Global link building is a crucial aspect of establishing online credibility, and it's not just about getting links from anywhere. According to a recent study, 72% of marketers consider link building an important factor in their SEO strategy.
In today's digital landscape, having a strong online presence is vital for businesses and individuals alike. A well-placed link can make all the difference in boosting your reputation and authority online.
To build a robust global link building strategy, you need to focus on quality over quantity. As we'll explore later, this means targeting high-authority sites and publications that align with your niche and audience.
Link Building Techniques
Link building techniques can be put into practice by keeping Google's link evaluation factors in mind. This allows you to build a strong network of links to your pages regarding both quantity and quality.
To match your unique goals, link campaigns should always be tailored to your specific needs. With that said, some popular methods that tend to work well for most campaigns include building resource pages.
Resource pages are a great way to build links, and you can find them by using advanced Google operators. For example, you can search for pages that link to your competitors' websites, or pages that are relevant to your industry.
What Are?
Links are the currency of the Internet, acting as a kind of reputation system for websites. They're essentially HTML hyperlinks that point from one website to another.
Search engines have treated links as votes for popularity and importance on the web since the late 1990s.
Internal links, or links that connect internal pages of the same domain, work similarly to external links, providing a signal to Google that a page is important.
The engines themselves have refined the way they view links, now using algorithms to evaluate sites and pages based on the links they find.
Main Techniques
To put link building techniques into practice, it's essential to keep Google's link evaluation factors in mind. This will allow you to build a strong network of links to your pages regarding both quantity and quality.
Effective link building depends on relationships, regardless of where you are. Focus on developing genuine, long-term relationships rather than just one-off link-building transactions.
One link from a very authoritative source is more valuable than ten from low-quality sites, so keep in mind that quantity isn’t everything. When targeting sites for backlinks, you can prioritize by how authoritative they are using Domain Authority and Page Authority metrics.
To evaluate links, Google considers various factors beyond just quantity, including quality, relevance, and more. Create material that is truly relevant to the audience, and prioritize building relationships with high-quality sites.
A good network of contacts, like local webmasters or influencers, can open the door to high-quality, organic backlinks. Engaging with their social media content, commenting on their blogs, and offering value upfront can lead to ongoing collaborations and valuable backlinks.
Reciprocal link-building doesn’t cost anything, and if done carefully, it shouldn’t get you in the search engines’ bad books. However, it's crucial to prioritize quality over quantity and focus on building relationships with high-authority sites.
Link Building Strategies
Link building strategies can be approached in many ways, but it's essential to match your unique goals. Successful content creators receive too many backlink requests to honor them all, so an intelligent approach to email outreach is crucial.
To build a good network of contacts, focus on developing genuine, long-term relationships with local webmasters or influencers. Engage with their social media content, comment on their blogs, and offer value upfront.
Ultimately, there's no trick or strategy that can trump the power of terrific content. Great content supports your link building strategy by earning quality links for you.
How to Develop a Strategy
Developing a link building strategy is crucial for success, as it helps you match your unique goals. A well-defined strategy should consider your target audience's different languages, cultures, and preferences.
To create a link building strategy, learn the elements of a "good strategy" and map your situational analysis into a strategic link building framework. This will help you tailor your approach to your specific needs.
Link campaigns should always match your unique goals, and there are some popular methods that tend to work well for most campaigns. However, these methods are not exhaustive, so it's essential to visit Moz's blog posts on link building for more detail.
Editorial links are links added naturally by sites and pages that want to link to your website. To acquire earned links, create high-quality content that people genuinely wish to reference.
Combining Great Content with Strategic Outreach
Combining great content with strategic outreach is a game-changer in link building. It's more effective, evergreen, and efficient than old link building tactics. According to Example 11, building content that naturally earns links is the way to go.
To create shareable, link-worthy content, you need to focus on value. As Example 10 states, only 0.3% of websites ranking in the top 10 had less than 100 backlinks, and none had 50 links or less. This means that high-quality content is key to attracting natural links from authoritative sites.
