Backlinks are one of the best attributes for your SEO efforts. Google’s algorithm considers them valuable in recognizing your site and ranking it highly.
This article will tell you how to get links without messing up your strategies and how to stand out from your competitors.
What We Cover in This Article 🕒
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What Are Backlinks?🔗
Backlinks are incoming links from one site to another. They help you build credibility in your niche and attract referral traffic to your site. Essentially, they validate your site in the eyes of Google. A well-planned backlink building strategy focuses on cultivating long-term relationships and trust with potential link partners, which can lead to further collaborative opportunities in the future.
Why Are Backlinks Important?🤔
Backlinks are important to boost your ranking in Google search. Here’s how it helps.
Importance of backlinks.
- Improved Visibility: Search engines like Google use quality backlinks as a signal of trust and authority. Websites with a higher number of quality inbound links tend to rank higher in search engine results pages (SERPs), leading to increased visibility and organic traffic.
- Increased Credibility: Backlinks from reputable and relevant websites indicate to Google that your piece of content is valuable and trustworthy. This helps to establish your website’s credibility and authority within your niche.
- Enhanced Indexing: Google bots discover new web pages through inbound links. When a reputable website links to your content, it can help Google crawl and index your pages more effectively, leading to better visibility in search results.
Now that you’ve got the scoop on enhanced indexing, check this article to understand the basics of how to index backlinks effectively so they start working their magic.
4. Referral Traffic: Backlinks can also drive direct referral traffic to your website. When users click on an inbound link from another site, they are directed to your website, potentially increasing your site’s audience and engagement.
Now, let’s understand how to get these inbound links without damaging your brand’s reputation.
How To Ask For Backlinks Without Begging? Link Building Tactics🔗
Building links will take a while, and it’s a constant process. However, although time-consuming, if done well, it will be worth the wait. Let’s look at how you can do that.
Help A Reporter Out (HARO)
Just kidding.
HARO is outdated as hell. It’s oversaturated and hard to stand out on a platform like HARO, but there are alternatives that are less outdated and more effective compared to HARO.
One such alternative is Qwoted, a platform designed to connect journalists with expert sources for their stories. It allows journalists to submit requests for expert commentary, data, or interviews on specific topics, and experts can respond to these requests to offer their insights.
What I like about Qwoted is that it has a clean and intuitive interface and does a great job of filtering AI and ghostwritten content.
If your response is selected for inclusion in a media article, your website or online profile may be cited, resulting in a backlink.
Convert Unlinked Mentions Into Backlinks
It’s pretty common for websites to talk about another website without actually putting a link to your website. So, there might be a bunch of sites mentioning your business without actually linking back to yours.
Missing out on those links means missing out on potential inbound links.
Unlinked mention of an agency.
Here’s how you can track your brand mentions using SEMrush:
- Monitor your brand mentions with SEMrush’s Brand Monitoring Tool (Available on a free trial).
- Use Ahrefs’ Content Explorer to find unlinked mentions.
- Contact writers who’ve positively mentioned your brand and request backlinks. Crafting an effective backlink request email is crucial; it should be personalized and highlight the mutual benefits of linking back to your site.
Brand mentions can be easier to convert to a backlink than a traditional link building strategy because the website owner or webmaster already thinks your brand is worthy of a mention.
Guest Posting
Another method of acquiring backlinks for your website is to submit guest posts to established online platforms with significant organic traffic and high domain authority.
Many authoritative websites have a ‘Write for Us’ section or offer contributor accounts where individuals can submit posts for potential inclusion. Within these posts, you have the opportunity to link back to your website, either within the content or in the author bio section.
To find websites that accept guest contributions, conduct a Google search using your target topic keyword followed by phrases like ‘write for us,’ ‘guest article,‘ or ‘contributor.‘
For instance, you could search for ‘digital marketing + guest article’ to refine your results.
If you’re unsure about where to begin, consider these tips to increase your chances of having your guest posts accepted:
- Ensure your content is original and of high quality.
- Showcase your expertise by backlinking to your previously published articles.
- Provide testimonials to demonstrate your credibility as a writer.
- Persistence is key; don’t be discouraged by rejections, and continue to submit pitches to different websites.
Build A Relationship
People have no reason to link to your site, especially if they don’t know you. Leverage social media to build and cultivate relationships.
Reply, comment, tag, or even repost their content to help them get familiar with your brand. Most importantly, don’t see your networking efforts as a business opportunity. See it as the beginning of a new friendship.
When you’re commenting, try to contribute something valuable or offer a fresh viewpoint rather than just saying generic things like ‘good post‘ or ‘I agree.‘ This might not be as easy as it sounds, so many businesses create a mentorship program to teach new employees how exactly to build such meaningful relationships and make partners in the industry.
Tip: Keep up with other upcoming bloggers in the industry because you never know who will make it big and make your connection valuable.
