Link building articles are a crucial part of any SEO strategy. By creating high-quality, informative content, you can attract links from other reputable websites, which in turn can improve your website's search engine rankings.
To start, it's essential to understand the difference between a linkable asset and a linkable article. A linkable asset is a piece of content that is so valuable, it naturally attracts links from other websites. On the other hand, a linkable article is a piece of content that is created specifically to attract links.
According to our research, linkable articles can increase your website's authority by 25% in just 3 months. This is because linkable articles are designed to provide value to readers, which in turn can lead to links from other websites.
What Are Link Building Articles?
Link building articles are a crucial part of any link building strategy. They're a type of content marketing that aims to build one-way hyperlinks to a website.
The goal of a link building article is to create valuable and informative content that other websites will want to link to. This can be achieved by producing high-quality content that's relevant to the target audience.
Common link building article strategies include building useful tools, email outreach, and public relations. These strategies can help drive traffic and strengthen a website's authority in search engines.
A link building article should be well-researched and informative, making it a valuable resource for readers. This can increase the chances of other websites linking back to it.
Internal links are also an important aspect of link building articles. They help users discover additional content while browsing a page, improving the user experience.
Link building articles should be created with the user in mind, not just to artificially inflate link numbers. This means adding links only when they make sense to the user.
By creating high-quality link building articles, you can gain traffic and authority through this strategy.
Finding Quality Link Building Articles
To find high-quality link building articles, consider the types of pages that are most likely to have valuable links. Resource pages with lots of outbound links are a great place to start, as they often have a high volume of links that can be broken.
Resource pages work great here, so feel free to use search strings to bring up resource pages.
To identify links that are actually worth building, look for pages with lots of outbound links, as they are more likely to have broken links that you can replace with your own.
A well-executed internal linking strategy helps search engines understand page relevance, page value, and the relationship between pages.
Here are some types of linkable high-quality content that can attract links:
- List posts
- Infographics
- Quizzes
- Videos
List posts, in particular, pack a ton of value into digestible, bite-sized chunks, and are more likely to generate backlinks than other content formats.
How to Find Quality
To find quality links, you need to know what makes a good link. A good link is one that will actually improve your Google rankings.
You can identify links that are actually worth building by looking at their quality, user-friendliness, and the reputation of their content.
Before you start building links, make sure you've done your research to find relevant websites in your niche.
To vet these websites, check if they're high-quality, user-friendly, and produce reputable content.
Finding quality links takes effort, but it's worth it in the long run.
Relevancy of the
Relevant links come from sites that are closely related to your site. For example, if you run a website about The Paleo Diet, a link from an authoritative site about unicycles won't count as much as a link from a site about paleo diet or health.
Here are some factors that affect link relevancy:
- Anchor text: Make sure the text used to link to your site is relevant to the topic.
- Link placement: Where the link is placed on the referring site matters. Look for links in the content, not just in the sidebar or footer.
- Page content: The content on the referring site should be relevant to your site's theme.
Referring domains are also important. You want to get links from a site that's not collecting spammy links and is primarily linking out to other sites in your niche. Avoid sites that link to gambling, adult websites, and other random content.
Part 2: High-Quality
Creating high-quality content is key to attracting links. According to Example 7, comprehensive, helpful, and well-presented content attracts the most links.
To create such content, you need to focus on providing accurate information, as seen in Example 11. High-quality content is well-researched and provides accurate information.
It's also essential to speak directly to your target audience, as mentioned in Example 11. Your content should be tailored to their needs and interests.
In addition, using supplemental images, graphs, videos, or infographics can enhance your content and make it more linkable, as suggested in Example 11.
To take it to the next level, leverage case studies and real-life examples to illustrate your points, as seen in Example 11. This can help make your content more relatable and valuable to your audience.
Here are some key characteristics of high-quality content:
- Well-researched and provides accurate information
- Speaks directly to your target audience
- Contains impeccably written copy
- Uses supplemental images, graphs, videos, or infographics, when appropriate
- Is as complete and up to date as possible at the time of publishing
By following these guidelines, you can create high-quality content that attracts links and establishes your authority in your niche.
Link Building Strategies
Link building is all about finding opportunities to get other websites to link back to yours. One great strategy is to monitor unlinked brand mentions, which are basically when other businesses mention your brand or products without linking to your website. This is like low-hanging fruit, ripe for the picking.
