We recently created an infographic to help businesses understand some of the most effective approaches to link building. Search engines send most online traffic, yet businesses still lag behind when it comes to attracting the authoritative links that lead to high rankings. Inbound links from blogs, directories, and other high-quality sources can give your content a real boost on search results pages.
Many website owners wrongly believe that search engines penalize all link building. They penalize programmatic link spam, but building links organically through relationships is still encouraged. To see which techniques your business can use to grow, have a look at some of the ideas we share in our infographic.
Outreach strategies
Outreach is one of the main areas we cover in our infographic. In our experience, it is the most effective way to build links from reputable sources. Outreach means reaching out to relevant blogs in your industry and encouraging them to link back to your website. Writers, marketers, and entrepreneurs who know about your content are more likely to reference your work. Outreach matters most when your website has limited visibility, since major content creators in your industry are unlikely to link to content they cannot find. You can run an outreach campaign in many ways, and we cover the main techniques in our infographic.
Repairing broken links
Search engines penalize sites that carry broken links. If your business depends on search engine optimization, you probably watch your website closely for them. Other owners either do not know how much broken links matter or fail to notice when one breaks. When links pointing to your website become invalid, you can contact those website owners and show them how to fix the problem. In many cases, owners are happy to repair broken links you point out so they can avoid a penalty.
Earning links from customers
Satisfied customers who run their own content marketing campaigns can be an excellent source of new links. You can encourage them to talk about their experiences with your brand online or to mention your company in their blog. A link from a customer with an authoritative website can lift your rankings noticeably, so it often makes sense to take the initiative and encourage customers to link to your content. In some cases, it can even pay to give customers discounts or rewards for a backlink.
Creating high-quality content
Good content is what attracts links, because reputable publications only want to cite the best information. If your content is unoriginal or weak, you give authoritative blogs no reason to reference your work. High-quality content also ranks more naturally on search engines, so strong content has a better chance of being found by content creators. When people in your industry can find your content, you have a much better chance of attracting the links you deserve.
Guest blogging
Sometimes the best way to build links is to offer free or inexpensive content to reputable industry blogs. As long as you follow the rules search engines have set for paid content placement, you can avoid penalties while guest blogging. To get the best results, do your research before you choose a publication. Check that a prospective blog has not been penalized by search engines and that it could not be seen as a link farm. Guest blogging done right can earn powerful links that lift your rankings for the search terms your customers use.
Enhancing content with the skyscraper technique
The first search result receives almost half of the inbound referral traffic. When your website sits at the bottom of the first page, a bit of extra content can sometimes be enough to push you all the way to the top. You can add to your existing content so search engines treat it as more authoritative, then run a second round of content promotions.
Content submissions
We also cover content submissions at length in our infographic, because we have watched most websites lag behind in this area. Submissions complement an outreach campaign by keeping your link portfolio diverse. If all of your links come from authoritative industry blogs, search engines will start to penalize your website, because it becomes obvious that you are not building your links in an organic way. Submitting your website to high-quality sources, such as directories, content aggregators, and infographic portals, is a strong way to build extra links without leaning too heavily on outreach.
Directory websites
Marketers often believe that directories can get their websites penalized, but directories can still make your website look more authoritative to search engines. When you use directories, only submit your website to sources that comply with Google’s terms of service. Directories that accept any submission will get your website penalized, because they only serve search engine specialists trying to game the system. Selective directories, such as Jasmine Directory and Alive Directory, are highly authoritative because they offer a directory of information that is useful to online readers.
The best approach to building links
When building links to your website, earn them from a wide range of sources. Owners who focus only on links from blogs and social media get limited results, because link diversity is what counts. Add the skyscraper technique and directory submissions to your link building campaign to get the best results.