But great content is just the starting point. You also need to promote it effectively. As Example 9 notes, promotion is perhaps one of the most difficult aspects of link building, but letting people know about your content and convincing them to link to you is what's really going to move the needle.
Strategic outreach is also crucial. By identifying relevant websites, influencers, and bloggers in your target countries or regions, you can earn high-quality backlinks and enhance online visibility. As Example 12 suggests, personalize your outreach messages, demonstrating why your website or content would be valuable to their audience.
Here are some tips for successful outreach and relationship-building:
- Identify relevant websites, influencers, and bloggers in your target countries or regions.
- Personalize your outreach messages, demonstrating why your website or content would be valuable to their audience.
- Offer guest post contributions, interviews, or collaboration opportunities that benefit both parties involved.
- Follow up regularly and maintain ongoing relationships, keeping the lines of communication open for potential future link building opportunities.
- Be respectful of cultural differences and etiquette when contacting websites and influencers in different countries.
By combining great content with strategic outreach, you can earn high-quality backlinks and improve your search engine rankings. As Example 16 notes, international links can reach a global audience, expanding your brand awareness and online visibility beyond borders.
Link Building Importance
Link building is a crucial aspect of global link building, and it's essential to understand its importance. Links reveal the web paths for search engine robots, which crawl websites to index new content or updates.
The more links a site receives, the more relevant it is in its area of expertise. This is because links demonstrate the authority of a website, similar to how citations demonstrate an author's authority in academia.
Google's algorithm has evolved to consider not just the number of links, but also the diversity and quality of the pages that point to backlinks. This means that a site's reliability (TrustRank), anchor texts, and the position of backlinks on the page all play a role in determining its authority.
A page that links to another shows the web crawler a path to take and the URLs it is sharing its authority with. This is why links are essential for crawling and ranking websites on search engines.
Here are some key benefits of international link building:
- Target specific countries and attract potential customers from those regions
- Improve search engine rankings by building relevant links from reputable websites in target countries
- Drive organic traffic and increase online visibility in international markets
- Enhance brand awareness in target countries by establishing yourself as a trusted global entity in your industry
Link Building Best Practices
Link building campaigns should match your unique goals.
To build high-quality backlinks, you need to consider various methods, but one thing is always true: link campaigns should always match your unique goals.
Effective link-building depends on relationships, regardless of where you are.
Developing a good network of contacts, like local webmasters or influencers, can open the door to high-quality, organic backlinks.
Reciprocal link-building doesn’t cost anything.
A healthy link profile is one that indicates to search engines that you're earning your links and authority fairly.
You should strive to ensure your link profile is honest and earned via good, old-fashioned hard work.
Link Building Tools and Resources
Developing a global link building strategy can be a daunting task, but having the right tools can make all the difference. Ahrefs is a key SEO platform that's focused on off-page SEO and offers a range of features that are extremely useful for link building.
Ahrefs' Site Explorer allows you to search any web URL to learn about its backlinks profile. This can be a game-changer when it comes to finding out which sites link to your competitors.
The Content Explorer feature is a solution to finding good link building partners. You can search for sites related to a given keyword and identify potential partners.
Ahrefs' Alerts feature issue a warning whenever a site gains or loses backlinks. This is great for monitoring competitors' link building activities.
The best link building tools can help you identify partnership and linking opportunities, or recognize problems to correct.
Link Building Measurement and Analysis
Measuring the success of your link building efforts is crucial to understanding what's working and what's not. Patience is key, as building a robust catalog of quality backlinks is a quality game, not a numbers game.
To get an accurate read on your link building success, track and analyze factors like Google Search Console's rejecting backlinks feature, and the number of referring domains and links. You can use tools like Ahrefs' Site Explorer to identify top-level domains and filter them by country code, giving you a breakdown of the main ccTLDs with the number of referring domains and the total number of links.
By analyzing your competitors' backlink profiles, you can identify the locations where they're getting links and find potential targets for your campaign. Use Ahrefs to find out what keywords your competitor ranks for in specific locations, and track website traffic, user behavior, and conversions from different countries using Google Analytics.
