What is the Best Link Building Strategy in SEO?

This article shares actionable tips for link building that every website owner should perform in order to get high-quality link juices for their sites. Feel free to bookmark this article so that you can come back anytime you want quickly.

Let’s get started.

Here are 14 Link Building Strategies that Will Work in 2020:

• Help A Reporter Out
• Find Your Links and Claim Them
• Guest Blog & Network
• Create Visual Assets
• Publish “Listicles”
• Create Content with Original Research & Data
• Publish In-Depth & Evergreen Blog Posts
• Find Resource Pages
• Do the Skyscraper Technique
• Leverage Podcast Interviews
• Discover Your Competitors’ Links
• Leave Comments on Blog Posts
• Answer Questions on Forums
• Promote on Social Media

Now, before we dig deeper into these top link building strategies, I need to make sure that we’re on the same page when it comes to defining link building in SEO:

What is Link Building?

Also, remember that these hyperlinks, also known as backlinks or just links, are one of Google’s ranking factors. So, getting high-quality “link juice” from relevant websites will not only bump your site to a higher ranking in the search engine results pages (SERPs) but also increase your site traffic.

You see, links are one of the best ways to determine the quality of your web page; this is evident in Google’s PageRank algorithm – besides analysing the content of your page, Google will look into how many sites have linked to that particular web page. However, with Google’s Penguin algorithm, they do not put more value on link quantity anymore but link quality. So, the websites that are linking to your site must provide some high-quality link juice.

Tips for Link Building: How Do You Find High-Quality Backlinks?

Now, before we dig deeper into the actionable strategies for link building in SEO, it’s essential that you determine a good link from the bad – this will allow you to build links for your website that will improve your SERP ranking easily. So, here’s how you determine links that are great for a strategic link building:

Check the Authority of the Page

You see, the authority of the web page that is linking to your site matters most than any link building factors out there – this is because links coming from authoritative websites give more authority (as seen in the PageRank algorithm) to your web page. You can use a tool like Ahrefs to check the “PageRating” of a page.

Identify the Authority of the Site

Remember that the quality of the link is also caused by the sitewide authority of the domain linking to your website. For example, a link coming from Harvard.edu or Forbes.com will have a tremendous positive impact on your site than a link coming from a non-famous blogger with not much credibility. Using the same tools such as Ahrefs, you can check the “DomainRating” of a website.

Observe the Relevancy of the Site

Although the domain authority and page authority of the web page linking to your website matter, you should also put much consideration on the relevancy of the page. For example, a link from a high-authority site about food will not really matter if your web page is all about cars. So, make sure that you get a link from a high-authority web page or website that is highly relevant to your site.

Consider the Position of the Link

Remember that the link position on a web page is important – is your link found in the middle of the content body of the page? Or buried in the footer? It is noted that links hidden away in the sidebars and footers don’t come close to the worth of links placed in the middle of the content of the web page. So, the links pointing back to your site should be found within the main body of the page content.

Be Careful About the Link Anchor Text

As you may already know, an anchor text is the clickable text of a link. So, anchor texts are used by Google as a ranking signal. For instance, you get a backlink on an anchor text that says “laptop computers,” Google will see this anchor text and think that your website is about laptop computers.

Now, remember that keyword-rich anchor text has been abused in SEO. So, if you purposefully build multiple keyword-match anchor text, Google will see it as spammy and will most likely penalise your site. So, always be careful about the link anchor text.

Mind the Link Co-occurrences

Co-occurrences talk about the phrases and words that surround the anchor text or the link pointing back to your site – Google somehow considers co-occurrences as “secondary anchor text.” You see, co-occurrences give out clues to what your web page is all about – that’s why Google uses it.

Best to Get the “Dofollow” Links

As you may know, there are two types of links: nofollow and dofollow. You want to get the dofollow links when link building in SEO. The dofollow simply means that the website linking to you is endorsing you both to Google and the users. However, the nofollow does otherwise. Now that you have these factors to consider for top link building strategies, let’s dive right into the actionable steps for website link building strategies:

Provide Information to Journalists

Being a reliable source of information to journalistic folks can be one of the most social strategies when link building in SEO. What you need to do is provide a piece of information such as expert interviews, a quote, roundups, or a tip in exchange for a mention of your brand, your name, and ultimately, a link to your website.

