9 Digital PR Tools for Link Building (With Comparison Chart)
Digital public relations (PR) efforts with an SEO component have a lot in common with link building. Both share the goal of getting more links. As a result, there’s some overlap between link building tools and digital PR software.
While link building isn’t the only potential outcome of digital PR, it’s a common goal. Backlinks help improve your SEO, build your audience, solidify your brand reputation, and enhance your credibility. Many digital PR tools are also used for the sole purpose of link building.
Although digital PR tools are more focused on outreach, this curated selection can help the link building process. We’ve put together this chart outlining the major features of each platform, for your convenience.
| Platform | Link Opportunities | Contact Research | Email Outreach | Backlink Tracking | Backlink Analysis |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Buzzstream | X | X | X | ||
| BuzzSumo | X | X | X | ||
| JustReachOut | X | X | X | ||
| Muck Rack | X | X | X | X | |
| NinjaOutreach | X | X | |||
| PitchBox | X | X | X | X | X |
| Respona | X | X | X | ||
| Snov.io | X | X |
Buzzstream
Buzzstream is an application to manage public relations and influencer outreach. This platform lets you import existing contacts, create and customize email templates for outreach, schedule campaigns, and research contacts. The ability to promote and manage content quickly and easily saves you time on outreach, so you can focus on building quality campaigns that encourage people to partner with you.
Once you’ve started using the platform to research and pitch contacts, you can also use it to track backlinks and analyze their effectiveness. A nice feature Buzzstream offers is the ability to generate weekly reports showing backlink acquisition over time. Plus, there’s the ability to compare a company’s performance against the competition. Buzzstream’s backlink analysis tool lets you input competitor websites to measure their volume of backlinks against yours.
BuzzSumo
BuzzSumo was created by marketers. Its platform offers a comprehensive array of tools for content, contact research, and analytics. This platform lets you research and find new media outlets and identify those that are a good fit for your company, improving your chances of successfully generating links.
This platform is known for its ability to track social media performance and its extensive database of influencers on multiple apps. You can use this tool to run a full competitor analysis and analyze your backlinks. BuzzSumo lets you track backlinks to your website and social media feeds. You can also track keywords and trends to help you generate better content ideas.
You can see how your content performs against other pieces on your website, and you can analyze your mentions over time. One helpful BuzzSumo feature is the ability to find mentions of your company that don’t link to your website. In these instances, you can contact the company and ask them to add a link to the piece.
JustReachOut
JustReachOut is a user-friendly platform that helps you refine pitches and connect with influencers who are the right fit for your brand. It’s ideal for businesses looking to build brand awareness. It lets you find bloggers, podcasters, journalists, and other personalities who might be interested in your company and helps you craft messages that build your case with each contact.
Along with content generation and contact management, JustReachOut helps you find link opportunities like broken links. Users appreciate this platform because it offers extra guidance to those just starting with digital PR and link building. JustReachOut integrates with Gmail and Hubspot so you don’t have to import your contacts with the platform to automate emails.
It doesn’t offer the ability to track and analyze backlinks. This platform is more appropriate for people who want to manage their contacts and outreach in one place.
Muck Rack
Muck Rack is a database of journalists and PR professionals. This tool lets you build relationships with media personalities and bloggers in your area instead of just pitching cold. This platform connects with Outlook and other email tools and lets you automate pitches.
A useful feature is the ability to tailor your pitch with prompts. Since Muck Rack is built with PR and journalism in mind, the platform will refine your pitch emails so that you’re crafting the highest quality stories. This reduces the chances of your pitch being deleted.
Muck Rack lets you set up alerts to track your backlinks and mentions. It does so through the software rather than relying on a separate tool, and you can measure your mentions through multiple search engines instead of setting up separate alerts through each one.
There are many different pricing tiers, and this public relations platform offers a comprehensive service that lets you control your digital PR in one place.
NinjaOutreach
If you’re interested in automating influencer and blogger outreach, Ninja Outreach is an effective and affordable platform. This platform lets you manage your contacts and create automated messages so you don’t have to spend a lot of time emailing potential partners to build links.
Ninja Outreach also lets you tailor your leads depending on your goal. For example, you can create email outreach to specifically target podcasters, or you can target partners for potential guest blogs. This platform offers backlink tracking, but you can’t run a full analysis.
Its features are good for building a network of contacts for your specific link-building goals. It’s easy to manage your contacts and create targeted outreach for specific types of content. But this platform doesn’t feature the same level of analytics as its competitors.
PitchBox
Pitchbox makes it easy to create and manage campaigns, although the automation is limited to eight different types. These templates include reaching out to bloggers with an existing article and sending an email to an existing website to fix a broken link.
You can export their contact list and integrate it with other databases by saving it as a CSV file. If you want to send a personal email, just find a contact from the list and contact them directly. Pitchbox integrates with most common software including Slack and Zapier. You can connect it with Google Data Studio to track and analyze backlinks, monitor their performance, and create visual reports.
Respona
Responsa was founded specifically for digital PR, and the platform is configured for link building. This platform uses algorithms to connect you to professionals who are likely to link to your company. Also, you can automate emails to prospective partners.
Responsa automatically connects you to authors, journalists, and other prospects. You can integrate it with your website and social media platforms to analyze backlink performance. Responsa uses its tools and algorithms to track campaign performance and visualize data. Its software lets you track separate campaigns to see which are the most successful. You can measure your guest posts against content promotion, and you can track competitors.
One drawback to this platform is that it is exclusive, and you have to request access. There’s no free trial, so you have to commit before you even know if it’s right for your business.
Snov.io
Although the primary use case of Snov.io is client relationship management, this platform also offers the ability to target and manage relationships with media outlets, editors, and influencers. The platform’s strength is its ability to build and manage an email contact list and automate emails.
Snov.io has Chrome email finder and email verification tools you can use to reduce bouncebacks and bad contacts. It integrates with multiple platforms, including Calend.ly and Google. You can connect it to most customer relationship management (CRM) platforms, so if you’re already using one to manage your PR outreach, you don’t have to spend time building a new database.
To build your credibility, Snov.io offers the ability to establish you as an expert on the Help A Reporter Out platform. HARO is a tool journalists use to find sources for different stories. Being listed as a high authority links you to reputable journalists and bloggers. Snov.io has perfected the art of the pitch, and you have access to their customer support team. This platform doesn’t give you the ability to track backlinks or analyze their performance.
Takeaway
Most of these tools offer similar features. To determine which is best for you, consider your goals. Some are more appropriate for building a PR contact list and conducting initial outreach. If you already have a solid list of contacts and high-performing content, you might be more interested in a platform with more robust analytical tools. But, if you struggle with pitching, pick a platform with email automation to perfect your pitches.
Each of these tools saves you the time and energy of finding journalists, bloggers, and influencers to promote your company. Additionally, they’re all user-friendly.
Regardless of which tool you choose, you’ll have access to robust databases and resources you can use to generate backlinks and improve your visibility online.