Offer Something in Return
Once you’ve connected with bloggers and influencers, make sure your relationship isn’t one-dimensional. Propose a business collaboration that is beneficial for both parties.
While a backlink is valuable, many new blogs lack the significant traffic or domain authority needed to make the backlink truly valuable. There are other ways you can make your collaboration worthwhile.
- Finding broken links and suggesting new content to replace them.
- Offering a free copy of your product for review.
- Offer a guest article in exchange for a link.
Keep an Eye on Your Competitors
If you’ve been in marketing for a while, chances are you’ve made studying your competitors a regular part of your game plan. But are you also keeping an eye on their backlinks?
Better late than never.
What you can learn from competitors. Source: Faster Capital.
Digging into your competitors’ backlinks can offer valuable insights into how to effectively build links to your own site. You’ll discover which sites are worth reaching out to for backlinks and even find posts from your competitors that are already linked to by your target sites.
Here are some simple ways to analyze your competitors’ backlink strategies:
- Use SEO tools like SEMrush to get a comprehensive view of any site’s backlink profile.
- Identify sites you can also connect with and look for opportunities to piggyback on your competitors’ resource page links.
- Subscribe to their newsletters to stay in the loop about the strategies they’re implementing.
- Follow them on social media to catch any link building tactics they might be sharing.
Create Original and High-Quality Content
You need to create unique and useful content to earn links naturally. However, it is super hard.
Your content shouldn’t just mirror what your competitors are doing. It needs to offer something unique, grounded in Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness (E-E-A-T).
How to write quality content.
our content must provide value and be so useful that people not only gain value from it but also give you a backlink without asking for it. High-quality content not only attracts backlinks but also significantly improves your search engine rankings.
Content that usually earns backlinks to your website are:
- Industry surveys.
- Tools.
- Experimental analysis.
- Case studies.
Business owners and blog editors often strive to maintain the quality and relevance of their outbound links. Therefore, ensure that the content you submit is of exceptional quality and distinctiveness, making it compelling for others to reference.
Ditch The VIPs
Hear me out. Getting acknowledged by an A-lister is impossible unless you’re one yourself. Hoping for visibility from them is most likely going to be unsuccessful.
So why waste time on it? The top blogs regularly receive many such requests from newbies. They have no reason to notice you among the crowd.
The smaller, newer blogs are the ones you want to go after because it’s easier to get a request across to them than the bigger bloggers.
Identifying good blog niches.
What’s more, the smaller blogs often have a stronger impact on your audience because they have a more engaged and niche audience.
While they may not have the same reach as larger blogs, their audience is often more loyal and trusting. This means that when a smaller blog recommends a product or service, its audience is more likely to pay attention and act upon that recommendation.
Hence, despite receiving fewer requests and having a smaller reach, smaller blogs can be highly effective influencers for reaching specific target demographics.
How to Ask for a Backlink – Best Practices
Here are a few things to keep in mind while building inbound links.
Maintain Professionalism
Don’t make your emails generic and formal. Keep it personal. Before hitting send, take a moment to double-check for any typos or mistakes. Blogger outreach tools can save you a lot of time and effort during outreach, but be sure to customize it to add a personal touch.
Avoid Spamming
If someone says they won’t write a review or isn’t interested in your product, it’s best to respect their decision and not keep bombarding them with spammy link requests. It can do more damage than repair.
Sending repeated emails can be annoying and a waste of time. It’s important to understand that once someone declines, it’s best to move on.
Moreover, sending unsolicited emails can actually break laws, such as the CAN-SPAM Act in the U.S. or the GDPR in the European Union.
Sending occasional emails with updates or important news is okay, but it’s important not to flood someone’s inbox with weekly updates unless they’ve specifically asked for them. Similarly, sending mass emails to multiple sites at once isn’t the best approach either.
Flattery Helps
If you appreciate a blogger’s writing style, website layout, audience engagement, or content, don’t hesitate to express your appreciation. Sharing a compliment is always a nice gesture.
Take a look at their recent articles and let them know which ones you enjoyed the most. If you’re going to compliment them, make sure it’s genuine and not just a way to lead into a request.
If you send an email praising their work and then immediately follow up with a favor request after they respond, it might come across as insincere and pushy.
This not only irritates the recipient but also undermines the goodwill you initially established with your compliment. It gives the impression that your praise was merely a means to an end, which can leave a negative impression on the blogger.
Outreach Email Templates – How To Get Backlinks To Your Website Via Email 📧
Once you’ve done your research and know whom to contact, it’s time for outreach. The most common form of outreach is via email—get the email address of the preferred point of contact and get started.
Make sure to only contact websites where your resource would actually come in use and be sincere in your efforts. Building genuine relationships with website owners can significantly increase the success rate of your outreach efforts.
