Identifying Easy Link Building Wins

The Accidental Link Building Hack That Gives You Instant Results

I’ll never forget the day I stumbled upon this link building strategy. It was a Saturday morning, and I was sipping my coffee, scrolling through the latest SEO trends, when I came across a post that changed the game for me.

The author, Wil Reynolds, had discovered an “accidental” link building hack that was pure genius. I’m talking about finding and reclaiming all the links pointing to the misspelled versions of your brand’s domain name.

Now, I know what you’re thinking – “Misspellings? Really? That’s going to be a total waste of time.” But hear me out, because this strategy is a game-changer, especially for SEO agencies like ours here at MCR SEO in Manchester.

The Power of Brand Misspellings

Everyone makes typos, even the most respected webmasters and journalists. And that’s exactly where the magic happens. When people accidentally misspell your brand’s domain name, they’re essentially creating free link opportunities for you.

Think about it – if a top-tier publication mentions your agency and links to “mcrseo.org” instead of “mcrseo.org,” that’s a valuable backlink just sitting there, waiting to be claimed. All you have to do is reach out and ask them to correct the link.

As the post on Growth Plays explained, this strategy is incredibly scalable and efficient. You don’t have to waste time emailing individual sites, hoping they’ll be interested in your content. Instead, you can focus on finding those easy link wins and snatching them up, one by one.

Step 1: Identify the Misspellings

The first step in this process is to use a tool like Aaron Wall’s Keyword Misspelling Tool. Simply plug in your brand’s domain name, and the tool will spit out a list of all the possible misspellings.

Once you have that list, copy all the misspelled domains and paste them into an Excel spreadsheet, with your TLD (top-level domain) in a separate column. Then, use the “CONCATENATE” function to combine the misspelled domain with your TLD, creating a full list of potential link opportunities.

Step 2: Find the Backlinks

Next, head over to Majestic’s Bulk Backlinks Tool and paste in all those misspelled domains. This will give you a detailed report on the backlinks pointing to each one, sorted by the number of links.

Now, here’s where the real magic happens. While your brand-new blog may not have any links to speak of, these misspelled domains could be an absolute goldmine for established businesses and agencies.

Just imagine – the Bank of America domain “bankofamerica.com” has thousands of links pointing to it. And a portion of those are likely pointing to the misspelled version, “bankofamaerica.com.” All you have to do is claim those links and redirect them to your site.

Step 3: Claim Those Easy Wins

Once you’ve identified the most valuable misspelled domains with the juiciest backlinks, it’s time to take action. First, check the HTTP status of those pages using a tool like SEO Tools for Excel. Look for 302 redirects and 200 OK statuses, as those are the easiest to claim.

If the domain is parked or the webmaster isn’t using it, try to acquire it. But if that’s not an option, reach out to the webmasters and politely ask them to correct the link. Explain how it’s a win-win – they get to fix a broken link, and you get a valuable backlink.

And if the misspelled domain is already owned by your brand but has a 302 redirect, be sure to change that to a 301 permanent redirect. That way, you can capture all that link equity and boost your site’s authority.

The Secret Sauce: Outreach and Relationship Building

Of course, this strategy isn’t just about finding those easy link wins – it’s also about cultivating relationships with the webmasters you’re reaching out to.

Here at MCR SEO, we’ve honed our outreach approach to be highly personalized and engaging. We don’t just send a generic mass email – we take the time to research each site, understand their content and audience, and craft a message that speaks directly to them.

By making a genuine connection and demonstrating how our content can add value to their readers, we’re able to secure backlinks that don’t just boost our search rankings, but also drive referral traffic and build lasting partnerships.

Scaling Your Link Building Efforts

But the best part about this strategy is that it’s incredibly scalable. Once you’ve got the process down, you can systematically work through your list of misspelled domains, reaching out to webmasters and claiming those easy link wins.

And the beauty of it is, this isn’t a one-time deal. As your brand grows and evolves, new misspellings will inevitably pop up, giving you a constant flow of link building opportunities.

So if you’re tired of the endless grind of content creation and outreach, and you’re looking for a simple, effective way to supercharge your link building efforts, this is the strategy for you. Grab that coffee, fire up those tools, and start reclaiming those misspelled links. Your SEO will thank you!