Without a successful link building technique, no brand website can aim to compete for the top of the search rankings. In many ways, no SEO services strategy can ever be complete without a definite link building strategy.
For most SEO experts in the digital marketing industry, SEO = Link Building. While this assumption is too simplistic, it would not be far from the truth. Even though there are many white hat link building techniques out there, in this article, we will look at the top ten.
Before we get to the techniques, let us briefly discuss about the basic meaning and definition of Link Building Techniques.
Link Building Techniques: Meaning and Definition
According to Google, a good quality external link to your site is a positive recommendation from another site. Meaning, the more recommendations you have, the better will Google think of you. How does Google reward sites who have many recommendations from authority sites?
It promotes them on the search rankings, improves organic exposure and drives more traffic. Higher search rankings means more clicks, better website traffic and ultimately leads to more revenues and sales.
However, link building is a highly dynamic domain, which keeps on changing and evolving. Google updates try to remove as many corrupt and manipulative link building techniques as possible. Links, which are completely white hat in nature, are the only ones, which pass Google’s stringent quality controls.
In the following section, we will look at ten of the best link building techniques being followed by SEO experts.
Link Building Techniques: The List
- Guest Posting-
For many years now, Guest Posting has emerged as the number of link building technique. Guest Posting is the process of creating high quality content for an authority site and requesting a backlink to your site.
Industry authority sites are always looking for high quality content. If you are able to pitch a great idea, you will get your content published in the Author’s Bio section. If you are just starting out in the industry, it would be better not to negotiate for in-content links with authority webmasters.
- Blogger Outreach-
In the last few years, blogger outreach has assumed monumental importance as a link building technique. Google prioritizes relevant industry links over anything else. Blogger Outreach is a digital marketing strategy, which seeks to connect brands with industry relevant bloggers for a host of associations, collaborations and services.
From sponsored posts to product reviews, blogger outreach helps in mixing content forms and types in order to present a brand before the blogger’s audiences.
- Fixing Broken Links in Authority Sites-
Over a long period, there are hundreds of links, which get lost and broken. Webmasters are always looking to solve this issue of broken links. By using a tool from Moz or Ahrefs, you can identify sites with broken links in your industry.
The idea is to request the webmaster to let you reclaim the broken link in exchange for a content piece of the webmaster’s choice. Since, it is a won-win situation for everyone; any webmaster is more than happy with this arrangement. The best SEO experts try to use this as a major cost saving mechanism.
- Request for Resource Link Building-
While many SEO strategies remain limited to the top three points mentioned above, some of us are more adventurous than others. Sometime last year, I chanced upon an idea of helping a fellow webmaster enrich his content.
He had a listicle; I simply suggested that I can contribute to make it bigger. For him it meant that a 1500+ article would become a 2500+ one, more keywords, and better information. For me, it involved requesting him for a backlink. This is known as Resource Extension Link Building.
- Create White Papers and Tag Brands-
Mentioning quality content as a big source of link building sounds a bit too clichéd. You should know what form and type of content you will be creating. One of the best ways is to create an informative/positive account of brands and tag them on social media.
Most brands want to get free publicity and mentions. They will share your coverage on their social and on their company’s blog section. This will help you get coveted backlinks for your brand website. Imagine, one top ten list can get you ten quality backlinks.
- Testimonials and Reviews-
Can you recall the number of times you have seen customer reviews as a part of almost every website. Not only above the Footer on the Home Page, but also on a dedicated page on Customer Testimonials/Portfolio.
Reach out to people in your industry and offer to write a glorifying testimonial. This in turn will help you place your brand’s backlink on their website page. However, you need to establish credible relationships in the industry before that.
- Niche Official and Public Directories-
Whatever business you are in, or whichever industry you belong to, there is always an Association or Organization, governing your industry. Doctors, dentists, lawyers, all belong to multiple associations.
If you are looking for high quality backlinks, registering on such directories, not only helps with the backlinks, but also contributes to Local SEO Search. Try to establish your presence and place backlinks on as many such public directories as possible.
- Explore Dead Link Building on Wikipedia-
I am sure 99% of all SEO experts do not even know that they can use Wikipedia as a great platform for Link Building. All you need to do is use a software tool to find out all the dead links. Once you have been able to do that, all you need to do is link it to your website.
While most of you might be wondering about the fact that it is a ‘No-Follow Link’, remember that Wikipedia is a high authority source, and Google does not have a clear stand on do-follow and no-follow links even today.
- Backlinks on Quora and Reddit-
No SEO or digital marketing expert can tell you with certainty about the role played by no-follow links in SEO. In addition to Wikipedia, Quora and Reddit are some of the most authoritative platforms in the world.
By engaging with users on the platform and offering credible solutions, you will not only direct traffic back to your site, but also build your reputation on the platform. I have seen that Quora and Reddit traffic is targeted, and the exposure is a great influence on your business website.
- Politely Ask for Links-
While you may be thinking that I have lost it, I can assure you that this is not the case. Sometimes, we overcomplicate things. I am not saying that you should do this always. What I am trying to say is that building relationships is critical in order to be successful in the digital industry.
By being part of an ecosystem, you will get yourself introduced to many people. You can then use your connections, skills and networking skills to offer other something, which they want.
Conclusion
Finding the perfect SEO to help you with link building techniques is not an easy task. Even when you find them, you will need to ensure that they are following white hat techniques only. In this article, I have tried to put forth some of the most innovative and high performance white hat link building techniques.
Do let me know, which link building strategy works best for you in the comments section below.