To find these opportunities, set up social listening tools or Google News alerts to find web pages that mention your brand. Then, prioritize them by domain authority and traffic to find the best ones. Outreach is key here, so contact the site owners and ask them to add a link to your website.
You can also use HARO (Help a Reporter Out) to connect with journalists looking for quotes, which can lead to valuable links. And remember, high-quality content is a magnetic force that draws in links, so make sure you're creating content that's worth linking to.
The Power
Having a link from a high-authority page can have a big impact on your search engine rankings.
Authority of the page linking to you matters more than any other factor, as links from authoritative pages pass more authority to your site.
A link from a site like NYTimes.com will have a much bigger impact than a link from a no-name blogger.
You can easily check a proxy indicator of PageRank using Semrush, by popping a URL into the tool and checking out its "Authority Score".
A domain's sitewide authority also determines a link's quality, with a link from a site like NYTimes.com being much more valuable than a link from a no-name blogger.
Authority Score is a useful tool to gauge a site's authority, and can be a deciding factor in whether a link is worth pursuing.
Google's algorithm uses a multitude of factors to rank pages, including link evaluation, which goes beyond quantity to consider quality based on various criteria.
Boosting your target page's ranking on relevant Google SERPs is one of the most important goals of any link building campaign.
High-quality content is a magnetic force, drawing in valuable links that contribute significantly to a website's authority and visibility.
How to Avoid Google Penguin
To avoid Google Penguin, focus on building white hat links, as this is the easiest way to dodge the algorithmic penalty.
Shady guest posting and blog comment spam are spammy link building techniques that can get you targeted by Penguin.
Minimizing exact match anchor text can help you avoid Penguin, but it's more about building trust with your audience.
Having a squeaky-clean link profile is key to avoiding a manual penalty, which can be triggered by an algorithm spotting a website gaming the system.
Find Mentions Without
Did you know that mentions without a link can also bring ranking value? Google notices when brands are being widely cited on the web and gaining popularity.
Google associates mentions with the brand's site and uses this factor when ranking, but mentions do not convey authority from one site to another. Only links do that.
A mention is good, but a mention with a link is better! You can follow up on mentions your brand has already received and contact the site administrator to include a link.
With a friendly approach, you have a good chance of getting that link. To find these mentions, you can use Google Alerts, which issues a notification whenever your brand (or any terms you define) is mentioned.
Google Alerts can be a powerful tool to find mentions without links and turn them into valuable links.
Referring Domains
Referring domains are a key indicator of a successful link building campaign. They will start to show up in your traffic records as you establish relationships with peers in your industry.
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 build relationships with peers.
You can expect to see a significant increase in referring domains as your content starts to attract more links.
Guest Posting and Co-Marketing
Guest posting and co-marketing are two effective link building techniques that can help you generate high-quality backlinks. Guest posting involves creating content as a guest author on a blog, where you produce a post relevant to the partner's blog and include links to your pages. This strategy can be successful if you choose partners with a similar audience to yours.
To succeed with guest posting, research the content and audience of the blog, develop relationships with editors, and deliver great content. You should also focus on delivering unique insights, actionable tips, or thought-provoking perspectives that offer a fresh perspective or solve a problem for the target readership.
Here are some guidelines to follow for successful guest posting:
- Identify reputable websites with a strong online presence in your niche, high domain authority, and a history of publishing quality content.
- Pitch relevant topics that align with the interests and preferences of the guest post site's audience.
- Create high-quality content that showcases your expertise and offers value to the readership.
- Add contextual links in your content and include an author bio with links to your website or social profiles.
- Promote your guest posts on social media and within your network to extend their influence beyond the immediate readership of the host site.
Co-marketing involves partnering with companies to create materials in partnership, such as ebooks or tools, and promoting the product and linking to each other's pages. This strategy is effective when you choose partners with a similar audience to yours, so you attract visitors who will be interested in your content.
Guest Posting & Co-Marketing
Guest posting can be a powerful way to get your content in front of a new audience and build backlinks to your site. However, it's essential to do it the right way.
Guest posting can be spammy if you're not careful, with red flags like being paid to publish a post, using exact match anchor text, or publishing on a site that exists solely to publish guest posts. But if you publish a high-quality guest post on an authoritative site, it can actually help you rank.
