17 Link Building Strategies Proven to Succeed
IN SEO Link building is a pivotal component of any successful content marketing strategy, playing a significant role in boosting visibility and credibility online. Businesses across various industries have noted a remarkable 45% increase in their overall success metrics by embracing link building within their content marketing approach. To elevate your website’s performance and capture valuable clicks, it is imperative to craft a well-thought-out link building strategy. Opting for an organic link building approach, which sidelines the need for extensive outreach efforts, not only streamlines the process but also allows for a more sustainable and scalable growth trajectory. By leveraging organic link building, you can effectively double your content output while also establishing a foundation of robust, future-proof links that can endure evolving digital landscapes. This method mirrors the impact of being referenced in a news publication or cited within esteemed scholarly research, cementing your brand’s authority and relevance within your niche.
That said, there are still a range of SEO Companies link building strategies we’ll cover in this post, including:
- Use Social Media
- Perform Broken Link Building
- Look at Competitors’ Links
- Make Your Website More Visible
- Keep Track of Your Links
- Share Your Content on Forums
- Try Link Reclamation
- Consider Guest Blogging
- Focus on Passive Links
- Include Info-graphics
- Target Resource Pages
- Create Round-up Posts
- Consider News-jacking
- Create Surveys
- Collaborate With Opinion Leaders
- Release Data Studies
- Conduct City Studies
The link building strategies include a blend of organic and manual outreach tips, tailored to your experience and available time, and include email templates for use with these strategies.
Ready to build links?
- Use Social Media
Consistently participating on various social media platforms and engaging with journalists and bloggers within your specific industry can significantly enhance the number of back-links pointing to your website, as well as establish a strong digital footprint for your brand. This proactive approach not only amplifies your audience reach and website traffic but also has the potential to result in the acquisition of additional organic links as you establish credibility and authority in your niche.
Here are some tips when using social media for link building:
- Use hash-tags strategically: If you tweet about a recent study using the same hash-tag as a reporter, you may receive coverage from that tweet.
- Find journalist requesting data: Journalists use Twitter to request data, so monitor hash-tags like #journorequest or #prrequest for linking opportunities that align with your brand.
- Actively engage on industry platforms: Engaging in blog comments can be a valuable strategy to enhance your brand’s visibility.
These strategies not only show that you are an active participant in industry conversations, but also help you build a relationship with other bloggers who may reach out to you for coverage in the future.
- Perform Broken Link Building
Broken link building (BLB) is a valuable strategy used in SEO to acquire back-links from resource pages. This tactic involves identifying broken links on relevant websites and recommending your content as a suitable replacement, thus enabling you to secure valuable inbound links. By pro-actively reaching out to web masters with broken links and proposing your resource as a solution, you can enhance your site’s authority and improve its search engine rankings organically. This method not only strengthens your back-link profile but also establishes your website as a reliable source of information in your industry. For instance, if you operate a content marketing agency, you could create a comprehensive guide featuring a curated list of free data sources to offer value to fellow content creators seeking accurate and up-to-date statistics for their work.
When beginning your BLB research, there are search modifiers you can add to your keywords to filter out irrelevant pages. Examples include:
- Inurl:resources
- Inurl:links
- Inurl:useful-links
When used in tandem with topical keywords, you can start your search for potential prospects on the right foot.
- Look at Competitors’ Links
To determine the best link building strategy for your content, spy on your competitors’ back-links. This helps you understand the type of content your audience enjoys and links to the most, which in turn helps you write with SEO in mind.
To optimize your website, use tools like Ahrefs to analyse your competitors’ top pages, links, and posts. This will help you identify the content that generates the most traffic and keywords they’re targeting. Additionally, you can identify which pages receive the most links and who’s linking to them. By analysing these metrics, you can gain valuable insights and inspiration for your own website.
When analysing your competitors’ posts, ask yourself these questions:
- Are they doing guest blogging?
- What post format seems to be the most effective?
- Which pages and markets are linking to them?
- Which keywords are they targeting?
By understanding the content type and target markets and websites that generate the most links, you can effectively perform outreach and target the most relevant markets and sites for your competitors.
- Make Your Website More Visible
To improve the visibility of your website and establish a strong personal brand, you should strongly consider allocating resources towards off-page SEO tactics. For instance, focusing on local citations and rectifying broken links can significantly enhance your website’s online presence and reputation. These strategies not only facilitate the creation of valuable back-links to your site but also play a crucial role in amplifying your visibility across various online platforms, thereby effectively expanding your reach and influence in the digital landscape.
Some of these strategies include:
- To ensure the accuracy and consistency of third-party citations, it is essential to double-check the accuracy of personal information such as name, address, and phone number.
- Create and maintain a Google My Business listing for your physical business with a regular update of the information.
- To claim your business listing on popular user-generated content sites, contact the site and provide them with the necessary information.
- To enhance your brand’s public perception, consider investing in digital PR, social media marketing, influencer marketing, and review management.
