Finding backlinks isn’t easy, and finding high quality backlinks is even harder. It can take hours of concentrated effort just to secure a single backlink, and you can’t rely on automated tools to help out in case they end up doing more harm than good.
In fact, Google spends a lot of time clamping down on people who fall foul of their rules, and these penalties can affect companies of all sizes. Even the BBC, JC Penney and the Washington Post have been penalised thanks to unnatural backlink profiles and unethical approaches to link building. Building backlinks is still as relevant a method of SEO as ever, but it’s also risky if you don’t know what you’re doing.
That’s why we’ve done the hard work for you. Instead of leaving it up to fate, go ahead and try some of the strategies we’ve shared in this article. We hope you find them useful!
Reverse image search
If you’ve created infographics or other custom imagery that you own the rights to then an easy way to secure links is to run a reverse image search to find other sites that are hosting your images. Then you can get in touch and ask them to add a source link. Most people will be so grateful that you’re not suing them that they’ll be more than happy to do it.
Provide testimonials
Most companies use at least half a dozen service providers, whether it’s a cleaner for the office or whether they’re working with a marketing agency or a web development company. Make a list of everyone who provides a service for you and then check out their websites. If they include testimonials, offer to provide them with a testimonial of your own in exchange for a link back to your website.
Create a badge scheme
Badge schemes are great because it gives people something that they can embed onto their own websites, and so they work particularly well if you’re targeting bloggers and other groups who are more likely than most to own a web property. One simple way to pick up relevant links is to write up a list of the best bloggers within your industry and then to email each of them with a link to the post and some HTML code that they can use to embed a badge to show off their achievement. Just don’t forget to include your link within that HTML.
Update outdated information
John Laing, an SEO specialist from write-my-essay-for-me, before going freelance, says that updating outdated information works great for building backlinks. “We wrote a post debunking some of the myths around the industry,” Laing explains. “Then we found people who’d fallen for the myths and linked them to our article. Turns out that most of them were grateful for the tip and more than happy to add a link from their old posts to our website.”
Identify broken links
No one wants to have broken links on their website. It negatively impacts user experience, dilutes SEO value and potentially takes people away from the site and dumps them on a 404 page. It won’t exactly be a surprise if they don’t come back. That’s why one way to pick up inbound links is to scan target websites for broken links and to report them to the webmaster. While you’re at it, you can suggest that they switch it to a link to a page on your own site that provides the same information.
Find people who link to competitors
If people are linking to your competitors’ websites then there’s a chance that they’ll link to your website, too. That’s why it can be worthwhile to scan the inbound link profiles of your competitors’ websites and to see what comes up. Then you can target those webmasters during your outreach campaigns. You could even offer to write a follow-up piece to the one you spotted.
Create great content
Ultimately, there’s no better way of attracting inbound links than to create great content. If people enjoy what you’re sharing on your website, whether that’s written content or whether you’re using imagery, infographics and videos, they’re going to start to link to it. It often turns out that the best way to use your time is to create killer content that does your job for you instead of by manually contacting people to build one link at a time.
Conclusion
Backlink building doesn’t have to be difficult, but you do need to make sure that you’re doing it properly and that you’re obeying the regulations that different search engines provide. If you’re found to be breaking their rules then your site can be penalised and even removed from listings pages altogether. And remember that search engines change their advice all the time, so keep checking resources like Google’s Official Webmaster Central blog to make sure that you don’t miss out on a big announcement.
It’s also important to remember that backlink building should still be a priority in 2018 and beyond, despite any risks it might involve. In fact, one study of over a million search engine listings found that the number of domains linking to a page correlated with high rankings more than any other factor. In other words, a diverse backlink profile is more likely to improve your rankings than anything else you could do.
Now you know everything you need to know about building more backlinks, it’s over to you. Good luck.
