A whopping 79.7% of SEOs say link building is important. And you can check it practically.
Consider a few articles that rank well within your niche. Now, check their backlink profile using Ahrefs and Semrush.
Interestingly, when you compare the top ranking articles with the rest, you will realize…
Ranking articles have the most number of links pointing towards them.
Clearly, there is no doubt that links are one of the top ranking factors in this competitive market.
But, here is a catch. Building links is not as easy as it used to be, especially when you are doing it for free.
Honestly speaking most publishers will charge you for a link.
So, how to launch your link building campaign that brings you results.
How can you earn links naturally?
We’ll talk about the same in this article. Here’s a blueprint for building quality links that you can follow. So let’s start.
Table Of Content
How Google Perceives Links?
First of all, what is Google’s goal? The search giant continuously puts efforts to provide the most relevant and valuable answers to the search query. So, if you help Google achieve the same, it will reward you as well. Understood? Well, let’s connect this with backlinks.
Links are like referring to someone to something you liked. In the link building campaign that ‘something’ is the content.
More and more people linking to your content indicate that your link carries some value that attracts them. In turn. Google considers that content worth promoting and they push you higher in ranking.
In essence, backlinks work as a trust factor for Google. Links from reliable, popular, and referential sites enhance your site’s relevance in its field. In turn, you will become an authority in that specific niche.
What Makes A High Quality Link Different From An Average Link? – Pillars Of Link Building Campaigns
It’s important to know the key components of a link building campaign before you can learn the strategies. Mark our words: You can’t afford to neglect these three factors for link building.
(i) Quality>Quantity
More than 93% of link builders believe that link quality is more important than quantity. Links that come from high-quality websites tend to have more authority. Basically, these links are more likely to pass link equity – popularly known as link juice.
In contrast, links that come from low-quality websites may not have the same authority and may not pass as much link equity.
For instance, a link from an authoritative website such as the New York Times will carry more link juice than a link from an unknown website.
So, one high quality link outweighs thousands of such links.
(ii) Relevance
We repeat this point in every article. Building links makes sense when that comes from websites with similar interests.
It’s like a win-win situation for both parties.
This helps to create natural associations between websites, which can help to increase visibility, traffic, and search rankings.
Additionally, it helps to create a network of related websites, which can help to spread content
and build brand awareness.
For example, linking to an SEO blog from a makeup blog doesn’t make sense.
(iii) Authority
When it comes to link building, what does authority mean? In simple terms, authority refers to popularity and thought leadership.
Link to a well-established website is always a smart move. One link from Forbes is more powerful than a smaller site.
Interestingly Authority Sites Have The Following Things In Common:
- Traffic is higher there.
- Solid metrics such as DA, DR, and Trust Flow score.
- Lower spam score.
- It’s got an active readership.
(iv) Natural Anchor Text Placement
Almost every link building campaign that produces results uses anchor text strategically.
When it comes to anchor text, ask this to yourself:
How can I add an anchor text that is short yet descriptive? High quality links come with anchor text that is free from over-optimization of keywords.
Step-by-Step Guide To Launch Link Building Campaign
We have already shared the key factors behind the link building campaign? So, are you ready to launch your link building campaign?
(i) It Starts With Yourself First
You should know how your website’s backlinks look before starting a link building campaign. This step will guide you in the right direction.
So, where are you standing right now?
Evaluate The Following Aspects Of Your Backlink Profile:
- How many backlinks your site has. Is it less or more than what your competitors have?
- Secondly, keep an eye on the sites that are linking to you. Are they highly relevant? Have you garnered any links without value; just for the sake of doing it?
- What type of sites are linking to yours? Are they popular? Or, unknown? Spammy?
- Finally, evaluate the result you got after receiving those backlinks. Have you seen any positive change in traffic, ranking, etc?
(ii) Now, It’s Time To Spy on Your Competitors
Identify Competitors: Choose your main competitors in the industry or niche. For that, you have to check people centred around your primary keyword.
- Use SEO Tools: Utilize tools like Ahrefs, SEMrush, or Moz to gather backlink data. Input the competitor’s domain into the tool’s search bar.
- Explore Backlink Overview: Review the tool’s backlink overview section for a snapshot.
- Analyze Anchor Texts: Check anchor texts to understand how competitors optimize.
- Examine Referring Domains: Look at the number and quality of domains linking to your competitor.
- Evaluate Link Quality: Assess the authority of linking domains using metrics like Domain Authority.
