It’s no secret that link-building is one of the cornerstone strategies for search engine optimization, and for good reason!
A staggering 92% of marketers believe you must build links to rank higher on Google. This is corroborated by the countless case studies showing the correlation between the number of relevant links and SERP ranking. And just to emphasize it further, in 2016, a Google executive confirmed “links” as a top three ranking factor.
Needless to say, the importance of link-building strategies can never be overstated. So today, we’ll take a look at the most effective and sustainable strategies for building quality links and bolstering your overall link-building strategy.
But first…
What is link-building & why is it important for SEO & visibility
Link-building is the process of building backlinks from relevant websites leading back to your website, otherwise known as inbound links.
Backlinks serve as “votes of confidence” from other sites, improving SERP ranking, increasing site visibility, and generating more traffic (from both search and referral sources).
In theory, the more links from relevant sites pointing to your website or blog post, the higher it ranks on Google’s search engine results pages.
There’s just one problem: not all links are equal.
In Google’s eyes, link-building is more than just how many backlinks or referring domains link to your site. As far as SEO is concerned, the quality of these backlinks matters more than the link quantity.
For instance, your site receives more PageRank when you generate links from closely related sites than backlinks from websites unrelated to your SEO niche.
This is the pitfall of many site owners. Even if 100 low-quality websites link to your page, they will pale in comparison to 10 do-follow links from authority.
Is there a “best method” for building links?
The conversation on the “best method” for building backlinks is a highly trivial matter.
First, we need to clarify the definition of “best” in this scenario. Is it the tactic with the quickest vetted 100% success rate? If so, maybe we need a reminder that blog comments and link exchanges were once sure-fire avenues to generate more backlinks.
Second, we must also remember that link-building is an ever-evolving concept. Just as search engines and their underlying algorithms become more sophisticated, the “best” link-building strategy will also adapt accordingly.
Let me give you an example:
During the early days of search engines, Google’s guidelines on backlinks weren’t as strict as it is today.
SEOs and marketers alike took advantage of every possible link-building strategy to outrank competitors in search results.
One of the most prominent and effective ones, not to mention unregulated, is link buying and selling solely to pass PageRank and boost SERP rankings.
At the time, this practice may be considered arguably the best. After all, a site owner gets the instant gratification of more favorable SERP positions for a few hundred bucks. This defeats slower and more tedious strategies like guest blogging or submitting entries to resource pages.
However, after the Penguin update, Google has doubled down on catching and penalizing sites engaged in unscrupulous link schemes, link buying and selling included.
Image source: Google
While Google still recognizes the normalcy of buying links in today’s SEO landscape, they require link sellers to qualify the sold links with the proper rel attribute. Paid links are qualified with rel=“sponsored” instead of your regular do-follow or no-follow links.
- Fortunately: this safeguards buyers and sellers from experiencing Google’s penalty.
- Unfortunately: buyers will not receive the same level of link equity or link juice from conventional do-follow backlinks.
So, where does this put link purchasing in the conversation on the “best” strategy to build links? Exactly.
Therefore, the best strategy is not measured by its results alone. Its temporal stability also plays an important role.
Because, let’s be honest, black-hat link-building tactics have higher success rates and quicker turnaround time compared to white-hat link-building. However, they are not sustainable and even put websites at risk of getting penalized by Google.
Pro tip: “The best link-building campaign is not made up of one be-all and end-all strategy. It is a combination of effective link-building strategies that can help you generate high-quality links that are relevant to you and the linking page’s target audience.”
That’s what I’ll be sharing with you in this article. Read on to see the 6 effective link-building strategies that will remain pertinent for years to come.
6 link-building strategies for lasting SEO impact in 2024
Creating & posting quality content
Content has always been the cornerstone of search engine optimization. Look at any website actively engaging in SEO and they’ll certainly have an archive of blog posts somewhere on their website.
Aside from being a valuable resource page for audiences, writing a blog post is also the most organic method of gaining more links. Google values backlinks that are built naturally, meaning no transaction happened between the two parties.
Content paves the way for this to happen—but not just any content.
Most site owners dismiss the power of content to attract links, leading them to produce second-rate, watered-down, thin, carbon copies of other sites’ blog posts.
Creating link-worthy content means putting in the work before the writing even starts. That includes conducting keyword research, competitor analysis, content gap analysis, etc.
Publishing high-quality, original articles will not only boost organic traffic, but if it’s link-worthy enough, you will start seeing websites linking back to your content.
Targeted outreach
Another future-proof strategy for building backlinks is targeted outreach. In a nutshell, this means reaching out to other websites and pitching your link to be included in the desired web page.
The beauty of target outreach is its straightforward, no-nonsense approach to gaining new links. Of course, it is the webmaster’s discretion to approve your pitch or not. In some cases, they might ask for a return favor from your site in exchange for the link to your content.
