The most foolproof strategy for link building is called linkbaiting .
Linkbaiting is about earning links through the creation of unique, relevant and eye-catching content that other websites want to use as a source and reference.
In this article, we explain why link building is important, what factors determine the value of a link, what specific methods and strategies there are for link building, and what free tools you can use to carry them out.
If you prefer, you can skip to the conclusion to read the most important insights of the text.
How does link building work?
This little ant work is one of the most determining factors when it comes to positioning yourself in Google.
Why?
Because pages that have been recommended by other websites are much more credible and valuable in the eyes of search engines.
It is not the same that you say how great you are, to have that information supported by 30 more people (websites).
Therefore, you will have to work on being recognized by others as an expert in order to earn a mention on their websites.
Link building works as a kind of political election: the more votes ( links ) you have, the more authority you gain.
However, Google takes into account what it knows about each site to define the weight of the votes: what a well-known company, such as the BBC, says is not the same as what is said on Pablito’s website, which was created two hours ago and has zero reputation on the internet.
Context: How has link building changed over time?
There are many procedures used to get links from other web pages. However, several have become penalized by Google after the Penguin update.
Google’s algorithm has evolved over time to gradually make the SEO community understand that there are two particularly problematic issues:
– Dishonest link building : it is when it comes to deceiving the search engine so that the domain authority of a site increases without deserving it.
This can be done through hidden codes, buying links or creating multiple websites for the sole purpose of providing links to the website you want to position.
The last practice is called building a Private Blog Network (PBN) and, like many SEO practices, it started out giving results, then it got overused, and Google started penalizing it.
– The keyword stuffing : it consists of the saturation of a text with keywords to pretend to make it more relevant in the eyes of the search engine.
Today Penguin is an essential part of the Google algorithm and the above two SEO practices are considered “blackhat”.
Hence, you must approach the task of link building with patience and desire to offer content of the best possible quality .
Glossary for link building
Throughout this article, some technical terms will be used that we will explain here to facilitate understanding of the content:
What is a backlink?
It is what you want to achieve in any link building strategy. It consists of any link that goes from a website on the Internet to your content. They are also called inbound links.
In the following video, we explain in depth the definition of a backlink and its importance in an SEO analysis:
What is nofollow?
This, although it has to do with code, is an attribute that we must know if we are going to enter the world of link building. It is used to communicate to search engines that you do not want to grant authority to the link you are citing (or that another site does not want to grant it to you).
It’s like saying to Google: ‘I’m going to put this here, but don’t take it into account’.
Look like this:
<a href=”http://www.WEBPAGE.com” rel=“nofollow” >VISIBLE TEXT OF THE LINK.</a>
In the electoral analogy, it would be like voting null: you put the link, without allowing your site to give value to that website.
For example:
It may be that you need to link to something on your site that demonstrates what NOT to do. In that case, so that Google does not believe that you agree with what is stated there, you use the nofollow.
What is anchored text or anchor text?
It is the visible part of a link. That is, it is the text that we read, often in a different color, that will take us to a certain URL.
As we mentioned in another article on our website:
What is written in the link is important. If, for example, I write “ the best soccer website ” and put a hyperlink on it, I am telling Google that when people put “the best soccer website” in the search engine, consider putting the domain http:/ /www.ecosdelbalon.com among the first results. The anchor text is the word or phrase that has the hyperlink above it and it is extremely important.
What are outbound links?
Not everything in link reputation is about the sites that lead to you.
Search engines also care about those links that you include on your site and that go to other portals.
That is to say: Google pays attention to the quality of the links that you insert on your website.
That quality will be determined by the authority and Google reputation of external websites.
Therefore, it is important to take care of the sources that you decide to use as references to give them a backlink.
Which links are the best in link building?
In link building, not all votes do not have the same weight.
As we mentioned before, the value of the links you receive will vary according to certain factors.
What makes one link more valuable than another?
There are three big factors that determine the value of the links you get:
Domain authority
As we indicated in previous paragraphs, the domain authority of the WHO is not the same as the one that Pablito Pérez’s website may have.
Therefore, it is worth much more for a respected company in your industry to link to your website than for a thousand unknown sites not linked to your specialty.
The authority of the domain is as important as the relevance of the site with respect to the topic you are talking about.
The links that come from .gob and .edu sites, because they represent state or educational institutions, have special authority and weight in link building.
Getting the support of a study house specialized in your industry, for example, can help a lot to position your website.
link location
Search engines attribute more weight to certain links depending on where they are within a web page.
