Getting backlinks from high-quality websites is a tough nut to crack. But not so much if you know exactly what to do and how to proceed.
In the following post, we have compiled a list of top 5 strategies you can follow to make your link building game for 2019 a success.
Let’s start with the basics.
Backlinks – The What and Why?
A backlink, often referred to as an inbound link or external link, is basically a link using which an external website is linked to yours. There might be two reasons for acquiring backlinks. One, you have created a well-researched, long form, quality piece of content and you want people to read and appreciate it. In other words, you want it to get maximum eyeballs. Second, you want to use backlinking as part of your content marketing strategy to sell your content or services.
Either way, what you need is not just backlinks, but quality backlinks. However, before getting on to backlink acquisition, it is important to know if your website is ready for it.
Your site must be properly optimized if you want your backlinks to actually serve the purpose well. Once that’s ensured, you can then get down to finalizing the websites to get backlinks from. A few pointers must be kept in mind to make sure you zero in on the right ones. For example, you must check if the website’s domain authority and trust flow are good enough, or analyze the quality of traffic it receives, and its relevancy with respect to your website, etc.
You can then go about creating backlinks once you’re convinced of the website’s quality.
That said, here are 5 of the best link building strategies in 2019:
Strategy #1: The Skyscraper technique
The first technique for link building is the skyscraper technique. This is a 3-step process where you give power to your content to obtain backlinks. Let us understand this with the help of an example. Suppose you have a topic – “Brilliant Content Marketing Tips For Digital Marketers”. Here’s how you must proceed according to the skyscraper technique:
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Find content that is already ranking high
Start by entering your topic into the Google search bar and examine the results that pop up, especially the top 5 ones.
Notice the kind of content they have written. See if they’ve missed out on certain information, or are using lesser visual aids, which might be making their content boring. Note down all your findings.
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Write something better than that
It’s time for action. You now need to create something that’s fun, upbeat and in all senses, better than that content ranking at the top. Conduct an extended research and find as much information as you can on that topic. Design some interesting infographics and images that compliment your content just right. Add some humor, if you need to. Keep the tone engaging, leaving the readers wanting for more. Structure your content well so as to make it easy to skim through.
Your end result will be a long-form content that contains all the possible information organized in the best manner.
It’s time to publish your masterpiece.
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Promote your content
Do you think creating and publishing a masterpiece content would do the trick? Think again! How are readers going to find your content if you don’t promote it?
You need to market your content like anything. Try out the following proven ways to make sure you do it right.
- A pre-outreach campaign – Send an email to relevant influencers and bloggers, informing them about your upcoming content piece. Depending upon their reply, you can then send them your content piece when it’s ready. This practice can trigger enough social shares and a lot of quality backlinks on influencer websites, which will eventually work out well for you.
- A content roadshow – This goes back to the first step of the skyscraper technique. The top ranking blogs you find can be used to obtain a backlink. Write an email asking them to use some of the information from your article and cite it in their post. You get your backlink, they get to make their article better. If you’ve used some brand names in your post, you can write an email to the brand owners and let them know that they have been featured. This is a great way to obtain some additional backlinks.
- Use social media platforms such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, etc. to share your content aggressively.
Strategy #2: Competitor analysis is the key
Keeping tabs on your competitors is the best way to stay ahead. One way to do that is to monitor their backlinks and the corresponding referral domains. And once you’re in the know, you can very well use the same domains to your advantage. Follow the procedure below to find and obtain good backlinks.
Enter your targeted keywords into Google’s search bar and note down the top 10 ranking pages. These are your competitors.
Next, use an SEO tool to find pages that are linking back to your competitors. Here’s an example taken from a mock search made using the SEMrush tool.
Strategy #3: Link roundups to the rescue
Link roundup is one of the most direct and effective link building techniques. Roundup is simply a collection, featuring links to useful/trending content pieces. These may be posted daily, weekly or monthly. Following is an example from Aristotle.
All you need to do is find the link roundups that relate to your keywords and topic and suggest them to include a link to your content for their next roundup. Here’s how you can do it.
Just search for any of the following combinations:
- “Your keyword” + “link roundup”
- “Your keyword” + “weekly roundup”
- “Your keyword” + “monthly roundup”
For example, our keyword for the topic “Brilliant Content Marketing Tips For Digital Marketers” is “Content marketing tips”. So, we’ll be searching for “content marketing tips” + “weekly roundups”.
Pick the roundups that you like and write to them, requesting them to feature your article in their upcoming roundup. If you’re unsure about your roundup selection, you can always opt for link building services to get professional help.
Strategy #4: Research for broken links
Another easy-to-follow strategy for getting backlinks is broken link building. It starts with finding pages with a lot of outbound links. Resource pages are the best fit for this process. You then need to check if any of the outbound links are broken or dead. This can be done with the help of a link checking extension. Here’s how you must proceed:
Type Your keyword “top articles” in Google to find relevant resource pages.
For example, we’ll be entering – content marketing “top articles” here.
Once you’ve landed on a relevant page, use the link checker to find broken or dead links.
When you find one, write an email to the blogger informing him/her about the broken link and offer a link to your article as a replacement for the dead one.
Strategy #5: Guest posting
Guest posting can actually get you some quality backlinks. This is a great option if you’re trying to get a backlink to your service page or your on-page blog. To start with, you need to find reputable guest posting sites. Search for the following to get a list of guest posting sites relevant to your topic.
Write for us + your keyword
Here, we’ll be searching for – write for us + content marketing.
As you can see, a number of sites pop up. Now, before contacting a site’s owner for contributing a guest blog, you need to go through the domain authority and check the kind of traffic they get. Once you’re sure, you can then send them an email wherein you suggest a few topics for them to choose from. After receiving a reply, you can write a guest post on the chosen topic and get backlinks on certain phrases or keywords in the article body or in the author bio.
Guest post is a good way to acquire backlinks, agreed, but it is also about imparting valuable knowledge to the readers. It is advised not to use it just as a link building strategy.
So, these are some of the best actionable strategies for building backlinks. Quality backlinks can effectively increase organic traffic to your blog. It’s up to you to test and decide which strategy works best for you in the year 2019.
Not really sure where to begin? You’ve got nothing to worry about. SEO experts at SunTec India know how to implement the best link building techniques for maximum advantage. Avail our link building services and see for yourself. Start off by writing to us at info@suntecindia.com.
