SEO Outreach Made Easy: 14 Messages That Land Robust Backlinks

65% of marketers admit that link-building outreach wears them out. With cold email response rates averaging 5–7%, it’s no wonder why.

But the good news is, the right message can transform your results.

In this post, we look at two different SEO outreach methods and suggest 14 tried-and-tested link-building message templates, used by Ranking Raccoon’s community, that can get you more “Yes” responses with less effort.

Whether you’re suggesting an ABC link exchange or pitching a long-term collaboration, these examples will help you land high-quality backlinks.

How the Traditional SEO Outreach Works: the To-Do List

Before we go to templates, there’s some work you need to do to ensure you’re doing link-building strategically.

In the traditional SEO outreach with cold emails, there are many steps that you need to take to make your link-building campaigns work. We'll explore an alternative, much faster method afterwards.

Here's what link-building via cold emails involves:

Step 1: Research the Right Keywords

• Find keywords that your audience cares about and that present backlink opportunities.
• Check what keywords your competitors are ranking for. These often highlight the best link-building opportunities.

Tools that can help: Ahrefs, SEMrush, Moz, Google Keyword Planner, Google Trends, AnswerThePublic, etc.

Step 2: Choose the Pages on Your Site That You'll Build Links To

Building links to all your blog posts at a time is the kind of 'spray and pray' strategy that is tiring, but perhaps not too efficient.

Instead, decide which pages on your site need backlinks the most. Focus on:

• Pages with a chance to actually rank well: They target keywords with lower keyword difficulty and stand out with valuable, unique content.
• Bottom-of-the-funnel pages: E.g., sales or conversion pages with a higher likelihood of turning visitors into customers. It will be easier to justify the value of backlinks to your stakeholders if they see some quick results.

By prioritizing backlinks to BoFu, or conversion pages, you're more likely to get not only traffic but leads and customers

Step 3: Find the Right Websites to Ask for a Link

Before requesting a link, do a quick site health check:

• Audience Match: Does their audience overlap with yours?
• Content Quality: Is their blog active and well-maintained? Do blog posts look human and professional, or do they seem to be purely AI-generated?
• Incoming vs. Outgoing Links: If a site gives out 3-5x more backlinks than it gets, it might be a sign of a link farm - or they might be selling backlinks.
• Correlation btw. Referring Domains (RD) and Traffic: If they move in the same direction, it’s a good sign. If traffic falls sharply but the number of RDs grows, it looks suspicious.

Ideally, the site that gives you a backlink should tick all these boxes!

Step 4: Find the Right Contact Person

Here comes the heavy part: prospecting.

Look for the most relevant person to ask for a backlink — this could be:

• Content Marketing Manager
• SEO Specialist
• Website manager
• or, at a small company, even the site owner or Founder.

Tools that can help: LinkedIn, Hunter.io, Apollo, or browsing the “About Us” or “Contact” pages.

Step 5: Write a Customized Outreach Email for Every Prospect

Your prospects receive dozens of emails every day, so your message should stand out (and avoid landing in the spam folder). Here are some tips:

• Personalize the subject line and intro. Emails with personalized subject lines are 22% more likely to be opened!
• Mention something specific about their website or content.
• Explain how your link will add value to their audience.

Step 6: Follow Up at Least Once

If you do cold email outreach, 60% of successful link placements happen after at least one follow-up.

• Follow up 3–5 days after your initial email.
• Add value in each follow-up — share insights, new stats, or relevant links.
• Buy a subscription for an email automation tool to scale follow-ups.

Step 7: Track Responses and Scale What Works

• Metrics to track: Open rate, Response rate, % of successful link placements.

As you see patterns in what gets results, you can:

• Update your email templates.
• Use data to target better prospects.

A Better Way to Build Backlinks

The to-do list above is rather daunting, isn’t it?

What if you could skip Steps 3-7 entirely? What if you could start building links right after deciding on your target keywords and priority pages?

