When it comes to successful SEO, link building is one of the most beneficial, yet the most challenging aspects. Links continue to be a significant ranking signal – other websites linking to yours proves that your content provides enough value for others to want to promote it. In turn, this gives Google a good reason to rank you higher.
But in real life, link building is often easier said than done, and the major challenge that most marketers face when link building is acquiring the links themselves. There are several link building tactics – some of which are now outdated – and it’s important to recognize which ones are likely to work best when put into practice.
That’s why we’ve done some research and come up with this list of link building strategies that work best.
Leverage Original Content:
When it comes to content, think about what’s going to motivate people to share it. What usually motivates you to share content? Must it be original and fresh? Maybe you share content that entertains you or forces you to look at something from a different angle. Does the content have to provide you with some value before you can be tempted to share? Most probably, the answers to all these are yes.
So, ultimately providing something valuable, exclusive and original is more likely to be linked to or shared in some way. Whether you’re creating website copy, putting together a video or building an infographic, you’ll need to put more time and effort into original research to ensure that you bring maximum value to your viewers.
Quality Above Quantity:
Back in the day, getting as many links as possible was the best way to boost your Google ranking – and it didn’t really matter where those links were coming from, but Google quickly caught on. Today, you’re not going to get very far spam posting links in forums or using blog networks; those days are over. It’s no secret that Google values quality over quantity in terms of backlinks; a high-quality link is defined as one posted on a quality website that is relevant to your niche.
When link building, you need to consider the relevance of the sites your links are to be posted on – there’s no point in posting on the first site that allows you to if there’s absolutely no industry relevance there. And, you should also take into account the webpage’s authority and the amount of traffic that it gets.
Build Trusting Relationships:
In society, people tend to refer to those that they know and trust – and business is no different. And, the same rings true for link building – personal connections with your niche can help you promote your valuable content, and you’re more likely to get a genuine, high-quality backlink from those who already know you and trust your brand.
Aim for Consistent Growth:
Link building is a continuous process that needs a consistent, well-reasoned approach – and as you probably know, some links can do more harm than good. At the very least, Google will simply ignore them, and at worst you could end up with a penalty. So, it’s important to avoid anything shady – when it comes to link building, if something seems too good to be true then it probably is. Stable growth is far more valued than fast upsurges, so take the time to grow your backlink profile step-by-step and carefully consider each link opportunity.
Broken Link Building:
According to Neil Patel, broken link building is a technique that’s sure to succeed. Spend time looking for broken links on webpages in your niche or industry, and reach out to them to notify them of the dead links. Webmasters are always searching for ways to identify and repair broken links as they don’t work well for the user experience.
Once you’ve done the favor, ask for a link back to your website in return. But only suggest replacement inks that are similar to the content that the page originally displayed – suggesting a direct link to a product page is probably not going to work.
Guest Posting:
Guest posting for other sites is a great link building technique that’s never going to go out of fashion. Good old-fashioned guest posts are one of the most useful ways to generate quality backlinks and get more traffic – guest post on websites that are relevant to your industry and niche and ask the owner of the site you’re writing for to write one for your blog, too. Make sure that you include a link to your website in your author bio when you guest post – this is an easy and non-promotional way of link building that doesn’t require you to place your link in the post content.
Create Original Infographics:
Infographics can often seem overused these days – but the truth is that they can add a lot of value to your blog posts or guest posts. And, embedding an infographic in a guest post will probably be seen as an added bonus by the site you’re writing for, especially if it’s going to provide more value to their readers and generate more social shares.
Infographics are really easy to understand and share on social media, which is why they’re quickly becoming a popular content medium, either on their own or accompanying other forms of content. And, the best part is that you can add links to infographics that will direct users to other areas of your site.
Create a Community:
Finally, creating a community is not only a fantastic way to build links, but also improve referral traffic, build your client or customer base and share your knowledge with your audience. Forums are a great way to achieve this or you may want to start your community on social media; private Facebook groups are a hugely popular option.
Link building is still one of the most important SEO strategies today – but getting it right is crucial! Each of these strategies has been proven to actually work for generating more links to your site and improving your search engine ranking.