For example, a link in the body copy may be more authoritative than one in the footer or sidebar.
Why?
Because the contents within the article are more likely to be:
– Editorialized : that is, the link is possibly accompanied by an opinion that comments or recommends the website.
– Followed : that is, these links are more likely to be seen, clicked and increase the traffic of the destination website.
genuineness
Google can also determine whether a link was placed spontaneously or whether it was instead placed for financial gain.
Of course, selfless links are worth much more than those that only had monetary compensation in mind.
In fact, paying for links is considered a blackhat link building tactic.
What are the methods to build inbound links?
There are many ways to get a link on another website.
Ahrefs divides them into four main categories that we have ordered from the least to the most recommended:
Below is each of these categories explained, along with examples and strategies for putting them into practice.
Buy links in link building
As we have already said, this method is not recommended to improve the authority of a website.
The Penguin update and the following ones that go through the Google algorithm only want to offer their users the information that really deserves the top positions in the search engine, not the one that anyone can position because they have money in their pocket.
Add links on external websites for link building
The easier it is to get a link, the less valuable it is.
Hence, the strategies that fall into this category, without being blackhat, are not as effective as the following ( ask for and earn links ).
Submit your website to digital directories
Being on the Yellow Pages website may increase your traffic to a small extent, but it will not have a significant impact on your domain authority.
In general, directory websites have little relevance to niches within specific markets.
Also, being a free and accessible path, many other people have also tried it to increase their links.
Comment on related topic blog posts
We have already said on other occasions the importance of having a presence in the meeting places of your ideal clients.
Entering links to your website in blog comments that talk about the same topics as you, while it’s not what will take your domain authority to the next level, it can help you increase your visibility and build relationships with people in your industry.
As long as you provide value in the comments and avoid spamming, this space can play a minor role in your link building strategy.
Remember that, by the location of the link, Google recognizes that you are the one who created the link and not the owner of the website.
Therefore, it is not as powerful as a backlink that is in that domain, but in the body of the article.
Social networks can be tools to answer questions from various users and then add a link to your website.
Although in Quora, for example, the links have the “nofollow” format, they still help to build a credible and balanced portfolio of backlinks that Google respects .
In Reddit, in addition, there is a subsection for practically everything. Identify those that are related to your niche and then provide valuable content that includes links to your website.
After a certain amount of upvotes (which varies depending on the popularity of the subreddit), links become dofollow , increasing in value to gain authority in Google.
Note: There is no command called “dofollow”. That is simply the way to call all those links that are not nofollow.
Ask for links to do link building
This is a middle ground between adding the links on other websites and earning them naturally as we will see in the next category.
Its effectiveness is considerable, since the level of difficulty to obtain these links is higher than that of the previous block.
Behind them, each link achieved with any of the following strategies has a work and a meritorious character behind it.
Keep in mind that you will be asking for links and to make it a win-win situation and get a positive response, you should always ask yourself what benefit the other person will get from all this.
Guest blogging
Guest blogging consists of publishing an article of yours on someone else’s website.
In case you haven’t noticed yet, this link building thing is like doing PR with other websites .
Therefore, connecting with other people who write about the same topic as you can be very beneficial for both parties.
Think of it this way: why would anyone turn down the opportunity to host a wonderful piece of content with the potential to drive traffic to their site? There is no reason to do it!
PRO TIP: To get blogs that accept contributions, search with the following format some of these terms in Google:
[your_subject] “write for us” [your_topic] “contribute to us” [your_subject] “write as a guest” [your_subject] “guest post”For example :
[positioning_SEO] “contribute to us”
Those brackets and quotes are a way of talking directly to Google, through its various search operators . Here we leave you an extensive list of what they are with their functions.
However, that search will only return sites that have explicitly said they want guest authors in the results. Do not limit yourself, as there are many sites that, without saying so, also accept collaborations.
repair broken links
Over time, many web pages disappear from Google.
Perhaps their link was changed or the domain they belonged to was removed.
Whatever the reason, this represents an opportunity for you.
If you have content similar to the one that expired (or, alternatively, if you dare to do so), you can send it to the source that used the original reference to replace the broken link.
The key here is to show that you want to solve a problem.
Most people will be happy to fix that error on one of their pages.
Free tools to get broken links
To get broken links, we recommend the free Broken Link Checker tool.
By entering a domain and a code to confirm that you are not a robot, it shows you all the links that no longer work within that website.
It’s a bit tedious to search just one domain at a time, but you can focus your search on those places on the Internet where you want to be listed.
