Link Building Strategies

What is link building?

Link building is acquiring or building hyperlinks from other sites that link back to your site. It is an essential component of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) marketing and is a very effective way to grow organic traffic when combined with other techniques, such as; creating quality SEO content and positive user experiences within your website.

In the past, link building strategies have focused on getting a high quantity of links quickly, but today it is all about getting high-quality links. Quality links come from sites with high domain authority and not only drive more traffic but also can increase your rank within search engine results and increase trust for your company among users.

Building relevant links is a process that takes time and patience, but it will undoubtedly pay off when done correctly to improve your organic traffic and in turn, your revenue.

Why is link building important?

Having a solid link building strategy is an essential part of any marketing campaign. It is necessary if you want to grow your business in a world that is increasingly run through the internet.

The benefits of quality links include the following:

• Increasing your rank within search engines. According to a 2021 marketing report completed by HubSpot, 75% of internet users who complete searches within search engines do not scroll past the first page of results. To generate more traffic, it is essential to be on that first page for your target keywords.
• It drives more traffic to your web pages. Aside from optimizing your rank within search engines, link building will also generate more traffic through the hyperlinks you acquire. In addition, if you are being linked by high authority sites that are trusted, it will help build trust in your community.
• It increases brand exposure and awareness. Branded traffic comes to your site through a direct search within a search engine, meaning they typed in your name to get to you. The more links you acquire from authority sites, the more well-known you become.
• Brand awareness also helps grow your business through word-of-mouth advertising and social media channels as people share your content within their communities.

Why should you have link building strategies?

The process of acquiring links can be complicated and overwhelming. The process takes time, money, and patience, so you want to ensure that you do it in a way that will set you up for success. Some key components you should focus on include the following:

• Creating quality SEO content that is both worthy of a link and that accurately represents your company. Quantity is great, but if you are shelling out low-quality content, other websites will not want to link to your website and users will not trust your knowledge.
• Reach out to relevant sites that create their own quality content and link to proper sources. This will help build trust and encourage other websites to link to you.
• Avoid toxic links. A toxic link is a link from a page that can hurt your search engine ranking. These pages have been flagged for attempting to cheat the algorithm and are generally pages that spam out links to multiple sites. Not only should you avoid these links, but you must actively work to be removed from their site if you find them.

11 Link Building Strategies

There are several different link building strategies you can utilize to grow your traffic that it can be overwhelming. Still, we narrowed it down to the top link building strategies that have proven to be the most effective. In addition, it is also essential to ensure your content and links align with your company so you can drive the most relevant users to your niche.

1. Digital PR

Definition:

Digital PR is a marketing and link building strategy where a business creates valuable content that interests journalists, then reaches out to them to invite them to utilize the content to add editorial value to their articles.

The goal of digital PR is to build high-quality backlinks through online press releases that will improve Search Engine Optimization (SEO), and it is one of the best link building strategies.

Example:

A great example would be a healthcare supplement company noticing a Google breakout trend of supplements to take when you are sick. That company would create high-quality content and reach out to journalists who likely want to write an article on the subject.

The journalist would then make their article on the topic and use the healthcare supplement company's link to add value or reference to their article, thus creating a backlink.

How to Implement:

Search for relevant and valuable content that would interest journalists, something trending in the news or within Google searches, is a great option. You also want to ensure that the topic is relevant to your niche.

Once you have selected a topic, create exciting content, showcase your company, and set yourself apart as an expert.

Then select high-quality publications to pitch your content to that will create an article, then link to you as a resource page.

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Pros:

- It is a link building strategy where you have control over the quality of your links.

- You can request links from high-quality publications.

- You can have a competitive advantage that your competitors cannot replicate. 

- You can earn links that will drive high levels of referral traffic.

- You can put your link directly in front of your target audience and grow brand awareness.

- You can build trust and become an industry expert.

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Cons:

- You have to be consistently tracking trends and creating relevant information.

- Outreach can be time-consuming and difficult, especially if this is your first time doing it.

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2. HARO Links

Definition:

HARO (or Help a Reporter Out) is a link building strategy that was created to help journalists and publishers find experts and linked content. They are an excellent tool for SEO and, if done correctly, can help establish your company as an industry expert and grow organic traffic to your content exponentially.

Example:

An example of a HARO link would be a company finding a relevant query within a HARO email, responding to the question or query, and gaining a link for providing the information that the reporter used.

How to implement:

Go to the HARO web page and register as a source.

Once you are registered, you will receive emails each day. You must monitor these emails and be quick to respond. It's essential to try to stick with relevant leads that will lead to high-quality links.

Make a pitch. Keep it concise but informative; it must have all the required elements requested in the query and have a little information about you as well, without being so long that the reporter ignores your response.

Watch for your link. Occasionally, the reporter will email you back and inform you they have used your link. You can also set up a Google alert to know if/when your content has been used and linked.

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Pros

- HARO emails bring the leads to you instead of having to go out searching for them.

- They can help you land links to your website from high-quality sources that will increase your search rankings.

- HARO can help establish your company as an industry expert.

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Cons

- It can be time-consuming because someone needs to be consistently looking through emails to ensure timely responses.

