TOP 13 LINK-BUILDING STRATEGIES
Link building is one of the most effective strategies to impress Google to rank your websites on SERPs. What then is the issue?
Well, the problem with link building is that it has become much harder over the years. Google’s Penguin update has made it really difficult to get any links without risking a penalty, and even when you have done everything right there is still a chance you could be impacted by Panda or another algorithm refresh.
Here is an overview of some of the top link-building strategies for SEO:
1) Create a guest post strategy
This is probably one of the highest quality ways to build links these days, especially if you are able to get your content onto large authority sites in your industry/niche.
The best way to do this is by regularly producing great content on your own site, and sending it around to people who run large authority sites in your space. You can either contact them directly or reach out to one of the many outreach services available, such as Ninja Outreach.
2) Start producing more video content
There are a few reasons why I believe that video is becoming much more important for link-building purposes. Firstly, YouTube is the second-largest search engine in the world after Google, and so if you can start ranking videos on YouTube you will be getting a lot of great traffic to your site directly from Google.
Not only that but online videos are all about building trust – many people prefer to watch a video than read an article or sales letter. This is why video marketing is becoming more and more popular, and the link-building benefits it brings with it.
3) Use guestographics strategically
I wrote a lot about this method in my blog post on the TrueView Network, and it is still something we use at ViperChill. Guestographics are when you write an article for another site that is very specific to one of their readers, and at the same time, promotes your site.
When you do this, you are providing something that is of value for their readers (content that solves a problem they have), and in return, this will influence them to link back to your site naturally. If you get really good at creating guestographics, this can become a great way to build links.
4) Build more contextual links
One of the best methods I have discovered in 2013 is building more permanent, high-quality, and authoritative contextual links. This means finding blogs in your industry that allow you to contribute content or find a way to make it work where you can leave a link back to your site, as long as it is a relevant and natural link.
This can be done in many different ways, such as creating an infographic that talks about a topic that is important to the website you want to build a link on, or simply reaching out to them and offering your help. The resource page at ViperChill is a great example of a contextual link, and it is a good place to start if you want to look at other examples.
5) Repurpose your content
If you have already created great content on your website, this can be used as a way to get more value from it while also building links. You can take your blog posts and turn them into infographics, Slideshare, or video content and submit them to places like SlideShare and YouTube.
Instead of allowing your old (but still valuable) content to sit around on your site, why not use it in different ways and build links while you are at it?
6) Get listed on more directories
This works really well if you have a local business, but it can work for any industry. If you are able to get listed on large directories it will provide a lot of long-tail traffic to your site, and also help you build up your backlink profile.
7) Submit client testimonials/clients case studies
One thing that is very important about link building is building a strong brand voice – this is something that will come naturally once you have been in business for a while, but it is also a good idea to actively work on it from day one.
One of the best ways to do this is by collecting client testimonials and submitting them to places online where they can be published – these should be unique and original every time you do it. This type of link building should not be overlooked, and it will also add a lot of value to your site.
8) Submit infographics (that don’t suck!)
This is another old method that I really like – this involves creating high-quality infographics and then submitting them to places around the web that allow you to link back to your site.
This can be a great way to build links, provided you make a really good infographic that is actually valuable and not just filled with keywords for the sake of trying to get a link out of it! You can find some more information about this in my post on how I got 95 backlinks from a single infographic.
9) Link outreach campaigns that actually convert
If you have a new blog or website, it can be a really good idea to use the outreach method on old websites with high domain authority. This is not something I recommend if your site has been live for less than six months though, as you may come across as trying too hard.
It is also a good idea to use this method after you have built up some trust and authority in your industry, not before. Instead of simply reaching out to webmasters with your latest piece of content, why not try building dedicated email outreach lists that are interested in the problems your site solves?
This will dramatically increase the chances of getting high-quality links from people that genuinely want to help you out.
10) Guest blogging, but only if it makes sense and has a purpose
If you have been following me for a while, you will know by now that I am not too big on guest blogging as a link-building strategy – this is because there are way too many low-quality websites looking to take advantage of people that use this method.
There are always exceptions to the rule though, and it can still be a very effective way to build links provided to you.
11) Take advantage of expired domain authority
As domains get older, they start to generate more and more links naturally – so it can be a great idea to snap up these domains before anyone else realizes their full potential. There are plenty
of tools available for this, but I have always used the MOZBar Chrome extension.
12) Keep an eye on your competitors’ backlinks
I am sure you already know that keeping an eye on your competitors can be a great way to figure out what type of link-building strategies they are using – but it can also be a good idea to keep an eye on the domains that they are getting links from.
If you find a domain that seems to be linking to your competitor a lot, but not many other sites – it could be worth reaching out and seeing if you can do some link building with them too!
13) Involve yourself in the Reddit community
There are a lot of groups, subreddits, and forums online dedicated to certain topics – if you can get involved with these communities and add value to them, there is no reason why you can’t start building links from some of them too.
Conclusion
The above-listed ways can be a great way to get ahead in the tricky game of link-building for the best search engine optimization of your website.