Which Link Building Approaches Do Search Engines Actively Support in 2023

Estimated reading time: 10 minutes

As SEO specialists, staying up to date with the latest search engine algorithms and organic link-building techniques is essential. After all, these tactics can be the difference between success and failure when ranking high on SERPs (Search Engine Result Pages).

A quality link-building strategy may increase your website’s opportunities in organic searches. However, modern search engines actively support specific approaches more than others.

This blog post will explore the critical link-building approaches that boost your website’s visibility. We will discuss which are most likely actively supported by popular search engines like Google.

Link Building Strategies Search Engines Actively Support

1. Organic Link Building

For effective SEO, organic link-building is an essential strategy for small and large businesses; it is one of the best-supported search engine strategies. This approach is also known as editorial link building.

What Is Organic Link Building?

Organic link building is a strategy that strictly follows Google’s Webmaster Guidelines for Search. It. is the process of acquiring backlinks without an exchange between websites and with the strict purpose of ranking higher in SERPs.

How to Acquire Organic Backlinks to Your Site

The first and easiest step is to publish high-quality content on your website. Google recently released the Helpful Content Update, which values content that is written for users with their search intent in mind. High-quality content that’s properly optimized for SEO will naturally begin to rank in the top 1-3 positions. The higher your content ranks, the more likely it is other sites will link back to your content and view it as an authoritative source.

A different tactic is to news jack, which is to inject your ideas and opinions on a breaking news story, so other sites link back to yours as a credible reference or citation. An example of this would be if a criminal lawyer writes a blog related to a trending trial. As an expert in the field, news sites can link back to their site and use the blog as a resource for insights into the trial’s proceedings.

Another easy way to obtain organic backlinks is to offer free assets on your site. These can be anything ranging from infographics, detailed guides, ebooks, PDFs, templates, etc. Each of the assets listed above serves as resources that other sites writing about topics in your field can link to as sources of information.

Lastly, write content that contains important statistics and facts, especially from studies or research you’ve conducted. Many writers love to include statistics and facts without having to do the research themselves. Instead, they can just include a link to the research you’ve done to produce the statistics. Then, they should learn effective strategies on how to optimize your page content to ensure high visibility in search engine results.

What are the Benefits of This Approach?

Organic, or editorial link building, has many benefits, including:

• It focuses on user experience: Search engines aim to provide users with relevant and accurate information. Editorial link-building focuses on creating content that is informative, engaging, and provides value to the user. This aligns with the goals of search engines and provides a positive user experience.
• Promotes natural link acquisition: Editorial link building avoids manipulative tactics and focuses on earning backlinks through high-quality content creation. Search engines actively support this approach because it promotes a natural and sustainable approach to link building.
• Improves credibility and authority: High-quality content created through editorial link-building helps to establish a website as an authoritative source of information in its niche. This improved credibility and authority lead to a higher search engine ranking and a better user experience.
• Promotes diversity of backlinks: By creating and promoting a range of high-quality content, a website can attract backlinks from a variety of sources. This results in a diverse range of backlinks, which search engines see as a positive signal.

2. Skyscraper Technique

The Skyscraper Technique is a strategic approach to link building. It involves creating exceptional, high-quality content to attract backlinks to a website. This technique is widely used by marketers and SEO professionals to improve a website’s visibility, search engine ranking, and domain authority.

Brian Dean, the originator of the Skyscraper Technique, claims to have achieved impressive results from his outreach efforts, with some reports indicating success rates as high as 11%

Here’s a deeper explanation of the steps involved in the Skyscraper Technique:

• Identify a popular topic: The first step is to identify a topic that is popular within your niche and has a significant amount of search volume. This could be a current trend or a problem your target audience faces.

• Research top-performing content: Once you have identified a topic, research the top-performing content on the topic to determine what makes them successful. Analyze their structure, format, and length, and identify the common elements of these pieces of content.

• Create better content: Create a new and improved version of your identified content based on your research. Ensure that your content is more comprehensive and in-depth and provides more value than what is currently available on the internet. Be sure to follow some of our tips for writing compelling copy.

• Promote your content: The final step is to promote your new and improved content to relevant audiences. Share it on social media, reach out to relevant websites, and engage with influencers to drive traffic and attract backlinks.

Search engines actively support the Skyscraper Technique because it aligns with their goals of providing accurate and relevant information to their users. High-quality content created through the Skyscraper Technique provides users with valuable insights and solutions to their problems, which is exactly what search engines strive to achieve.