Here are some key metrics to monitor for international link building success:
- Website traffic and user behavior from different countries
- Search engine rankings in target countries
- Quality and relevance of international backlinks
- Social media metrics like engagement, social shares, and follower growth
- Organic traffic, search rankings, and online visibility KPIs
Measuring Success
Measuring success in link building is a quality game, not a numbers game. Patience is key, as it takes time to see results.
You can track factors like Google Search Console's link rejection feature to get an accurate read on the success of your efforts. This feature helps you identify and remove low-quality backlinks.
To monitor the success of your international link building, use tools like Google Analytics to track website traffic, user behavior, and conversions from different countries. This will give you a clear picture of how your international links are performing.
Monitor search engine rankings in target countries to assess the impact of your international links on search visibility. Analyze the quality and relevance of your international backlinks to ensure they contribute to your website's authority and online visibility.
Keep an eye on social media metrics, such as engagement, social shares, and follower growth, for insights into the reach and impact of your international link building efforts. Regularly review key performance indicators (KPIs) related to organic traffic, search rankings, and online visibility to adjust your strategy and maximize results.
Here are some key metrics to track:
- Website traffic from different countries
- User behavior and conversions
- Search engine rankings in target countries
- Quality and relevance of international backlinks
- Social media metrics (engagement, social shares, follower growth)
- Organic traffic, search rankings, and online visibility KPIs
A successful backlinking campaign will eventually show a gradual uptick in the number of referring domains pointing back to your site. This trend will pick up speed as you continue to establish and build relationships with peers in your industry.
Referring Domains
Referring domains are a key indicator of a successful link building campaign, and they can be tracked over time to see the progress of your efforts.
A successful backlinking campaign will eventually show a gradual uptick in the number of referring domains pointing back to your site. This trend can be observed in your traffic records.
You can expect this trend to pick up speed as you continue to establish and build relationships with peers in your industry. This is because successful link building is a long-term strategy that requires time and effort to produce results.
To analyze your competitor's backlink profiles and identify potential targets for your campaign, use tools like Ahrefs' Site Explorer. This will give you a breakdown of the main ccTLDs with the number of referring domains and the total number of links.
The UK and Germany are good examples of markets to target, as Ahrefs is particularly popular in these regions.
Monitor Mentions
Mentions without links can bring ranking value, and Google notices when brands are being widely cited on the web.
To find these mentions, you can use Google Alerts, which issues a notification whenever your brand is mentioned.
Unlinked brand mentions are believed to be easy pickings for link-builders, as the website is already talking about your brand or product.
You can find them in Ahrefs by adding your domain URL, filtering the results by language and page traffic, and looking for websites with traffic of 50+ and DR of 30-70.
Contacting the owners of these websites and asking for a link can be a good way to get a mention with a link, which is even more valuable.
A friendly approach can increase your chances of getting a link, and it's worth trying, even if it's not a free tactic.
Link Building Outreach and Partnerships
Building relationships with other sites is key to successful link building. You can use the Domain Authority (DA) and Page Authority (PA) indicators of Link Explorer to identify trusted sites that are authorities in their field.
To find potential partners, search for keywords related to your industry and check the DA and PA scores of the top-ranked sites. You can also use the Link Explorer extension for Chrome or Firefox, called MozBar, to evaluate potential partners directly in the search results.
To build relationships, start by offering to help with a problem or content, and displaying your interest in contributing. This approach may take longer, but it's more likely to consolidate a partnership.
Link Building Outreach and Partnerships
Scaling your link building efforts requires a strategic approach.
To achieve SEO success, consider leveraging digital PR techniques like cultivating expertise, crafting stories, and garnering influence to boost your SEO.
Identifying the right link-building partner can make all the difference.
Get in touch with the Editorial Link team to find a link-building partner who can help you achieve your SEO goals.
Creating dedicated social media profiles in local languages is key to resonating with audiences in non-English speaking markets.
Localized content is more likely to get shared and lead to link-building opportunities.
Participating in trending conversations on social media can help you connect with influencers and promote your content.
