Updated April 28, 2022
Discover five actionable link-building tips that are effective for companies of all sizes.
As an essential part of SEO, link-building is one of the most effective strategies for boosting traffic and ranking better on Google. Alongside excellent content, and well-done technical on-page SEO, a good backlink profile is a top-ranking factor.
However, with the constantly-changing Google algorithms, it may seem hard to keep up with all the requirements and trends for building links more efficiently. This strategy requires certain skills, expertise, and a bit of patience to succeed. You should also focus on implementing white-hat link-building tips to avoid getting penalized by Google.
In this article, we will cover the basic advantages of integrating a good link-building strategy. We will also dive into and share some insightful tips to make your off-page SEO tasks easier.
Consider hiring an SEO agency to benefit your link-building strategy.
Why are businesses in different industries still ‘obsessed’ with building links?
While some companies think that sharing keyword-stuffed content and resolving technical issues will help them rank better, others understand what a good link-building strategy can do in the long term.
Here are the fundamental benefits link-building can provide your brand with:
When Google crawlers head to work, they go from website to website and find out which ones have been the most spoken of. Based on this and many other factors, Google ranks websites accordingly while also considering the user experience.
Simply put, the links you build show Google that your website is a credible source to mention. Moreover, if you build those links with relevant and natural anchor text, Google will not consider it a suspicious activity. So, the more backlinks your site has, the higher your rankings will be.
Also, keep in mind that most users only check out the first page of Google search results. A good backlink profile will help appear in top results and gain more site visits.
In the beginning stages of your link-building process, you need to determine how difficult the process will be which will influence your return on investment greatly. This depends on whether you have a certain level of website authority or you’re just beginning to rank on search engines.
But how does your website’s backlink profile influence business revenue?
As we’ve already discussed, link-building helps rank your website better and it appears more often in search results. As this chain goes, higher rankings provide your site with more traffic which, in turn, is a great source for increasing sales.
Later, you can access and use new means of revenue such as Google AdSense and various affiliate programs.
This one’s pretty simple: the more websites link to yours, the more authoritative your brand appears.
Whether it’s a user, potential customer, or the Google crawler itself, they will check out your website as a reliable source for information and, sometimes, opinion.
To achieve organic backlinks, you should start by creating relevant, engaging, and informative blog content. Moreover, you can also create and share articles based on industry-related research you’ve conducted or statistics you’ve gathered.
Now that we’ve discussed the major advantages of building links, it’s time to answer the “How?”
While this strategy varies based on your industry, budget, and other factors, it’s still considered one of the most complex parts of search engine optimization.
However, it’s also the most rewarding.
With this in mind, let’s discover some actionable and simple link-building tips for building links in a more natural, organic way that will help improve your website's SEO performance:
Link-building is all about effective communication, beneficial offers, and professional relationships with other industry experts. Your pitch can either make or break your strategy.
According to Neil Patel, people open less than 24% of outreach emails. Imagine how many of those people would be willing to respond, unless… You’ve got a great pitch!
So, let’s see what you can do to improve and create a unique outreach email.
Once you get started with these small tips for pitching, you can later do some A/B testing and discover which approach works best in your case.
Additional Reading: ‘Email Acquisition & How to Convert Leads’
Even if it’s a cold email campaign, you can still throw in some individual elements that will make your mass outreach more efficient. As mentioned above, you can use their name and be transparent about your offer.
But let’s take this further–
This will show that you’ve done the necessary research and know exactly to who you’re sending emails.
For a successful link-building campaign, you simply have to be relevant.
If you’re a digital marketing agency, for example, and are reaching out to an HoReCa (hospitality and catering industry) service provider, the outreach results may not be perfect.
Of course, you can find some spots to place your links and offer them some backlinks in return. However, it wouldn’t be as effective as reaching out to a similar or related SaaS website. In this case, it could be an email marketing provider.
Begin with clear data by leaving out any irrelevant websites (whether SaaS or not) that won’t give many results.
Instead, narrow down your outreach list to websites that are related to your industries.
Another effective option is to trust a SaaS link-building agency that will do the job for you, including the right contact list, the outreaching process, and more.
First, let’s see why guest posts might be a better solution for building links:
If you offer a unique and SEO-friendly guest article that’s written according to the website’s guidelines, it will have more success and will get published, with your backlinks, of course.
Now, let’s quickly cover some guest posting tips:
With this small guide, you can get started with guest posting and succeed in your link-building strategy in the long term. This method will also help build partnerships and collaborate with other people in the same industry.
Speaking of partnerships and collaborations, let’s not forget that link-building is all about effective communication in the end. There are thousands of SEO specialists out there trying to build links for their websites, rank better, and improve their site performance.
Even if you complete all the above-mentioned steps appropriately, you may fail if you’re not personable.
Make sure you’re not treating the other person as a backlink source. Instead, make an individual approach to each one of your email recipients so that they see you as a partner, too. This will also greatly influence brand reputation and awareness in the long term.
Additional Reading: ‘2022 Small Business SEO Report’
If you’ve been scared of building links or thought of it as an unsolvable maze, this guide should clear some fundamental points for you. While this is a good spot to be in, you will later be able to earn backlinks instead of building them.
Now that you know how to create an effective link-building strategy, all you need is consistency and determination.
Additional Reading: