Link building is one of the oldest and most effective SEO tactics. It’s also one of the most productive ways to grow organic search traffic.
Historically, links were how Google figured out which websites were good: a link was a recommendation, so websites with more links ranked higher. Google let the web decide how good each page was. Since then, Google updates have largely been about getting ahead of efforts to game this process by acquiring unearned links.
We’re now at a point where only very white hat link building methods still reliably work. It’s basically impossible to beg, borrow, steal, or buy links effectively. All you can do is earn them. But there are still smart ways to do that. And some of them allow you to piggyback on your competitors’ successes at the same time!
1. Guest Blogging
Google has warned against guest posting and put a lot of people off. But high quality, targeted guest posts are different from the mass-produced, low-value posts that were a staple of many SEO strategies a few years ago. Done right, guest blogging can be an effective link building tool.
The first thing you need to do is get the best guest blog spot you can. Identify sites that might take your guest post by scoping out your competitors’ guest posts. For an example here, I’ll use Neil Patel, which means we’ll get a lot of search results.
Start with an advanced Google search, using the author’s name in quotation marks and the words “guest post” also in quotation marks. Include the author’s home domain with a minus sign in front so all those results will be excluded.
The Hub Spot and Forbes results are actually articles by Neil Patel; the others mention him in pieces about guest posting. Since Patel’s name is everywhere online, it might help to narrow this down a little. So an alternative is to search within the URL and identify the author as the author, so you don’t get anything that’s about them or just mentions them.
This is much better than Google. Not only are we seeing more of what we’re looking for, but we have sharing and back link data right there on the sidebar.
If your competitor has already been featured on a site, there’s a solid chance the same site will take you, too. Now that you’ve tracked down some sites, pitch to them via their “write for us” form or email the editor.
Next, you need to get the best guest post link(s) you can. Guest blogging works to build links because you can put links to your website in your post, and usually in your author bio.
Make sure the links are contextual, if you can, rather than hidden in author bios where they are less likely to be clicked and where Google doesn’t love them as much. The best way to get a natural contextual link is to treat that resource exactly as you would if it was someone else’s. Just put it in naturally, and use anchor text that refers to its relevance, not to your site. And be generous. In the top search result above, Patel links out to Quick sprout once, and to Moz, Copy blogger, and a bunch of other places as well.
2. Public Relations
Public relations in the context of link building simply means using the same methods to get back links that you might use to get press.
If you would like to be a source, sign up to HelpaReporter.com, and they’ll tell you when they need someone with your skills for an interview.
Also, consider classic PR moves like press releases. Bloggers and journalists Hoover up information, so if anything has happened – you have a new integration, client, product, feature – make it easy to find. Then you’re likely to be linked to in any article that covers the subject.
Where most people get press releases wrong is overuse of anchor text links. That’s one of the factors most likely to trigger a Penguin penalty. Instead, use your press release to field a variety of anchors linking to your site.
Additionally, press releases can still be added to directories and databases, making them an even better SEO tool.
Even when you do get mentioned, though, there’s no actual guarantee that the people referencing you will give you a link. Sometimes things slip through the net. When that happens, it can be worthwhile to reach out and remind them that you’d like to be linked to.
3. Broken Link Building
Even good, well-maintained websites suffer from “link rot.” Links lead to a location on the Internet, but since websites move their content around, eventually, some links will lead to empty locations. Users arrive looking for a resource and find a vacant lot.
Broken link building fixes this and gets you links. It relies on finding broken links, identifying the content they refer to, and then offering the referring site the chance to refer out to some new, unbroken content – yours.
Everyone wins: website visitors see more up-to-date, useful content and fewer 404s; sites don’t have a whole bunch of broken links; and you get a high-quality back link. For marketers, this is an effective way to get two birds with one stone: you get a blog post built around the right keywords, and, unlike a guest post, you get to keep it. So if anyone uses it as a resource, those links come straight back to you. But you get link juice up front, too.
How do you do it?
Start by identifying a site that you’d like a back link from. If you have keywords figured out, search for them and identify sites that rank for them. Then check out those sites in Ahrefs and identify a broken link.
Use the Broken function in Site Explorer to identify back links that aren’t working. Let’s look at Copy blogger, a copy writing blog. Remember to check under outgoing links or you’ll get broken back links that lead to Copy blogger, not from it.
Source: Crazyegg