Building with Email
Email outreach is a crucial part of a comprehensive link building strategy. It's a great way to round out your approach and should be part of everyone's strategy, although no brand should rely entirely on requested backlinks.
You can't honor all backlink requests, so an intelligent approach to email outreach is essential. Successful content creators receive far too many requests to keep up with.
Building relationships is key to effective link building, regardless of where you are. A good network of contacts can open the door to high-quality, organic backlinks.
Focus on developing genuine, long-term relationships rather than just one-off link-building transactions. Engage with their social media content, comment on their blogs, and offer value upfront.
Reciprocal link-building doesn't cost anything, and if done carefully, it shouldn't get you in the search engines' bad books.
Here are some key tips for successful email outreach and building relationships:
- Personalize your outreach messages, demonstrating why your website or content would be valuable to their audience.
- Offer guest post contributions, interviews, or collaboration opportunities that benefit both parties involved.
- Follow up regularly and maintain ongoing relationships, keeping the lines of communication open for potential future link building opportunities.
Search for Partners
To find the best partners for your link building strategy, you need to identify sites that are trusted by Google and authorities in their field. These sites are already well-positioned for their main keywords and produce good content related to their area of expertise.
You can use tools like Link Explorer from Moz to find out the Domain Authority (DA) and Page Authority (PA) indicators of potential partners. These indicators simulate how Google's algorithm views search results based on several ranking factors.
The DA and PA scores range from 0 to 100 and reveal the page or domain's chances to reach the SERP's top position. The higher the score, the better.
You can also use the Link Explorer extension for Chrome or Firefox, called MozBar, to evaluate potential partners directly in the search results.
Here are some tips to identify relevant websites, influencers, and bloggers in your target countries or regions:
- Identify relevant websites, influencers, and bloggers in your target countries or regions.
- Personalize your outreach messages, demonstrating why your website or content would be valuable to their audience.
- Offer guest post contributions, interviews, or collaboration opportunities that benefit both parties involved.
By following these steps, you can build relationships with potential partners and increase your chances of securing valuable backlinks over time.
Buy Media Packages
Buying media packages can be a costly but efficient way to gain high-quality, region-specific links, especially in competitive markets.
Media packages bundle sponsored content placements with nofollow backlinks, making them absolutely kosher according to search engine guidelines.
These packages can be pricey, with prices going into hundreds of thousands for placements in top-tier publications like Spiegel or Le Monde.
This approach is ideal for those with the resources to invest in securing high-quality links.
Link Building Content Creation
Creating high-quality content is key to successful link building. It's essential to produce content that resonates with your target audience and provides value to them.
According to studies, only 0.3% of websites ranking in the top 10 had less than 100 backlinks and none had 50 links or less. This emphasizes the importance of creating link-worthy content.
To earn high-quality backlinks, focus on creating valuable content that attracts natural links from authoritative sites. This can be achieved by producing posts that answer questions, provide fresh perspectives, and leverage multimedia and interactivity.
Resource pages are a great way to build links, and you can find them by using advanced Google operators. For instance, if you're doing link building for a company that makes pots and pans, you could search for "pots and pans resource page" to discover potential link targets.
Promotion is a crucial aspect of link building, and letting people know about your content is essential. You can promote your content by posting at opportune times, making the most of social media, and actively helping your best content make the rounds.
Creating high-value multilingual content can expand your reach to a global audience and increase the chances of earning backlinks from international websites. This requires accurate translation and consideration of cultural nuances and differences in search behavior.
By producing content that resonates with your target audience, you can establish trust and credibility, ultimately leading to more backlinks and improved search engine rankings.
Link Building SEO and Search Engine Guidelines
To build quality backlinks, focus on partnering with trusted sites that are authorities in their field and produce good content related to their area of expertise. These sites are often well-positioned for their main keywords.
Use tools like Link Explorer to identify potential partners by checking their Domain Authority (DA) and Page Authority (PA) scores, which range from 0 to 100 and reveal the page or domain's chances to reach the SERP's top position. The higher the score, the better.
Start by offering to help with a problem or content, displaying your interest in contributing, and building a relationship of trust. This may take longer, but it's more likely to consolidate a partnership.
