, not all links are created equal.

The quality of the page where your link is placed can have a big impact on the effectiveness of that link.

And this is another area where high-quality links, like curated links, shine.

With curated links, you can:

• Vet the quality of the existing page before adding your link.

• Assess the site’s current metrics, such as Domain Rating, to predict the likely impact on your SEO.

• Evaluate the content quality, relevance, and authority of the source page to ensure that your curated link will be associated with credible and valuable information.

• Improve outcomes for referral traffic and search ranking.

The Synergy Between Curated Links and Guest Posts

So far, we’ve talked a lot about curated links.

But it’s important to remember that these are just one tool in your SEO toolbox.

Another effective strategy is guest posting, where you create a new blog post for other websites with a link back to your own site.

But what happens when you combine these two strategies with an existing blog post? You get a powerful synergy that can supercharge your SEO strategy.

Curated link building provides immediate relevance and potential ranking boosts, while guest posts contribute to a diversified backlink profile and long-term relationship building with other websites.

By combining these two strategies, you can balance quick, cost-effective link-building with long-term brand authority and relationship-building benefits.

The result? A robust and effective SEO strategy that delivers results.

Curated Link Building Best Practices

1. Aim for Websites with a Solid Backlink Profile

When it comes to securing curated links, one of the first things you should look at is the backlink profile of the host website.

A solid backlink profile with high link popularity is a clear indicator of a high-quality website. It shows that the website is trusted and valued by other websites, which in turn enhances the value of the curated link.

By targeting such websites, you can ensure that your curated links are more effective and deliver better results.

So, make sure to aim for websites with the following characteristics:

• Low spam score of less than 3%

• Relevant organic traffic

• Citation flow/trust flow ratio of less than 2.

• No links to grey niches.

• No write for us page.

2. Relevant Link Placement

Another best practice to keep in mind when acquiring curated links is to ensure that your links are inserted into relevant blog posts.

This is crucial for many reasons.

First, it makes the link look natural, which will help you to avoid penalties.

Second, they're better for user experience, which can lead to more referral traffic.

Finally, links from relevant articles help Google better understand your content.

For instance, if my page is about protein powders and I inserted a link into an article that talks about the benefits of protein powders, Google can connect the dots and understand that my page is closely related to the topic of protein powders.

This can lead to higher keyword rankings.

3. Mix up your Anchor text

Anchor text, the clickable text in a hyperlink that users see, can have a big impact on how search engines interpret the relevance and value of those links.

Using varied, contextual, and descriptive link text can improve the effectiveness of your curated links.

This approach can help deliver better results for your content.

However, it's important not to go overboard with exact match anchors (anchor texts that closely match your target keyword), as Google can take this as a sign of ranking manipulation, which could result in a penalty.

A good rule of thumb is to match the anchor text distribution ratios of the top-ranking pages.

4. Place Your Links Contextually

Perhaps one of the most important best practices for acquiring curated links is to ensure that your links are placed contextually in a relevant blog post.

But what does this mean?

Contextual link placement means that your links are placed naturally within the content.

They should enhance the user experience and add value to the content.

This is super important as search engines use the anchor text and potentially the words that surround the backlink as clues of the linked page's topic.

Link placements that aren't contextually integrated into the content, can stick out like a sore thumb, which causes the link to look unnatural.

So, always ensure that your curated links are placed in a manner that is natural and adds value to the content.

5. Avoid Pages with Many External Links

Last but not least, when acquiring curated links, it’s important to avoid pages with too many external links.

Pages with too many external links can dilute the value of each individual link.

This means that your curated link might not carry as much weight as it could on a page with fewer external links.

On top of this, pages with too many external links might seem spammy to search engines, which could harm your SEO efforts.

So, always aim for a balance with outbound links on a page and avoid having too many outbound links, as it can lead to excessive outbound linking.

