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THE DARK SIDE OF HARO and Help a Reporter Out
I might be biased, but even I can admit that using HARO is not all bells and whistles. Help A Reporter Out has been around since 2007, and in that time a few issues have crept in.
I have talked plenty about how great it can be and how you can use it to support SEO, but there are hurdles you need to navigate. This section exists to make you aware of them.
The Link Builders
Shock horror, not everyone on HARO is a journalist. A lot of them are savvy SEOs (is there any other kind?) using the platform for link building from the other side.
We, and many others, have used HARO to get clients mentioned in articles, usually with a juicy link. Others realised they could flip that dynamic and hunt links instead.
You can usually spot them a mile off. They reply with a templated response along the lines of:
“Hey, great comment and we would really like to use this in the piece. Would you be willing to link to ‘this site’ if we feature your comment?”
That is reciprocal link building, or A to B to C linking. You can safely assume they have not read your insight unless you agree to link.
We have split tested this numerous times. One hundred percent of the time we said we could not link, we never got a response. Funny that.
When we said it should be fine, they suddenly used our quotes and then chased us repeatedly for a link. Do not blame the player.
On select occasions we have gone along with it to secure the link, then ignored follow-ups or kicked the can down the road with promises of a future update.
Occasionally they have threatened to remove the link. In those cases we pointed them to HARO’s terms and conditions and they backed down.
I will not name names, but anyone familiar with HARO will know the usual suspects.
Links from these sites are not useless, but I would be cautious about building too many from the same culprits.
Help A Reporter Out Customer Service
It is not great, let us be honest. Much like the platform itself, it is messy and convoluted.
The few problems I have had took an age to resolve, or in most cases were never resolved at all.
I complained about companies abusing the platform for reciprocal links. Their response was disappointing to say the least.
One of the biggest failures was query emails not being delivered, meaning potentially hundreds of insights and hours of time were wasted.
Anonymous Queries
I have covered this more deeply elsewhere, but in short, most anonymous queries come from very low DR sites, new domains, or publications not worth your time if you pitch sporadically.
If you pitch frequently, anonymous queries can occasionally surface topical gems and decent sites. Pick your battles carefully.
False Hope
Some journalists reply every time to thank you for sending your insight. When you are new, you assume that means they are using your quote.
In reality, you will never hear from most of them again.
Ninety nine percent will not thank you. Around 20 to 30 percent will tell you they used your quote and send the URL.
No news is good news.
Link Decay
There are a handful of sites that, over time, quietly drop links or switch them to nofollow or UGC. These are worth monitoring.
- Reader’s Digest
- Fit Small Business
- Fupping
- Good Firms
- Fast Company
- Unfinished Man
- Chattersource
- Outwit Trade
There are a few culprits that over time drop your links and/or change it to a nofollow/ugc. In no particular order you want to watch out for
- Reader’s Digest
- Fit Small Business
- Fupping
- Good Firms
- Fast Company
- Unfinished Man
- Chattersource
- Outwit Trade
Info Gatherers & Idea Stealers
There is a significant percentage of articles that are never published, most for legitimate reasons. Editors change direction, pieces get parked indefinitely, or priorities shift.
However, some people use HARO purely for research purposes, or to quietly borrow inside information from experts. Unsurprisingly, many of these come through as anonymous queries.
This is one of the reasons we prefer using the Terkel platform. All journalists and sources are vetted before being allowed to post queries or send responses.
We have seen instances where someone posted Terkel queries on HARO with the intention of harvesting answers and reusing them on Terkel. Once Terkel became aware, they permanently banned both the individual and their clients.
Unlike HARO, you cannot simply spin up another email and hop straight back into the journalist playground.
The Big Boys
If you are a small business, low DR, or simply not well known, some journalists from larger publications will turn their nose up at you.
I partially get it, but also not really. If the answer is good enough, you are big enough. That said, accredited expertise is non-negotiable in sectors like health, medical, finance, or legal, where opinions cannot be presented as fact.
Bait & Switch
To increase response rates, some journalists misrepresent the publication they are writing for. Listing Forbes, only for the article to appear on Fred’s Fishing Blog.
Sometimes this is done to bypass manual checks by the Help A Reporter team. More often, it is for the reason you already suspect.
There are caveats. Many journalists are freelance and write for multiple outlets. Sometimes the wrong site is selected, or the original publication passes and the piece is pitched elsewhere.
That said, it is far too easy to pretend a callout is for a major site. This is something Help A Reporter needs to address.
The Alexa ranking system is outdated (update 10/2/22, closing as of 1 May 2020), and the wider reliance on DR, DA, TF, and Alexa-style metrics needs an overhaul. These metrics should always be taken in context, but they act as barriers to entry and incentivise disingenuous behaviour just to get queries listed.
Home Page Links
Around 90 percent of links earned via HARO are branded and point to your homepage. That is great for authority and trust, but it does not always push traffic or rankings to money pages.
HARO links act more like a rising tide. You often see broader keyword growth across the entire site rather than targeted keyword lifts.
Across our clients, we have consistently seen sites begin ranking for significantly more keywords once they hit around 20 to 25 HARO backlinks.
If you have the budget, staff, and time to combine HARO with other link building tactics, that is ideal. We offer this service via Terkel and Qwoted for those with budget but without the time, expertise, or internal resources.
Other Link Building Services Are Available
Guest blogging, niche edits, site-specific citations, tools, and testimonials are just a few of the other tactics available. If anyone offers those services, feel free to get in touch with an affiliate link 😉
We have also written a comprehensive list of HARO alternatives worth checking out.
Jon Cooper, formerly of Point Blank SEO, alongside Brian Dean, published what is still the best original backlinking guide I have ever read.
HARO Is Holistic
Let’s be clear. HARO link building is an excellent way to drive organic and referral traffic, improve branding, and lift keyword visibility across your entire site.
If you want to sharpen execution, check out our HARO cheatsheet for practical tips.
David Marsh |
