What Are Niche Edits (and How to Get Them)

Written By

Nick Zviadadze

Nick Zviadadze

Founder at MintSEO

Contents

Want to rank well on Google and drive constant traffic to your website?

Niche edits can help!

Niche edit backlinks are a type of link you can build to your website to rank your blog posts or pages better.

In this article, we’ll teach you all you need to know about niche edit backlinks, including:

  • What are Niche Edit Backlinks?
  • Do Niche Edits Work?
  • How to Build Niche Edit Backlinks
  • Are Niche Edits White Hat?
  • Niche Edits VS Guest Posts – Which One’s Better?

So, let’s dive right in!

What are Niche Edit Backlinks?

Niche edits, also known as curated links, are a type of backlinks that are placed on an already existing blog post or resource.

Such backlinks are acquired by reaching out to website owners and pitching a link placement. E.g. letting a site owner know that a page they’ve linked to is down and can be replaced with your page.

Here’s a practical example of a niche edit backlink that we built for one of our clients:

niche edit link example

For this specific project, we:

  • Found bloggers related to our client’s niche (healthy living).
  • Pin-pointed posts where a link to one of our blog posts would add value.
  • Reached out and pitched a link placement to the website owner.

Niche edits are a popular alternative to guest posting, a practice of pitching (and publishing) a blog post on someone else’s blog (with a link back to your site).

Do Niche Edits Work?

As a concept, yes, niche edit backlinks can seriously boost your website’s rankings. Niche edit link-building is one of the most popular SEO techniques out there, and is still used to this day by some of the best SEO experts.

Whether a particular niche edit backlink is going to help boost your site’s SEO, though, is a completely different question.

Not all niche edit backlinks are created equal. Depending on the site or post you get the link from, the backlink can either help your website’s SEO or harm it.

Here are several things you need to consider when evaluating whether a specific niche edit backlink is going to help you rank better on Google:

  • Domain authority (DA). DA is an aggregate number that gives a general idea of how strong a specific domain is in terms of SEO. The higher the DA, the more likely it is that a link from such a site will boost your site’s SEO. You can check a website’s DA here.
  • The topic of the blog post. If your blog post is about VPNs and you get a backlink from a post about cooking, the backlink won’t count for anything.
  • Website traffic. If a website has high organic traffic numbers, then chances are a link from that site will count for more. You can use Ahrefs to check website traffic:
website traffic example with ahrefs
  • Whether the site is a link farm or not. Some websites are created to sell backlinks. A link from such a site won’t count for much, as Google can see that they link to external websites a lot. Check our article about link farms to learn how to tell whether a site is a link farm or not.

How to Build Niche Edit Backlinks (Safely)

Now let’s get to the most important part: how can YOU build niche edit backlinks for your website(s)? Here are our top tips on the topic:

  • Create quality SEO content. Bloggers are a lot more likely to link to your posts if they’re of extremely high quality. Think, long-form, visual, jam-packed with examples and case studies, and so on. These days, no one cares about average, 500-word blog posts.
  • Do consistent outreach. At the end of the day, link-building is a numbers game. The more outreach you do, the more niche edit backlinks you’ll build.
  • Strictly vet potential niche edit backlinks. As we mentioned before, not all niche edit backlinks have the same value. Avoid links from sites with low traffic, low domain authority, and no contextual blog posts.
  • Pick the right anchor texts. The anchor text of your niche edit backlinks should, most of the time, be natural (and not forced into the article). At the same time, we recommend avoiding creating too many direct match anchors.
  • Be creative with your outreach. Bloggers these days get dozens of link requests every day – why should they care about yours? Having a creative outreach email will put you leagues ahead of other link-builders.

Are Niche Edits Whitehat?

This depends on what you give out in exchange for a niche edit. If you’re simply letting a blogger know how they can add more value to their site (by adding your link), then the niche edit is whitehat.

If, however, you offer something in exchange for the link, then things aren’t as cut and dry. According to Google policies, exchanging money, products, or services for backlinks is considered to be a “link scheme,” and as such, can be considered to be a black hat tactic.

Practically speaking, though, a big chunk of the internet is built on buying backlinks. If you’re in any competitive niche (E.g. finance, gambling, VPN, etc.), no blogger is going to publish your niche edit backlink for free.

So, while such niche edit guest backlinks may be against Google’s policies, they’re still widely used in certain niches.

Niche Edits VS Guest Posts – Which Works Better?

Niche edits and guest posting are 2 of the most popular link-building tactics these days, so you might be wondering which one’s the right option for you.

Here’s our take on the topic:

  • Niche edits, overall, are a better deal. They’re more scalable and easier to get. The only action a webmaster has to take is to log on to their CMS and input a link, no need to proofread a guest post, upload it on WordPress, publish it, etc.
  • Guest posts are more expensive and time-consuming because of the time/effort you have to contribute to writing the post.
  • Niche edits give faster results because they’re placed on an already-aged (and potentially ranking) post, whereas guest posts take a while to get indexed.
  • On the other hand, with a guest post, you have the freedom to make the post contextual. If the blog you want a niche edit from has no existing content related to the post you want a link to, creating a guest post is an easy solution.
  • Website owners prefer to give out niche edits as opposed to guest posts (simply because it’s less effort on their end).

The Verdict: Niche edits are a much better option in most situations as they’re easier and cheaper to acquire. Guest posting works better if the blog you want a niche edit from does not have an existing (contextually relevant) post from which you can get a link.

Don’t have content writers that can write guest posts for you? Check out our guide to outsourcing content writing.

Use Our Niche Edit Outreach Service

As a business owner, chances are, you don’t have the time to do your niche edit link-building.

The process can be long, convoluted, and time-consuming.

Heck, if you don’t know what you’re doing, link prospecting on its own can take dozens of hours a week.

Want to outsource your link-building ops to a qualified team? We’ve got you covered!

At MintSEO, we’ve built backlinks to websites in dozens of niches, including SaaS, eCommerce, accounting, interior design, and more.

Click the link to find out more about our white hat link-building services.

FAQ

#1. Do PBN niche edits work?

No, you should avoid PBNs at all costs. While they DO work, the results you’ll get are temporary. Google will eventually catch on to the fact that you’re using PBNs to build links and penalize your website.

#2. Are niche edits good for SEO?

If a niche edit backlink is from a high domain authority website, with decent organic traffic, and a quality backlink profile, then yes, the niche edit is going to help your website rank better.

#3. Should I pay website owners for niche edits?

Technically, paying for backlinks is against Google’s policies. That said, practically speaking, if you want to build backlinks in competitive niches, it’s going to be basically impossible to do so without paying for said links. Proceed with caution.

Nick Zviadadze

Nick Zviadadze

Founder at MintSEO
Need a Hand with Your SEO?
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