To conduct targeted outreach, start by self-contemplating whether your content or pitch is backlink-worthy. If not, take time to improve the content first to increase the success rate of your outreach efforts.
Next, start looking for relevant sites or web pages where you can pitch your content. Ideally, you must find sites where your link insertion will make sense and fit perfectly. Otherwise, your link might gain minimal link equity or get in the way of a user’s search experience even if you gain the backlink.
Finally, start crafting personalized outreach emails. Brian Dean from Backlinko provided a clear example outreach email you can repurpose:
Image source: Backlinko
Guest posting
Remember strategy #1? Keep in mind that you’re not the only website engaged in content marketing. Other sites also work tirelessly to keep their blogs active, but keeping up with publishing articles can be challenging.
This is where guest blogging comes in.
Guest posts offer a two-pronged benefit for both the guest blogger and the guest posting site:
- The guest blogger receives free do-follow backlink(s) from the site, depending on the specified guidelines.
- The website receives a free guest post that will be a source of free traffic and link opportunities, like backlinks or internal links.
Just like publishing content in your blog, you must also hold guest articles to the same standard. That means finding relevant websites to your niche and submitting a high-quality guest post aligned with their target audience.
For instance, if you sell workout equipment, you may choose to target fitness websites or a local business like a gym. This makes your guest post pitches more suitable, leading to high-quality backlinks when accepted.
Conversely, if your company also owns a blog, you may also choose to accept guest posts that are relevant and up to par with your desired quality. This takes a heavy load off your back from coming up with and publishing content on your website.
Finding & replacing broken links
Broken link-building is another popular future-proof strategy for building backlinks. This process involves reaching out to websites that are outbound linking to broken links and then suggesting your web content as an alternative.
Most links found on the internet are inevitably subject to link rot and it can happen for several reasons:
- Domain expiration
- Changes in the slug
- Site restructuring
- Link deletion
The point is that it’s only a matter of time before an active link becomes a broken link. A recent study on link decay corroborated this and found that 44% of all backlinks are gone after 7 years, with no-follow links decaying faster than do-follow ones.
Broken link-building takes advantage of this by finding a relevant page and replacing the dead link with your content.
The link reclamation process follows the same principle as targeted outreach, but in this case, you inform the site of the dead link. Then create a personalized copy that captures your target keyword, anchor text, and intended backlink.
Generate link-worthy assets
Creating link-worthy articles is not the only strategy for building inbound links organically. Even other marketing assets can be powerful avenues for garnering more backlinks.
For example, infographics can be link-worthy assets if the design and content are appealing enough for websites to embed into their blogs. In any case, even if websites don’t link back to your site, you still increase your visibility among their users.
Another backlink-worthy asset is developing free tools. If deemed useful, websites will naturally link back to your tool on their own free will. Plus, you can also pitch your free tool to be included in relevant online product roundups.
This boosts not only your tool’s popularity but also your entire website.
Take advantage of social media
It’s no question that we live in a social media-dominated world and will remain that way for decades. But on top of connecting people’s lives, it is also a gateway for link-building success.
Social media helps with content amplification. In social platforms, high-quality, shareable content is gold.
When you create link-worthy content, social media can amplify its reach, potentially putting it in front of relevant influencers or website owners. These people may then link or cite it as an inspiration, earning you a valuable backlink.
In the conventional SEO sense, social media backlinks do not pass link juice since they are tagged with no-follow attributes. Nonetheless, we cannot dismiss them since they are still valuable sources of referral traffic, especially if the article attains virality.
Why & how to keep your audience top-of-mind when building links
Your target audience should always take precedence in your link-building campaigns. To understand why, you must go back to Google’s mission: To organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.
Nothing matters for Google more than valuable pieces of information being useful and relevant for its users. This covers every inbound, outbound, or internal link found on every web page in existence.
Here are two reasons why audiences must come first before link-building:
Relevance is king: Backlinks from irrelevant websites hold little value for search engines and can even hurt your ranking. Focusing on audience-relevant links ensures your content caters to a specific interest.
Engagement matters: Search engines consider user engagement a ranking factor. Backlinks from websites your audience frequents or interacts with means that your content also resonates with them, which may potentially boost your organic traffic.
Now, how do you ensure you and your linking site’s audiences are catered to? Simple. Find referring domains belonging to the same industry or niche and target them for your link-building efforts.
Conclusion
Link-building remains a vital pillar of search engine optimization. But as the industry evolves, link-building strategies will inevitably follow suit.
To succeed in this ever-evolving competitive landscape, you need results-driven and future-proof strategies that can elevate your business above the competition.
Remember: There is no be-all, end-all strategy that can win you the link-building race.
The best link-building campaign will combine various strategies in perfect synergy, ensuring greater visibility and maximum equity gained from backlinks.
In this quest, Omniscient Digital is your #1 ally in growing your business through content and link-building. Ready to take your business to the next level?