- Keep Track of Your Links
Regularly checking for new links is crucial for maintaining a healthy back-link profile and understanding who contributes to your site. Engaging in this practice allows you to identify key players within your industry, enabling you to focus your outreach and content creation efforts more effectively. It is essential to note that while the authority of link sources is significant, link relevancy holds even greater importance. This emphasis on relevance communicates to search engines like Google that you are a trusted and authoritative source in your niche, ultimately improving your chances of ranking well for valuable industry-specific keywords and phrases.
- Share Your Content on Forums
Forums provide a valuable platform where users can seek answers, share insights, and engage with a like-minded community on the internet. In addition to fostering connections, forums also play a significant role in link building strategies by driving traffic to one’s blog post and enhancing the chances of receiving back-links. To fully leverage the benefits of forums, it is essential to understand and abide by their rules and best practices when contributing content, as each forum may have specific guidelines that contribute to success within the community. This adherence ensures that your interactions are meaningful, respectful, and well-received by fellow forum members, ultimately maximizing the value derived from participating in online discussions.
When sharing your post on forums, you should:
- Add to the conversation by answering comments.
- Give tips and advice.
- Follow the forum rules.
- Link to your post as an extra resource.
To find forums to post on, search for industry-related topics or common questions, or make a habit of browsing related forums.
You can engage on forums such as:
- Quora
- Facebook Pages
Forum browsing can enhance creativity by introducing new topics and keywords to write about.
- Try Link Reclamation
Link reclamation is a valuable digital marketing strategy that involves identifying and reclaiming lost or unlinked organic mentions of a website. This technique is particularly valuable for well-established brands that have received substantial press coverage. However, it is also worth noting that link reclamation can be beneficial for smaller websites looking to enhance their online presence and improve their search engine rankings.
There are two tactics for link reclamation:
- Reclaiming a lost link: If a website used to link to your site but removed the link later, there’s a possibility you can reach out to re-secure that coverage.
- Correcting un-linked organic mentions: If a website mentions your brand name but doesn’t link to it, email them and ask for proper credit to a relevant page.
- Consider Guest Blogging
Guest blogging has emerged as a widely embraced approach for securing valuable back-links from websites spanning the mid- to top-tier range, contributing significantly to enhancing the visibility and authority of your own website. While it is true that Google has issued cautionary notes regarding this practice, it is vital to note that such warnings do not equate to an outright prohibition. In fact, the contemporary iteration of guest posting emphasizes the importance of having clear intentions behind your efforts. Therefore, it is imperative to approach this strategy with the primary goal of sharing knowledge and insights, prioritizing platforms that actively engage in featuring external content sans any explicit promotional undertones. Embarking on this refined approach enables you to identify websites within the mid- to top-tier categories that align closely with your content’s thematic focus, thereby increasing your chances of successfully placing high-quality material on these platforms. When reaching out to these potential publishing partners, remember to articulate the value proposition of your content with precision, spotlighting why their audience would inherently benefit from engaging with the insights and information you have to offer.
- Focus on Passive Links
Search-driven posts have proven to be exceptionally cost-effective when compared to link-driven posts throughout an extensive 18-month period. This specific strategy revolves around the crucial element of identifying topics that exhibit strong passive link intent, with a core focus on continuously monitoring the progression of organic links. A pivotal step in this process involves conducting thorough research to pinpoint these high-potential topics. One effective approach is to leverage Ahrefs’ invaluable Top Pages view to identify content that garners significant traffic and a substantial number of back-links. It is essential to keep a close eye on the progression of these links to ensure they steadily increase over time, rather than experiencing sudden spikes or originating from manual campaigns. By observing a gradual growth trajectory in the link graph, one can glean valuable insights into the potential for attaining higher rankings and subsequently attracting an influx of passive links to their domain.
- Include Info-graphics
When incorporating info-graphics into your content strategy, you can significantly boost your chances of securing quality back-links and guest post opportunities on a regular basis. By integrating visually appealing and information-packed info-graphics with well-crafted articles, you create more engaging and shareable content that resonates with bloggers in your niche. This approach is far more effective than simply relying on info-graphic directories or farm sites for links. A carefully designed and dynamic info-graphic can serve as a powerful asset that not only enhances your outreach efforts but also entices others to share your content more quickly. Emphasizing the design quality of your info-graphic in your outreach pitch can further enhance the likelihood of your content being widely shared and recognized in your industry.
- Target Resource Pages
Crafting valuable and original content not only aids in capturing the attention of pages looking to disseminate your content as a valuable reference, especially in the realm of introductory tutorials and explanations. These in-depth articles present a thorough examination of the subject matter, offering an extensive insight into the topic. Once you have carefully curated your instructive post, proceed to actively seek out platforms featuring resource compilations that could potentially incorporate links directing their audience towards your content.
To do this, search for pages using search modifiers together with your keyword. For example:
- Inurl:resources
- Intitle:resource page
- Intitle:helpful links
- Create Round-up Posts
Round-up posts are not just beneficial for providing inspiration and share-ability. They also serve as a valuable tool for building connections with other reputable websites in the digital landscape. By diversifying the sources, you link to in your content, you can enhance its credibility and foster a reciprocal relationship with those websites. This mutual support can lead to an increased reach for your articles as they are then shared within broader networks of engaged readers, thereby elevating the overall quality of your content and maximizing its potential impact.