- You may spend time responding to several queries and you never hear back from reported, especially during the initial stages.

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3. Social Media Backlinks

Definition

Obtaining social media backlinks is a link building strategy where a link to your website is shared on a social media platform. Social media is so much more than just Facebook, today it includes many options that help people connect and share their favorite brands; these include the following:

• Traditional Social Networking: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and TikTok
• Social Review Sites: Yelp and TripAdvisor
• Image and Video Sharing Sites: Instagram, and Snapchat
• Video Hosting Sites: YouTube and Vimeo
• Community Blog Posts: Tumblr
• Discussion Sites: Reddit and Quora
• Sharing Economy Networks: Air BnB and VRBO

These links will not necessarily increase traffic land directly grow business like other link building strategies, but they are essential to building a foundation and raising your brand awareness. Word of mouth can reach a larger audience using social media platforms and will help you build trust with potential customers before they even visit your web page.

Example

An example of a social media backlink is a person creating a post and sharing your site within a Facebook status, an Instagram user sharing your link in their stories, or someone writing a review on Yelp.

How to Implement

Before you encourage sharing, it is vital to ensure the share link shows the photo and wording that will generate the most visibility for your company.

If you want to change this, you can use a service like WordPress All in One SEO Plug In. It will help you create a code to add to your website that will ensure the preview you desire is displayed when someone shares your web pages.

Then, if you have happy users and employees, you can encourage or incentivize them to share your company on social media platforms to gain more brand visibility.

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Pros

- It's easy to implement.

- Many programs that allow you to edit your links for better SEO optimization are free.

- You can use your existing users and employees to help build your brand.

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Cons

- It won't necessarily grow site traffic.

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4. Skyscraper Linkable Assets

Definition

The skyscraper technique is a highly effective and strategic link building strategy. The process includes researching relevant content to find the highest rank with the most backlinks and searching for areas of improvement. Then create similar content that fills in gaps and improves upon it. Utilize their weaknesses to gain links pointing to your site instead.

Example

You want people to visit your page about link building strategies. You find the top link building strategy page within search engines misses key elements that are essential to success. You create content that fills that information gap and pitches it to top sites currently linking to the other site to encourage them to use yours instead.

How to Implement

Find popular content with a lot of links that is relevant to you. There are a couple of options for this:

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1. Content Explorer:

- Search keywords and view search engine results.

- Once you have determined a top site from your industry, enter that site into Site Explorer and access the 'Best by Links' page.

- Look for any pages with over 50 referring domains; these will be excellent options, as there are many opportunities for link building efforts.

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2. Keywords Explorer

- Enter a keyword relevant to your niche but also broad enough to capture an array of data.

- Choose the report "Phrase Match" and a minimum Keyword Difficulty of 40 so you only pull up pages with higher numbers of referring domains.

- Hit the SERP dropdown to see possible pages and opportunities for building links.

- Do your research or find an expert and create your content that is better and worthy of dofollow links. Key elements to ensure you are creating worthy content:

• Make sure anything you create is valuable and worth domains making the switch to links pointing to your content.
• Consider adding length to content or additional numbers to a list.
• Go into depth and make it actionable.
• Make sure your design is appealing and stands out from your competitor.
• If the content you want to replace is older, add updated images and current information your competitor is missing.
• Reach out to site owners to encourage them to link to your site instead. It might even be a blog owner, but ensure you know who to contact instead of spamming out many emails.
• Again, go to Site Explorer, paste in the URL and pull up the 'Backlinks Report.'
• Filter the list to weed out spam sites. One way to filter the list is by: Language: insert desired language, Link Type: Dofollow, Platform: Blogs, and One Link per Domain.
• Send an outreach email with a link to your website, a link to the current website, an explanation as to why you are reaching out, and a request to change their referring link.

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Note: Because you have done the background research to target the best blog posts and sites, even if you only have a few successes, they will still impact your overall traffic.

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Pros

- If done correctly, it is an effective link building strategy that will help grow traffic to your web page.

- Links pointing to you will be from credible sites, which leads to better SEO.

- It will increase your brand visibility and exposure.

- It will lower your bounce rates because it attracts relevant search traffic.

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Cons

- If it is not done correctly, for example; selecting the wrong key words or outreach is done improperly, then you have put in a lot of work for nothing.

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5. Statistic Sites Linking

Definition

Statistic site linking is a link building strategy where you utilize statistics on your page to encourage link building from statistic sites. It is essential when implementing this link building tactic to ensure you are targeting relevant websites with high domain authority. Avoid any website that could lead to toxic links because it is spamming out links to other sites and appears to be cheating the SEO algorithms.

Example:

If you are an e-commerce site owner looking to drive relevant traffic to your site, you would want to be linked by a statistic site such as this: https://designbro.com/blog/ecommerce-statistics/

Some additional examples of high-authority web pages include:

https://specialtyfuelservices.com/natural-disaster-statistics/ https://honeymoongoals.com/research/wedding-statistics

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‍How to Implement

There are a couple of ways to implement this link building strategy. We will discuss two options and critical elements to incorporate. Site owners must consider your page to hold high-quality content worth sharing with users.

