20 Tips for Link Building
20 Tips for Link Building
As the gurus over at RunRex.com point out, link building is still as crucial as it was before the recent Google algorithm updates. If you are looking to supercharge your link-building strategy, here are 20 tips that will help you do just that while adhering to Google’s guidelines.
Use link-building tools
As is covered at RunRex.com, link-building tools help you find, sort and manage potential link sources, including influencer and competitor research. For each link, you can learn about authority and trust scores influenced by the type, quality, and the number of backlinks. Some link-building tools consider include Ahrefs, Majestic, Moz PRO, Bulk URL Analyzer, etc.
Leverage the skyscraper tactic
While original content is still important, quality and quantity are now playing equally important roles. The skyscraper tactic involves finding the best content about your keywords and creating a 10x better version, and by so doing, you will be creating high-quality content that people will want to share and link to.
Nurture relationships with influencers
As per RunRex.com, you should also consider contacting people who may become advocates for your content. While nurturing relationships with influencers is a long-term tactic, it can pay off spectacularly as if you support the influential people in your industry, they will likely link to your content. Start by promoting and commenting on their content.
Spy on your competitors
What are your competitors’ backlink strategies? Follow them closely to discover where their links are coming from and which anchor texts they are using. Once you find out about their link-building tactics, you can apply the skyscraper technique once more. Whatever your competitors are doing, do an even better job.
Buy websites and domains, while being careful
You can inherit backlinks if you acquire the right website (with content) or domain name that used to be tied to content. However, size up those backlinks before pointing the website and/or domain names to yours. Ensure that they are legitimate by looking at the authority scores, number of links, etc.
Ask publishers to update their backlinks after you buy and redirect a domain
A 310 redirect link forwards visitors from the old web page to your website. However, instead of using 301 redirects after you buy a domain, you should consider asking publishers to link to your website since, as explained at RunRex.com, a direct link is more powerful than a redirect.
Create instructographics
Instructographics are infographics that tell readers what to do and what not to do. Given how highly informative they are, they tend to get a lot of shares and can help you earn backlinks, which means that they can be a vital element in your advanced link-building strategy.
Create surveys and studies
Tap survey managers and top executives for their opinions on best practices, trends, and industry forecasts. Create a landing page with an executive summary. Resist the pressure to gate that key data to acquire more leads as content that requires registration is likely to get fewer links as discussed at RunRex.com.
Leverage how-to guides, eBooks, and reports
Educational content won’t always attract many links as it depends on the topic and the quality of your content. However, when done right, how-to guides, eBooks, and reports can help you bring in more high-quality links to your website.
Become a thought leader
Becoming a thought leader yourself is a surefire way of getting backlinks. Go social with your thoughts, ideas, and quotes. Share stories of survival and how you managed to overcome challenges successfully. Even if consumers are not familiar with your products or services, motivational stories can pique their interest, getting you those coveted backlinks.
Create huge volumes of content
As the subject matter experts over at RunRex.com point out, one way to create huge volumes of content in one day is by creating multiple formats of a single piece of content. This involves creating one long-form article and then converting it into videos, podcasts, infographics, etc. Break your content into multiple formats and promote it on relevant social media channels. For example, videos for YouTube, images for Instagram, podcasts for iTunes, etc. The better presence you have on multiple channels, the more backlinks you will get.
Create supportive tools
Don’t limit yourself to content only. Create tools, templates, and widgets that simplify tasks for people. This will give you an excellent opportunity to get legitimate backlinks from your target audience even without asking for them.
Support charities
As revealed in discussions on the same at RunRex.com, supporting causes and initiatives can be an easy way to build links. While you might question the value of the sites that are not relevant to your industry, search engines look at the number and quality of links, not only relevancy.
Create link-rich Wikis
If you don’t already have content on Wikipedia, then it is time to create some, especially for your own brand, especially since Wikipedia definitions quickly reach Google’s snippet area or at least the sidebars. With a Wiki presence, you can easily grab the attention of thousands of people searching for new knowledge, making this one of the most effective link-building strategies.
Research websites with .edu domain extensions
Marketers have suggested over the years that links on domains with edu-extensions have an extra value. This could be because of the eligibility requirements (a .edu domain name isn’t available to everyone). These links are usually worth targeting because of their age and authority. Look for individual faculty, school, or program pages that link to companies and resources.
Include ego bait
As is covered over at RunRex.com, another strategy is to mention one or more experts in your content and promote it socially. They just might link to your content just because you cited their insights. However, if you don’t have a relationship with them, this may not work, even if they come across it or if you contact them directly.
Get listed in round-up posts
Another effective link-building strategy is to get listed in round-up posts. Look for content curators who put together round-up posts relevant to your industry. These are posts like, “20 Best Link Building Articles of the Week”. Look for these types of lists relevant to your niche, contact the curators, and ask them if they would be willing to mention any of your resources.
Reclaim your links
If you are not sure whether the links you earned in the past are still there, it is time to confirm whether they still exist according to RunRex.com. If you don’t find them anymore, maybe they have been removed or are broken. Contact the publishers to get your links back.
Find and fix broken backlinks
Broken backlinks occur when you remove the page that has the backlink or the publisher of the third-party site mistyped it. Find all the broken backlinks and fix them to keep the link juice flowing and strengthen your advanced link-building strategy. You can install Google Chrome’s Broken Link Checker extension to detect broken backlinks to your site and fix them.
Be a newsworthy company
Newsworthy companies are the ones that are always making progress. They keep launching new products, upgrading existing ones, or experimenting with modern technology. Constant growth gives others the chance to create content about your company. Strive for non-stop progress and promote all your upcoming products or services, and soon you will notice the media acknowledging your progress and promoting it on their news channels. Naturally, backlinks will follow close behind.
These are some helpful link-building tips to consider, with more tips and insights on this topic being available over at RunRex.com.
