If you have been blogging for a while, you must have already tried several SEO strategies. But it can get really frustrating if those traffic stats refuse to bulge even a bit. No one wants to pour sweat and love into their blog only to watch it get swallowed in the black hole of the internet. So, how do you make sure your blog is front and center in your niche? Backlinks – that’s how.
Many of you have already tried your hands at link building without much luck. Worse, you may have heard that it is the best thing since sliced bread but just can’t figure out the best ways that will work for you. If this describes you, then you are in luck. In this post, we will explore different ways to get backlinks for blogs. You’ll learn tactics that aren’t just relevant and fresh but also work impressively.
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SEO Facts About Link Building Every Blogger Must Know
So, why do you need link building in the first place? Grab a chair because this will blow your mind. Turns out that links are the webs that connect a lot of SEO tactics and impact whether or not your efforts will pay off. Is there any proof to back that? Take a look at the stats:
- The pages that rank top in Google search results have more backlinks than the rest. If you can get at least 3.8x more backlinks to your blog than others, you stand a chance to be in the top three results.
- The top 3 results on SERPs get the most clicks (68.7%) and traffic. That’s why it is exactly where you should want your blog content to appear.
- In a Semrush study, over 50% of credible sites never made it to the first page of search results because they didn’t have even one backlink.
- 96.55% of blog content gets no traffic from Google. Why? Mainly because of the poor topic choice and the fact these pages had no backlinks.
Building links is what helps your site build credibility and get good DA/DR scores. This is important and will help you increase your site traffic and boost brand awareness.
It’s simple really, you need to obtain for free or buy backlinks from niche relevant sites to hit your targets as a blogger. These targets can range from attracting the right traffic to making sales. Whatever that is, link building can become your game-changer.
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What Kind of Links Should You Use?
Here’s the thing: there are tons of websites on the internet, but you don’t need to get backlinks from all of them (luckily). In fact, trying to do just that will backfire seriously. So before you draw up your link-building plan, you need to know exactly the kind of links that move the needle in your favor, and they must tick these boxes:
#1 Relevancy
For a link to be relevant means that it comes from websites that explore similar topics that you also write about in your blog. So, let’s say your blog is about parenting. Getting links from similar web pages will be more efficient than choosing blogs about gadgets or spaceships.
You can get the occasional backlink from a non-related blog from time to time. But even then, the link should not be random and must make contextual sense. For example, if it is a tech website about gadgets, your guest blog can be titled along these lines: How to Help Your Kids Have a Healthy Relationship With Gadgets.
#2 High Authority
Even if a link is from the same niche, you still want to check the authoritativeness. What does this mean in SEO? It means credibility, reputation, ranking, DR/DA score, and page ranking. Imagine you get a backlink from the Scary Mommy blog and Parenting Science website and then another link from a new page about bungee jumping riddled with ads.
Now, which one do you think will look good in Google’s eyes? Obviously, it’s the first two. They are pretty big names, like the Forbes of the mom blog world. So, if you can, make sure most pages that link to you are those with high website authority and topics related to yours.
#3 Natural Anchor Text
You can’t just insert a link made up of random letters and numbers. Well, technically, you can, but it isn’t the best idea. You need natural and diverse anchor texts (the clickable phrases or words that redirect readers to your website). Usually, this gives context so the user knows what to expect when they land on the linked page.
But that’s not just for people either. Search engines also rely on anchor texts to gather clues to help them understand the linked page and know which keywords it’s supposed to rank for. Still, you don’t want to over-optimize this with too many keywords. Instead, you will need to find the right balance between branded anchors, keyword-based anchor texts, and other generic phrases.
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5 Effective SEO Link-Building Strategies for Bloggers to Improve Your Rankings
Blogging is one of the few legitly profitable ways to make money online from home. As with all things profitable, you are going to have a lot of competition. But good link-building skills can give you the leverage you need to succeed. Still, it can be a lot of hassle without much guarantees unless you explore options like:
#1 Guest Blogging (aka Writing for Other Blogs)
Guest blogging is like a celebrity in the link-building world. Everyone knows it’s one of the most effective link-building strategies for bloggers looking to boost their blog content ASAP. You might be thinking at this point, does writing for other people really help your own blog? Well, if it didn’t work, then 60% of bloggers who write at least 1-5 guest posts every month have been wasting their time and efforts for years. Luckily, the numbers show it works.
So, how do you get in on this action? Well, the idea is that you create quality content around engaging topics for other blogs in your niche. In return, you get backlinks from them pointing back to your website. If you know how to choose the sites carefully, you could get a lot of high DR/DA backlinks this way and drive significant traffic to your website.
To pull that off, you have to avoid generic blogs and go for niche sites. But it’s also a good idea to do a couple more checks. How frequently do they post and update content? How much current traffic do they get? How many shares, likes, or comments do posts get? You want a blog with both decent SEO metrics and plenty of real readers.