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Option 1:

Look for long tail keywords on competitor's pages by Google searching a selected keyword, taking the top web page from your search, and plugging it into a keyword tool. This process will return all the related long-tail keywords that particular page ranks.

Or look at 'people also asked' questions. Which is simply putting your selected keyword into a search engine and viewing the 'people also asked' question box.

You then create a statistical answer to each question within your content. The best way to do this is the take the question and answer it in a complete sentence. i.e., How many rivers are in the United States? - The United States has over 250,000 rivers. https://databayou.com/american/rivers.html

Keep your information concise and accurate, and avoid filler words that water down your statistical data.

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Option 2:

Find a popular statistic and update it by taking the top-ranking web page for your selected keyword, putting it into a keyword tool to view its backlink profile, and searching anchor text for numbers that are repeatedly coming up.

Then look for statistics that are at least 2 or 3 years old to update.

Once this is done, reach out to site owners, informing them they are linking to an outdated statistic and suggest your new one.

Some great ways to attract other sites to linking to your statistics include:

• Create original data.
• Scan and organize public data.
• Capitalize on internal data that is already successful by making it its page on your site.
• Create visually appealing graphics utilizing data that already exists. People love visuals that help explain data, especially if it is a more complex topic.

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Pros

- If done correctly, you can generate a high level of inbound links.

- You can establish yourself as an industry expert and grow your brand.

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Cons

- Creating data and data-driven content can be time-consuming and must be accurate and appealing to users.

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6. Guest Blogging/Guest Post 

Definition

Guest blogging/guest posting is an excellent addition to your link building strategies tool belt. It is writing content for another company's web page or blog. Guest bloggers tend to write for blogs that are similar to their own site or within their industry.

Guest blogging is great because, generally, it's mutually beneficial and is great for both the company guest blogging and the blog owner.

Example

You are a B2B e-commerce site looking to expand your brand, so you guest post on one of your partner's blog to help increase traffic and grow trust within your target community.

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How to Implement

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Start with research and find a great writer within your niche. You want to look for someone who meets the following requirements:

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• They are either in or aligned with your industry but are not a competitor. Someone who is a partner is a great place to start.
• Make sure the blog is informative and doesn't contain spam.
• Make sure their ideas, persona, and business align with yours.
• Ensure the blog is active, with recent blog posts, blog comments, and relevant information.
• Pick a blog that has high domain authority that will complement your own.

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Create a quality blog post that adds value for your audience; some key things to include and consider are:

• Your blog post is not an advertisement! Make sure you are educating and not promoting a good or service.
• Create a blog post that is actionable and informative.
• Create a concise author bio to link at the end of your blog posts that will direct readers to your site.
• Please include at least one internal link to another of their blog posts throughout your guest post.
• Include a call-to-action that encourages readers to post in the comments. The more comments and shares you get, the higher your blog post will rank.
• Share your blog posts on your social media; this will help you to gain more brand awareness.

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Pros

- Build positive relationships with people in your industry.

- Increase traffic to your site and boost domain authority.

- Build better brand awareness and trust by establishing yourself as an expert.

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Cons

- If you partner with the wrong company, you can run the risk of having issues with reputation or having people see your blog posts as spam.

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7. Broken Link Building/Link Reclamation

Definition

Broken link building is the process of finding internal and external broken links and repairing them. If this is outside your link building strategies, then you are not leveraging a huge opportunity to build and maintain SEO.

Many links, unfortunately, break over time, and when this happens all the work you have put into making them successful is gone. Fixing broken backlinks helps to build and maintain your link profile and regain the value of the broken link.

Similarly, link reclamation is finding content where your company has been improperly or incorrectly linked and repairing the issue. Link breakage is typically due to updates to an external site.

Example

A high authority website goes through a rebranding and implements a new site redesign where they have changed some URLs and removed pages. These changes have resulted in several "dead" or broken links. You use a broken link building strategy to find each broken link and go through the process of repairing them.

How to Implement

Broken link building and reclaiming external links is a two-step process.

• Find broken links within your site. There are a couple of options to locate a broken link, Ahrefs Site Explorer has a paid alternative you can utilize, or you can access Google Analytics for free.
• Once you have found a broken link, go to that page on your site and update the broken link or replace URLs. It is vital to fix all the broken links on your site, then have a timeframe to continually check it to ensure they are all still working.
• Reclaim your broken backlinks. To find a broken external link, you can use a free program like the Free Backlink Checker from SEO Review Tools or a paid tool such as Ahrefs Site Explorer.
• Once you have located a broken link, it is a bit more challenging because it is up to the site the link is from to fix the issue. You can contact them, send them the updated URL, and request they update it on their page.

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Pros

- Broken link building repairs all of the SEO efforts lost when a link fails.

- Repairing broken links within your page is an easy thing to do to ensure you are not missing out on an opportunity for improvement.

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Cons

- Reclaiming external links can be a difficult process that requires a great deal of outreach.

- The initial process is time-consuming, and it is something that must be continually maintained.