Ranking Raccoon lets you save time and effort and build backlinks much easier

The good news is that building backlinks doesn’t have to mean endless cold emails or chasing unresponsive prospects.

With Ranking Raccoon, you can connect directly with real SEOs and site admins who all seek genuine link-building opportunities in a spam-free community.

Submit your site, and after it gets approved, you can browse trustworthy sites in 54 niches, find pages for your target keywords in seconds, and message the site admin directly in chat. Skip the guesswork of prospecting - collaborate efficiently with like-minded marketers who're all here for the same purpose: building relevant backlinks and growing their site's authority.

Here’s something to look forward to: 71% of link requests on Ranking Raccoon get a reply within 7 days.

Better yet, 35% of all link requests turn into published links - which is much higher than what cold emails can yield!

14 Outreach Messages that Yield Results: Examples from Ranking Raccoon

A reliable tool is a big helping hand in your pursuit of links.

But it's a well-crafted outreach message that gets you the backlinks you crave for.

Let's see 14 examples of outreach messages that bring robust, free backlinks to Ranking Raccoon’s users every day.

Scenario 1: To suggest a meaningful link placement

#1 Example:

Hey [First name]! I think there are some opportunities for us to collaborate on link exchanges if you're interested.

I think linking to our data analyst certification page: [siteurl.com] would be a natural fit from this page: [siteurl.com]

e.g. in the section: 'But so can certificate programs, such as [Company’s] data analyst certification, or university courses.'

Are there any pages you are looking to build links to, that would be a natural fit on our blog?

Best,

[Your name]

#2 Example:

Hi [First name],

How are you?

I'm wondering if you'd be interested in a link collaboration with my website: [siteurl.com].

Just to make this easy for you: [siteurl.com] is a [product category] and would fit nicely in one of your blogs about [topic]. If not, we can also collaborate on a simple backlink exchange!

Let me know what you think!

Hoping for a positive response. Thanks :)

#3 Example:

Hi [First name],

I work for a digital marketing agency in [City]. I believe we might be a good fit for a link exchange if you're interested. I could see a link fitting in nicely to the blog article I've highlighted.

When you talk about how to ensure your website works hard to get you leads, you could mention "Ensure your website design service delivers a website that is optimised for search engines so that you are visible online." (or something similar!)

Thanks!

#4 Example:

Hey [First name]! Are you interested in a link exchange?

I found a few articles on building teams and the employee experience (like this one [siteurl.com]) that align with our content that I'd be happy to backlink to.

Here's my suggestion:

• your site: [siteurl.com]
• anchor: candidate experience
• my site: [siteurl.com]

Please let me know what you think!

#5 Example:

Hi [First name]! I work for [Company name], a [Company industry] company.

We have a lot of blog articles on the employee experience. Are you interested in an exchange? Below is a suggestion of a backlink I could give you to our Employee Appreciation Blog.

#6 Example:

Hello [First name],

Let's have a mutual link exchange! We are [Company name], a leading global startup that operates in the immersive technology industry.

I'd like to get a link from [siteurl.com] to [siteurl.com], anchor text: [Anchor text / Target keywords]

Let me know if there is any blog article where you could place my link. I am also waiting for yours.

Regards,

[Your name]

Scenario 2: To explain the value of a backlink to the other site

#7 Example:

Hey [First name]!

I hope you’re doing well! I’m reaching out because I think [Company name] and [Company name] could both benefit from a backlink exchange.

At [Company name], we specialize in creative production, digital marketing, and advertising, helping brands craft impactful campaigns. I noticed that [Company name] offers a robust community engagement platform that helps local governments drive meaningful participation and make informed decisions. Both of our organizations focus on engaging communities — whether through creative campaigns or empowering governments to connect with citizens.

I’d love to entertain a backlink exchange to provide valuable insights for both of our audiences. If this sounds like something you’d be interested in, I’d be happy to suggest specific URLs and anchor texts.

