Frederick Jace
You have built a website. Now you need to drive traffic to it to find new customers.
That is easier said than done. The long steady climb to the top of a search page is known as search engine optimization. SEO is a somewhat lengthy process with many moving parts and you also need marketing strategies, Purchase Content and many other things.
If you want to succeed at SEO, a meticulous link building plan is critical. Link building is one of the top two criteria suggested by SEO consultants to rank pages high on search engines.
The process of obtaining backlinks from other sites requires both hard work and resourcefulness.
Why Is Link Building So Important for SEO?
Over the past decade, search engines have become quite intuitive. Regardless of what you search for, they understand the syntax and bring up the information.
Even if you frame it vaguely, they look up related keywords and zero in. That is why 3.5 billion searches happen daily using Google.
Yet, despite this vast evolution, Google and its main rival Bing cannot understand the quality of a site. A search engine has no way to read the text and judge its quality.
Let’s imagine a very simple thought experiment.
If you write a blog about movie-making special effects and Steven Spielberg does the same, Google has no way of telling which one is better.
Enter link building.
If your blog is not quoted by anyone (barring one or two mentions on Facebook a kind friend might have provided), it has to be low quality.
But Spielberg’s blog will be quoted by renowned media outlets such as Rolling Stones, Variety, National Public Radio, Washington Post, and other similar eminent names. His blog will rank far higher in search because high-value domains link to it.
Easy to Implement Trends in Link Building
Google and every other search engine view backlinks as a huge positive.
Yet this is the hardest part of SEO. An expert fromcompanies like Searcharoo.com can complete on-page SEO in a matter of weeks.
But link building is time-consuming and sometimes downright frustrating. No less than 41% of SEO experts consider it to be the toughest part of their job.
On top of that, there is no perfect way to do link building. Every expert has their own strategy, and the different approaches can be confusing. Is it any surprise that 94% of web content has no backlinks and languishes on page ten of Google?
At Uplers, we recommend the following tried and tested methods that work flawlessly.
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Outreach
Others might call it networking. It would be best if you interacted with people in your domain. These include bloggers and influencers whose endorsement of your brand matters.
But where do you find them? The usual places are subReddits, Facebook groups, and other social media. If you are in a niche sector such as photography, there might be an internet forum frequented by experts and their followers.
How exactly do you perform an outreach?
Contribute meaningfully to these discussions. Be known as someone who has insight and is not unwilling to share it. Then email those who matter. Develop a relationship and ask them to share your link.
You could also chase down blogs in your domain and introduce yourself to their owner.
Of course, your email has to stand out and not be one of the thousands they receive weekly.
A link-building request helps you and not them. Therefore cultivate your relationship accordingly. Share helpful Content and not something that would tarnish their image.
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Guest Blogging
This is one of the most powerful tools in the arsenal. If you contribute to a blog of repute, you earn a link.
Unlike asking for a backlink as above, a guest post puts you on even footing since you are contributing content for free.
However, you have to pay heed to some aspects.
It is not advisable that you pay for publishing a guest post. If that is the case, then it becomes a form of link farming. Sooner or later, search engines would downgrade the site, and all your effort and money would go down the drain. In case you didn’t know, search engines don’t have to provide a reason for downgrading a site.
Comb through the “write for us” section diligently. Follow the guidelines to a tee, and you increase your odds of being published.
Take your time and write well. If you get published once, then your chances of being published at regular intervals increase exponentially. This means several backlinks in the next couple of years.
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Include Original Statistics
Although it takes time, the best backlinks are those earned organically. Someone finds your blog, decides they like what you have to say, and cites your site.
But what do writers like? One thing will bring them to your blog as nothing else does – statistics.
Text is easy enough to find on the web. Listicles are dime a dozen. But it is tough to find hard data that can be quoted to make an article seem more authentic.
Yet, it is statistics and data that makes an article worth reading and lends it credibility.
Do your analysis and present your findings cogently in an article. In a few months, you would be referred to by many. The backlinks earned this way would be repeated every time the readers return for more insights from you.
In fact, if you see the hyperlinks that we have shared in this article, you would find that almost all are about statistics. Data makes a content more forceful.
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Infographics
Continuing on the above theme…
It is even better if you share infographics, pie charts and histograms that confirm a trend. Add an alt-text, and Google Image Search would locate it quickly.
It is easier to rank high on Google Image Search rather than URL search. The visibility of your site goes up dramatically if you share infographics.
The reason is not hard to understand. It does not take much time or resources to mass-produce text articles. But the going gets a lot harder when infographics are included.
Of course, we don’t deny that it takes time to conceptualize, design, and create one. But it is well worth the effort.
Infographics make any article look more attractive and believable. The reader tends to believe that you have put in a lot of work and hence must be more or less correct.
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Chase Broken Links
Broken link building is an ingenious way to earn some backlinks with very little work.
All that you need to do is analyze a few blogs in your domain. Use a broken link checker to find links that are not functional and lead to a 404 error.
Webmasters are eager to replace these links since they annoy visitors. But they don’t spend a lot of time rectifying the mistake.
Once you have located a broken link, mail the site administrator and point out the location of the broken link. Politely suggest that you would be grateful if they included your suggested URL.
Think of it as a type of cold calling. Many won’t respond. But few will and would help you because you assisted them. If out of 100 broken links, you hit even a 10% success rate, that is great for a day’s work.
Get Help if Needed…
Does link building strategy still confuse you? In that case, it is easy enough to give your SEO a boost with the help of a professional agency. You are not alone. 36% of businesses hire outside talent to get a leg-up.
At Uplers, we provide high quality link building services that propel your site to the top of search pages in no time at all.
The link building strategies we employ are up to date and tested by our clients. With over a decade of experience in the field, we can claim to be one of the frontrunners.
The best link building approach is to use not one but a diverse range of techniques. Use the right tools and add value to your articles. Soon enough, you would have tons of backlinks.