How to Build Curated Links

Now that we’ve covered the benefits of curated links and the best practices for acquiring them, let’s delve into how you can actually get curated links for your website.

Whether you’re a DIY kind of person or prefer to delegate, there are two main approaches you can take: manual outreach or hiring an agency.

Let’s explore each of these in more detail.

1. Manual Outreach

If you’re the hands-on type, manual outreach might be the way to go.

This process requires contacting website owners and requesting them to include curated links to your site in their existing content.

Here's a breakdown of how to conduct a curated link-building campaign:

1. Identify High-Quality Content: Your first step is to find content that's not just relevant to your niche but is also authoritative and trusted. Look for articles, blogs, or pages that already rank well in your industry. Tools like Ahrefs, Moz, or SEMrush can help you spot these gems.

2. Check for Relevance: Once you've got a list, make sure the content is closely related to what you do or offer. The closer the match, the better it is for your link's value and for attracting the right audience.

3. Analyze the Backlink Profile: Peek at the backlink profile of the content you're targeting. You're looking for pages that have a strong backlink profile themselves. More high-quality backlinks from relevant websites pointing to that content means more potential link juice for you.

4. Outreach Preparation: Before you reach out, have a clear idea of where your link could add value to their content. Maybe there's an updated statistic you can provide, or perhaps you have a more in-depth resource that complements their content.

5. Craft Your Outreach Message: Now, it's time to contact the owner or author of the content. Your message should be personal, respectful, and to the point. Highlight how your link adds value to their content and, consequently, their readers.

6. Follow-Up: People are busy, and your first message might get lost in the shuffle. If you don't hear back in a week or two, a polite follow-up can show your genuine interest and sometimes get you the link placement you're after.

7. Provide High-Quality Content: This goes without saying, but ensure your linked page is top-notch. It should be informative, well-written, and valuable to the reader. High-quality content is more likely to be accepted and less likely to be removed later.

8. Monitor and Nurture Relationships: Building curated links isn't just about the initial success. Keep an eye on your links to make sure they stay live. Also, maintain the relationships you've built with site owners. You never know when another opportunity might arise.

9. Patience and Persistence: Building quality curated links is a marathon, not a sprint. It takes time, effort, and persistence, but the payoff in terms of SEO and credibility is well worth it.

2. Hire a Curated Link Building Agency

If the thought of manual outreach seems daunting, or if you simply don’t have the time, another option is to hire an agency.

These are specialized service providers who can handle the process of acquiring curated links for you.

But why might you want to consider this option?

Reputable agencies have established relationships with high-DA websites.

They can place curated links on these websites, which can make the process of acquiring curated links much more efficient and effective.

Plus, many agencies offer tailored services to suit different needs, so you can find a solution that fits your budget and requirements.

FAQs

What are curated links?

Curated links are contextual backlinks inserted into relevant, aged blog posts, enhancing their backlink profiles and increasing resonance with active content.

How do curated links benefit my SEO strategy?

Curated links benefit your SEO strategy by providing higher rankings, faster results, boosted traffic, cost-effectiveness, and quality vetting. These benefits contribute to a more effective SEO approach.

How can I get curated links for my website?

You can obtain curated links for your website by reaching out to website owners for manual outreach or by hiring an agency that specializes in acquiring curated links. Good luck!

What are the best practices for acquiring curated links?

Aim to target websites with strong backlink profiles, insert links in relevant content, use varied and descriptive anchor text, place links contextually, and avoid pages with excessive external links for the best practices in acquiring curated links.

Last Words

Curated links offer an efficient and cost-effective way to boost your search engine rankings, deliver faster results, and improve your website’s credibility.

Plus, they don’t require the creation of new content, making them an attractive option for busy website owners.

If you're looking for a curated links service, we're here to help.

We have existing relationships with thousands of high-authority, reputable websites and we can place your links in relevant blog posts.

If this sounds interesting, feel free to book a courtesy call with one of our curated link-building campaign managers.