You can contact these bloggers and marketers for a feature through HARO (Help a Reporter Out) – a website where journalists and writers alike post their topic as well as the kind of tip or quote that they are looking for. Then, you can reach them out via email with your piece of information and wait for their response.

The best thing about this strategy is that you can rest assured that the links coming from the websites these journalists are writing for are not random, sketchy, or unknown.

Reclaim Your Links

You see, link reclamation is not new when link building in SEO. In fact, it is one of the most ethical and top link building strategies that you can use this year. Reclaiming your links involves focusing on finding content that mentions your brand with or without a link to your website.

For example, if someone posts a blog that mentions your product or your niche but does not link to you, this is your chance to:

1. Acknowledge them for mentioning your brand, product, or niche.
2. Ask them to add a link to the relevant page on your website.
3. Connect with this writer or site for potential collaborations in the future.

Now, Ahrefs can, again, come handy when reclaiming your links – use the tool to locate brand mentions and target keywords anchor-text in links. You can also use Google’s reverse image search to locate the websites that are using your visual assets such as images, infographics, and videos.

Build Connections While Guest Blogging

You see, blog posts need to be high-quality as the years pass by but hiring top-notch content creators and marketers can get expensive.

So, building connections as you “guest blog” can be one of the most excellent website link building strategies that you can use and master – when you provide value in a content piece, people will treat you as an ally rather than a competitor to beat, especially if you both dwell in the same industry. Once you’ve established your connection with a particular site that you are guest blogging for, ask the editor to become a regular contributor to their blog.

Now, when looking for websites to collaborate with your content, make sure to avoid sites that only exist to publish guest posts, especially websites that are unrelated to your site.

Create Visual Assets that People Would Love to Use

Consider your visual assets as link magnets. Visual assets often comprise infographics, images, charts, diagrams, and other visually stimulating content that conveys the valuable information that you want to send.

You see, visual assets are one of the easiest to link to because whenever you publish, let’s say an infographic, you can easily get a link when someone shares it on their website. Plus, since visual assets are more digestible, they are most likely to be shared and linked to, than text-based content.

Publish Listicles or List Blog Posts

List posts are usually a numbered list of myths, tips, reasons, how-to, techniques… or just anything under the sun. You see, listicles often pack a massive load of value into bite-sized or digestible chunks of content or information. And when BuzzSumo studied 1 million blog posts, they found out that listicles acquired more backlinks than any other form of content thereby beating infographics, quizzes, and videos.

Create Content with Original Research & Data

There’s no denying that content with industry studies, original research or survey, and other kinds of data and statistics are highly-linkable. So, when someone uses your study as a resource and cites it on their blog, they have no choice but to link to you thereby, adding more links to your site quickly and easily.

Create In-Depth & Evergreen Ultimate Guides

In-depth and evergreen content is considered as a comprehensive resource that tackles everything there is to know about a particular subject and, usually, this information remains true for such a long time. Therefore, if you publish an in-depth and evergreen article, such as an ultimate guide, this massive amount of information will become the go-to resource for that subject. Also, remember that this kind of content is link-worthy and pitching it through an email outreach can pave a path to the success of your post.

You see, publishing an outstanding article is never enough – you have to market it. So, find the people or websites that will likely link to your site – you can use a link analysis tool like Ahrefs to find these sites and find their email addresses and then send a scripted yet personalised email to pitch your article.

Pro Tip: Send your email in the afternoon or the evening in the recipient’s’ local time zone so that you don’t have to compete with other bunch marketing emails vying for their attention in the morning.

Get Links from Resource Pages

Resource pages are easily found using this pattern:

• “Your target keyword” + “useful links”
• “Your target keyword” + “helpful resources”
• “Your target keyword” + “useful resources”

Now, make sure that you choose the resource pages that are relevant to your website. Feel free to use the guide above when choosing a high-quality link for your site. Also, ensure to submit only the best fit content that is relevant to the topic discussed in the resource page. Once you find the best resource page that fits your blog posts, send the website’s editor a personalised message to pitch your content.

