Want a better ranking for your website?
Want your website to show up on the first page of Google for your targeted keyword?
For in the next few minutes, you are going to get acquainted with the nitty-gritty behind how to do link building and get a plethora of quality backlinks for your website, that will help it skyrocket to the first page of Google in no time.
It is quite commonplace nowadays that to have a decent enough ranking for your web page on google, the building of backlinks is simply mandatory.
So, what is link building in SEO?
And what are the elements that need to be taken into account before looking to build up your decent share of backlinks?
A hyperlink is a link which enables users to travel from one page to another on the internet via a click of the mouse.
The process of acquiring these hyperlinks from other websites to your own website is termed as link building in SEO.
Try saying that to an SEO executive.
I am wholly confident that he will tell you that it is one of the most difficult parts of their job and the majority of their work time goes towards that.
There are a host of backdoor techniques that will help you get links in numbers, but the only path they lead towards is that of getting penalized by Google and even possibly getting your website deindexed(thrown out of Google search).
We will discuss that in detail towards the latter end of this blog.
If you want to read about the different types of link building, you can check it out here.
Same is the case with the Google Gods - they vouch for quality backlinks from top authority pages, while the building of low-quality backlinks is penalized in no time.
Great authority of the website(domain) linking to you.
Web page which is linking to you has top-notch authority.
Websites which are closely related theme-wise in regards to yours.
A link which is in the main content of the webpage.
You can check the first two in an instant.
Just insert the URL into Ahrefs & check out the UR (URL Rating) and DR (Domain Rating) of the website, and you will be up and running.
Another thing to consider is the site’s Relevance to that of yours.
Getting backlinks from sites having top authority but with no relation to that of yours is the same as wearing an Armani sweatshirt to an Indian wedding.
Can’t digest the weird combination, right?
Same is the case with Google. You won’t be getting any brownie points for such backlinks.
The next parameter which affects the quality of a link in the eyes of Google is the whereabouts of the link on the webpage.
Google rates links which are in the main body of the webpage much higher than those which are stuffed in the footer or sidebars.
In short, you should be aiming for your links to be in the main content of the page and work according to that.
There are some more criteria which are said to be influential in determining the quality of a link but they are not as significant to that of the four mentioned above.
It is a universal truth in the content marketing industry that the quality of your content is the bedrock on which everything else is built.
If your content is not up to the level required, then everything else is just a waste of time.
But only publishing excellent content isn’t going to be enough for acquiring backlinks.
When it comes to content marketing, there exist certain kinds of content which hit the bull’s eye when it comes to building up of links.
You may have heard the old adage: “A picture speaks a thousand words”.
When it comes to SEO and link building, this proverb pertains to all kinds of visual stimulus, be it images, infographics, diagrams, charts, pie charts or anything else.
They capture the imagination of the readers while conveying the required info in less than no time.
Like the law enforcement system in our country, readers also wish for evidence-based information.
Be it surveys, industry studies or authentic research... they all are packed with stats and data - extremely linkable stuff.
The great thing about in-depth ultimate guides is that including the word ‘ultimate’ in your title does half the thing for you.
It compels the reader’s brain to visualize your guide as the Burj Khalifa of that particular topic, getting him hooked to the content.
And eventually, as this type of guides serves the readers with everything under one roof, they lure backlinks in large numbers.
List posts have been proven to be a magnet for backlinks.
A glut of information condensed into small morsels and presented in a neat and systematic fashion is something that the internet audience craves for... adding to your stock of backlinks along the way.
If you want a list of link building tools, you can check them out here.
You want to increase your backlinks by all kinds of white hat methods until you get to the first page of Google, right?
Then you have to be willing to do the donkey work as well.
Email outreach is one of the most boring but a highly effective method in the world of Seo to acquire backlinks.
Reaching out to prospective linkers, viz. Bloggers, journalists, etc. by means of email is imperative for building up links to your website.
But there’s a fine line between doing it successfully and getting your emails dumped in the dreaded spam folder for eternity.
When it comes to digging out possible linkers for your website, reverse engineering is the go-to method preferred by the top professionals in the business.
Now, hit “backlinks” in the sidebar.
You will get a catalog of sites who could link to you if you manage to coax them the right way.
Now that we have the websites in front of us, the next logical thing to do is to get their email address.
If you are looking to reach out to individual people’s blogs or small sites, anymailfinder.com will help you there.
Similar to the 1st step.. just enter the URL of a site into the tool.. and all email addresses related to that domain will be in front of you.
But if you are looking to reach out to a mammoth site which will have hundreds of email addresses, then leadmine.net should be your preferred destination.
Instead of entering a URL, here you have to provide a person’s name and the domain they are working at, and you will get the concerned person’s email address.
This will enable you to make direct contact with that person who can actually add your link to their page.
The next thing necessary would be a unique script (unique.. in the sense that it shouldn’t feel like one taken straight down from the internet) customized in keeping with your requirements.
I was scouring the internet for some quality content on [Topic] today when I came across your article: [Title of Article].
I was really impressed by the depth in your article, especially the [Some specific part of the article] part.
Likewise, I had recently published a new article on [Your Topic]: [URL].
Since you have a knack for writing about [Topic], I contemplated that you might enjoy reading it.
My article could also prove to be a decent addition to your page. Nevertheless, keep up the good work with [Website]!