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8. Replicate Your Competitor's Best Links 

Definition

Replicating your competitor's best links is a link building strategy that requires research but can yield great results. Learning how your competitors are successfully building links and growing their SEO value can be a great tool to help master yours.

Example

You find your competition has a backlink driving a lot of organic traffic, and the page it is directed to is similar to the one you have created. You contact the site owner of the linking page with a brief summary of why they should link your page, instead along with both URLs for them to view.

How to implement

Link building through the replicating of other links is a four-step process.

1. Figure out who your competitors are.

This can be accomplished by searching keywords within search engines and seeing what sites come up first.

You can also utilize a Google Search Operator and insert related before your search term, i.e., 'related:your domain,' as your search query. If you have selected the proper keyword the results that populate are your competitors.

2. Find your competitors backlinks. Once you have located your competitors URL, enter your target site into Site Explorer and access the 'Best by Links' page to find their best backlinks.

3. Evaluate links. You want to make sure you select the the most quality backlinks. Some key things to look at are:

• The link strength, make sure it is from a high authority site.
• Make sure the link is relevant, otherwise, the process of trying to replicate it is pointless.
• Also, look at the link placement. Ones within the body of the text, rather that right at the beginning, tend to be the most successful.

4. Replicate the backlink. Contact the web pages using an email with a link to your website, a link to the current website, an explanation for why you are reaching out, and a request to change their referring link. You must also include an explanation as to why *see the skyscraper technique. Most site owners want to link to the best content, so if you can convince them that it is you, they will be willing to change their link.

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Pros

- It is an effective link building strategy that will help grow traffic to your web pages.

- Links pointing to you will be from credible sites, which is great for SEO optimization.

- It will increase your brand visibility and exposure.

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Cons

- If it is done incorrectly, for example, the wrong keywords are selected or outreach is done improperly, you will be unsuccessful after putting in a lot of effort.

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9. Resource Pages and Listicles 

Definition

A resource page is one of many link building strategies that provides a vast amount of valuable content within one web page. The main difference is a resource page also includes helpful links and is optimized for several keywords that relate to a topic rather than a singular focus.

Similarly, a listicle is an article or information written in a list format. There are several different types of listicles, including the following:

• Viral listicles are lists created based on information that is trending knowing that the content will 'go viral,' Buzzfeed is a great example. These listicles generate traffic and increase social media presence.
• Target information listicles are created to help those looking to research products to buy. These include things such as; step-by-step guides on products, tasks, and tools and product lists.
• Educational listicles are lists that educate your customers. You might not mention your actual product, but it will help to build trust with customers. The idea is when they are looking in the future for a product like yours, you have already built a relationship.

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Resource pages and listicles are effective because they contain information relevant to readers, they are easy to scan, and engage the reader. They also make it easy for the reader to remember because they are organized.

Example

A company offers software that automates the billing process of a company and helps it to be more efficient. They create a helpful list of how to make billing processes more efficient. The company won't necessarily mention its product, but it may plug one of the key ways it could increase efficiency through automation.

How to Implement

- Brainstorm ideas for resource pages and listicles.

Research keywords related to your niche and look for the keyword modifiers that come up, such as; free, top, best, etc. These are great options to center your listicle around i.e., the top 11 link building strategies.

You can also look at what your competitors have been successful at and do something similar but better.

Researching Google trends is another excellent resource. This can help you see topics that are trending and seasonal. Trending topics are a great way to generate additional traffic and popularity.

- Create your resource page or listicle.

Start with an article outline and view content that is already successful so you can model your content around it.

- Optimize your content.

Once you create your content, it is helpful to use a text optimizer to ensure you are utilizing the best keywords and format for the most SEO.

Make sure you use headings and subheadings throughout your content and ensure your paragraphs are short, and easily readable.

Include a summary at the end that is concise and includes a call to action.

If your article is more prolonged, have a table of contents at the beginning that can direct them to the sections they are most interested in.

- Monitor how many links your content acquires.

Knowing which content generates the most traffic is essential to successful link building strategies. This will help you to understand where to focus your efforts, and you will continually improve with each attempt.

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Pros

- It is an excellent way to build links that direct to your website.

- It can establish you as an expert in your industry and build your brand, which can increase sales and revenue.

- It can build trust with potential customers.

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Cons

- You must make sure the content you are creating is quality and reaches relevant websites, or it may appear that your web page is spamming links, and you can lose the trust of potential customers instead of gaining it.

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10. Unlinked Mentions

Definition

An unlinked mention is a mention of your brand or company that is published on a site, and linked back to your website. Turning them into backlinks is a great link building strategy because you already have the mention; you just have to do the work to build links in their place.

Unlinked mentions can be in the form of company name mentions, citations, or images. Claiming these mentions will help to build links and increase your SEO.

Example

You notice that a statistic from your site is mentioned on a popular blog post but is not linked to your site. You then contact the blog owner and request they turn the mention into a link. This then directs traffic from the blog post to your site and grows your brand recognition.

How to Implement

There are four steps to ensure you are gaining more links from your unlinked mentions:

1. Find your unlinked mentions.

You will want to use a search tool to find each of your unlinked mentions. For written mentions, make sure you are searching for all the different versions of your company i.e., if you have an acronym or a shortened version of your company name.

