Every once in a while and depending on what website I’m working on, I’ll use different search operators to find easy links relevant to the keywords I’m targeting on the SERP’s.
There are many search engine query cheat sheets and SEO Blogs that give a huge list of queries to use when doing link building. Some meaningful, other utterly useless.
So I’ve composed a list of link building search queries, that would help you with your link prospecting.
Link prospecting is usually the most tedious part of a link building project. So the idea to organize this post into segments so you can quickly see the right Google search operators for your SEO campaign instead of just strolling down an endless list of search queries.
(You can copy this list to an excel spreadsheet or edit pad text editor and replace “keyword” with your targeted phrase)
Let’s begin with the most obvious, “guest posting search queries”.
1. Google Search Queries for Guest Posting:
Keyword + “guest post”
Keyword + “write for us”
Keyword + “guest article”
Keyword + “guest post opportunities”
Keyword + “this is a guest post by”
Keyword + “guest contributor”
Keyword + “want to write for”
Keyword + “submit blog post”
Keyword + “guest column”
Keyword + “submit content”
Keyword + “submit post”
Keyword + “This post was written by”
Keyword + “guest post courtesy of ”
Keyword + “suggest a post”
Keyword + “submit an article”
Keyword + “contributor guidelines”
Keyword + “submit news”
Keyword + “become a guest blogger”
Keyword + “guest blogger”
Keyword + “become an author”
Keyword + “become guest writer”
Keyword + “become a contributor”
Keyword + “submit guest post”
Keyword + “submit article”
Keyword + “guest author”
Keyword + “send a tip”
Keyword + inurl:guest-blogger
Keyword + inurl:guest-post
intitle:guest post guidelines
intitle:guest blog guidelines
2. Google Search Queries for Broken Link Building
keyword “resources”
keyword “suggested sites”
keyword “links”
keyword intitle:links
keyword intitle:resources
keyword intitle:recommeded sites
site:.gov keyword “resources”
site:.edu keyword “resources”
site:.gov keyword “links”
site:.com.ng keyword “suggested sites”
site:.com.ng keyword “recommended sites”
3. Google Search Operators for Resource Link Building
list of running blogs
list of “running blogs” inurl:links
list of “running blogs” inurl:resources
“KW” + intitle:links
“KW” + intitle:resources
“KW” + intitle:sites
“KW” + intitle:websites
“KW” + inurl:links
“KW” +inurl:resources
“KW” + inurl:sites
inurl:websites
“KW” + “useful links”
“KW” + “useful resources”
“KW” + “useful sites”
“KW” + “useful websites”
“KW” + “recommended links”
“KW” + “recommended resources”
“KW” + “recommended sites”
“KW” + “recommended websites”
“KW” + “suggested links”
“KW” + “suggested resources”
“KW” + “suggested sites”
4. Google Search Operators for Roundup Link Building
“keyword” + “weekly link roundup”
“keyword” + monthly link roundup”
broad niche + “link roundup”
“keyword” + “Friday link roundup”
broad niche + “blog roundup”
“keyword” + “link roundup”
“keyword” + “best articles of the week”
keyword “top posts this week”
keyword “Monday link round up”
keyword “top posts this month”
keyword “Friday link round up”
keyword “weekend link round up”
keyword “best posts of the week”
keyword “best posts of the month”
5. .edu Link Building Queries
Looking to build some links on educational website, here are some educational link building queries that are a goldmine
- “information technology” inurl:.edu -.pdf
- – site:.edu inurl:blog “comment
- – site:.edu inurl:blog
- – site:.edu inurl:blog “responses”
- – site.edu: “scholarship program”
- – site.edu: “scholarship lists”
- – site.edu: “university scholarship”
- – site.edu: “keyword + scholarship”
- add comment “keyword”
- allinanchor:keyword
- allintext:keyword
- allintitle:keyword
- allinurl:keyword
- directory keyword
- favorite links keyword
- favorite sites keyword
- intext:keyword
- intitle:blog keyword
- intitle:directory “keyword”
- intitle:forum keyword
- intitle:group keyword
- intitle:keyword
- intitle:post keyword
- intitle:tag keyword
- inurl:add-link
- inurl:submit-link
- inurl:blog)s)
- inurl:blog keyword
- inurl:directory “keyword”
- inurl:forum(s)
- inurl:forum keyword
- inurl:tag(s)
- keyword “add a url”
- keyword “add site”
- keyword “add url”
- keyword “add website”
