How to get more qualitative backlinks from reputable websites? Do you just ask? Is social media a reputable source? In this article I write about six different link building strategies you can use for your SEO plan!
The easiest way to create backlinks is by starting a business page on Social Media. If you are serious about link building, you shouldn’t ignore Social Media. Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram are excellent platforms to reach potential customers. Google also takes your activities on Social Media into account when indexing and positioning your website or platform. Moreover, Social Media are ideal for promoting your website and business. After all, you reach a large audience at often low costs.
With a company page on LinkedIn you can easily link to your website. Moreover, you can place relevant content on this page where you can process backlinks, so start writing articles on LinkedIn too!
Your contacts on LinkedIn can then easily distribute this content among their own contacts. Google knows how to value a lot of shared content and will reward this with a higher ranking. This way LinkedIn fits perfectly within your link building strategy.
Popular websites often offer the option to post a guest blog. You then write a blog for free on a topic within your field. The website will post your blog with a link to your website. This way you reach a larger audience than usual while also benefiting your link profile, making it a valuable link building activity. I wrote a whole article about guest blogging that might be interesting to you!
Many people often gather on forums with specific questions within your field. This is the ideal place to use your knowledge for link building. Of course, you will place a link to your website in your response. Don’t be too flashy and only provide relevant content. If you only post links, this will soon be considered spam and your comment may be deleted.
Always check if the link that you post is automatically changed to a nofollow link or not. Nofollow links are as good as useless for your SEO, but the value for your visitor is still there.
Do you sell a certain product? Consider giving an influencer your product or service as a gift in exchange for a review. You can also choose to share your knowledge in an e-book and have it reviewed by various online reviewers. In most cases, they will link to your website on their website. Be aware that negative reviews can also follow. Influencers are so popular because they are authentic and give their audience an honest assessment. However, this only makes a review more interesting within your link building strategy.
It is good for your image, your reputation and your link profile: supporting charities. In exchange for sponsorship, charities often offer some space on their website or promotional material. A backlink at a reputable charity is good for your link profile and therefore also good for your ranking with Google. By supporting a good cause you achieve multiple goals within your marketing and link building strategy.
Search engines are getting smarter at assessing backlinks. It is therefore increasingly noticed when there is “a smell” on a backlink. Link building that does not comply with Google’s rules will therefore be penalized. In the worst case, your website will be completely removed from the search results. It is therefore important to align your link building strategy with the rules so that you can only reap the benefits. It is also important to keep a close eye on the rules and to review any changes in the rules of the game.
Some link building activities do meet the guidelines of what is allowed but prove to be ineffective in practice. Earlier I mentioned, for example, a sudden increase in the number of backlinks that your website has. Besides, it is also not smart to place many backlinks on young websites or to choose the same anchor text over and over again. The content of the website where you place backlinks must also be related to your website. So it makes no sense to place backlinks haphazardly. This will never lead to a place in the top 10 of Google and is therefore pointless as a link building activity.
If you have earned excessive unnatural and spammy backlinks, here’s a guide on how to disavow backlinks.
It is not wise to link to websites with a bad reputation for spam or websites that have been hacked. Finally, it is inadvisable to build special websites for cross-linking. These are all link building activities that Google penalizes in the page ranking if they find out.
Link building activities you should never do:
Also read: How Many Backlinks Do I Need To Rank in Google’s SERPs?
Are you satisfied with your link building strategy? Then check your website with a free online SEO check tool. This not only gives you insight into the optimization of your website, but you can also see how you score in the field of link building. For example, with the free online SEO check tool MOZ you can easily see whether your current link building strategy is working and whether you do not have too many bad backlinks.
You may also try using link-building tools like Ahrefs, SEMrush, and Majestic. These tools allow you to track your progress and see how successful your link-building efforts have been by giving you important information about your website’s backlink profile, such as the quantity and quality of backlinks, referring domains, and anchor text distribution. So, why not give them a try and see how they can boost your website’s SEO!
Having trouble understanding this tool or in need of an SEO junky (me!) to do a full SEO audit for you, don’t hesitate to reach out! I help many small businesses and entrepreneurs for a small and honest fee.