Also, search for things like names of high-level employees or events you have attended or presented in, so you can ensure you find them all. You can even use a reverse Google images search to find unlinked images.

Once this process is complete, you will likely have many options to choose from so you must prioritize mentions that will bring the most value. Look for high authority sites or things that will boost your PR and prioritize your link building efforts there. This will ensure that the outreach will be worth the effort.

2. Determine the blog or site owners.

If the mention is within a blog or article, there will likely be an author listed with contact information. If there isn't, you can utilize the name to find their contact information online via tools like LinkedIn.

For a website, contact the site's webmaster. If it is not listed on the web page itself, try a Google search for the keyword webmaster; i.e., site:URL/Webmaster

3. Make contact.

When you are asking someone to change their mention to a link, make sure you include the following:

• Thank them for the mention and compliment their content.
• Inform the site owner how the switch will benefit and strengthen their site.
• Send the page you want them to link so the process will be easy for them.

4. Follow up if there's no response.

You want to make sure you are being persistent without coming off as spam to the site owner. Follow up within a few days after first content, then weekly thereafter until you get a response.

Keep in mind if you aren't getting a response it is possible no one is monitoring the listed email, see if there is another one listed.

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Pros

- You are using existing content where site owners already like your site.

- It is a great way to turn brand awareness opportunities into actual traffic.

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Cons

- It is common to contact many pages before you become successful at turning mentions into links.

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11. Internal Link Building 

Definition

Internal links are links from one page of your website to another. They are necessary to allow users to navigate throughout your website and for search engines to navigate to your web pages.

Internal link building is essential to include in your link building strategies because it improves your SEO by increasing traffic to your website and allowing search engines to prioritize your most popular pages.

There are several types of internal links; they include the following;

• Home Page Links: Links will enable users to navigate to different areas of your website. Typically the most used and popular ones will be highly visible on your first page.
• Menu links: Organized links that help navigate to pages within your website.
• Links within Content/Contextual Links: These allow users to navigate to related content within your website.

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Example

You have a blog that your company uses to create content for your target audience to drive traffic and increase brand awareness. You make a blog post that includes similar content to a previous post. Within the content, you use a keyword to link to the previous post. These are called internal contextual links.

How to Implement

Internal link building strategies are daunting because it forces you to take a look at the entire structure of your site. But if done correctly, it can help you optimize SEO without any outreach. Use the following steps as a guide:

• Evaluate the design and structure of your website. The best way is to think of your website as a pyramid; you have your home page at the top, followed by categories, subcategories (if you have a more significant site), then individual pages and posts. If you have already created your site and it doesn't precisely match, just make sure every page in some way links back to your home page.
• Prioritize your essential content. The content that is most relevant to your business and drives traffic is the most essential. These are pages you should be linking to and from the most to increase its SEO value.
• Add contextual links throughout your content. This helps users navigate to similar content that interests them.
• Work towards the pyramid. If you have hierarchal pages, make sure they link down throughout their lower-level content and back up.
• Make sure you have a strong menu. Menu's not only help guide users to all of your content, but will let search engines know the napping of your sight, which can improve SEO and drive more traffic.

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Pros

- Internal link building does not require outside links and can all be done internally.

- It enhances site mapping and SEO, which increases search rankings.

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Cons

- If you choose to remap your site, it is a time-consuming task.

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14 Content Ideas to Bring the Most Site Traffic

Quality content is critical to allow for internal links, increase your brand awareness, build trust and establish yourself as an expert to your target audience, and draw people to your site.

Below are some of the best content options to grow your business. 

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1. Data-Driven Content

Quality content is essential for SEO success, but it's more than plugging in keywords. A data-driven content strategy is writing content that attracts your target audience and attracts users you can convert into customers. There are five steps to a data-driven content strategy, they include;

• Create content goals and select a target audience.

Determine your goals; some examples are; increasing traffic, increasing sales, etc., and select key performance indicators (KPIs) that will measure the success of your goals. KPIs will allow your content to focus on achieving, and your writers will know how to formulate your call to action.

Once you know your goal, think of who you need to reach to achieve your goal. Researching your sales or site demographics will help you narrow in on your audience.

When reviewing your content, always go back to your initial goal and ask yourself two questions: 'Will this content directly help me reach my goals?' and 'Is this content written in a way that is appealing to my target audience and calls them to action?'

• Research your industry.

Read your competitor's top content and note what they are doing correctly and what they could improve. Also, look for trends; content that is trending and popular will get more traffic.

Once you have chosen your topic, do some keyword research. Research will ensure you are optimizing your content within search engines.

• Create the right content.

Content can be case studies, blog posts, images, white papers, social media posts, infographics, etc. The right content means you apply research to ensure it's written with your goals and audience in mind and it's SEO optimized.

• Promote your content.

Part of your content strategy must be determining where your audience is coming from, and so you can promote to those areas. Use your initial demographic data to determine where users are coming from i.e., blog posts, social media, etc., so you can target those mediums and gain more viewership for your content.

• Measure your results.

Remember those KPIs you selected in step 1? Put them to use! Pay attention to what content and promotion strategies yield the most results so you can focus your future efforts and have continued success.

