10
JAN
2025
How I Gained 50+ High-Value Backlinks From a Simple Content Idea
In the highly-competitive world of SEO, securing high value links can feel a bit like scaling a mountain. But when we put our audience first and deeply understand them, sometimes all it takes is a simple yet well-executed idea to yield incredible results.
In this article, I’ll share how I gained over 50 high-quality backlinks for Vision Direct, using a simple content idea based on customer insights.
If you’re a content professional or are considering the value of SEO and digital PR for your business, this breakdown will provide actionable suggestions and helpful insights.
Defining the digital PR campaign concept
At the heart of any successful content campaign is an idea that resonates. During a fruitful collaborative storytelling session, Vision Direct’s customer success and marketing teams identified a crucial customer pain point: many parents didn't understand the intricacies of childhood eyesight, or when/how to seek an eye test for their child. The solution? An engaging visual guide that detailed how children's eyes change and develop over time.
Key takeaway: Start with a clearly defined, audience-specific problem. Use data, surveys, or direct feedback to uncover common concerns within your target audience. Ensure your solution is specific to, and appropriate for, your brand. Make sure it translates into an engaging content concept.
Designing the PR content campaign for engagement
Maximising content ROI with audience-centric design
Interactive and visually appealing content stands out in a crowded digital landscape. The Vision Direct project featured an interactive animation showing how children's eyes developed over time. This dynamic, shareable content made the piece more likely to capture attention and inspire sharing.
Parents could move the slider to see how children's eyesight developed over time, and share specific development points with their friends at the click of a button.
Another smart way we encouraged backlinking, was to make the entire tool embeddable, so bloggers could simply click a button and embed the tool into their sites - giving them a cute, useable, functional piece of content for their users to enjoy. The kicker? A link to our website was built into the code, ensuring we received a backlink for every embed.
Key takeaway: Invest in creating visually engaging and interactive content that’s easy to consume and share. Tools like animations, infographics, and quizzes can significantly increase engagement.
Including credible data and expert insights to boost campaign authority
Including credible data and expert insights boosted the campaign’s authority. The Vision Direct team utilised studies on children's eye health and development, as well as advice and insights from their inhouse opticians to add credibility and build trust, making it more likely that reputable sites would link to their content.
Key takeaway: Build credibility by backing your content with solid data and expert commentary. This establishes trust and makes your content a reliable resource for others to cite.
Strategic content sharing & seeding: What made this digital PR outreach campaign so successful?
A great piece of content isn’t enough on its own—outreach is crucial.
In brainstorming sessions with the internal Vision Direct SEO and digital PR team, we identified a list of top 50 bloggers, news outlets, industry publications and podcasts of particular interest to our ICP that we really wanted to secure links from.
We then reached out to these key influencers with bespoke, personalised outreach messages, and even sought the opinion of our top 10 backlink prospects at prototype stage, to ensure they were onboard with sharing the tool before it was finished.
The team focused on contacting health and lifestyle bloggers, niche publications, and websites with a strong interest in wellness and technology. They personalised their pitches, emphasizing the content’s value to each recipient’s audience.
This outreach continued consistently over an initial period of 8 weeks at a high level of intensity. The more links the content received, the more willing other bloggers and influencers were to reference and link to it. Concerted backlink efforts continued beyond this initial period, with the team reporting on monthly link volumes, goals and potential tool iterations to help us secure even more links.
When we received a follow link from Mumsnet, and generated more than 200 backlinks from high value prospects, we knew that the project had been a resounding success!
Key takeaway: Identify websites and influencers within your niche. Craft personalised outreach emails that clearly outline the value your content offers.
Widening reach for the digital PR campaign:
Iterating digital PR content assets allowed us to cast a wider net
After launching the campaign, the team monitored which types of outreach yielded the best results. By analysing performance, they refined their approach and doubled down on the most effective strategies, ensuring maximum ROI.
We pre-prepped several types of supporting content that allowed us to increase visibility and build interest on social media and forums, including a Mumsnet infographic, and a Facebook video.
Key takeaway: Treat outreach as an iterative process. Use analytics tools to track link-building success and adapt your strategy accordingly.
Summary:
Amassing over 50 high-quality & 200 wider backlinks with a simple content idea and strategic execution
The Vision Direct campaign achieved more than 50 high-value backlinks by combining a simple content idea with strategic execution. By focusing on a relatable problem, designing engaging visuals, conducting targeted outreach, leveraging data, and iterating based on results, they turned a single piece of content into a powerful digital asset.
Final Thoughts: Conducting Your Own Campaign
If you’re looking to replicate this success, start with a clear understanding of your audience’s needs. Create content that educates, entertains, or solves a problem. Prioritise quality over quantity in both content creation and outreach. Finally, don’t shy away from using analytics to refine your efforts.
With the right mix of creativity and strategy, your next content idea could be the one that earns you dozens of valuable backlinks—and a solid boost in your digital presence.
©Copyright Charlotte Chow. All rights reserved.
We need your consent to load the translations
We use a third-party service to translate the website content that may collect data about your activity. Please review the details in the privacy policy and accept the service to view the translations.