Link Reposession

Link Repossession is a term that has been gaining popularity in SEO circles after each Google Animal update. This technique involves reaching out to sites that talk about your site but do not link, or that take content or images from your site without giving you a citation and asking for a link. These links tend to be quick to get, high-converting, and almost always free.

Google Reverse Image Search

If your site contains interesting imagery or shareable photography (as is the case for a lingerie client of ours, clearly) then Google Reverse Image Search – http://images.google.com/imghp?hl=en – may be an excellent place to start your Link Repossession efforts. Simply Drag and Drop your image or Copy/Paste the image URL in the search box and identify what sites may be stealing, editing, or otherwise using your imagery. Don’t have good imagery on your site? Try putting your logo here.

Copyscape

Similarly, it is possible to find sites that copied your content through copyscape.com. You are able to check a page at a time for free, or an entire site with the paid version. Identify sites that are obviously copying your content, and reach out to them. A great approach? Offer to write a piece of content exclusively for them.

Moz’s Fresh Alerts

Sign your client up for Moz’s Fresh Alerts and every day or every week you’ll get an email with the URL of a site who used your name. There is a lot of noise here, but one in every 10-20 will be a site worth reaching out to and asking for a link. They’re talking about you anyway, so it usually just takes some interest and outreach to get a link!

There are many techniques for link repossession. Give your fellow SEO’s some tips in the comments!