Utilise the Skyscraper Technique

The skyscraper technique is an effective way of writing content that will gather high-quality backlinks to your site, thereby making it one of the top link building strategies.

This technique consists of finding pieces of content that already rank high on the SERPs for your target keyword – gather these articles and blog posts, scan them or read them if you must, and see what area you can improve, and then create something even better.

These are a few things that you can consider when utilising the skyscraper technique:

• Do the existing articles, or blog posts lack images and videos? Add more images and videos on your content.
• Are the existing pieces of content engaging, fun, and compelling? Write yours with more engagement, humour, and connection to the readers.
• Are the posts well-formatted? Create a better format that will attract the reader and keep them visually engaged.
• Do the sites with ranking articles and posts have a nice user experience? Make sure your website offers a better user experience.

Now, after creating a fresh and even better content that can outperform the existing ones that are currently ranking, ensure that you promote it. Remember that merely publishing your content is never enough. You have to let people know that it exists by reaching out to them. Send scripted yet personalised messages to influencers in your industry or join a content roadshow and reach out to sites that can feature your content.

Better yet, use Ahrefs link analysis tool and reach out to websites that are linking to similar pieces of content that you outperformed and let them know that you created a newer and even better version.

Get Interviewed on Podcasts

If you’re more of a talker than a writer, podcast interviews are one of the best tips for link building that you can get. You see, blog posts can take a substantial amount of time to write. So, instead of making an outline, a draft, and editing your articles, you can choose to show up on a podcast and talk about a subject matter that you are an expert in. Then, you get a link. So, start reaching out to podcast channels in your niche if this sounds like an easy and exciting way to include in your website link building strategies.

Find Out Who Links to Your Competitors

Look, if people link to your competitor, they are highly likely to link to your site. Right? So, take your chances and find the websites that link to your competitors – you can use Ahrefs Link Intersect Tool to do so. Reach out to them just like how you should pitch your top-notch content to influencers and editors when guest blogging.

Comment on Blog Posts

For some people, blog commenting has a bad rap because black hat SEO specialists have used this strategy of link building in SEO to spam blog comments. Little did they know that blog commenting is one of the top link building strategies that real experts use until now, to increase the quality of their organic traffic and backlinks. You see, commenting on the blog posts of relevant sites with high-authority domains and pages is excellent for promoting your newly published top-notch content, thereby attracting natural links and building a new set of audience.

However, make sure that when you drop your link with your comment, you don’t forget to appreciate the blog post, add some more value relevant to the topic, and pitch your link as an additional source of information that the readers and editors can use.

Comment in Forums

Commenting and answering questions in forums is a great way to get decent link opportunities, promote your content, and drive traffic to your site. So, find forums that are related to your industry or the website you’re promoting. Then, look for threads in such forums that are related to the content you have on a particular web page. This is similar to blog commenting – write a short response about the topic or answer a question quickly and then drop your link. After all, it all boils down to the value that you provide in your comments.

Do Social Media Outreach

Promoting your content on social media can be one of the best website link building strategies that you can practice, especially if your network comprises writers and editors in your industry. Besides paving the way for high-quality backlinks, social media outreach can also boost your organic traffic effectively. You see, almost everyone who is doing business online has a social media account. So, share your content on social media sites such as LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter.

Also, don’t forget to comment on relevant social media posts, provide value, and drop your link to better your connections, website traffic, and backlinks.

Final Thoughts

Link building in SEO can be a bit overwhelming, especially with all the tips for link building strategies that you can find online. So, you just have to know which blog to follow and make sure that you are listening to the right SEO experts. The top link building strategies laid out in this article are proven and tested by several SEO specialists who know the search engines like the back of their hands. So, feel free to use them for your own website link building strategies and efforts.

If you still find link building in SEO too challenging, talk to a link building expert today and get your high-quality backlinks coming.