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If you have a website and want to generate traffic to your site directly, you need to constantly get good links from relevant websites, and this is known as link building. Link building requires solid social skills, excellent communication, continuity, and originality. It is advertising, selling, and psychology combined. Links are vital to humans and so as to marketers and for internet usability too. In the same way, Google search also rely on links, both for ranking and crawling websites, blogs, videos etc.

A useful link building strategy should always target to get a new audience to your website, and this will give you the advantage of acquiring an advanced rank in Google. Once you take link building as a medium to get out to other sites in order to increase the visitors to your site, you’re on the genuine road to generating traffic to your site.  And as you continue to read this guide I will be showing you all that you need to build good links.  

Let’s get started.

Contents:

Chapter 1: Basics of Link Building

Chapter 2: Finding High-Quality Links

Chapter 3: Content Marketing

Chapeter 4: Email Outreach

Chapter 5: Black Hat SEO

Chapter 6: Link Building Tactics

Chapter 7: Advanced Link Building

Chapter 8: How Link Building Can Benefit Your Business

Chapter 1: Basics Of Link Building

Definition of link building

Link building is known as a means of attaining hyperlinks from numerous websites to your own website. A hyperlink is a medium that helps users navigate among pages on the internet. All standard search Engines like Google benefit a lot from the use of links crawl the web. There are subsequently countless of methods for building links, and despite the fact that they are different; SEOs tend to come to an understanding that link building is one of the most difficult aspect of their jobs. Many SEOs spend most of their time trying to execute it properly, so for this reason if you can learn how to build high-quality links, it will definitely give you a major advantage over the competition.

Why is Link building so important?

There are two basic reasons that search engines make use of links:

1. To find out new web pages
2. To help decide how a page should be ranked in their result

When a search engine crawls pages on the web, they select the material of those pages and attach it to their indexes by doing this they are amplifying their index with content from those pages. This way they can determine if a page is of satisfactory and competent quality so as to have a good ranking for relevant keyword. When deciding this, the search engine doesn’t specifically just take notice of the content of the page; they also take notice of the number of links that is directed to that page from other websites and the quality and attributes of those other websites. So basically, the more relevant websites that gets linked to your website, the more likely your website is to rank properly in search results.

It’s really simple –The more links you have engaged to your site simply means that you are being referred by more people for something that you are great at. Now that thing you’re great at is what is known as anchor text – but we will get to that. Links are not so easy to get. That is why I will be showing you how to find high quality links in the next chapter

Keep reading...

Businesses-to-customer (B2C) and business-to-business (B2B) companies that want to grow their online presence can benefit from finding and using high quality links like external links or links from other websites. High authority websites or high domain authority (DA) sites are the most preferred because search engines find them credible since many online users utilize them.

Many SEO agencies promise to provide high quality links for their clients as part of their SEO campaign. For instance, a B2B SEO agency can help enterprises, like cybersecurity companies offering IT solutions for other businesses, reach more prospects by using high-quality links in their web content. By doing so, they can position their marketing messages strategically through organic content and boost their revenues. But what are the different techniques SEO agencies use to find high quality links?

The following techniques can be used to find high quality links they include;

• Press Release
• Authority of the pages
• Relevance of the site
• Commenting
• Guest blogging
• Editorially placed links
• Social networking site profile
• Link anchor text
• Nofollow .vs. Dofollow

PRESS RELEASE

Press release website is a major technique used in acquiring quality links. If you make use of press release site it will help create a lot of quality backlinks for you, because a lot of smaller sites are dependent on these press release sites, and this will result to the exposure of your website.

AUTHORITY OF THE PAGES

This is the most important factor when it comes to getting high-quality links and this is because links from authoritative pages give more authority to your site. This authority is what is termed as page rank.

RELEVANCE OF SITE

When trying to get good quality links from a site it should be noted that the relevance of that site matters. It is of utmost importance that you get links from an authoritative site, especially sites that are very much related to your site. Take for instance you run a website based on football predictions and then you receive a link from an authoritative site about fish farming, that link on fish farming can’t be regarded as a good link because it doesn’t relate to your site.

COMMENTING

Blog commenting is a well-known medium used in the building of quality links. Although it is never advised to go spamming someone’s blog just to acquire backlinks. This method can still be used to your advantage by writing useful and invaluable comments.