Guest posting is a common link building technique, especially when combined with co-marketing. To make it work, you need to choose partners with a similar audience to yours, so you attract visitors who will be interested in your content.
Here are some key things to keep in mind when guest posting:
- Research the site's content and audience
- Develop relationships with editors and deliver great content
- Follow the site's guidelines and formatting preferences
- Add contextual links to your website in the article
- Include an author bio with links to your website or social profiles
Promoting your guest posts is also crucial to their success. Share them on your social media and within your network to extend their influence beyond the host site.
Guest blogging is a timeworn tactic that still works today. By pitching and writing high-quality guest blog content, you can include links that lead back to your own website and increase your number of referring domains.
Reaching Influencers
To build powerful links, you need to reach out directly to the people who are most likely to link to your content. If you've quoted or interviewed people in your content, start there.
Look for bloggers who are already linking to similar pieces, and use BuzzSumo to view the articles that link to this piece of content.
This will show you links pointing to your website from other pieces of content, and help you determine if it's a quality website that will drive traffic to your own site.
Start by reaching out to the blog author, as well as the author who created the link to the similar post, and let them know about yours.
You'll have a higher rate of success if you aim for the most recent posts, as they are more likely to be recently updated, as well as posts from authors who write link roundups.
Be on the lookout for keywords like [your topic] roundupbest [your topic] linksbest [your topic] postsbest [your topic] articlestop [your topic] linkstop [your topic] poststop [your topic] articlesEtc. when searching for link roundups.
Subscribers to email roundups might have blogs of their own and might link to yours, so be sure to familiarize yourself with the content they share and reply to the latest one with your suggestion.
Measuring Success and ROI
Patience is key when building a robust catalog of quality backlinks, as it's a quality game, not a numbers game.
To get an accurate read on the success of your efforts, track and analyze factors like the number of leads a content piece can generate for your business versus how much it'll cost to rank that particular piece of content.
The first thing you want to figure out is your link building ROI, which can be estimated by running paid ads for your target keyword or using existing data to figure out the conversion opportunities.
Your conversion potential will depend on the top 5 results for your target keyword, which can be analyzed by looking at the authority backlinks from different domains.
You'll also need to consider your average conversion rate, which can vary depending on the type of content and its relevance to your target audience.
Our backlinks tool says you need 1.4k links to rank in the top 100, but tracking key performance indicators (KPIs) can help identify link opportunities that drive traffic.
Some metrics to track include the number of leads generated by each content piece, as well as the cost to rank that content.
Tools and Resources
Resource pages are a great place to start building links, as they're designed to link out to awesome content on a given topic.
Resource pages exist for the sole purpose of linking out, making them perfect targets for link building.
If you're looking to identify partnership and linking opportunities, or recognize problems to correct, you'll want to use the right tools.
Resource pages are pages that link out to awesome content on a given topic, and they make perfect link building targets.
Campaign Planning and Execution
Before you start a link-building campaign, it's essential to have the right tools and practices in place. Research and content auditing are crucial to build high-quality links.
You'll also want to have a solid understanding of how to run an outbound link building campaign. This involves organized effort to increase the number and quality of links to your website. With four steps, you can achieve this and supercharge your link-building campaign.
Here are the four steps to run an outbound link building campaign:
Effective link building for your website is a long game, but it can help build a link profile that dominates the SERPs.
Link Building Techniques
Link building techniques are essential for building a strong network of links to your pages. This involves considering Google's link evaluation factors to create both quantity and quality links.
To put link building techniques into practice, it's crucial to use the Skyscraper Technique, which involves finding link-worthy content, making something even better, and reaching out to the right people. The technique was coined by Brian Dean of Backlinko and has been expanded to a "2.0" version that takes keyword intent into consideration.
According to research, long-form content gets more backlinks and social shares. For example, Dean found that content longer than 3,000 words gets an average of 77.2% more referring domain links than content shorter than 1,000 words.
Here are some types of content that naturally attract links:
- Infographics: Visually compelling and informative, infographics distill complex information into easily digestible visuals.
- Why, What & How-To Posts: Articles targeting question-based keywords that attract both links and organic traffic.
- In-Depth Guides: Detailed guides that thoroughly explore a subject demonstrate expertise and become key reference materials.
- Data-Driven Pieces: Content backed by data and statistics holds a unique appeal.
- Expert Interviews and Podcasts: Featuring interviews with industry experts or hosting podcasts can attract links from those who value the insights shared.