You also have to be good at doing targeted outreaches and crafting strong pitches. Make the other bloggers melt and say “yes” to your proposals. Whatever you do, try not to be spammy with this tactic, or you might get a lot of hate.
#2 Become a Source for a Reporter (Connectively, Formerly HARO)
Oh, won’t you help a poor reporter out? Alright, it’s not that serious but you got the spirit of this tactic. First, you sign up at Connectively (formerly HARO). It’s so you can become a source for reporters or journalists who need expert insights and opinions for their materials. Right after creating a profile, you can use the search feature to find your target keywords (skip those where the deadline has passed).
When you answer niche relevant questions, and journalists use them, most of them will credit you as the source and link back to you. This way, you get to build authority as an expert in your niche and boost your backlink profile at the same time. The only downside is that you have to be really fast – there are lots of content creators and bloggers all looking for the same opportunities as you.
Pro tip: Most questions will also have the site included somewhere so you can copy that and use an online authority checker to see the DR/DA rating of that page. This will help you know if you want to put in the effort or not. A site with a 50+ DR score will obviously have more value than the one with an 18 score.
#3 Create Valuable Linkable Assets
Linkable assets are basically blog pages that everyone will want to link to (maybe as a reference) in their own posts. How do you create something that has a wide appeal like that? You need to pay attention to what people are really looking for in your niche. Then, create content (often visual) around that topic.
So, for example, if you see that many parents are searching online for developmental milestones for babies, you can use this to create a linkable asset – an infographic. The truth is that you don’t need to be a designer to do that. You can use a free tool like Canva, find a suitable template, adjust it a bit, and there you go – your linkable asset is good to go.
Of course, you need a brief note for each stage to explain the key details that parents want to know. If you pull this off, you can get quite a lot of exposure. Many blogs, SM posts, and forum comments will link to your infographics simply because it is easier to link to yours than to create their own from scratch. Another great example of linkable content is statistics. You can either collect those you find online or share your own research.
#4 Find and Leverage Unlinked Brand Mentions
Remember how we just said you can become kind of famous in your niche by creating linkable assets? Well, some people will still post your assets and talk about it (or your blog) on their own web pages without linking back to your blog. This is not a new thing. Many bloggers and marketers know it as unlinked brand mentions. But not to worry, there is a solution for that too.
First, you have to know which sites are doing this. There are different ways to find unlinked mentions but the least stressful is using an SEO tool. Some of the modern day software will let you use APIs that give you real time updates on brand mentions across several platforms. Most will allow you to search by branded keywords, images, slogans, and brand names.
You can also use filters to finetune your results and restrict them to a specific timeframe (e.g., not older than a year). When you know the websites that didn’t link to you when referring to your content, email their webmasters asking them to mention you. Include a link in the email to make it easy for them to follow through.
#5 Draw Inspiration for New Ideas From Your Competitors’ Backlinks
It’s kind of hard to talk about link-building strategies without saying anything about competitor backlink analysis. The good news is that there are many good opportunities if you can just look under the hood of your neighbor’s backlink profile.
The first thing you want to do is find a good SEO tool. This will help you dig up all the sites linking to your competitors. Chances are, many of them will be ready to link to you as well. But you never know unless you try. So, reach out to them and ask whether they are interested in guest posting or link insertions.
Besides, when checking your competitors, see if you can spot any content gap you can leverage. Maybe you can make a list (a spreadsheet) of the top keywords they are ranking for and use that to create more comprehensive blogs for your own page. Take a peek at what the best-ranking blogs in your niche do. It might give you clues on how to come up with an even better link-building strategy to outrank them.
How to Create a Link-Building Strategy That Saves Your Time
Building an efficient backlink strategy takes a lot of time and effort. But if you use a few simple tricks like the ones listed below, you can save yourself a lot of stress:
- Start with laser-clear goals and a solid plan on how to make it all come together. It could be getting more referral traffic in X time. These KPIs and deadlines will make it easier for you to track progress and adjust your tactics when needed.
- Know what resources, people, and budget you need. Assign each goal to a particular team member or an outsourced professional. They will be accountable for it. When possible, try to repurpose old content instead of creating new ones to save time and budget.
- Automate tasks and outsource what you can since no one is an expert in all things SEO, and trying to learn how to do it all by yourself can be time-draining. So, just find someone who is a true specialist in what you need, whether it’s outreach, content creation, or link-building).
- Don’t forget that not all links are safe. How can you know? Here, Cyber Security Intelligence gives an easy step-by-step process for checking if a link has any threats that can affect your website.
- Ask for help from other bloggers who are doing much better than you (even if they are in a different industry). You never know what tips you can get to improve your own strategy.
Conclusion
There are many link-building strategies for bloggers, but regardless of which you go with, you are going to need to exercise some patience. This is because it takes quite some time to see results. Many people throw in the towel just before their search rankings finally turn the curve. But Rome wasn’t built in a day, so keep going until you begin to see some returns on your investments. Your future self will thank you for not dropping the ball on your dreams when you finally see your blog content doing numbers on the web.
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