What is an expert roundup?
An expert roundup is a blog post built from many experts' short answers to the same question. A typical example: a marketing blog emails 60 SEO consultants asking "What is the biggest link building mistake?", then publishes the 40 replies as one long list, each with the expert's name, photo and a link to their site.
WP Tasty's guide describes it as an article where the author posts a set of experts' insights on a topic, such as asking pizza chefs, critics and enthusiasts for their views and compiling the answers into one post [3]. The format's promised benefits are borrowed credibility, social shares from the experts, and links when experts link back [3].
Do expert roundups still work for link building?
No, expert roundups mostly no longer work as a link building tactic. Ahrefs' Joshua Hardwick declared them "done" in April 2022 [1], and nothing since has reversed that. The format survives in two narrower uses: as a relationship tool for meeting people in an industry, and as raw material for better formats.
Hardwick's case rests on four problems [1]:
- Experts stopped answering. So many sites sent roundup requests that well-known experts became selective, leaving publishers with weaker contributors. Weaker answers made the posts less attractive to the next set of experts.
- Searchers don't want them. Few people searching a question want hundreds of short, possibly contradictory opinions.
- Few experts link back. Only 21% of the experts featured in Ahrefs' own 2015 roundup linked to it, and Hardwick estimated about 1 in 10 for an ordinary publisher in 2022.
- Few experts share them. Despite being written to flatter contributors, roundups get little social sharing from the people in them.
The 21% figure deserves a caution that most summaries leave out: it came from Ahrefs, one of the best-known brands in SEO. A smaller site should expect less, which is why Hardwick's own estimate for a typical publisher was half that [1].
Why did expert roundups stop working?
Expert roundups stopped working because the format was overused for links, and because a list of short opinions rarely adds anything a reader can't get elsewhere. When Ahrefs polled its Twitter followers in 2022, 43.9% of respondents said backlinks were their main reason for publishing a roundup [1]. Content made mainly to attract links tends to look the same, and experts and readers both learned to ignore it.
Google's guidance on helpful content asks publishers questions that a typical roundup struggles to pass. Google asks "Are you mainly summarizing what others have to say without adding much value?" and "Does the content provide original information, reporting, research, or analysis?" [2]. A roundup of unedited one-paragraph answers summarizes what others say, by design.
Google's spam policies also list "creating low-value content primarily for manipulating linking signals" as link spam [5]. An honest roundup that readers value is not link spam. A thin roundup published only to collect links from the people quoted sits much closer to that line.
How have expert roundups changed over time?
Expert roundups went from a popular link building format in the mid-2010s to one that a leading SEO publisher declared finished in 2022. No one is credited with inventing the format, and no dated origin has been documented.
2015: Ahrefs measures the link rate
Ahrefs published its own expert roundup in 2015 and later counted how many featured experts linked to it: 21%, or roughly one in five [1].
2022: "Stick a fork in them"
On April 4, 2022, Ahrefs published Hardwick's post arguing that expert roundups no longer earn links, attract searchers or get shared, and offering three alternatives [1].
Today: still taught, rarely effective
How-to guides for expert roundups are still published and updated, such as WP Tasty's guide from June 2023, last updated September 2024 [3]. That guide describes the promised benefits but publishes no link results showing the format still delivers.
What is the difference between an expert roundup and a link roundup?
An expert roundup collects new opinions from people, while a link roundup collects links to existing articles. A link roundup is a regular curated post (often weekly or monthly) listing the best articles published on a topic in that period [4]. Getting included in a link roundup means pitching an article you already published to the curator. Contributing to an expert roundup means writing a fresh answer for someone else's post.
| Expert roundup | Link roundup | |
|---|---|---|
| Contents | Original answers from many named experts | Links to articles already published elsewhere |
| Frequency | One-off | Usually weekly or monthly |
| How a site gets a link | By being quoted (if the publisher links to contributors) | By having an article selected |
| Main purpose today | Relationship building | Curation for readers |
Respona draws the same line: link roundups are mainly a backlink tactic, while expert roundups work better as relationship-building tools [4].
What should you do instead of an expert roundup?
Instead of an expert roundup, use expert input to produce something original. Ahrefs suggested three formats that keep the expert access but fix the problems [1]:
- Interview one expert in depth. A single, well-edited interview gives readers a coherent view instead of 40 fragments, and the expert has more reason to share it.
- Poll experts for statistics. Asking 50 practitioners the same multiple-choice question produces a number nobody else has. A statistic is the kind of thing other writers cite and link to, which a list of quotes is not. This is the basis of a survey-led campaign.
- Poll experts for recommendations. A count of which tools or products experts actually use answers a real search query.
If the goal is links to your own site from expert commentary, the stronger route is to be the expert: answer journalists' requests for comment, where the quote appears in an article with an audience.
Should you contribute to an expert roundup?
Contribute to an expert roundup only when the publisher is relevant and real, the question is one you can answer well, and you would be happy for readers to see your answer. Contributing costs little, but the link, if there is one, usually sits in a long list of other contributor links on a page with little search traffic. Treat a roundup invitation as a chance to meet the publisher, not as a link building plan.