Trying to find inbound linking strategies to improve your backlink profile? Here are eight SEO link building strategies—including beginner and advanced tactics—you can implement to boost your backlinking strategy!
- Link Reclamation
- Reverse-Engineering Competitor Links
- Infographics
- Passive Links
- Resource Pages
- Guest Blogging
- Case Studies & Data Studies
- Newsjacking
Link Reclamation
- Experience Level: Beginner
- Is Outreach Needed?: Yes
Reclaiming links plays a vital role in building your backlink profile and improving your website’s visibility in search engine results pages (SERPs). Broken or removed links can lead users to 404 error pages, which can negatively impact overall user experience and authority—two major factors search engines like Google consider when ranking website content in SERPs.
To reclaim a lost link on another website, you’ll need to reach out to the website owner to help re-secure coverage of the link. When conducting this outreach, be sure to include a link to the webpage where the broken or removed link should direct, as this can increase the chances that the website owner will fix the issue.
Reverse-Engineering Competitor Links
- Experience Level: Beginner
- Is Outreach Needed?: Yes
Using SEO tools like Moz, SEMrush or Ahrefs, you can conduct a competitor backlink analysis that tells you which websites are linking to your competitors’ websites. This link gap analysis provides an opportunity to reverse-engineer competitor backlinks by monitoring competitors’ content weaknesses, link building tactics, trending industry topics, ranking keywords, and more.
After you’ve done a thorough analysis, take note of what your competitors are doing with their SEO content marketing efforts so you can replicate their success and then further build upon it. This is called the skyscraper technique, and it can be an effective way to gain new backlinks.
Infographics
- Experience Level: Beginner
- Is Outreach Needed?: No
Infographic content provides easy-to-digest information for online audiences and helps establish stronger image search optimization for your website. Additionally, infographics featuring trending topics can increase organic traffic to your webpages and help you earn quality backlinks.
When creating infographics with the intent of earning backlinks, consider building a webpage or blog post around your infographic content that other websites can link back to. You might also think about publishing your infographic with a shareable code that other websites can embed.
Passive Links
- Experience Level: Intermediate
- Is Outreach Needed?: No
Passive link building is an organic SEO strategy that seeks to acquire backlinks naturally through content marketing and search engine optimization tactics. By developing authoritative content, you can boost your website’s position in SERPs and increase the chances of gaining new links.
When creating website content with the intent of attracting backlinks, focus on quality over quantity. You should strive to create in-depth content around evergreen or trending topics that answer questions, provide helpful instruction, and/or demonstrate your subject matter expertise. Over time, you should see backlinks trickle in without outreach efforts.
Resource Pages
- Experience Level: Intermediate
- Is Outreach Needed?: Yes
Resource page link building is the practice of building backlinks through curated resource lists. These webpages are typically designed like comprehensive guides with links pointing to other websites that cover relevant topics an audience would need to know about the larger topic.
If you’ve created content on your website that could add value to a resource page on another website, reach out to the website owner to suggest adding a link to your content. (Some resource pages even have a “Suggest a source” link for your pitches.) Make sure to look for resource pages in your industry niche and vet the pages for relevance and authority before conducting outreach.
Guest Blogging
- Experience Level: Intermediate
- Is Outreach Needed?: Yes
Contributing thought leadership content to another website can be a great way to earn new backlinks for your website. Through guest blogging, you partner with relevant brands in your industry to create valuable content, establish your authority, and gain exposure for your brand.
Free services like HARO can connect you with bloggers and journalists who are looking for expert contributors. Keep in mind that you should avoid link spamming tactics such as advertorials or excessive link exchanges when utilizing a guest blogging strategy for backlink building.
Case Studies & Data Studies
- Experience Level: Advanced
- Is Outreach Needed?: Yes
Data-driven website content containing original research and unique insights can help you stand out in competitive SERPs and acquire valuable backlinks. This content is also more likely to be found and linked to by news sources with high domain authorities, which can help your SEO.
Content with interesting statistics can help case studies generate more backlinks and position your website as an authoritative resource. One thing to note, though, is that case studies and data studies require more effort to create and may need to be shared among other industry websites to drive initial interest before getting picked up by larger news sources.
Newsjacking
- Experience Level: Advanced
- Is Outreach Needed?: No
Newsjacking is digital PR tactic used for link building where you monitor live industry news and spot opportunities to create relevant content within 24 to 72 hours. Through this SEO link building strategy, you share newsworthy content with expert commentary and exclusive data, presenting your brand as a thought leader on current events, industry trends, and more.
Because online audiences are already searching for content around these topics, newsjacking can be an effective way to drive more website traffic and garner new backlinks. However, if your website newsjacks stories unrelated to your industry or expertise, search engines may consider the content to be spam, which can ultimately hurt your SERP visibility and backlinking efforts.
Looking for help with link building? Hurrdat offers search engine optimization services and SEO content writing services. Contact us today to learn more!
