Are you toying with the idea of building some backlinks for your site?
Backlinks are a time-honored SEO practice—but are they really worth the effort and money?
What if we told you that backlinks are the #1 way to get Google to throw you into the top search results?
According to a study, the number of backlinks a site has is the highest correlator to rankings.
What's more, they don't have to cost you a fortune, either.
If you want to know how to get quality backlinks, for cheap or even free, read on.
For those of you who aren't yet familiar with backlinks, what are they exactly?
Well, this is a backlink.
However, it's not a backlink for our blog. It's a backlink for the site we utilized as a resource. Because we have referenced and linked that article, we're organically telling Google the content is useful, shareable, and that we trust the source.
This is why backlinks are so valuable—any time someone links to your site, it's telling Google that your domain is of value.
So, how do you get people to link to you?
Guest posting is one of the most tried-and-true SEO tactics for link building.
However, to truly leverage the potential of this technique, you need to search for quality guest posting opportunities.
The value of backlinks lies largely in the domain authority (DA) of the site from which they come. In Google's eyes, backlinks feature as a kind of endorsement from the site that's linking to yours. Hence, the more DA a site has, the more powerful any backlinks from it will be.
Inversely, backlinks from websites with a low DA will not provide much link juice. In some cases, backlinks pointing from a particularly low-quality or spammy source could even hurt your SEO.
Therefore, when planning a guest post strategy, it's important you approach sites that have good domain authority.
One of the most effective ways to garner backlinks organically is to maintain an active blog.
According to statistics, companies who blog enjoy 97% more backlinks to their sites.
However, here's the crux.
It's not enough to just produce content. Learning how to produce content for a website that's of high-value and SEO-optimized is key to earning backlinks.
Content that's SEO-optimized will be more likely to be found in searches, which will give it a higher likelihood of being used as a citation or resource.
Additionally, you will also need to focus on producing high-quality content that's either informative or highly shareable in some other way (e.g., humorous, forward-thinking, revolutionary, viral-worthy, etc.).
If you're creating share-worthy content, a great way to speed up link-building from this is to reach out to sites that publish round-up style content in your niche.
Round-up posts consist of lists of featured links/posts. An example of a round-up post would be "10 Healthy Snack Recipes," or, "10 Cost-Effective Backlink Services."
When reaching out to publishers of round-up posts, be sure to research candidates thoroughly, and include an explanation of why your content might be a good fit.
Also, remember to approach sites that have a good level of DA to maximize the effects of your link-building efforts.
Are you in an industry or niche that is fact-rich?
If so, a stellar method for garnering backlinks is to create infographics that other publishers can embed onto their sites.
Infographics are a highly popular and sought-after form of content, with Google experiencing more than 67,000 searches a month for infographics in one year.
This means that if you create valuable infographics, there's a high chance others will share and embed them. Embedded infographics count as backlinks and shares increase brand awareness.
Although brand awareness might not be your initial metric goal when looking to build backlinks, it's worthwhile to note that infographics can build sites by 82% based on brand awareness alone.
Add the rewards of the backlinks you'll be building, and infographics start to look like a really great idea.
Leaving testimonials is an easy and free way to rack up backlinks for your website.
Do you utilize products or services for your business or site?
If so, you can usually gain a backlink by reviewing these if the offering has a facility for testimonials.
Similar to testimonials, review sites can also be a source of free and relatively quick backlinks.
To take advantage of this, find review sites that cater to your niche or industry. Once you add a profile, this automatically ads backlinks to your specified page. These review platforms often offer the opportunity to add your company's website name, address, and contact details.
Be sure to take advantage of this by filling out those fields, and encourage your customers and/or clients to review you on one or more of these platforms, as this also counts as desirable SEO.
Did you know that broken links can serve as an opportunity for you to build backlinks?
If a site in your niche has broken backlinks, it might be possible that a link to your site would make a good amendment, providing that it is relevant.
The first step to targeting broken backlinks is to find them by searching for keywords that you target, along with terms that will lead you to resource pages and link lists.
To start, you can try searching terms such as the following:
Once you have done this you can run the pages through an app of your choice that will check the pages for broken links.
After you have identified applicable broken links you can then email the site notifying them of the broken link, along with a list of link replacement suggestions, including one from your site.
Considering that backlinks are one of the most (if not the most) powerful ranking factors, knowing how to get quality backlinks is invaluable.
Knowing how to get quality-backlinks for cheap or free—is even handier.
If you are after more insights such as these, bookmark our blog.
And if you don't have the time to carry out these strategies, check out our market place for cost-effective link building offers.