- Explore Top Pages: Identify your competitor’s high-performing pages and analyze their backlinks.
- Understand Link Types: Differentiate between do-follow and no-follow links to prioritize valuable ones.
- Identify Link Building Strategies: Understand your competitor’s link-building tactics to refine your own strategy.
- Monitor Social Signals: Observe social media shares to gauge content popularity.
- Spy on Brand Mentions: Use tools like Google Alerts to monitor where competitors are mentioned without linking.
- Learn from Successful Content: Identify content that attracts backlinks and incorporate similar strategies.
Make a comparison between you and your competition. Include everything they put into their campaign.
(iii) Email Outreach + LinkedIn Prospecting
Why would someone link to yours? If you don’t know someone, they won’t link back. You’ll sometimes get turned down for a link even if your content is great.
This is why we created our unique link prospecting strategy. It works the following way:
Step-1: LinkedIn Targeting
Before you send your cold outreach email, connect with them on LinkedIn. Like their post, and comment on some valuable insights. Also, you can DM them about industry stuff. But, don’t forget to respect their decision. In case, they don’t want to talk, just let it be. That’s more than enough even if 10% of people respond.
Step-2: Cold Outreach
You’ll find THIS step easier once you’ve completed the previous step. Because you have already interacted with them – they are no longer unknown to you.
Now, You Can Start Your Email Like This:
Hey <name>,
<your name> this side, your LinkedIn friend. Remember we had a conversation on <topic name>. Recently I have prepared a value packed article on this. This article covers all the discussions we had and my own research.
Since you haven’t talked about this topic before, I think this is a great content piece for your viewers.
Article name:
Outline:
Summary:
How can it be beneficial for your audience:
This would be a great collaboration if you published it on your site and linked it to mine.
What do you think? What’s your take on this?
Let me know!
Regards,
<Your Name>
(iv) Creating Link-Worthy Content
You won’t get any links unless you give them something valuable. This is why it’s important that you know the types of content that get the most links.
Firstly, what about the content types?
Here Are The Content Types That Attracts Most Backlinks:
- Original research that provides a unique angle and fresh perspective about a given topic.
- Listicles covering the most relevant resources.
- Statistical content revolving around facts, figures, and research.
- Articles entitled – ultimate guide, Everything You Need to Know/How to etc.
- Through case studies sharing hands-on experience and insights.
- Visually appealing as well as high quality infographics are the key.
Backlinko says that ‘what post’, ‘why post’, and ‘infographic’ got 25.8% more links than ‘videos’ and ‘how-to posts’.
Now, comes the next question, what would be the ideal length of link worthy articles?
According to backlinko data, long-form articles get more links. As you can see below, most backlinks go to articles over 3000 words.
Note: While writing your content ensure your anchor texts look seamless. We have already shared the anchor text best practices above, simply follow them.
Additionally, share the content as if you are garnishing a dish. It is important to present the article in a format that is ready for publication when you have finished writing it.
Our goal is to make sure our clients are happy. We even get article images done for our clients.
(v) Wait For The Links, Get It And Repeat The Process
You’ve reached the last step of your link building campaign. And you have already completed the most difficult aspects of your link building campaign.
Now, it is a test of your patience. There are some publishers who take longer to scrutinize and publish your content.
So, you should wait for them to respond and don’t feel restless.
Instead, ensure the links are permanent and 100% indexable.
Moreover, ask the publisher to share in-content links. Refrain from getting links directed from the author bio because they do not get much visibility.
You’re done! Just repeat this process! You’re good to go with your next link building campaign.
End Note – The Smartest Strategy To Launch Link Building Campaign
Firstly, just go through the following statistics:
Agencies have the most experienced link builders. In fact, 59.4% of agency link builders have over 5 years of experience.
And guess what? Experienced link builders build 3.57x the number of links as compared with beginners. (Authority Hacker)
Clearly, these data vouch for the importance of agency link building. It is absolutely true that working with an agency can skyrocket your off page SEO.
But not all agencies are worth your attention. So, how to choose the right (trusted) link building partner?
With years of experience, BloggerOutreach stands as a reputable link building agency.
We have a robust database of 50,000+ high quality websites ranging across different niches. Moreover, we provide high quality content aligned with the publisher’s guidelines.
Plus, we have a dedicated team that works around the clock to help you with everything – prospecting, outreach, and negotiations.
Curious to know how we work? Check out our case studies.
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