Many inexperienced link builders don’t realize that getting quality backlinks won’t just happen overnight. It’s a process that takes time and research. The most effective way to create a strong backlink profile for your website is to build meaningful relationships in your field. Start by engaging in online communities, contributing to a Twitter chat, or reaching out to experts interested in topics you’re working on. Don’t ask for links immediately, but rather make an effort to understand people’s backgrounds and areas of interest. Provide value first before asking for anything in return. Such an approach will help you create meaningful connections that can bring long-term benefits to your business.
Quality backlinks are hard to come by and it's not just a numbers game. Anyone selling you on the idea that you can pay for a certain number of links, and get such and such results, isn't giving you the full picture. Quality, relevance, authority, context - it all matters. The number of hours spent attaining a link isn't linear. It varies and can be challenging to quantify. This is important to keep in mind when setting expectations for all stakeholders.
Hi, My name is Japhet Manzano, Link Building Assistant at Integrated Digital Strategies, a company that offers complete online and digital marketing solutions to franchisors, franchisees, and B2B professionals that meet the specific needs of their business. Here’s my response to your query. One thing I wish everyone knew about link building is that it's an iterative process. You can't just build links and expect them to take off on their own—you have to keep working at it, making sure that you're constantly tweaking your strategy, testing new ideas, and continuing to refine your process. If you want to be successful in this industry, you need to be willing to try things out and give up when they don't work. It may seem like a waste of time at first, but if you stick with it, it will definitely give you results! Do not hesitate to reach out if you have any follow up questions. I hope this helps.
Data Scientist, Digital Marketing & Leadership Consultant for Startups at Consorte Marketing
Answered 3 years ago
I get so many emails from link builders that say the same exact thing. They generally fall into two categories. Some will compliment an article published on one of my or my clients' websites. Then they recommend adding a link to a relevant resource to the article as a value-add. Others will suggest a partnership where they produce an article for free to publish on the blog. Both of these tactics can work, but often there's just no hook that attracts my interest. For example, if you want to pitch an article to a website, then come up with a unique topic and show the blog owner that publishing your article will add value to their website. The blog owner might benefit from free content. They'll benefit more if the article is fully optimized for a relevant keyword that they don't yet rank for. Think about other ways to hook the gatekeeper by showing them how you can bring unique value to their publication, and you've got a much better shot at getting a placement.
Not every link is created equivalent. Consider the value you receive from a website with a low domain rating and authority versus that of popular brands and business websites. Links of poor quality can cause problems. Building links might take hours, only for you to later realize that you need to remove them. The worst-case scenario would be a penalty for your entire website. If link insertion is something you're thinking about, make sure to start with link quality checks. Assess the websites you want links from to determine if it is worthwhile to spend the time and money on them by performing link quality assurance.
As someone who regularly reaches out for backlinking on articles and websites, it always amazes me how many websites respond with "I'll link back to you if you link back to me". The practice is frowned upon by Google and the links become less valuable when websites link to one another. If domain building worked like that, then everyone would be linking to each other, instead, there has to be value to the link like a piece of valuable or well-written content that brings better context to a web page.
For a plan that's grounded in fact rather than speculation, I recommend starting with search engine results pages (SERPs). Obviously, they must be doing something well if their page is highly ranked on Google for a specific keyword. Determine which of the SERP's primary headers are shared by all of the results. All of your content's contributors, from the strategists who crafted the URL structure to the editors who crafted the alt text and subheadings, will benefit from having a clear understanding of the research's most crucial details thanks to this.
I've been building links for years for my own brands and for clients. I always have that client that says, well, building links isn't hard. I can just go pay someone $100 on Fiverr for a handful of links. Well, yes, you can. I won't argue that. The problem is that those links on Fiverr are probably doing more harm than good unless you're experienced and know what you're looking for. A good DA or DR is far from all it takes. If you want to get a link from a major news outlet or a well-respected blog or publication in your niche, it takes a little more than a single cold email. Those folks are inundated with link opportunities. You need to be offering them something above and beyond the norm. I'd rather have 200 great links than 2,000 mediocre ones.
As a link builder, I wish everyone realized that quality matters more than quantity. Rather than placing links anywhere and everywhere, it's more beneficial to target the websites which have the right target audience for your content. Another tip would be to not just rely on link building and think about merging your SEO and email marketing efforts to get the maximum ROI out of your efforts. (https://www.sendx.io/blog/email-marketing-seo-efforts)
I think the biggest misconception about link building is that it's some kind of art that only a select few know how to do. And I get it - when you don't understand how something works, it can be easy to believe that there's some magic involved. I am an SEO Specialist, and my main job is to provide more links to my company's website. I will tell you the truth, link building these days is really just relationship building. It's all about finding ways to add value to other people's lives and businesses. In other words, help people to create remarkable content, and they will help you. It's not nearly as complicated or mysterious as it might seem. Sure, it’s time-consuming, and yes, ROI might not be as high as you may think, but still, the ‘sound’ of the new backlink means that you’ve made a new relationship, which is a great feeling. Find the way to help content creators add value to their audience, and the links will follow.