The Skyscraper technique (created by Brian Dean of Backlinko.com) is an advanced content-driven link building approach which takes benefit of the inclination and attraction of humans towards the best of things.
Devise a better rendition of it.
Make it known to the right people.
This technique has been reported to be successfully implemented by a vast array of people to drive up their organic web traffic and build backlinks.
Ego bait, unsurprisingly, is a link building tactic which aims to play on the egos of people and receive a favor in return from them, in this case - a link, share from a social media site or some other form of recognition.
The idea is that by featuring these people in the content, their perception towards the content gets better and they feel inclined to share the content with a link.
Usually, in this tactic, the target is an influential blogger, authority figure or a related brand.
Wouldn’t it be great if there is someone waiting for you to create great content so that they can publish links to it on their page??
Sounds like the stuff of dreams, right?
There are such godly entities on the internet in the form of resource pages.
Resource pages are pages that provide links to the best of content on a given topic to readers.
They could prove to be a handy resource for increasing your backlinks if used wisely.
You just have to enter these search strings in Google.
You have to quickly ascertain whether a link from a particular page is worth the effort and pain.
Check out all the things which determine the quality of a link we went through earlier.
Once you have discovered some competent pages, it’s time to find and identify content on your site that is well-suited for those resource pages.
And the culmination of all this hard work comes in the form of sending a befitting script to the owners of these resource pages.
What an awesome list of resources! I didn’t even know about some of them.
Broken link building is a one-of-a-kind link building strategy.
It not only aids you in building up backlinks but also enriches the website of the person helping you do the same.
First, you need to install Broken Link Checker (a chrome extension) and then find lots of outgoing links with the search strings we read about in the previous topic.
Now you need to discover broken links with the chrome extension.
And finally, you need to email the person who runs that particular page about their broken link (or links) and suggest a resource from your site as a fill-in.
There is good information here, but I noticed your link to [site] returns an error (maybe the site is down, or the post has been removed).
I’ve previously written a similar article to the one that’s missing.
You can tweak some things to suit your niche & personality and you will be good to go.
“A mistake repeated more than once is a decision”.
When do you send your outreach emails?
Are you one of those who sends them at any time of the day according to their convenience?
If yes, then you have been making a big mistake all this time without having the slightest of hints.
Sending these emails in the morning and hoping for success is similar to expecting that Zimbabwe will one day win the cricket world cup.
They are doomed to failure even before you send them because of the high density of new emails in the morning.
Comparatively, in the afternoon there will be much less competition in the concerned person’s inbox, and the chances that he will do the needful will be quite good.
The drawback of following the text approach everywhere in your blog post is that the chances of your description getting shared get reduced significantly.
On the contrary, a vibrant and meaningful visual is something that bloggers are glad to use their content and simultaneously link to your page when they do.
What if I tell you someone has already assembled a list of websites which are high-quality link targets for you?
They do exist.. on the web in the form of “best blog” lists.
You just need to google “list of best (your topic) blogs” and click on one of the links in front of you to get them.
You can find such beneficial people with the Ahrefs Link Intersect tool.
Just enter the URL of a handful of your competitors and this tool will show you the common link between all of them.
Do you have a fancy for visual assets(images, charts,etc.)?
Do you use them regularly in your posts?
If yes, then it is very likely that a decent share of them are being used by people on their sites without crediting you for the same.
Rather than getting annoyed with this sense of ingratitude, you should see this as a golden opportunity for building backlinks.
Just dispatching a friendly email should get your work done.
Google reverse image search will find for you all these thankless people who are using your images without a link.
When it comes to a guide on backlinks, it is almost imperative to reserve an area for describing Black Hat link building.
Black hat link building... quite an intriguing name, right?
As fascinating as it sounds, it is an excessively used practice in the Seo world.
Links which are built only for the purpose of deceiving Google’s algorithm and ranking higher for specific keywords are links which fall under Black Hat SEO.
Such links violate Google’s Webmaster Guidelines and are liable to be penalized.
Google can penalize such websites, de-index the site or simply depreciate the spammy links, depending on a host of factors.
If you think that you have mastered the art of conning Google’s search algorithm, think about it again.
Because Google keeps on updating its search algorithm consistently to keep track of people manipulating the rankings using crooked ways.
The last big algorithm update by Google was the Penguin update in April 2012.
Penguin 1.0 preyed on websites featuring dubious link profiles, low-quality backlinks, and anchor text that was too keyword rich or overly optimized for a single term.
So you better think about it twice before moving to the dark side, that is black hat SEO.
If you indulge in black hat SEO and still manage to stay away from the clutches of Google, then there is still a decent enough chance that you will get hit by a Manual Penalty from Google.
If your competitor reports your site to Google stating that you are indulging in shady practices, then Google will do a thorough check and evaluate your site and the backlinks it is receiving and decide whether or not to issue a manual penalty.
This link building guide is one of the most exhaustive ones you will find on the internet and I have included all of the minute details along with the well-established strategies pertaining to how to do link building.
I am wholly confident that if you implement the info in this guide in a sincere and systematic manner, then you are bound to see results and your rankings in Google will shoot up in no time.
If you have any queries, do feel free to comment below.
Please share if you find this guide interesting and helpful.
An admirer of the English language.. writing for a purpose.