2. HARO 

HARO (or Help a Reporter Out) is a resource journalist can utilize to help them complete articles by connecting them with sources. To become a HARO resource, you can sign up for their page, and if your information is selected, you can build links to your website. To successfully utilize HARO, view the following steps:

• Sign up as a resource.

Your first step is to create an account with HARO. The basic plan is free, and you can pay for additional leads from there. Once you do, familiarize yourself with the rules and the process.

• Monitor for appropriate requests and act fast!

The basic plan will send you three daily emails that you will manually monitor to find the most relevant queries. Prioritize queries that will help you be seen as an expert in your industry and add value to your company even if they choose not to backlink to your website. You also must be consistent with your monitoring and respond fast before someone else meets their needs.

• Create the perfect pitch.

Responding with a well-thought-out, concise pitch is essential to success. Take the time to answer every question in the journalist query, and don't add a lot of filler language. Also, be sure to add a short bio to your pitch. This way, they can see your company and your credentials and have the option to list you as a resource.

• Monitor your success.

Monitoring your success will help you to know where to focus your efforts. Most reporters will not respond to let you know they have used your pitch, so the best way to track this is by setting up a Google Alert that will notify you when someone publishes something with your name.

3. Debunk Myths

There is an enormous amount of information on the internet, and it's no surprise that not all of it is accurate. One way to draw in readership is by debunking popular myths. This process is pretty straightforward:

• Search for popular topics in your industry.

Finding a topic that is trending and related to your industry will make your content more successful. This can be done by looking for breakout topics within Google.

• Find incorrect content.

Generally, when something is trending, there will be content, lists, etc., created, and not all of it will be accurate.

For example, when the energy crisis in the UK started, people were looking to save money on their energy bills. There was a common misconception that it uses more energy to turn a light on and off than to leave it on. This misconception was debunked within an article highlighting common myths about saving money.

• Write content that debunks the myth.

Create content that provides data and information debunking the popular myth.

For example, the article stated, that while it does use a larger wattage to turn a light on, it is in fact less power than leaving the light on for an extended period of time.

4. Emotional Content

Emotional content is content created with the goal of evoking strong emotion from your target audience. Creating an emotional connection can help build brand loyalty and trust. Emotional content is also more memorable to readers. There are five steps to creating emotional content that will engage your target audience.

• Select and get to know your target audience.

‍Getting to know your audience is essential to the success of emotional content. You want to create something that will resonate and help them to feel a connection. It can be a positive connection through humor or being a part of something larger than themselves, or using negative emotion to elicit change or action.

• Pick an emotion and tell a story.

‍Once you know your target audience, you can select the emotion that will appeal to them. Whether it's excitement, humor, sadness, or passion, use the emotion to tell a story that will resonate with your readers and inspire them to act.

• Make your audience feel like they are part of something.

‍Everyone wants to be part of something special and feel like they belong. Helping your audience feel like they are part of your story and can make a difference will inspire them to take action.

• Incorporate humor.

‍Incorporating humor must be done carefully if your goal is to invoke a feeling of sadness. However, people have engaged through humor throughout history, even during the most difficult times, and it can help you truly connect with your target audience.

• Make it relatable.

People love being able to relate directly to content that is important to them. If you can incorporate pop culture or things from your audience's everyday lives to help them feel an extra connection, it will help the success of your content.

5. Evergreen Content

Evergreen content is created based on current events or trends. The strategy is different because rather than creating a large amount of traffic right away, it draws continual traffic over time. Evergreen content adds value to your page for an extended period of time. Some examples of evergreen content include:

• Listicles: Listicles are a great option because they include a numbered list that breaks down content and makes it easily readable. For example, 10 ways to build your B2B e-commerce business.
• How-to Guides/Tips: How-to guides or tips can be anything relevant to your company. For example, a food delivery company would choose something like how to cook the perfect air-fried chicken breasts.
• Guides: A guide is similar to a how-to guide but tends to have more details that break down steps, i.e., a complete guide to social media marketing strategies.
• Reviews: Reviews of products or services.
• Glossaries: Popular words within your industry with their definitions.
• Q&As and FAQs: These are questions and answers and frequently asked questions within your industry. For example, when is the best time of day to drink coffee?

Make sure anything within this genre is not centered around trending or seasonal topics. For example, writing about cooking a turkey for Thanksgiving is excellent, but not for evergreen content as it is a seasonal subject.

6. Reverse Image Search Opportunities

Reverse imaging searches are great marketing opportunities because they can help raise brand awareness and increase backlinks to your site.

To do this successfully, you have to choose images that are relevant to you and your site and must look for opportunities to add backlinks to your images that are already being used and not linked. *see unlinked mentions

7. Green Content (Environmental)

Going green is a great way for companies to market their company, and it is trendy. This strategy will vary depending on what products and services your company creates.

1. Find things your company does that are considered 'green' or environmentally friendly. For example, maybe you sell products that use less energy.

2. Create content that showcases your company i.e., your products use less energy and therefore can save you money while helping the planet; a great option would be 10 ways to save money on your energy bill by reducing gas and water usage.

