From the beginning, backlinks have always been at the crux of SEO.
And I really don’t think 2019 is going to be an exception.
The sheer number and quality of backlinks that a website has managed to acquire over time always has been and can still have a detrimental impact on it’s search engine rankings.
The guys at Google themselves came out to claim backlinks as one of the most important ranking factor in their search algorithms, along with content and rankbrain. Even though they made the claim in 2016, backlinks still hold the same kind of authority in Google’s algorithms to this day and if you are ready to focus all your efforts on them, they can really help you in putting your SEO efforts in top gear.
Also, there are extensive studies that prove backlinks are indeed the most important ranking signal Google uses to rank various websites for diverse search terms.
So, the bottom line is, if you need to climb higher in SERPs, you need more quality backlinks. Period.
Google gives more authority to those websites which have a ton of links pointing to them from various unique domains. Why? Because that’s the algorithm’s way to devise the most useful content out there that’s full of value and Google loves content that provides a lot of value to readers.
Take it this way. See your search engine rankings as Google’s gift to you for providing stellar content to their searchers. You, in-turn, get a lot of traffic and exposure from Google that can make all your marketing efforts worthwhile. It’s a win-win situation.
But, getting on the top of Google is no easy feat and consistent outreach efforts are required on your part to make it happen.
So, here are 3 methods to focus on 2019 that will get you a lot of backlinks and will let you climb the SERP ladder with ease.
Guest Blogging
I know you must have heard this advice a thousand times already but when it comes to link building, guest blogging really is a foolproof way to earn quality backlinks and fresh audiences for your website.
Do it consistently and with various publishers and you’ll soon be on your way to become an authority in your niche in the eyes of Google and your readers.
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But it’s not as easy as it sounds. Your guests posts on websites with low domain authority (authority of a website in the eyes of Google) or guest posts with low quality content can actually do you more harm than good. So, it’s important to check the domain authority and the content quality requirements of a publisher’s website before doing all the work and submitting a guest post to them that is useful to their readers base.
So, take a step back, identify the best opportunities out there and be selective with the publishers you partner with to publish your content and earn links from.
You can use a tool like Ahrefs or SEMrush to easily check the domain authority of any website out there.
Competitor Research
Since we’re already talking about these tools, they can be of a lot of use to you other than checking the domain authority of a website. You can also act upon quick backlink building opportunities by looking at the backlink profile of your competitors with the help of these tools.
Also, you can easily have an in-depth view of where your competitors are posting their content, on which directories they have maintained a presence on and who exactly is linking to their content. Which can open a lot of doors as you can easily approach a publisher that your competitor has guest posted on and ask them if they would love to publish some more content on the same topic written by you.
By looking at the complete backlink profile of your competitors, you can stay a step ahead of them by targeting only high authority publishers and directories from their profile and mixing it with your own list of authoritative websites that will help you build an even stronger backlink profile than your competitors.
Tracking online brand mentions
In this age where literally everyone and their grandma is on Social Media, keeping a track of the various mentions your brand is receiving over the web is often overlooked.
By keeping a track of all your brand mentions online, you will be able to turn all your brand mentions into live links for your website. When you keep a track of them, you’ll just have to ask the webmaster to add your website link in your brand mention as well to turn it into a strong backlink.
There is a lot of less hassle in earning backlinks like this as the people who have already taken the effort of mentioning your brand name online will have no problem in placing a link on your brand name as well, given the fact that he is mentioning your brand in a good light.
You can use a tool like Google Alerts or Brand Mentions to track all your brand or product mentions all over the web and turn your simple brand mentions into authority increasing backlinks.
Have backlinks lost their charm when it comes to SEO? No way! They are as important to SEO as they were decades back. If you are looking to ace organic search, backlinks can be your knight in shining armour, even in 2019. It’s no secret that you absolutely need backlinks for your website to rank well in SERP’s but with every marketer out there trying their hands at it, securing guest posts and building links can be a bit of a task. Take the smart road and research the backlink profiles of all your competitors to quickly figure out some authoritative backlink building opportunities and tap on them with quality guest posts. And don’t forget to ask for a backlink wherever your brand is mentioned online to give your backlink profile a serious boost.