SEO: how to contact bloggers for backlinks

The short answer is yes, but you can't just ask for a link. You need to provide something in return (that can't be money since it would be against Google's guidelines).

I did a lot of outreach and digital PR campaigns back in the days, and the harsh reality is that website owners and bloggers are flooded with pitches and requests. Needless to say, they won't even respond if yours doesn't really stand out.
Nowadays building links at scale is really difficult even for professionals SEOs.

So, what could you provide in return?

If you are just starting out, you could try contacting small blogs in your niche and offering to write a guest post.

Once you feel more confident about your capabilities, you could move on to more advanced techniques like creating a so called linkable asset.

I've never asked bloggers for links, but I do use regularly cold emails for other types of "favors".

The recipe is pretty easy:

1. People don't care about you, but what you can do for them.

2. Keep it short and go straight to what you have to offer (1st paragraph).

3. Do your homework. Show the other person that you have read their articles, quoting some of their material, which means that you can't automatize the process.

4. Use plain text emails. Font>=16 pixels

5. Even if you do everything right, it is still a numbers game, so be prepared to be ignored and sometimes even insulted.

Yes, I will approach bloggers for links if I feel it will help an SEO campaign.

But the key there is "if I feel it will help"; links do not necessary result in better SEO performance. Links are just one part of search engine algorithms, if you focus on them too much you might miss where the real opportunity lies for your site.

SEO isn't a tickbox exercise (e.g. 'get links: check!'), it's a constant process of evaluating your website, your competitors websites & the trends in search marketing to understand where the opportunities for your site lie.

But, should you decide links would help, I agree with the tactics outlined in the posts so far. Generally you've got to remember website owners get hounded daily for links, but it's mostly all spam. So you can give yourself a much better chance by being genuine (remember you're talking to another human), being honest about what you want, and offering something valuable in return (your time, your expertise/advice, a resource like a guest post, etc).

Here's another tactic too: Try using HARO or searching twitter for #journorequests, you'll often find writers/journalists covering your area (unless you're super niche) and they'll need an industry figure to provide a comment for their article. In exchange for your comment, you'll likely get a link back to your site in the published article (or, at the very least, a mention of the brand, which is still somewhat beneficial for SEO).

I ask to be included in roundups. Or offer info in our industry. Its good to start a relationship of exchanged value instead of a transactional relationship.