8. Expert Content

Expert content is a great way to showcase your company as an expert while also increasing traffic to your site. Follow the following tips to be successful:

• Find trending topics that relate to your industry. Start by looking into Google trends to see what topics are 'breakout' and relevant to your company.
• Find an expert to interview or be the face of your article. People want to hear from experts on popular topics. A great example is a travel company utilizing a travel expert to give them tips on traveling through the holidays.
• Create something concise and well-written. Expert content should be concise and to the point, with no fluff or filler words. Have a few key points, expert quotes, and a call-to-action at the end to tie it all together.

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9. Niche content

Niche content is content that is directly relevant to your company or industry. Any type of content within this list is a great option. However, you want to make sure you stay highly focused and specific so it can fill a niche need. To be successful: view the following steps to be successful:

• Narrow on a specific topic and check your competitor articles to make sure you are fulfilling a need that either hasn't been covered, can be covered in more detail, or can be covered in a better, more readable way.
• Keep in mind your audience is going to be highly specific so write according to the style and reading level they will respond.

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10. Press Releases/PR Outreach

A press release is a process of creating content that is valuable to journalists and will bring value to your company. You then reach out to them with an invitation to include the content in their articles to add editorial value. This can be done within a 3-step process:

• Search for relevant and valuable content that interests journalists. A great option is something trending in the news or within Google searches that is relevant to your company.
• Selected a topic, then create content that is interesting, showcases your company, and sets you apart as an expert.
• Then select high-quality publications to pitch your content to that will add value and increase viewers.

11. Product Reviewing

Product reviewing is creating a list or reviewing your favorite products or services that are related to your industry and reviewing them, i.e., the best waffle maker and why, or 5 best link building services.

It is a great way to add value to your company and grow your brand. It's also considered evergreen content meaning it will be useful for a long period of time. Here are five steps to create strong product review content:

• Identify your target audience. Answer the question of who will be buying the products so you know who to target within your reviews.
• Start by relating to your reader. Present a solution to their problem through the product you are presenting. There are often so many options that consumers are overwhelmed. Having a reliable location to answer their questions will create a solid relationship and trust between you and your readers.
• Create solid content that answers consumer questions and builds trust. Present your selected product with case studies to your readers, offer them proof that explains why you selected the product, and if you are giving a single favorite product, list alternatives.
• Pick a visually appealing format. You want your product review to be easy to read. Selecting a format such as a review summary box will help you to organize your content and make it visually appealing to your readers.
• Give yourself credit. Make sure that you include information about you and your company and link your site to increase brand awareness and organic traffic.

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12. Trending Content/Seasonal Content

Creating trending content is one of the best link building strategies to help you gain organic traffic to your content pages and your main webpage. It can be in the form of any of the content within this list aside from evergreen.

The key to having successful trending content is knowing where to find where things that are trending. The following steps can help you to be successful:

• Google Trends

Google trends are an easy way to gauge the popularity of a topic. You simply type in keywords and trending keyword searches, and questions will appear. For a trending topic, you are looking for something that is 'breakout' or has a high percentage; 100% or greater is a good rule of thumb.

If you want to search a little deeper, you can click on breakout topics and see content related to that specific word.

• Feedly

Feedly has a great app you can use on your phone or can be utilized from your web browser. You can view content from any companies that also utilize Feedly and subscribe to their feeds. You can also browse by industry and trending content.

It is an excellent tool to use along with others, especially if a lot of companies within your industry are posting.

• Reddit

Reddit is less intuitive than other sites, but once you know how to use it properly, it is an incredible tool for find trending topics. Take time to get to know the platform, and it will benefit you.

In addition to the main feed, there are subreddit forums that are dedicated to specific topics. These can be utilized to find trending topics within or aligned with your specific industry.

Reddit's content is prioritized by two main components:

- Freshness - Is the measurement of how recently the content was created.

- Score - The ranking that is determined by the thumb-up and thumb-down votes.

You can gain quick access to trending posts on the home page and filter them by country. Once you have subscribed to subreddits, your home page will be more customized to you and will easily allow access to all the hot topics.

• Buzzfeed:

Although Buzzfeed may not be considered an incredible news site to everyone, it's very popular, with around 200 million unique visitors every month. Because of their high viewership, pretty much anything that is trending on Buzzfeed is trending elsewhere.

A quick view of their trending page to see if there are any topics relevant to your industry is a good way to help you come up with an idea quickly.

• Social Media:

Social media sites create platforms and tools that are pretty intuitive. Select a few key platforms to narrow your focus. Your options include, but are not limited to:

• Facebook
• Instagram
• Tiktok
• Pinterest
• Twitter
• LinkedIn
• Snapchat

Every platform will be used in a slightly different way, but they are very similar. Each will have options to view trending or related topics or to search for options relevant to your industry.

If you create a login used specifically for researching content related to your company, algorithms will begin to populate content that is specific to you. For example, parents who enjoy funny content about having kids may like a post from a page that posts funny kid videos on Instagram. Once this action is taken, they will begin to see more content related to that post.

Social media is a great way to see a variety of trending topics. The trick is finding content that is relevant to you and capitalizing on it.

