The goal of every website owner is to get as much traffic to their site as possible to increase sales. Consequently, link building is still just as important as it was years ago. However, due to many algorithm changes over the years, some of the old strategies just don’t work. In order to rank high with the major search engines, your site needs to prove it offers consistent value to readers. In essence, you must work to get high quality backlinks, which confirm to search engines why your site is worthy of more traffic. Therefore, it’s essential that you learn the art of link building.
Backlinks From Edu Sites
Typically, edu sites are some of the best backlinks you can hope to get. They are usually rich in content, and are authorities in their field. Also, Google favors their sites because of the value they provide to readers. In addition, most edu sites are high ranking, which means getting a backlink from these types of sites would help you to rank higher in SERPs.
Look for edu sites that have a direct relationship to your website or business. Getting backlinks from a site that doesn’t pertain to your subject matter doesn’t offer much value when it comes to backlinks.
To acquire backlinks from edu sites, consider targeting colleges or schools looking for local resources, career information or articles about specific topics relating to education. Contact webmasters and point out various topics you could discuss on their site, or offer to supply a number of useful references to help those seeking additional information.
Brand Mentions
With luck, all your hard work to build an online reputation over the years hasn’t gone unnoticed. In all likelihood, your brand name is spread all over the web. However, many of the brand mentions may be just be that. They may not contain a backlink. Now is your chance to build on your brand to capture new backlinks.
Just the fact that your brand name is being mentioned on a number of websites tells you that you have developed some authority and respect in your field. So, you’ve already jumped through the first hurdle, and now you need to get a backlink associated with your brand name.
To find mentions of your brand name that don’t contain a backlink, use Fresh Web Explorer. You simply put in your brand name and domain, and you’ll get a list of all sites containing your brand name with no backlink.
Next, your job is to contact the webmaster with a well-crafted sales pitch about how site visitors would surely want to learn more information about your product or service. There is a good chance you’ll get that backlink!
Question and Answer Sites
Assuming you’re a subject matter expert on what you do, you should be able to answer questions relevant to various products or services and provide useful information about a subject.
Think about answering questions on sites like Subreddits, Yahoo Answers, Wiki Answer or Quora, which all get lots of traffic. You just visit the site that pertains to your interests, and find questions that you can provide knowledgeable answers to.
Answer the question and include a link to an article or blog on your site, which provides additional information about the topic.
Sites With Broken Links
Although, this method for obtaining backlinks can be time consuming, it usually pays off well. Look for high ranking authority sites in your niche. Use a free utility to check for broken links on sites related to your niche.
After finding a site with one or more broken links, contact the webmaster to advise him or her of the broken link, and offer to replace the link with your link to a helpful blog or article about the same topic.
Of course, there aren’t any guarantees using this method, but in many cases the webmaster is appreciative and happy to give you a backlink.
Help a Reporter Out (HARO)
Ideally, the best use of your time is to get press coverage and a backlink. Well, there is a way to accomplish both tasks by joining HARO.
HARO offers a free service where journalists can ask for resources and information about various topics or stories they’re working on. You can sign up for a free plan and receive three email alerts daily about topics that they need help with.
If you have knowledge about a topic, you can contact the journalist about the query. If the idea is accepted, you can write an article and include a short bio at the bottom along with a text link back to your website.
Guest Posts
Writing well written blog posts as a guest is often a great way to get backlinks. You can search out other companies on the net that have blogs pertaining to your business.
The idea is to find an authority site with a high page rank and topics you are qualified to write about. Contact the blog owner and suggest that you may have some informative material that could be of interest to his or her readers. Offer to write a free guest post in exchange for a backlink.
Building Relationships With Competitors
Oddly enough, you should seek out high ranking competitors working in the same field. Competitors have already taken the time to build up relationships with a number of quality websites to increase their page ranks. Once you have identified your competitors, you can review the linking partnerships they have made with other websites to build new linking contacts for yourself.
To get started, use online tools like Majestic SEO, Ahrefs or Open Site Explorer to extract the domains that your competitors are linking to. Visit these links to see if they would be an ideal linking candidate, and write down their contact information.
Next, you’ll want to contact these webmasters, and use your best powers of persuasion to develop a friendly relationship that benefits both parties. You could start by offering to include their name and link in blog posts on your site. Consider interviewing them about their success and writing an article about them in exchange for a backlink. Or, you could volunteer to interact on their forums or social networking sites to answer questions and provide helpful information.
By using creative techniques like building website relationships, notifying webmasters of broken links and building links off of brand mentions, you can steadily gain additional backlinks while improving page rank.
Jessica Kane is a professional blogger who has worked in eCommerce for the last five years. She currently writes for Rakuten Super Logistics and recommends them for all your product fulfillment needs to further your success.