How to Decide Which HARO Queries are Worth Responding to
Don't waste your time on queries that won't result in links
If you want to get free, high-authority backlinks from reputable tier-one media outlets then HARO is the only way to do it.
The problem is that “HARO linkbuilding” is something that is so common in the SEO world that it’s becoming oversaturated. Most people dabble with HARO for a week or two and then give up when they aren’t getting results.
If you think that the juice isn’t worth the squeeze then this article is for you. I’m about to teach you the method I use for curating HARO queries and deciding which ones to respond to.
How to quickly identify HARO queries worth responding to
Step one: Search for keywords relating to your niche
Once you sign up for HARO you’ll start receiving emails 3x per day. The emails consist of a long list of requests from journalists followed by details about the queries at the bottom.
The easiest way to parse through this never-ending list of queries is by CTRL+F searching for keywords relating to your niche. If you’re in the RV niche then you can search for words like “RV”, “camper”, “recreational vehicle”, or any other common words relating to that niche.
If you’re new to HARO then it’s worth it to actually read through all of the queries the first few times so you can get an idea for how HARO works and what type of language journalists use when talking about your niche. Once you have a good understanding of the landscape then you can stick with the CTRL + F search method to save time.
Step two: determine if the query is from a reputable site
The sites that you’ll come across in HARO emails are usually high quality, but not always. Basically anyone can sign up for a HARO account as a journalist and start sending queries out to the masses.
It’s important to make sure that you aren’t wasting time responding to queries from low-authority sites (especially when the hit rate for HARO linkbuilding is so low).
Let’s say that I’m interested in responding to the following query from a site called GoBankingRates.
I’ve never heard of this site before, so I want to make sure it’s worth spending time responding to. I also want to make sure that it isn’t a spammy site that’s going to potentially hurt my rankings (rare in HARO but it doesn’t hurt to be sure).
Copy and paste the brand name into Google.
The domain name associated with this brand is https://www.gobankingrates.com. When I click on it I can tell that it’s a fairly generic personal finance site. It seems relatively reputable. Based on glancing at their site, I think this is definitely a link that I would want, especially if I was in a niche relating to finance.
Since I have the Ahrefs plugin I can also see key data indicating that this is a good site:
It has a DR (authority) score of 82. This is a highly authoritative site.
It receives 6 million visitors per month from search traffic. Google loves this site.
Based on these two factors, you can reasonably determine that GOBankingRates is a great link to try to get.
Step 3: going deeper
If you’re extra-paranoid then you can do a deep dive on the target site’s backlink profile using Ahrefs or a similar tool.
If you’re using Ahrefs, copy/paste the target site’s URL into Site Explorer. Click on “Backlinks”. Sort by dofollow and arrange the links high-to-low based on DR score.
GoBankingRates has a strong backlink profile. A large quantity of high-authority sites like the New York Times and Forbes are linking to them with editorial links.
Even the most paranoid linkbuilder in the world will be satisfied with this backlink profile.
The main red flags that you’re looking for are: UGC (user-generated content) links from blog or forum comments and excessive exact-keyword-match anchor text. Both of those situations would indicate that they are artificially pumping up their authority.
How to check if a site gives out dofollow links
One problem with HARO is that a lot of the sites have a policy of only linking out with nofollow links. Some don’t link out at all and will only give you a brand mention.
This isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Nofollow links and unlinked mentions do pass along some SEO value, although it’s not ideal. Dofollow links pass along the most authority.
Again, this is nitpicking. But if you want to maximize your time and only focus on the most authoritative sites, then you should prioritize dofollow links.
Go to the target website and click on a random article. Look for a quote that looks like it came from HARO.
In this article, the quote from the Snapcommerce CMO is clearly from HARO.
Right-click on the link and click on “Inspect”.
This is a dofollow link. If you respond to their query and they use your quote, you will get a link that passes along the maximum SEO value to your site.
Conclusion
When evaluating HARO queries, there are a few things you should take into consideration if you want to maximize the value you get for your time.
Search using keywords related to your niche
Check if the site is reputable
Do a deep dive on their backlink profile
Confirm that they give dofollow links
As a WiFi Money business owner, there’s so much that you have to do each day. You have to optimize your workflows and make sure that you’re spending time on tasks that add the most value.
If you follow this four-step process then you’ll optimize your linkbuilding efforts and free up time to spend on other tasks.
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Do you have a template on how you reach out for HARO inquiries?
Hey Tetra, great write up as always. I know this is slightly off topic but what kind of changes have you seen with big G's latest core update?