The first step to building backlinks is identifying the best link opportunities. This includes finding blogs, forums, and other websites that are relevant to your business. Once you have identified these sites, it’s time to get cracking with some link building!
Contents
What are backlinks and why are they important for SEO?
Backlinks are links from other websites that lead back to your website. They are an important factor in SEO as they help to improve your website’s authority and credibility. The more high-quality backlinks you have, the higher your website will rank in search engine results pages (SERPs).
The types of links you should avoid
There are a few types of links you should avoid if you want to improve your SEO.
These include:
- Links from low-quality websites
- Links that are not relevant to your business
- Paid links
- Links from spammy websites
If you can avoid these types of links, you’ll be well on your way to improving your website’s SEO!
Now that we know what backlinks are and why they’re important for SEO, let’s take a look at the different types of links you should aim for. These include:
- Links from high-quality websites
- Links that are relevant to your business
- Natural links (i.e. not paid or spammy)
How to find high-quality websites to guest post on
Guest posting is a great way to get high-quality links from relevant websites. However, not all websites are created equal. So how do you find the best websites to guest post on?
There are a few things you can do:
- Use Google search operators to find blogs that accept guest posts
- Use BuzzSumo to find popular websites in your industry
- Use Ahrefs’ “Best by Links” report to find highly linked-to websites
Once you’ve found some potential website targets, it’s time for the next step!
Now that we know what types of links we should be aiming for, let’s take a look at how to go about getting them. This includes:
- Outreach
- Guest posting
- Link building tools and techniques
Outreach is the process of contacting website owners and asking for a link. It can be daunting, but if you do it correctly, you’ll be able to build relationships with influential people who can share your content and help improve your SEO!
Guest posting is another great way to get high-quality links. By writing guest posts for popular websites in your industry, you’ll not only get a backlink, but also exposure to a new audience.
Finally, we have link-building tools and techniques. These are all the different methods you can use to get more links from relevant websites. This includes using tools like ahrefs and Majestic, as well as techniques like broken link building and content promotion.
Ways to get others to link to your content
There are a few ways to get others to link to your content:
- Share your content on social media
- Submit it to popular websites and directories
- Editorial links from high-quality websites
- Reach out to bloggers and website owners and ask them to share it
- Local Business Listings
- Use tools like Ahrefs’ “Content Explorer” to find people who have shared similar content in the past
By using these methods, you can increase the chances of getting other people to link to your content!
The importance of anchor text
Anchor text is the text you use to hyperlink to another page or website. It’s important to use anchor text correctly as it can help improve your SEO.
When choosing anchor text, you should target a keyword that you want your website to rank for. You can then use this keyword in your anchor text, which will help to improve your website’s SEO.
How often you should be building backlinks
There is no set answer for this. What’s important to keep in mind, however, is the quality of your backlinks and how relevant they are to your website.
If you have a good mix of high-quality links from relevant websites, there’s no need to worry about building too many or too few!
You can use a tool such as ahrefs or SEMrush to uncover your competitor’s referring domains and backlinks and their link velocity, which will give you a target to aim for.
Link Building FAQ
What is link building?
Link building is the process of acquiring links from other websites to your own. Links are one of the most important factors for ranking in Google. The more high-quality links you have, the better your website will rank.
What types of links should I aim for?
There are a variety of different types of links you can aim for, including:
- Editorial links from high-quality websites
- Links from .edu and .gov.uk websites
- Local business listings
- Relevant website
How do I go about acquiring these links?
The best way to go about getting these links is by reaching out to the website owners directly. You can use tools like HARO and SourceBottle to find opportunities to get featured in articles or as a source.
You can also reach out to bloggers and ask them to include a link back to your website in their blog post.
What are some common mistakes people make when trying to build links?
Some common mistakes people make when trying to build links include:
- Not targeting the right type of links
- Focusing on quantity over quality
- Relying on black hat tactics like link spamming or buying links
- Not tracking their progress and results
How can I track my link building progress?
The best way to track your link building progress is by using a tool like ahrefs, SEMrush or Majestic. These tools will help you see which websites are linking back to your website, as well as how many links you have acquired overall, and your ranking position changes over time.
Make sure to also track your website’s position in Google Search Console and see if there is any correlation between the links you are acquiring and your ranking changes.
Can I outsource my link building?
Yes, you can outsource your link building to a trusted SEO company. However, it’s important to make sure that you trust the provider and that they have a good reputation. Otherwise, you may end up with low-quality links that could hurt your SEO efforts.
What is broken link building?
Broken link building is the process of finding broken links on other websites and suggesting potential replacements.
Broken links are bad for user experience, and can also hurt your website’s ranking in Google. The more high-quality links you have, the better your website will rank. So you can reach out to webmasters with broken links to update them to link to your site with improved content (Skyscraper technique).
What is the Skyscraper Technique?
The skyscraper technique is a content marketing strategy that involves creating high-quality content and reaching out to website owners with broken links to suggest they update their links to your site.
This is a great way to get high-quality links from relevant websites, and can also help improve your website’s ranking in Google.
What is a PBN?
A PBN is a private blog network. A PBN contains websites that you own and you use them to create your own authoritative and relevant links.
What are Citations?
Citations are simply the mention of your business name, address, and phone number on other websites. For example, your citations would include things like Yelp or Google My Business listings.
Citations help with local SEO and can also affect how well you rank in organic search results.
What Are Brand Mentions?
Brand mentions are simply when someone talks about your company or product online. They may not link back to your website, but it’s still a good indication that people are talking about you.
Brand mentions can help with brand awareness and SEO efforts.
What Is Outreach?
Outreach allows you to build relationships with influential people who can share your content on social media or even link back to it from their website.
What is Google Penguin?
Google Penguin is an algorithm update that was released by Google in 2012.
This update helped target websites that were using black hat SEO tactics to improve their rankings and resulted in them losing all of their search engine ranking positions (SERP).
It encouraged website owners to be more transparent with how they are acquiring links, which has had a big impact on the link building industry ever since.
What Is An Algorithm Update?
An algorithm update is when Google releases new changes or updates to its core algorithm. These updates help weed out spammy SEO techniques while rewarding high-quality content with better SERPs/rankings.
It’s important for you as a business owner to stay up-to-date on what these updates are.
Conclusion
Links are one of the most important factors for ranking in Google. By targeting the right type of links and using a variety of different tactics, you can improve your website’s ranking and visibility.
Make sure to track your results using a tool like ahrefs or SEMrush, and adjust your strategy as needed.