Links Are Still Required for Rank Whatever you read, link building is still relevant. Link building won't go away as long as people continue to use search engines to obtain information and as long as those search engines still use links for rankings, which they do. In fact, link-building today is very different from link-building in the past, which may be the source of the misconception. Instead of directory listings, article marketing, and guest posting, use content marketing, your own website's blog, competitions, and freebies.
That companies who say they will rank you on page one in a few months if you just buy their link building package are lying. If you run into a company that makes this sort of claim, probe for information. Are they buying links? Where will the links come from? Will they creating new and valuable content that will attract the links? How can they be so sure they can get you to page in such a short amount of time? It's difficult to acquire good links. It's time consuming. There's no magic number of links that will get you to page one. Your link builders will have to stick with it for an extended period of time, showing consistent results in the form of high DA links acquired. And finally, experienced SEOs know that acquiring links is only one part of a larger SEO strategy.
Create valuable content. One important way to create links is by making content that people will want to share. Developing such content is important as people only look for content that helps solve their problems. You also want to ensure your content is in-depth and engages the readers. There is a great pool of content on the internet, and it could be difficult for the audience to pick which content to consume and understand. Most people scroll past content without reading or checking them, which is not a good sign for any business. You want to make your content interest a reader at first glance. Once you can produce useful and interesting content, other sites will likely link to it. So, make sure you invest time in creating great content that will stand out from different materials.
Because most link building is done via electronic engagement, it often takes on an impersonal feel, but I wish every link builder knew that communication skills are still critical to the process. Email and DM engagement is quick and easy, but it can also lead to a cold and distant feel that makes it difficult to connect to people, and oftentimes, it fails to be persuasive in gaining links due to that lack of a personal touch. Being polite, warm, enthusiastic, thankful, and above all, human in your engagement via email or other electronic communications, is crucial to the process and your overall success. In addition, being able to tailor your communication for each situation, whether it be asking for a guest post or even a simple introduction, is also important to appear less robotic. It is this simple practice of interpersonal skills when communicating online, that is a something that I wish every link builder knew.
I was always taught that link building is a numbers game. That it's about sheer volume of outreach and you just have to put in the work to scour through link building opportunities in SEO tools and then send thousands of cold emails. What I wish I knew sooner was that it's much easier to create content that naturally attracts links: 1) Build integrations and get listed as a partner 2) Do marketing stunts that get people talking 3) Release a state of industry report 4) Announce a new social initiative 5) Publish real thought leadership 6) Build and launch a free tool 7) Publish a round up of data
As a link builder, you should know that young rankings will reduce drastically if you stop generating links. Link building is a continual and constant process. Hence, there’s no maintenance mode we can change to once we obtain our goals. Search engines reassess listings and the algorithms constantly, and the only way to stay relevant to them is by keeping your content and links authentic. But stopping building links might keep you stable for a month, but you will eventually lose all of the progress by doing nothing. Therefore, if you stop link building, start it over again!
I wish I would’ve found Terkel.io and Help a B2B Writer sooner. Traditional link building (via cold outreach) takes a lot of time and doesn’t give the same results as these two platforms. I reply to a few requests each week and usually get a backlink with minimal effort. Traditional outreach requires a lot more effort and research.
Answer the reporter's questions clearly and concisely. While writing a lot to show your expertise can be good, writing about too many topics in one response may make the reporter lose interest. Online readers have short attention spans. Ensure your response has a clear and solid point and is not too wordy to improve its scannability.
Hi there, I'm Corina, a SEO consultant from Zürich. In my last role I've built 40 DA50+ links. Here comes my advice: - Educate your peers about link-building. Out-lie its importance and motivate your colleagues to keep an open eye for link acquisitions. Your colleague form the copywriting team could give a testimonial about a tool she is using. Your colleague form the events team could ask for a backlink from a fair he's participating. If all colleagues are aware there might be more quick-wins. - Create something unique. Conduct a survey and create an inforgraphic with the results. Calculate enough time for the outreach. Hope that helps! Best, Corina Attribution: Corina Burri, SEO consultant Link: https://www.corinaburri.com Headshot: https://www.dropbox.com/s/f370bj4mu31bn7l/Corina%20Burri%20Senior%20Marketing%20Professional.JPG?dl=0 Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/corina-burri-18657662/
You can produce interesting and insightful content without needing to publish full-length studies. Do some data collecting of your own, and make your own observations based on what you’ve experienced or illustrate with infographics. Small efforts like that help you add to the conversation and reinforce your credibility as an aspiring authority in the field. Furthermore, if the content is fascinating, relevant, and useful, it becomes shareable. It can be added to other content or used to back up arguments. This is a great way to get natural white hat links that reinforce your brand.