To find some ideas for round-up posts, add search modifiers to your keyword or niche, such as:
- Intitle:roundup
- Intitle:best
- Intitle:top
To increase your chances of receiving links, it is recommended to contact the websites you have linked to.
- Consider News-jacking
News-jacking is a dynamic digital PR strategy crucial for enhancing brand visibility and credibility. By actively monitoring news cycles and swiftly crafting tailored content enriched with personal insights, individuals and businesses can effectively leverage timely topics to establish themselves as thought leaders in their respective niches. While this approach demands vigilant attention to industry updates, podcasts, and curated summaries to seize opportunities promptly, the rewards in terms of brand recognition and trust are substantial. Irrespective of the sector, be it finance or lifestyle, staying attuned to current events empowers content creators to seamlessly integrate trending themes into their narratives. For instance, if a client operates in the mattress industry and a conversation emerges around the correlation between quality sleep and mental well-being, crafting a piece highlighting how their product enhances sleep quality can be a strategic move. Moreover, proactive outreach efforts aimed at securing coverage from news outlets can significantly amplify the reach and impact of these narratives, captivating a broader audience and driving valuable back-links for enhanced online visibility. By effectively executing a well-rounded news-jacking strategy, brands can seize the moment, drive engagement, and establish enduring relationships with their target audience.
- Create Surveys
A viral survey from a small company can be challenging to execute due to time and potential irrelevant results, but when executed correctly, it can yield significant results.
Survey content works for several reasons:
- You get to pitch completely organic and unique data.
- You can make sure your questions directly tie to your brand’s offerings.
- You can break out your data by demographics for more targeted results.
- Journalists want to cover stories that will engage their audience. That means the key takeaway from your survey needs to be attention-grabbing.
When creating a survey, it’s crucial to have an end goal in mind, but the results may not always align with your expectations. Embrace the possibility of using the data to discover a new story or utilize external data to support your argument.
- Collaborate With Opinion Leaders
By teaming up with media-savvy individuals such as industry experts or influencers, you can significantly enhance the visibility of your content and greatly increase the number of back-links it receives. The valuable insights and experiences shared by these experts not only bolster the credibility of your content but also add a layer of authenticity that resonates with your audience. Incorporating linkable quotes, compelling statistics, or visually engaging images featuring expert opinions can further enrich your content and make it more shareable and impactful. Building a network of connections with industry thought leaders also plays a crucial role in this strategy, enabling you to tap into a wealth of expertise and knowledge. Additionally, platforms like HARO or Quoted offer valuable resources for sourcing expert quotes, allowing you to seamlessly integrate their perspectives into your content and potentially engage in further collaboration with them.
- Release Data Studies
When considering data studies, it is crucial to align the research focus with the nature of the brand. For instance, if an insurance company is presenting findings, it would be more fitting to delve into aspects directly linked to insurance such as customer risk profiles or emerging trends in the insurance industry. This targeted approach ensures that the data shared resonates with the audience and adds value to the brand message. As journalists and bloggers seek reliable sources for their stories, having data insights that are in line with the brand’s expertise enhances credibility and strengthens the narrative being presented. Ultimately, the success of a data study lies in its ability to convey a compelling story that not only leverage relevant data points but also effectively represents the essence and focus of the brand to engage the target audience effectively.
- Conduct City Studies
City studies serve as a powerful link building strategy that leverage data collected from distinct geographic regions to provide valuable insights about the local population, businesses, and even climatic trends. These studies are particularly effective in engaging journalists and bloggers within the targeted regions, resulting in exceptional open and click-through rates.
By incorporating city studies into your marketing strategy, you gain the ability to tailor your content to resonate with specific locales, thus increasing the likelihood of securing high-quality back-links from news outlets, resource pages, and blogs that focus on various cities.
Furthermore, city studies present an opportunity to drive traffic to your location-specific product pages, should they be available, offering relevant and compelling information to readers in those areas. This multi-faceted approach not only enhances your link building efforts but also strengthens your brand presence and visibility within local markets. In essence, the utilization of city studies as a link building tool can yield significant benefits in terms of SEO performance and audience engagement, creating a mutually beneficial outcome for your business and your target audience.
Link Building Best Practices
There are numerous link building strategies available, but there is no universally applicable solution.
To ensure you’re getting the most out of your efforts, remember to follow these links building best practices:
- The objective is to generate valuable and high-quality content that will pique people’s interest in sharing it.
- Understanding your audience is crucial to attract the right people.
- To effectively promote your content, it is essential to connect with relevant websites.
- Gain insight into your competition’s strengths and weaknesses.
- Utilize social media and forums to increase the visibility of your page.
- Utilize a link building scorecard to identify websites that will link to your content.
- To achieve success in content marketing and SEO, it is crucial to consider your brand’s authority, goals, and time constraints before commencing.
We suggest partnering with industry experts to create content that facilitates scalable link acquisition in an ever-changing industry.