• Medium:

Medium may not be as well known as other content sites, but it is a fantastic place to share ideas without limits on length. Rather than sharing mainly pictures, videos, and short bits of content like social media, you can publish entire essays.

Two things make Medium unique:

• The content score is based on quality and merit.
• You can take the content you have already created and put it on their site.

There are three methods to finding popular topics on Medium.

• To find trending topics, go to the home page and click 'popular on Medium.'
• You can also search for keywords, and it will populate related popular posts based on likes and responses. This method will not filter based on recent posts.
• To find recent posts, you can 'search by tags,' located to the right of the search bar, and populate more recent posts.

There are so many options for finding trending topics that this list is nowhere near complete. It will however, give you great tools to get the process started and be successful.

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13. Co-Branded Content

Co-branded content is an excellent option because it grants both companies exposure to a larger audience, and it can reduce the burden of content creation if you are sharing the writing responsibility. Use the following steps to create successful co-branded content:

1. Select a content form that is universal and not company specific. Some great options for universally acceptable content include:

• Blog posts are discussion-oriented or informational posts that are generally posted within an existing website. These could be done on a new blog or one of the company's existing blogs.
• White Papers are content targeted towards a specific audience that explains complex topics or goes into great depth on a subject.
• Infographics are organized, visually appealing content that is easy-to-read and normally used to explain processes and information.‍
• Webinars/Podcasts are visual and/or audio-based content that discusses content relevant to your industry.

2. Create content as co-authors.

Even if one company is creating the content, it's important to create a plan or an outline before starting the process. Having a strong framework in place will ensure all parties agree and reduce the chances of requiring rework.

An outline should include the following:

• Your audience, your purpose, and the main point of the content.
• Ideas of what you would like to include in your content, such as key points, sections, and data that will be utilized.
• Ideas of how you will label headings and subheadings.

Once an outline has been agreed upon, a draft can be created. This must be reviewed and agreed upon by all parties.

3. Allow each company to personalize if needed.

After co-branded content is finalized, it's important that both companies have the option to add their own branding and personalization. Again, it's essential to agree on how this will be done before finalizing.

14. Complete Guides

The internet is the place everyone goes to figure out and research how to do pretty much everything. Many consumers today will use the internet before they utilize a complex manual.

Complete guides related to your industry are a great opportunity to reach a new audience that is likely interested in your other content. There are a few key steps to follow for successful implementation:

• View existing content.

As always, it's important to look at what your competitors have created. Do an in-depth search of the most successful guides to get an idea of what you can do to improve it and gain readers.

This can be done through a search engine search to figure out the post popular guides related to your keyword topic.

• Know who your audience will be.

Make sure you know who the guide is for so you can better target that audience. For example, if you are informing a basic reader about a subject, you must explain complex terms, versus if you are writing for someone who already knows a lot about that particular subject.

Narrowing down your audience will change your writing style and how in-depth you choose to go on your topic.

• Create compelling and interesting content.

- Make your reader know the importance of your topic. Explain to them why they want to know this information and how it can benefit them.

- Structure content properly. Structure your content into steps that are in chronological order. Keep writing concise, avoid filler language and keep paragraphs short.

- Use headers and bullet points that break up the text and make it easy to read, and help draw out key points.

- Use images where applicable to help guide them through the process.

- Use verbs in your writing to give readers more direct instruction.

- Link out to necessary resources where readers can go to find related information or see important data.

- Give examples to readers to help them better understand information, especially if they are attempting to grasp a complex topic or perform a complex task.

In Conclusion

Link building strategies and proper content selection are essential to the success of businesses today. Companies that have a plan in place will be more successful in their SEO strategies and will grow their traffic and revenue.

Key takeaways to ensure your company thrives include:

Link Building

• Create goals you wish to meet as a company and brainstorm how link building can help you meet your goals.
• Select link building strategies that will work for your company and help you to meet your selected goals.
• Weigh the pros and cons of each strategy before you make the decision to put it into practice. There may be some goals that are not worth the time and effort for everyone.
• Learn how to successfully implement each strategy you select before you start the process. Make sure it isn't something you are trying to take on internally that may be better suited to hiring an outside source.
• Do your research upfront and often. Learn what your competitors are doing and what is making their link building strategies successful.
• Get a baseline on your KPI (key performance indicators) before you implement each strategy. It's best to monitor these for at least three months before implementation, if possible.
• Monitor appropriate KPI to ensure your efforts are worth the time and effort your company is putting into them. Again, you will want to know whether it is beneficial to do this in-house or outsource to an external company.

Content Creation

• Learn who your target audience is and how to best communicate with them. This can be a general thing or something you do before each content.
• Learn the type(s) of content that is best suited for your audience and create a wide variety to bring in readers from all areas.
• Create quality content that is directed toward your audience. This means they can find it within a search, it keeps their attention and grows brand loyalty towards your company. Even better if it creates traffic to additional content within your site.
• Monitor the success of individual content efforts to ensure you focus on what is driving traffic and helping to grow your company.
• Know that even though the process of link building and content creation is daunting and complex, the best thing you can do is start creating.

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