Link Outreach &
Prospecting
Link Outreach & Prospecting
Link Outreach &
Build strong, relevant links and boost your overall authority, helping to improve organic performance.
Identify outreach prospects
Create relevant content
Digital PR
Guest posting
Directories
Getting high-quality links is still one of the most powerful ways to build your site’s authority and improve keyword performance, but today, it’s just one part of a much bigger picture.
Search engines and AI platforms alike are now valuing brand authority and citations as key trust signals. That means mentions of your brand, with or without a hyperlink, on high-authority third-party sites can be just as important as traditional backlinks.
At Digital Hothouse, we’ve evolved our link outreach and prospecting service to reflect this.
Link building used to be a bad SEO practice that delivered results…20 years ago. Long gone are the days of building dodgy links back to a website just to improve the overall authority of the domain. Instead, we focus on targeting high-performing, highly relevant sites that not only point positive signals to your website, but also help to drive relevant visitors to your website.
Digital PR
Digital PR is the practice of using online communication channels to build relationships with stakeholders and increase brand awareness, reputation, and authority.
It’s about fostering relationships, not simply asking for links.
Digital PR incorporates tactics such as social media, influencer outreach, online media relations, and content marketing to create engaging and shareable content that connects with target audiences.
The goal of Digital PR is to increase online visibility, generate traffic, and improve search engine rankings by earning high-quality backlinks and social signals. Digital PR can help you to build a strong online presence, enhance brand credibility, and engage with customers and stakeholders in meaningful ways.
Guest Posts
Guest posting has long been a favourite link outreach tactic and it is something we have a lot of experience with. We have worked with leading international brands to write hundreds of content pieces for external websites, helping to increase authority and drive traffic to their websites.
The key to successful guest posting is creating high-quality content that is relevant and engaging for the target audience. By guest posting on authoritative websites in your industry, we can help you to build brand awareness, establish thought leadership, and earn valuable backlinks that can boost your website’s search engine rankings and ultimately drive more organic traffic and conversions.
Media Outreach: HARO, Source of Sources (SOS) & Earned Mentions
Help A Reporter Out (HARO) and Source of Sources (SOS) are two powerful platforms that connect brands with journalists, content creators, and AI content aggregators, helping you earn valuable media coverage, brand mentions, and backlinks from trusted websites.
At Digital Hothouse, we use HARO and SOS to:
- Position you as an expert in your field
- Earn mentions in high-authority media outlets
- Improve your E-E-A-T signals and brand authority
- Increase your chances of being referenced by AI tools like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google SGE
While HARO connects you with direct journalist queries, SOS enables wider distribution of expert insights, often resulting in multiple citations across platforms that AI models crawl for trusted sources.
Whether you’re building links, brand visibility, or AI relevance, these platforms help your business get quoted, linked, and found in more places that matter.
Brand Mentions and Citations
Today’s search engines, including Google’s AI Overviews and generative platforms like ChatGPT and Perplexity, are increasingly referencing content from across the web, not just websites with backlinks.
AI models gather information from:
- Articles and blog posts on media sites
- Reddit and LinkedIn discussions
- Branded mentions on third-party blogs or interviews
- Citations in industry studies or original research
- Directory listings and review platforms
That means if your brand is being talked about in trusted sources, even without a direct link, you’re far more likely to be included in AI-generated answers, summarised content, and zero-click search features.
This is why citations and mentions now play a key role in our off-site SEO strategies.
What is link building and how does it work?
Link building is still a core part of SEO. It involves acquiring hyperlinks from other websites that point to your own. These links act as endorsements, helping search engines like Google understand your site’s relevance, authority, and trustworthiness.
Today, however, the role of link building has expanded. Today, brand mentions and citations, even without clickable links, are also valuable. AI models like ChatGPT use these references to assess your credibility and determine whether to include your brand in AI-generated summaries or answers.
At Digital Hothouse, we focus on earning both high-quality backlinks and mentions on authoritative platforms to help build your visibility across traditional search engines and AI platforms.
Does link building still work?
Yes — but it’s more nuanced than ever.
Links from trusted, relevant sources continue to influence rankings on Google and Bing. However, with the rise of AI-driven search tools and zero-click results, citations and mentions from respected sites, communities, and content creators are just as important, especially when it comes to visibility in platforms like Google SGE, Perplexity, or Claude.
Effective link building today includes:
- Traditional backlinks for SEO authority
- Brand mentions and citations for AI and entity optimisation
- Content placements that feed into multiple platforms and media sources
We combine all of these into a cohesive, modern off-site strategy.
How long does it take for link building to work?
This is a tricky question to answer as for us, link building will always sit alongside other tactics that are being carried out as part of our SEO strategy for clients.
The impact of link building varies depending on:
- The authority of the sites linking to or mentioning you
- The content surrounding those links or mentions
- The competitiveness of your niche
- Your current domain authority and topical relevance
In some cases, Digital PR wins can generate short-term traffic spikes and ranking improvements. However, long-term impact, especially for AI visibility and authority-building, usually takes 3–6 months to fully show in SEO performance dashboards and search ecosystems.
Link building today is a long-term investment in both search rankings and brand visibility across the evolving digital landscape.
What is the best link building strategy?
There is no one-size-fits-all best strategy when it comes to link building. The success of any link building activity will depend on the specific goals, the industry, and the target audience of your business.
Today, a diversified approach is more important than ever.
Our most successful campaigns combine:
- High-quality backlink acquisition from niche-relevant sites
- Brand mention and citation building for generative AI visibility
- Digital PR campaigns designed to generate media coverage and entity recognition
- Content designed as linkable assets (e.g. tools, data reports, expert roundups)
The key is to focus on authority, relevance, and credibility, across both humans and machines.
What are some of the tactics involved in link building?
There are several tactics involved in link building, including:
- Creating high-quality, link-worthy content (e.g. research, guides, tools)
- Securing guest posts or thought leadership placements on relevant sites
- Earning Digital PR coverage via HARO, Source of Sources (SOS), and direct journalist outreach
- Building brand mentions in trusted third-party platforms like Reddit, LinkedIn, or industry forums
- Broken link building, offering replacements for dead or outdated resources
- Using data-driven infographics or visual assets that are easy to embed and share
- Engaging in niche communities and podcasts to build personal authority and backlinks
- Submitting content to trusted directories or citation sources (especially for Local SEO)
- Monitoring competitor backlink profiles for new opportunities
- Structuring your content for AI readability, increasing chances of being referenced in ChatGPT, Perplexity, etc.
What’s the difference between a backlink and a brand mention?
A backlink is a clickable hyperlink that points to your site. A brand mention (or citation) is when your business, product, or website is referenced, with or without a hyperlink.
While backlinks remain critical for SEO, brand mentions are increasingly valuable, especially in the context of:
- Entity-based SEO
- E-E-A-T signals (Experience, Expertise, Authority, Trust)
- AI-generated answers, where LLMs rely on trusted mentions in their training data
We track and value both as part of a modern visibility strategy.
Can Digital PR help with link building?
Absolutely. Digital PR is one of the most effective modern link-building strategies, especially when the goal is to generate natural, high-quality citations and links from media outlets, bloggers, and trusted publishers.
At Digital Hothouse, we:
- Research newsworthy ideas or original data stories
- Create compelling digital PR assets (reports, infographics, expert commentary)
- Pitch them to journalists, publications, and AI citation platforms like SOS
- Track both links and unlinked mentions
It’s link building with a PR mindset, and long-term brand equity as the goal.
