Link Building: 9 Beginner-Friendly Strategies for SEO Backlinks

Whether you’re trying to earn natural links from search engines or backlinks from reputable sources, link building is an essential aspect of search engine marketing (SEM). Check out how SEO can increase website traffic.

Backlinks are especially valuable for SEO. In fact, backlinks are one of Google’s top three ranking factors.

But, how do you go about building backlinks to your site? It can seem challenging at first, but with the right strategies in place, it's not as difficult as it may seem.

What Are Backlinks?

Backlinks, or inbound links, are links from external websites that point to your own.

Building a backlink strategy can seem daunting, but it's important to understand the basics.

Inbound links, also known as backlinks, are links from other websites to your own. So someone links to your website.

Outbound links, on the other hand, are links from your website to someone else's.

Internal links are links from one of your own pages to another page on your website.

But why are backlinks so important? Well, imagine the internet as a giant city. Your website is a building in that city, and backlinks are like the roads that lead to your building. The more roads there are leading to your building, the more accessible it is to visitors. Similarly, the more backlinks a website has, the more easily search engines can find and index it.

According to Gabi Theard, Director of Marketing at Trujay, “A link building strategy doesn't just increase your SEO score and visibility on Google. It also shows readers where your company falls in relations to other brands — and reminds readers that there is, in fact, a human behind the screen. Backlinks can demonstrate a relationship between two sites and how each site is working to help the other grow."

How Will Backlinks Help My Seo Efforts?

Backlinks are incredibly important for search engine optimization (SEO). In essence, backlinks are like votes of confidence from other websites. When one website links to another, it's essentially telling search engines that the linked-to website has valuable content.

The more backlinks a website has, the more likely it is to rank well in search engine results pages (SERPs). Search engines see backlinks as a sign of the quality and relevance of a website's content. If a lot of websites are linking to a particular webpage or website, search engines can infer that the content on that page is worth linking to, and therefore worth showing in search results.

Why Quantity AND Quality Matter When it Comes to Backlinks

Bear in mind that Google doesn't just rank content based on its quality - it also takes into account how interesting others find it. But how does Google know if others find your content interesting? The answer is backlinks.

It's not just the number of backlinks that matters - the quality of those links is also important. The more backlinks you have from high-quality websites, the better.

To put it simply, the equation for ranking well on Google goes something like this: more backlinks + higher-quality backlinks = higher ranking in search.

So, if you want your content to rank well, it's important to focus on building both the quantity and quality of your backlinks.

Even Google Support says so, “In general, webmasters can improve the rank of their sites by increasing the number of high-quality sites that link to their pages.”

In this guide, we'll outline nine effective link building strategies that have worked for us in the past. By following these steps, you can easily start building backlinks to your own site and improve your search engine rankings.

1. Create High-Quality Content

To create high-quality content that will attract backlinks, you need to put in the effort to research and create valuable, informative pieces that your audience will find engaging and easy to consume.

One key thing to keep in mind is that a blog is not just a tab on your website that you occasionally update. To really see results, you need to have a content strategy in place that guides the topics you cover and ensures that you are regularly publishing new content. In fact, companies that published around 16 blogs per month were found to get 3.5 times more leads than those who published 0-4 blogs per month.

Here are some tips for creating high-quality content that will attract backlinks:

• Research your topic thoroughly to ensure that your content is accurate and valuable.
• Make sure your content is easy to read and engaging, with a clear structure and well-written headlines.
• Use visuals, such as images and infographics, to make your content more appealing and easier to understand.
• Optimize your content for search engines by including relevant keywords in your headlines and throughout the text.
• Promote your content on social media and other platforms to get more eyes on it and encourage others to link to it.

Keep in mind that long-form content gets an average of 77.2% more links than short articles. So, long-form content is ideal for backlink acquisition.

2. Guest Post On Other Websites

One of the best ways to get your content in front of a new audience and build backlinks to your site is through guest posting. This involves contributing articles or blog posts to other websites in your industry, providing value to their audience while also promoting your own site.

To get the most out of guest posting, it's important to choose the right websites to contribute to. Look for reputable and relevant sites in your industry that have a large audience. This will help ensure that your content reaches the right people and that the backlinks you build are high-quality and valuable.

Here are some tips for successful guest posting:

• Write a high-quality, informative article that will be valuable to the site's audience.
• Include a link back to your own site in the article, preferably to a relevant page or post.
• Promote your guest post on your own social media channels and encourage others to share it.

3. Revive Old Content For New Links

Updating old content is a great way to build backlinks and grow your brand. When you find an article or content that hasn't been updated in a while, check how many backlinks the piece has. If it has a lot of references from other publications, then you have a real opportunity to create an updated piece with more relevant data.

