Estimated reading time: 5 minutes
When link building first took off as a solid method for improving Search Engine Optimization (SEO), it was all about quantity; the more backlinks – regardless of quality – the better. Let’s look further into link-building strategies.
Today, as search engine technology has become so much more sophisticated, the success of a link-building strategy has far more to do with the quality of the links.
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The Importance Of Link-Building Strategies
Link-building strategies are vital to marketers wanting to improve their site’s SEO, as backlinks are one of the primary factors search engines use to establish site rankings – the better the backlinks, the higher the ranking. On average, internet pages that feature first in Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) have almost 4 times more backlinks than subsequent pages in the top ten results listed.
But this isn’t only about the numbers; the more trustworthy and authoritative the sites that link to you are, the better your SERPs will be. This is why it is imperative to have a solid link-building strategy in place, to ensure that time is well-spent creating quality links that make the difference.
Here are five link-building strategies for marketers to consider in the pursuit of quality links.
Strategic Guest Blogging
In the good old days when quantity was all that mattered, guest blogging was highly effective – it barely even mattered whether your link had any relevance to the content of the blog. Now, guest blogging needs to be strategically done to matter.
A recent survey reported that 60% of bloggers now write up to 5 guest blog posts each month.
Authentic, value-adding, and relevant blog posts with associated links can still increase traffic and boost SEO; guest blogging isn’t dead in the water, but today’s search engines are too smart to fall for empty content and worthless links. Do it right, or don’t waste your time.
Resuscitate Broken Links
Over time, links break down (in other words, the linked destination is no longer a valid webpage), resulting in diminished content value. According to a recent study, 42% of websites feature content with broken links – opportunities that you can leverage to build quality backlinks.
The process is simple; Research pages that feature broken links and request to replace them with a valuable link to your related content. This can be an effective way to build quality links, since the site featuring the broken link will prefer that it be replaced with a quality, working link to maintain the quality of their content, so it’s a win-win.
Create And Publish Infographics
According to Forbes, 84% of the companies that use infographics report that they are effective in boosting traffic and backlink numbers.
Infographics provide high-value content that is easy for bloggers and other content creators to share and link back to. Statistical infographics such as comparison charts or a Sankey diagram are easy for bloggers and other content creators to share and link back to. In many cases, sites that will source, share and link back to infographics are quality sites that offer valuable backlinks. The more unique and valuable the infographic data is, the more quality backlinks you will score.
Increase Your Social Media Presence
Virtually everyone is regularly active on one social media platform or another – and often multiple ones. The internet has revolutionized commerce, and any marketer not incorporating social media into their sales strategies is missing out on vast (and typically free) opportunities.
By establishing and maintaining a consistent online presence, brands can significantly heighten awareness of their products, services, and company ethos. By sharing brand updates, images, offers, valuable insights, and more, marketers make it easy for followers to share their content, organically increasing their reach. This improves overall brand visibility and increases the chances that people will link back to your site when sharing your content.
Research And Replicate Competitors’ Backlinks
Everyone spies on their competitors to assess what they might be doing better at, and finding out how your greatest competitors are achieving their backlinks can provide invaluable insights.
Whenever a competitor is consistently ranking higher in the SERPs than you, you have to ask yourself why. One of the reasons may well be their methods for building backlinks.
Running a little recon exercise can leave you with some powerful information, such as where your competitors are primarily sourcing their backlinks, what keywords they rank highest on, and more.
Checking Competitor Backlinks
To find out which sites a competitor is sourcing their backlinks from, there are a range of popular SEO tools to choose from, such as Semrush and Ubersuggest (this chrome extension is free to use).
By entering a competitor’s domain name into such tools, you can view a range of data, including a list of sites that link back to their site.
From there, you can accurately assess what their primary link-building strategies may be, and which sites, in particular, prove to be the most valuable sources of backlinks in your field.
Final Thoughts
There are a gazillion ways to source backlinks; these are just a few effective examples. Successful link-building strategies tend to focus on a handful of well-researched approaches that are proving to be the most effective in the particular field.
Once you have established a solid link-building strategy, it’s vital to incorporate monitoring your links regularly to track how many remain live. While we can’t control what another site does with our links, we can track how many remain live and how far off we are off the goal volume.
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