Find mentions of your brand that do not contain a link
When someone mentions your brand on the internet, they are already engaged with you. You already convinced them to talk about you for a reason.
There may be cases, however, where the person did not include a link to your site:
“Some websites that deal with SEO are Pencil Speech and MOZ.”
In that example, MOZ is clearly not being linked to your website. That’s what we call a linkless brand mention.
In that case, contact the site, thank them for the mention, and politely ask them to include a link as well.
How to get brand mentions without a link? (Free)
There are many tools on the Internet to do this. The detail is that they are all paid.
To solve this step in a free link building strategy, we recommend the following method: turn to Google.
As simple as it sounds.
Just put the name of your company in the search engine and remove, with the search operators, your domain. Our search, for example, looks like this:
Pencil Speech -pencilspeech.com
This way you will get the mentions of your brand that were made on websites other than yours, whether or not they redirect to your site.
The second part of the procedure is to review each result to see if you were linked or not in each of them.
With the command “CTRL + F”, search for the name of your brand to speed up the process and check if the text has the hyperlink or not.
Earn links in link building: the most effective strategy
After seeing efforts that have considerable results, we have come to the place where the juice of link building is concentrated: the art of earning links.
Earning links means that your main effort will be in the content creation phase.
Once you create masterpieces, you’ll just have to wait for links to come to you because of how useful the text (or video, or infographic) you’ve produced is.
What is link baiting?
This may sound bad to you. After all, “click bait” stuff is usually misleading and/or tabloid advertising.
But really, link bait can be translated as “bait link”.
Bait, for fish, is irresistible, right?
The link bait strategy consists, therefore, in making content worthy of being shared and linked in more places.
Par excellence, it is the strategy that defines the essence of links earned in link building.
It is doing something so unique, so valuable, so complete, that people have no choice but to use it as a reference or example.
How to make content for linkbaiting?
The content value can be given by:
- A deep investigation.
- Exclusive data from a research in which you are the primary source.
- Attractive and unique graphics.
- Infographics.
- A free tool .
What is the importance of promoting content?
You may make the most link bait content possible (attractive, unique and useful).
However, that does not mean that it does not need to be promoted.
With posts on social networks, emails and specialized forums, distribute your content to attract traffic to your site.
If no one gets to read your content, they won’t realize how valuable it is and therefore you won’t get mentioned in various places on the internet.
How many links are necessary to increase your domain authority?
There is no magic number by which domain authority can be increased.
Each link has a different portion of importance according to the factors considered above , but what we can assure you is that the more time you have creating content and the higher its quality, the better it will be for you :
Case study: backlinks vs. domain authority
According to Ubersuggest, the 40defebre site has over 45,000 backlinks to date (March 2021) coming from 4,102 different domains.
Of the 4,000 domains, only 93 have an authority between 80 and 100. However, due to its history and the weight of each link, 40defiebre has built an DA of 59 over the years.
On the other hand, Pencil Speech has much less time online and has built a domain authority of 19/100.
As of February 2020, the site had 51 backlinks from 5 different domains. By March 2021, the numbers increased to 31 domains linking to the web a total of 12,556 times.
Although the change seems abysmal, it has been an organic and gradual growth in which we have made almost no active efforts.
In addition, several of the links to our site are found in the footer of websites that we have optimized as an SEO Agency, which also reduces their weight within our backlink profile.
Other useful and free tools for link building
Moz link explorer: How to know the backlinks of a website?
With this tool from Moz, you can find the links of your competition to take note of what strategy they are using and know how difficult it will be to beat them.
Also, of course, use it to see your own performance and keep an eye on the effects of your link building campaign.
Buzzsumo: What topics to write about to gain inbound links?
On this page you can do content research : content research. With it you can search for your keywords and see what is ranking at that moment for each one.
That content is there because it is worth sharing and that is why you can take it as a reference to make an even better piece and present it in different formats.
Google Alerts: How to get ahead of my competition?
Constantly monitoring what is on the Internet about your industry will be an important plus to be up to date with the latest and greatest.
Make the most of the information that this free Google tool offers you and create alerts so that it reaches your email when new content has been published:
Summary table and conclusions
After all, we can ensure that:
- Link building strategies are a piece of ant work closely related to human relationships and sociability .
- Reciprocity plays an important role in this process, since the ideal is for both websites to benefit: both the one that provides the link and the website that receives the link.
- Google is becoming more and more clever to determine the links that provide the most value.
We invite you to share with us in the comments which of these methods you have already used, and which ones you suggest that we have not included here.
