Link building that compounds.
A monthly link-acquisition engine — guest posts, niche edits, broken-link reclamation, HARO, digital PR — engineered around the keywords that move your revenue. We measure success in rankings and signups, not links shipped.
Google rewards velocity and trust, not panic-buying.
A single guest post moves a needle. Ten guest posts a month, every month, for nine months — that's how rankings compound. Here's why monthly retainers outperform every other engagement model I've tried.
One-off placements look great in a spreadsheet. They rarely move rankings.
Google's algorithm has gotten relentlessly better at spotting unnatural link patterns: a burst of links in one month, anchor-text spikes, links concentrated on a single page. These signal "someone bought links" — even if the links themselves are good.
A retainer fixes that. Steady velocity. Diverse anchor distribution. Links spread across your priority pages and your supporting cluster. Each month builds on the last. By month 6, the link profile looks earned — because it was.
And you stop paying for ad-hoc panic projects. You get a predictable line item that gets cheaper per ranking as the months compound.
- Steady velocity · Google trusts patterns. Spikes flag you. Consistency wins.
- Diversified link mix · 60% guest posts, 20% niche edits, 10% reclamation, 10% digital PR. A profile that looks natural because it is.
- Anchor distribution · Modelled monthly against your top-3 SERP competitors. Stays Google-safe even when you push aggressive growth.
- Compounding cost · By month 9, your CAC from organic is usually below your CAC from paid. Forever.
- One person, every month · I run your account end-to-end. You're not re-explaining context every quarter to a new junior.
Four link types. Each with a job.
No single link tactic wins a SERP. The right mix — adjusted monthly based on what's moving — looks natural to Google and resilient to algorithm shifts.
Guest posts · ~60% of mix
Editorial articles on niche publications, written for their audience, with a contextual dofollow link to a priority page. This is where most authority gets built and most rankings shift. See the guest post page for the full workflow.
Niche edits / link insertions · ~20% of mix
Adding your link to an existing high-performing article that's already ranking and indexed. Faster to land (no article-writing needed), powerful for pages already pulling traffic. We pitch the editor with a value-add: a relevant statistic, an updated link, a quote.
Broken-link reclamation · ~10% of mix
I find broken outbound links on sites in your niche that should logically point to a page you own. I email the editor pointing out the dead link, suggest yours as the replacement. Conversion rate: roughly 1-in-5. Cost per link: pennies. Most agencies skip this because it's tedious.
Digital PR + HARO · ~10% of mix
Responding to journalist queries (HARO, Qwoted, Featured) with quotes positioning you as an expert. Plus original data studies and survey reports when budget allows. These are how you land DR 80+ tier-1 publications that don't accept guest posts.
The detail most agencies never explain.
Your anchor text profile — the words people use to link to you — is one of the loudest signals Google reads. Get it wrong (too many exact-match keywords, for instance) and you'll catch a Penguin penalty in the next update.
Get it right and it becomes invisible. Which is the point.
Every retainer comes with a custom anchor distribution plan, refreshed monthly against your top-3 SERP competitors. Below is what a typical safe profile looks like — exact percentages vary by niche and current standings.
- 40% Branded — your company name, your founder name, the URL itself
- 25% Generic — "this guide," "the article," "here," "according to"
- 15% Partial match — phrases containing your keyword + extra context
- 10% Topical — related industry phrases that signal relevance
- 10% Exact match — the money keyword, used sparingly and surgically
What the first 90 days look like.
Every retainer follows this rhythm — Starter, Growth, or Authority. Volumes change. The cadence doesn't.
Month 1 · Foundation
Week 1: kickoff, dashboard setup, full backlink audit, keyword finalisation. Week 2: anchor strategy locked, publisher shortlist agreed. Weeks 3–4: outreach goes out, first 1–3 placements typically land. Loom update every Friday.
Month 2 · Acceleration
Outreach pipeline matures. Your full monthly placement quota lands. Niche edits start landing — typically faster than guest posts. First indexed placements begin showing up in your Search Console impressions data. Anchor distribution audited mid-month.
Month 3 · Early signal
Priority keywords start lifting 5–15 positions. New keywords appear in tracking — the long-tail tail-wind effect of building topical authority. We run a 90-day strategy review: what's compounding, what's stalled, what to double down on in Q2.
What 12 months of compounding actually looks like.
Below is the typical trajectory for a Growth-tier client ($3,500/mo, 10 placements/mo). Numbers from the average of my last six 12-month engagements.
Numbers from anonymised client books. Verifiable on a discovery call.
How you'll always know what's happening.
Live Looker Studio dashboard
Rankings, traffic, link velocity, anchor distribution, DR progression — all live. Bookmarked tab for your team. Updates the moment each placement goes live.
Weekly Friday Loom
A 5-minute video every Friday: what landed this week, what's pending, what I'm seeing in your SERP. Watch on the way to lunch. Skip the standing meeting.
Direct Slack channel
A shared channel between us. You message me. I reply — usually within 90 minutes, always within 12 hours during my working week.
Per-link verification reports
Every placement comes with: live URL, anchor text, Ahrefs DR/UR screenshot, Google index confirmation, anonymised editor email thread. Nothing to dispute.
Quarterly strategy calls
Every 90 days, a full 60-minute call. What's compounded? What's stalled? Where are the SERPs shifting? We tune the strategy based on data, not on a calendar.
Editorial briefs library
Every brief I write for your placements stays in a shared Drive. Yours forever. Take them in-house at any point and your team can keep writing in the same voice.
What you're protected against.
The 90-day progress guarantee
If we haven't agreed on visible ranking progress by day 90, month four is free. Written into your SOW. No legal gymnastics.
No lock-in after 90 days
Month-to-month thereafter. Cancel any time, take your dashboard exports, keep the brief library. You leave with everything you built.
Link replacement guarantee
If a placement drops out of index or gets removed within 12 months, I replace it free. Forever, while you're a retainer client.
Industry exclusivity option
For an additional 25%, I won't take another client in your exact sub-niche. Your backlink profile stays your competitive moat.
The retainer that replaces your last agency.
Book a 30-minute strategy call. I'll show you live placements landed for clients in your niche this quarter — and propose the right tier for where you are today.
Book your strategy call