Gael Breton On Building Authority Websites To Rank & Bank $$$$$

A brand-new domain, no expired domains, 18 months: $16,500 a month, then sold for mid six figures. 💰

At the DMSS conference in Bali, I sat down with Gael Breton, co-founder of Authority Hacker, to talk about building authority sites that rank. 🎙️

📊 In this episode, we unpacked:

• 🎓 An accidental start in SEO
• 📝 Simple content that matches what ranks
• 📧 Automated outreach at scale
• 🔗 Anchor text and internal links
• 🏗️ Expired domains vs link building

🎥 Watch the full episode:

🎓 An Accidental Start in SEO

Gael didn’t care about online marketing. He needed an internship for his studies, and the only one he got was at an SEO company. Knowing nobody, he bought books and read about SEO by the pool. 🎓

With his partner Mark, he built an agency to 35 staff, sold it about four years before this interview, and now only builds their own sites, tired of clients. Early on, he admired Matthew Woodward’s actionable white-hat style. Authority Hacker is pure white hat. For Matthew’s story, read Matthew Woodward’s interview. 🔗

📝 Simple Content That Matches What Ranks

He enjoys correlation-based on-page work and uses Surfer a lot. “Don’t be too smart with your content.” When they made what they thought was amazing content, Google punished them. Basic content that matches what ranks landed on page one. 📝

Off-page wasn’t their focus lately because links came easily. The real game is management: running 25 writers and a content production engine. Try Surfer SEO here. For Surfer’s founder, read Michal Suski’s interview. 🔗

📧 Automated Outreach at Scale

After reading Brian Dean’s Skyscraper post, Gael created the “shotgun skyscraper”. They’ve sent about 600,000 outreach emails, largely automated, finding prospects and emails with tools like Mailshake and Hunter.io, plus spreadsheet macros and merge templates. 📧

The email asks a simple, innocent question, like whether the person is the editor. They only spend time on people who reply, and never pay for links, offering guest posts or exposure instead. Their best-performing subject line: “Question?” For more outreach tactics, read Alexandra Tachalova on building links. 🔗

🔗 Anchor Text and Internal Links

They don’t manage dofollow vs nofollow ratios. Their research found naked URL anchors negatively correlated with rankings. With lots of branded anchors, you can build keyword anchors that stay at only 2–3% of the profile, about 5% exact match. 🔗

For a “best SEO tools” page: match or beat competitors’ list count, since people click the highest number, optimize on-page, and support it with single tool reviews that link back with partial-match anchors like “all the best SEO tools of the year”. Then grind with guest posts. ⚙️

🏗️ Expired Domains vs Link Building

Expired domains work and aren’t against Google’s terms, but you need them less if you can build links. His case study: a fresh domain reached $16,500 a month in 18 months and sold for mid six figures, without expired domains. 🏗️

If you’re starting with some money and can’t build links yourself, consider expired domains: it depends on what your time is worth. Their free webinar covers picking a niche, the technical build, outsourcing content and getting first links to a new site, the hardest part because nobody takes a brand-new site seriously. For more on expired domains, read my expired domains guide. 🔗

📝 Key Takeaways From the Gael Breton Interview

• 📝 Match what ranks instead of being clever
• 📧 Automate outreach and only chase replies
• 🔗 Keep exact-match anchors low
• 🧩 Support money pages with internal reviews
• 🏗️ Expired domains trade money for time

❓ FAQs About Gael Breton

Who is Gael Breton?

Co-founder of Authority Hacker, who built and sold an SEO agency before focusing on his own authority sites.

Does Authority Hacker pay for links?

Gael said they never pay for links, offering guest posts or exposure instead.

Are expired domains necessary to rank?

Not if you can build links well. His fresh domain reached $16,500 a month in 18 months without them.

🎙️ More Inside A Hustler’s Brain Interviews You’ll Love

• Kyle Roof SEO Strategies, AI Tests & How To Rank #1 in Google 🚀
• How Charles Floate Making 7 Figures With Affiliate Marketing (Parasite SEO Explained)
• How Anil Agarwal Made $250k With Single Product(Affiliate Marketing) ✅
• Topical Authority and Semantic SEO Matters: Koray Gubur Interview

What’s your best-performing outreach subject line? Tell me in the comments. 💬

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