Thanks for considering this, and I look forward to hearing your thoughts!

Cheers,

[Your name]

#8 Example:

Hey [First name],

Hope you're doing well! I’m [Your name], the person behind [Company name] [siteurl.com]. It’s a space I built for DIYers to find all kinds of projects in one spot. We’ve got tutorials, lists for materials, and some easy affiliate links to make sure people get what they need quickly.

I’ve been checking out [Company name] for a while, and I’ve gotta say—I really like the way you offer practical tips for parents. It got me thinking that [Company name] could be a good fit for your audience too, especially for folks who love doing projects with their kids or around the house.

Would you be open to mentioning [Company name] in one of your posts? I think your readers could find some cool stuff on our site and add it to their toolkit.

Let me know what you think when you’ve got a moment!

Take care,

[Your name]

#9 Example:

Hey [First name],

I hope you're doing great today! :)

I found [Company name] a few days ago and I thought [Company name] could be a great addition to your current content and maybe also offering.

We developed a no-code tool, that allows users to leverage the power of AI automations for their use cases without the need for coding. The created automations can later on be easily implemented in a website, to – for example – automate the user support by providing questions to common answers in an AI-powered chatbot solution.

As you are offering automation services, [Company name] could be a great option for you to offer AI integration to your customers as well as Zapier integrations.

Please let me know if it would be possible to link to our landing page? If not, we could select a post on our blog or even build a new blog with you about easy AI implementation from where you could link.

Thank you!

#10 Example:

Hello [First name],

Nice to e-meet you :)

Are you interested in exchanging links? [Company name] is looking for niche-specific websites in web design and development for mutually beneficial collaborations.

I'd like to get a link from [siteurl.com] to my site [siteurl.com].

Shall we discuss the details?

Scenario 3: To suggest an ABC link exchange between a few sites

#11 Example:

Hi [First name],

Nice to e-meet you! I am looking to get a link from your website and in return can provide you one too. I also have a few other websites that you can consider.

Let me know what you think.

I'd like to get a link from [siteurl.com] to my site [siteurl.com]

#12 Example:

Hi, [First name]!

I'm looking for a link exchange from [siteurl.com] for our website, [siteurl.com].

I can offer AB/ABC link/guest post exchange. Can offer links from [siteurl.com], [siteurl.com], [siteurl.com].

Looking forward to hearing from you!

Scenario 4: To build a lasting business relationship

#13 Example:

Hi [First name]!

My name is [Your name] and I'm [Company name]’s Sr. Marketing Manager. We're a [Company industry] company, and this year our content is leaning into thought leadership and providing examples from the real world.

I'd love to link swap with you! I've suggested one below and was thinking I could backlink to [Company name] for an upcoming post of ours on Employee Appreciation Day. Ideally, this would be an ongoing partnership.

I'd like to get a link from [siteurl.com] to [siteurl.com].

Looking forward to hearing from you!

#14 Example:

Hey [First name], it's really cool to see [Company name] on here. Do you think we could share some links, or maybe work together?

I can offer you a link on [Company name] ([siteurl.com]) in exchange for a link to [siteurl.com]. Let me know what you think.

Aside from the link exchange, I have a few exciting ideas for a collab between [Company name] and [Company name]. Would love to chat some more if you're open to that :-)

Very best,

[Your name]

Supercharge your link-building today

Backlink building doesn’t have to be a total slog.

Why waste days prospecting and chasing unresponsive prospects by email when there’s an easier way?

Ranking Raccoon connects you directly with real marketers who are ready to build links in SaaS, eCommerce, Finance, and 50 other industries. No spam, no guesswork — in the Ranking Raccoon community, you can get high-quality backlinks without the hassle (and for free!).

Skip the grind, build impactful links, and save time for more engaging tasks. Your SEO strategy (and your inbox) will thank you!