1. Pick the target pages
Start with the specific pages you actually want to rank, not the domain as a whole. A campaign aimed at "the homepage" is vaguer and harder to execute than one aimed at three or four specific service or product pages with clear target keywords.
2. Check what the competition looks like
Look at what's currently ranking for each target keyword and get a rough sense of their backlink profiles — approximate link count, the type of sites linking to them, and how relevant those links are. This gives you a realistic reference point instead of guessing at a number, which we cover in more depth in How Many Backlinks Does a Website Need?
3. Choose a mix of link types
Decide how to split the campaign across PBN placements, guest posts, and niche edits rather than defaulting to one type for everything. PBN links give you the most control over anchor text and timing; guest posts sit on fully independent sites; niche edits use existing page age instead of new content. Our services page breaks down which fits which situation.
4. Set a realistic pace
Space placements out over weeks or months rather than ordering everything at once. A steady pace is both more defensible (see Common Link Building Mistakes) and easier to fit into an ongoing package, like the monthly structures on our pricing page.
5. Track what's actually live
Keep a record of every placement — the URL, the anchor text used, and the date it went live. This is what lets you connect a ranking change to a specific action later, rather than guessing at what caused it.
6. Reassess and adjust
After a batch of placements has had time to be crawled and indexed, check whether the target pages have moved and whether the anchor text mix still looks natural across the full profile. Adjust the next round based on what you're actually seeing rather than sticking rigidly to the original plan.
If you'd rather skip the planning and just tell us the pages and keywords, that works too — message us on WhatsApp and we'll help shape the mix and pace based on what we're seeing for your specific case.