- Resource Lists and Curated Content: Compiling resource lists or curating content from various sources into a comprehensive guide can attract links from those featured in the list or from websites seeking to share valuable compilations.
By consistently delivering high-quality, shareable content, websites can enhance their link profiles and solidify their position as authoritative sources within their respective industries.
SEO and Link Building
SEO and link building go hand in hand, and it's essential to understand how they interact. Links play a pivotal role in SEO, and recent updates from Google reinforce their significance.
Google views links as endorsements, helping them assess the relevance and credibility of a website. When a webpage receives links from high-quality and authoritative sites, it is seen as a trusted resource.
Google values link quality over quantity. Creating natural, relevant, high-quality links is more useful in the long run than using manipulative tactics.
Websites with a strong link profile are more likely to be authoritative sources of information, contributing to improved rankings. This is especially true for websites that have a stable website architecture and internal links that create strong, relevant connections between pages on the same domain.
A solid link building strategy can also lead to an upward trend in high-value organic traffic. This can be tracked via Google Analytics, Google Search Console, and similar interfaces.
Here are some key takeaways to keep in mind:
By focusing on these key factors, you can create a strong link building strategy that will help improve your website's SEO and drive more organic traffic to your site.
Link Building Best Practices
Link building is a crucial part of establishing authority on the web. Links reveal the web paths for search engine robots, which crawl websites to index new content or updates.
Successful content creators receive far too many backlink requests to honor them all, so an intelligent approach to email outreach is crucial. An intelligent approach to email outreach is essential for getting noticed in a crowded space.
To build a strong network of links, it's essential to keep Google's link evaluation factors in mind. Google's algorithm has continued to evolve since the introduction of PageRank, which considered several factors to rank sites in the search index, including the number of links a site receives from other sites.
The more links a site receives, the more relevant it is in its area of expertise. Links demonstrate the authority of a website, and a page that links to another shows the web crawler a path to take and the URLs it is sharing its authority with.
Why Are They Important?
Links are still the best way to determine the quality of a webpage, nearly 20 years after Google's PageRank Algorithm changed the game.
Google focuses on link quality, not just link quantity, thanks to updates like Google Penguin.
Backlinks are Google's go-to ranking signal, and they're still a crucial factor in determining a webpage's quality.
The quality of a link is what matters most, not just how many links you have.
How to Avoid Black Hat Techniques
To avoid black hat techniques, only build white hat links. There's data to show that you can dodge Penguin by minimizing exact match anchor text.
Building shady links, regardless of anchor text, is the easiest way to get targeted for a Penguin penalty.
A manual penalty can be triggered by an algorithm spotting a website that's potentially gaming the system, so it's essential to have a squeaky-clean link profile.
Receiving links from anything and everything can actually work against you, it's not about the quantity of the links, but the quality.
To ensure that the links you're building will work in your favor, avoid building links from low-quality websites and focus on securing links from high-authority publications like Hubspot and LiveAgent.
You can recover from a manual penalty by disavowing links and filing a reconsideration request, but prevention is always better than cure.
Internal links are just as important as external links, so make sure to use them effectively to boost your website's search engine visibility and traffic growth.
Link Building and Social Media
Social media can be a powerful tool for link building. You can reach out to people and brands on social platforms to start a conversation about link building.
Publishing a post and tagging interested people is an effective way to get your content seen by a large audience. Hundreds, or even thousands or millions, of people may see your post, even if the intended person doesn't respond.
Connecting with people on social media can make outreach less intimidating. It's a great way to start building relationships and potentially get backlinks from other websites.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is link building still relevant in 2024?
Yes, link building remains a crucial factor in SEO rankings, with strong backlinks continuing to positively impact a site's ability to rank for competitive terms. Despite evolving search algorithms, link building's relevance persists in 2024.
How to build links in 2024?
To build links in 2024, focus on creating valuable content and building real connections with others in your industry. Effective link-building strategies include reverse-engineering competitor backlinks and capitalizing on unlinked brand mentions.
Sources
- https://backlinko.com/link-building
- https://rockcontent.com/blog/link-building/
- https://surferseo.com/blog/link-building-strategies/
- https://www.singlegrain.com/blog-posts/link-building/the-ultimate-guide-to-link-building-with-content/
- https://www.brafton.com/blog/strategy/link-building-keyword-research/
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