Here are simple templates that you can use for different purposes.
Product Review/Mention
Hey there,
I came across your recent post about [topic], and I must say, you raised some really insightful points. Your perspective on [whatever part stood out to you] resonated with me. If you have a moment, I’d love for you to check out [your product]. I believe it could offer value to your audience. Thanks!
I’ve been following your blog for quite some time now (you might recognize me from some of the comments I’ve left), and I wanted to share news about my latest project, [project name/link], with you. I’m hoping to spread the word about it and would truly appreciate any support you can offer, whether it’s through your blog or elsewhere. Thanks a bunch!
Your recent post on [topic] got me thinking about a similar discussion I came across on [blog name]. As it happens, my company, [company name], specializes in that very topic. I thought your readers might enjoy a review if you had a moment to spare. If you’re interested, here’s a link to our media page: [link]. Feel free to reach out if you need more details or assistance.
Many thanks!
Remember to keep it short, to the point, and personalized. Bloggers don’t have the time to read long emails, so the more concise your email is, the more they’ll pay attention to it.
Broken Links Replacement Template
Hey [name of contact],
I came across your blog post, [title of blog post], and I just had to say I am impressed!
Your post really resonated with me, especially [insert relevant point]. But I noticed there was a link to [another website] that seems to be dead now.
I recently wrote an article on the same topic titled [title – include a link], delving into [briefly describe the main points of your article]. I believe it could serve as a valuable resource for your readers and help fill in the gap left by the broken link.
Either way, thanks for sharing such an awesome article on [topic]! Looking forward to more.
Link Suggestion
Hey [contact at company]!
I stumbled upon your blog post, [title of blog post], while digging into [topic], and I was really impressed by the key points you highlighted, especially [include specific example].
I recently crafted an article that delves into [element from the article], and I noticed there weren’t any relevant links to offer your readers more depth.
My piece, titled [title – include a link], touches upon [main ideas from the article to provide them more context].
I thought it might be valuable to mention in your post. Either way, just wanted to express my appreciation for sharing such an awesome piece on [topic]! Can’t wait to see what else you have in store.
Outreach via email is hard, and you may get one or no inbound links out of every 20-30 emails you send. However, you never know the results it can bring you. It can help you build relationships in the industry that can give you more than just incoming links.
Buying Backlinks – Worth the Risk?⚠️
Buying backlinks can be risky and can have dire consequences on your SEO efforts. Still, many people manage to do it and get away with it unscathed.
Here are some tips to keep in mind while buying backlinks:
- Never buy backlinks from shady, spammy emails.
Shady email trying to sell backlinks.
Here’s a handy suggestion on buying backlinks by a Reddit user:
Comment
byu/wholelottafugazi from discussion
inSEO
If you’re buying backlinks, buy them from websites that aren’t ‘selling’ them. For instance, guest posting on authoritative sites comes with a fee, but at least they’re worth trusting. You could also sponsor an event or conference to get worthy incoming links from their site.
Building Backlinks by Hiring an Agency🛠️
There’s another way to get incoming links safely and effectively: you can hire agencies or freelancers to build them for you.
Link Buying.
Professionals can handle all of these tasks for you, such as guest posting, skyscraper technique, partnerships, niche edits, and link exchanges. When you hire the right people, they’ll avoid risky tactics and keep your website safe. Just be sure to ask them to create a resume and send a portfolio of their past work and talk to their previous clients.
An experienced SEO professional could help you create great content that naturally attracts lots of inbound links. It might be a little expensive, but it’s worth it.
Ultimately, if SEO isn’t your career path, it’s a good idea to let professionals handle your link building instead of doing it yourself.
Final Thoughts
Ultimately, if you choose to ask, earn, or buy backlinks, remember that it’s not a one-and-done effort. It’s an ongoing process that requires a lot of your time, effort, and even money.
To stand out, focus on building relationships with influencers and niche bloggers, create high-quality content, and explore safe alternatives like guest posting and hiring SEO experts.
A backlink strategy has a high payoff and is worth investing in for the digital health of your website.
FAQs
- What exactly are backlinks, and why should I care?
Backlinks are like digital shoutouts from one website to another. They’re super important because they help Google trust your site more, which can boost your search rankings and drive more traffic your way.
- How do I ask for a backlink without sounding desperate?
The key is to be genuine. Start by building a relationship, maybe through social media or email. Compliment their work, offer something valuable, and then casually mention the possibility of a backlink if it makes sense.
- Can buying backlinks hurt my SEO?
Yes, buying backlinks can be risky. If Google catches on, it might penalize your site. It’s safer to earn backlinks naturally or hire professionals who know the right way to build them.
- What’s the best way to turn a brand mention into a backlink?
If someone mentions your brand but doesn’t link back, reach out to them! A friendly email highlighting the mention and politely asking for a link can often do the trick.