Additionally, promoting the content through backlink building helps to improve the credibility and authority of the website. It leads to a higher search engine ranking.

3. Web Directory Submission

Search engines like Google, Bing, and Yahoo want to give users the best possible experience when searching for relevant information online. Web directory submission is a link-building approach that all major search engines actively support.

When websites submit their links to web directories, such as Google Business Profile, Yelp, Next Door, the Better Business Bureau (BBB), Bing Places, etc., this helps the search engine in two ways. It promotes a website’s visibility and helps them organize its results better. Search engine spiders automatically crawl web directories looking for new websites to index. It makes it easier for them to find and rank them.

This increases a website’s visibility. It also helps web admins increase their page ranking by creating more backlinks. This approach is constructive if a website wants to optimize its presence in local search engines. It can help people find a specific location or service more efficiently.

4. Broken Link Building

Broken links can be frustrating for users and negatively impact their experience on a website. By fixing these links, broken link building improves the overall user experience. It is a top priority for search engines.

All you have to do is scan a site related to your niche and scan the content for broken links. Tools like AHREFs or even Screaming Frog can make this easier. Once you identify a broken link, you need to reach out to the website owner and ask if they’d be willing to swap the dead link for your live one.

It is an ethical way of building quality backlinks organically for better website ranking. The link you provide will benefit visitors from other websites who click on it. It leads to increased traffic to your website. It is an approach that is endorsed by search engines such as Google.

5. Using Social Media to Get Links

Social media plays a crucial role in link building and is actively supported by search engines. One of the key ways in which social media supports link-building is by increasing visibility. Social media platforms have a vast audience and can provide a wide reach for content. 

Sharing on social media can also encourage users to share and link to the content themselves, providing even more visibility. Another way in which social media supports link-building is by providing contextual relevance. 

For example, a link to a blog post that has been shared and discussed on social media is seen as more relevant and valuable by search engines than a link that is not. Social media also provides an opportunity for link builders to engage with their audience and build relationships. 

By regularly sharing valuable content and interacting with others on social media, link builders can establish themselves as trusted and authoritative sources in their industry. This can help to attract more natural backlinks, as others in the industry are more likely to link to a website that is seen as a trusted source of information.

6. Online News Coverage

One of the primary reasons search engines support online news coverage for link-building is credibility. News outlets are often considered to be authoritative and credible sources of information. 

When a website is mentioned in news coverage, it receives a valuable backlink and increases its credibility in the eyes of both users and search engines. This increased credibility can help to establish the website as a trusted source of information. It can ultimately lead to more traffic and backlinks.

With online coverage increasingly popular among news seekers and search engines alike, businesses should take full advantage of the opportunity!

7. Guest Blogging

Guest blogging was once the number one link-building approach. However, it was soon abused, and many people transformed it into a spammy tactic to gain as many backlinks as possible to raise their domain ratings.

That being said, guest blogging can be an effective and search engine approved link building approach when done properly.

Steps to Properly Aquire Backlinks Through Guest Blogging

1. Make sure you’re pitching to a site that is authoritative, has decent traffic, is known to have engaged readers, and is about a relevant niche to your business. A chef writing content for a marketing company’s site makes no sense. But a chef writing content for a healthy food recipe site makes perfect sense.
2. Write a compelling pitch and send it to the proper person at the website you want to acquire a backlink from. This will require some research. Make sure you’re pitching it to the proper person at the company. Your pitch should also include information about who you are and what makes you an authority on the subject you’re pitching to write about. Your pitch should be as direct and concise as possible.
3. Write high-quality, engaging content that resonates with the audience of the site you’ve pitched to place your content on. Make sure your H1 is catchy and will draw readers in.
4. Ensure you use relevant keywords in the anchor text to link to your site.

Final Thoughts

Sometimes, it can be difficult to get started with cold outreach and to develop relationships with authoritative sites. Not to mention the fact that some of these link-building approaches can be extremely time-consuming while you’re also trying to do your main job.

Fortunately, along with helpful cold outreach tips from Clevenio, there are agencies that offer professional, ethical, and white-hat link-building services that can help you save time and energy. Investing in a package from an experienced link builder can leverage their knowledge, expertise, and pre-established relationships with other sites to ensure the best chance of success for a website or brand.