- keyword “add your site”
- keyword “advertiser testimonials”
- keyword “favorite links”
- keyword “favorite sites”
- keyword “leave a comment” / “leave comment”
- keyword “no comments”
- keyword “notify me of follow-up comments”
- keyword “powered by wordpress”
- keyword “recommended links”
- keyword “recommended resources “
- keyword “recommended sites”
- keyword “related sites”
- keyword “related URLs”
- keyword “submit a url”
- keyword “submit site”
- keyword “submit url”
- keyword “submit website”
- keyword “submit your site”
- keyword “suggest a url”
- keyword “suggest site”
- keyword “suggest url”
- keyword “suggest website”
- keyword “suggest your site”
- keyword “wiki” (site:.edu)
- keyword blog
- keyword bookmarks
- keyword directory
- keyword discussion boards
- keyword donate
- keyword donations
- keyword donors
- keyword forum
- keyword group
- keyword join
- keyword members
- keyword resources
- keyword sites
- keyword sponsor charity
- keyword sponsors
- keyword sponsorship
- keyword tag
- keyword websites
- list keyword
- list keyword sites
- list of keyword sites
- post comment keyword
- post comment keyword
- recommended links keyword
- site:edu
- site:gov
- site:org
- “industry” inurl:directory
- “industry” inurl:links
- “industry” intitle:directory
- intitle:industry inurl:directory
- related:industry inurl:directory
But check this out, all of these search operators can be used together. You can mix them up. You can use 2 of them, 5 of them or even all of them (for keywords like web, site, page etc. ;).
Imagine you are a webmaster for an SEO Company and you’re looking for more ways to obtain links from sites relevant to yours. Here are a few examples and explanations of how link building search queries would look if you mixed them up and played around with them.
allintext:keyword site:.edu – allintext:SEO site:.edu
- This will bring up all the .edu sites that have “SEO” anywhere in the site’s text.
allintitle:keyword “links” – allintitle:SEO “links”
- This will bring up all the pages with “SEO” and “links” in the title tags.
directory intitle:keyword – directory intitle:SEO
-
- This will bring up all the directories with a page that has “SEO” in the title tag.
You can learn more about how to use directories to build links here
intitle:keyword “favorite links” – intitle:SEO “favorite links”
- This will bring up all the “favorite links” pages with “SEO” in the title tag.
intext:keyword site:.edu – intitle:SEO site:.edu
- This will bring up all the .edu pages with “SEO” in the title tag.
intitle:keyword inurl:keyword inbody:keyword – intitle:SEO inurl:SEO inbody:SEO
- This will show all the the web pages with “SEO” in the title tag, “hotel” in the url and “SEO” somewhere in the body content.
inurl:keyword site:.edu – inurl:SEO site:.edu
- This shows all the .edu webpages with “SEO” in the url
keyword “favorite sites” site:.gov – SEO “favorite sites” site:.gov
- This will display all the government sites with “favorite links” pages and “SEO” somewhere within them.
keyword “suggest url” intitle:keyword – SEO “suggest url” intitle:SEO
- This will display all the pages with the phrase “suggest url” somewhere on the page and with “SEO” in the title tag.
links “keyword” intitle:blog – links “SEO” intitle:blog
- This will show all the pages with “blog” somewhere in the title tag and the phrases “links” & “SEO” somewhere within the site.
intitle:keyword “forums” site:.edu – intitle:SEO “forums” site:.edu
- This will display all the forums on educational sites with SEO in the title tag.
keyword “sponsors” site:.edu – SEO “sponsors” site:.edu
- This will show all the .edu pages with ‘sponsors’ and ‘SEO’ somewhere in it.
keyword “links” intitle:keyword site:.gov – SEO “links” intitle:SEO site:.gov
- This will show all the government sites with “SEO” in the title tag and with the phrases ‘links’ and ‘SEO’ somewhere on that page.
There are dozens of other good operators. But to learn more, just follow this list of link building experts. But, I’m sure some of y’all could come up with some good ones yourself. Maybe even ones I’ve never thought of. So mix those up, change them around and create ones of your own. Feel free to comment some other good SE operator combos if you have or made any.
Some operator combos can be a gold mine. You’ll see.