Once your updated content is live, reach out to the bloggers or journalists who linked to the old version and let them know about your new and improved version. This can often lead to backlinks or social media shares in a matter of days or weeks. But it can also help you build relationships with these individuals, which can lead to future collaborations and other opportunities to grow your brand and traffic.

When building your email outreach list, focus on the long-term benefits of building relationships rather than just the immediate goal of getting backlinks. This will help you create more valuable connections and drive more traffic to your site over time.

4. Tap Into The Power of Audio and Visual Content

As humans, we are naturally drawn to visual content, which can make it more engaging and easier to digest than written content. This is why people are more likely to share videos or infographics than blog posts. By incorporating audio and visual content into your content strategy, you can stand out from the crowd and attract more backlinks to your site.

Creating audio and visual content does require time and money, but it can be well worth the investment. By putting in the effort to create high-quality videos, infographics, and other visual content, you can differentiate yourself from other websites that avoid doing so. This can make it more likely that other sites will link back to your content, helping to drive more traffic to your site.

Take a look at some very interesting visual content statistics here.

5. Ask For Reviews

While blogs are often the most linkable pages on a website, that doesn't mean you can't get backlinks to other pages on your site. In fact, obtaining a backlink to a product page or other conversion-focused page can be even more valuable, as it can lead to direct sales or other desired actions. One effective way to get backlinks to these pages is by proactively asking for product reviews.

Here are some tips for getting reviews that will generate backlinks:

• Choose products or services that are popular or well-known in your industry.
• Reach out to customers or clients who have used the product and ask them to write a review.
• Provide clear instructions on where to post the review and how to include a link back to your site.
• Offer incentives, such as discounts or special offers, to encourage customers to write a review and include a link.
• Monitor your reviews and respond to any feedback or comments, thanking customers for their review and highlighting any particularly positive points.

6. Use the Broken Link Building Method

Finding broken links on other people’s sites is a great opportunity for you to provide them with a piece of content to replace that broken link you’ve found. To make this tactic effective, your page should be a relevant and valuable resource on the topic that the original link was pointing to.

Ahrefs Free Broken Link Checker is a great tool that will enable you to find broken links on your own website and others.

Once you have identified the target websites and have your content ready, you can start your outreach. Keep your emails short and focused on being helpful, rather than just asking for a backlink.

7. Use Client Case Studies To Boost Your Backlinks

Creating case studies for your clients can be a powerful way to generate backlinks and improve your SEO. To make the most of this tactic, choose your most influential and authoritative clients to feature in your case studies. These should be clients who know your company well, have worked with you for a long time, understand their own business, and have seen great results from your collaboration.

Writing compelling case studies can be challenging, but there are many guides and resources available to help you get started. To create effective case studies, focus on the results and benefits that your clients have experienced as a result of working with you. This will help to showcase your expertise and value, making it more likely that others will want to link to your case studies.

8. Participate in roundups of published articles

Participating in roundups of published articles can be a great way to generate backlinks and improve your search engine rankings. There are many companies, such as Databox, that do article and blog roundups, and they often have a list of topics and articles that they need people to write about. By reaching out to these companies and offering to contribute to their roundups, you can increase the diversity of your backlinks and potentially rank higher in search results.

When looking for companies to contribute to, make sure they are reputable and well-known in your industry. This will not only help you to get more backlinks, but it will also improve the quality of those links, which can have a bigger impact on your search engine rankings.

By participating in roundups of published articles, you can increase the diversity and quality of your backlinks and improve your search engine rankings.

9. Use Local Directories

Directories can be a valuable tool for promoting your business online. When it comes to directories, it's important to avoid spammy link-building techniques or low-quality links that could harm your SEO performance.

Instead, focus on directories that people actually use, like Google My Business, Yelp, and TripAdvisor. These well-known directories are often the first place people go when they are looking for businesses in their area.

In addition to these popular directories, there are many other general and niche directories that can help improve your rankings and drive traffic to your site. These can be especially useful for businesses in specialized industries or for those who want to target a specific audience.

By using directories effectively, you can improve your local SEO and make it easier for potential customers to find your business online. Check out HubSpot’s list of Online Local Business Directories.

Conclusion

In conclusion, link building is a crucial aspect of effective SEO. Without making efforts to obtain backlinks to your site's pages, your SEO efforts are likely to be ineffective.

By implementing the tactics outlined above, you can build a strong and diverse backlink profile that can improve your search engine rankings and drive more traffic to your website.

Let Us Do The Heavy Lifting

Remember, a good SEO strategy can bring more traffic to your site, which can then be converted into leads and clients.

Are you ready to take control of your SEO and start building a strong and effective link profile? Talk to one of our growth specialists at gardenpatch today!

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