E-A-T Guidelines
The E-A-T guidelines are a set of principles that help search engines understand the credibility and trustworthiness of a website.
A website that provides expertise, authority, and trustworthiness is more likely to earn links from other sites that display similar qualities.
Sites like Wikipedia have cultivated authority and are trusted among other sites, which is why links from them carry significant weight.
To earn trust and authority, you'll need links from websites that provide credible, trustworthy content, even if they're not on the same level as Wikipedia.
Nofollow vs. Dofollow
Nofollow links don't transmit link juice, which means they don't pass authority to the linked page. This is in contrast to dofollow links, which transmit link juice by default.
By default, all links are dofollow or transmit link juice. You can insert the nofollow tag when you don't want to transmit authority through a link.
The nofollow tag is commonly used in social media links or blog comment boxes to avoid transmitting authority to links inserted by users.
Facebook, Instagram, or blog owners use the nofollow tag to avoid transmitting their authority to links that any user may insert on a page.
The rel=nofollow attribute allows you to link to a resource while removing your "vote" for search engine purposes.
Some engines still follow nofollow links simply to discover new pages, but these links don't pass link equity.
You can use nofollow links to link to an untrustworthy source or a page that was paid for or created by the owner of the destination page.
A nofollow link might not pass authority, but it could send valuable traffic to your site and even lead to future followed links.
It's natural for your site to have a balance between nofollowed and followed backlinks in its link profile.
Google's Documentation Leak: 12 Key Takeaways
Google's Documentation Leak revealed that links still matter in SEO, and relevancy matters a lot. This is a crucial takeaway for link builders and digital PRs.
To boost your target page's ranking on Google SERPs, you want to see your star content pieces showing up within the top 3-5 search results. Keep track of those search positions and watch for evidence that your pages are rising in SERP results for your target keywords and search terms.
A solid link building strategy should also lead to an upward trend in high-value organic traffic. This can be easily done via Google Analytics, Google Search Console, and similar interfaces.
To earn trust and authority with search engines, you'll need links from websites that display the qualities of E-A-T. These don't have to be Wikipedia-level sites, but they should provide searchers with credible, trustworthy content.
You should build your links as though Google might disappear tomorrow, focusing on acquiring links that will bring qualified traffic to your website. This means acquiring links from relevant websites whose audience would find value in your site.
Google's algorithm uses a multitude of factors to rank pages, which include link evaluation. This evaluation goes far beyond quantity, also considering the quality, based on various criteria.
To excel in digital PR, you need to learn the often-overlooked skills that separate exceptional digital PR practitioners from the rest. This includes understanding how to create material that is truly relevant to the audience.
A site like Wikipedia, for example, has thousands of diverse sites linking to it. This indicates it provides lots of expertise, has cultivated authority, and is trusted among those other sites.
You can scale your link building efforts and achieve SEO success in any industry or niche by learning how to build quality backlinks for any website.
Search Operators
Search Operators are a powerful tool in your link building arsenal. They can help you find link-building prospects and guest posting opportunities.
You can use them to search for pages that might be good link targets, like resource pages. For example, searching for "site:.uk pots and pans" can give you a list of relevant pages.
Using search operators can also give you ideas for content creation. Think about what types of resources these pages would like to reference and link to.
You can search for guest posting opportunities by using operators like "write for us" or similar phrases. For instance, searching for "site:.uk SEO +”write for us” can give you a list of relevant websites.
Remember to tweak your query if you're searching in countries where English isn't the mother tongue.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is international link building?
International link building is a strategy that helps improve a website's global search visibility by acquiring high-quality backlinks from international websites. By expanding your online presence globally, you can reach a wider audience and increase your online credibility.
Does link building still work?
Yes, link building is still a relevant factor in SEO, as high-quality links can significantly impact a website's search engine ranking. Learn how to build effective links to boost your website's visibility.
What is the purpose of link building?
The purpose of link building is to drive referral traffic and increase a website's authority by earning high-quality backlinks from other reputable sites. This helps establish credibility and improves online visibility.
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