You can avoid being tagged as spam by posting helpful and relevant comments. Avoid commenting on random websites. Make sure the website niche is relevant to your brand to avoid problems. Write unique comments and avoid stuffing unnecessary keywords.

GUEST BLOGGING

This is just another good method of getting high-quality links to your websites. When you build backlinks with the use of guest blogging, the links are of high quality and authority. This is as a result of the fact that most of the blogs you would be guest posting on should be well certified and trusted by Google as they do not issue or publicize duplicated content.

You can hire professional writers to perform this task for you. This tactic must be part of your content marketing because it can generate incredible results. Many marketing agencies offer guest blogging as a major service for their B2C and B2B clients, along with SEO and content marketing. 

EDITORIALLY PLACED LINKS

Asking the question, “was my link editorially placed” is very essential no matter which page your link is found on. The question simply asks if your link was placed by someone who felt your site had valuable content.

SOCIAL NETWORKING SITE PROFILE

This is a greatly under-rated medium used in attaining high-quality links. The majority of social networking sites always have what is known as a high page rank. This same rank will run through your system also. A large number of these sites allow you to attach links to your website as well as other websites too. It is important to not under-rate the power of these links as they are extremely helpful and should always be used.

LINK ANCHOR TEXT

The anchor text is just that visible clickable text section of a link. It’s often displayed with the blue colour and usually underlined. It is that character that is used to link a site to another location on the web. Search engines usually make use of external anchor text as a way to see how your page is viewed by other people and to find what your page is all about. If a lot of sites regard your page as relevant, your page will end up ranking well in search results. An example of an anchor text is shown below;

NoFollow .VS. DoFollow

When a link is created in your blog, whether in the content or comment of your article, a regular link would be coded. If that link is tagged with a NoFollow that simply means that the link will not be acknowledged by search engines and that will result in poor ranking on the search results, but if the link is tagged with a DoFollow that particular link will be acknowledged by the search engine. A link that is tagged with a NoFollow will look something like this;

 <a href=http://example.com rel="nofollow">Live Scores</a>

But to change its tag to a DoFollow, the NoFollow tag has to be removed. Technically the DoFollow Tag itself doesn’t exist, but the removal of the NoFollow tag automatically makes the link a DoFollow. Check out Diggity Marketing's post related to this on link building.

Without a shadow of doubt content is a major assets that helps in achieving outstanding backlinks. Content marketing is very beneficial to the marketers in the sense that if done properly it delivers value to a lot more areas, and in simple terms that means more can be achieved even with less. Just publishing content isn’t going to get you links and that’s a fact, but as you continue to read you will realise that there are various types of content that work best when it comes to building links. To produce most good links here are 4 types of content you need;

• Publish and creatively promote a rich deep resource
• Run a “be everywhere day”
• Create an outstanding piece of content
• Build your hand-crafted list of Influencers

PUBLISH AND CREATIVELY PROMOTE A RICH DEEP RESOURCE

Majority of customers spend most of their time online, and a B2B marketers survey as shown that 93% of the customers make use of content marketing. That should tell you that eBooks and other different resources are becoming well sorted after. So obviously with eBooks we can gain backlinks. Once you have decided to engage yourself by writing a deep resource you would want to gain links from it right? Yes right. So let’s get to work;

• Spend most of your time advertising the resource before and even after its release.
• You must promote the eBook launch.
• Offer quotes and examples to others that are in the same industry as you and ensure they know that they are being included, and even suggest that they participate by commenting or even publish new quotes.

If you have the budget for it then by all means go for it, You could just hire a designer or writer, and using ideas gotten from interviews with your founders they can create an eBook masterpiece for you

RUN A BE EVERYWHERE DAY

Matt Cutts once made mention that guest blogging is spammy, he made the observation that it annoyed everyone. What about uniquely written, one of a kind guest post that is used to raise awareness of a particular brand. Authentic guest posts are always enjoyed by people especially when they are properly done.

Well, the “be everywhere day” concept is all about concentrated good guest posting. Instead of regular guest posting, consider you and your associates writing a large number of guest post and publishing it the same day, and because of this there is an highly increased chance that your posts will seen everywhere for that day.

To properly execute a “be everywhere day” a lot of preparation and planning is required, not forgetting the fact that each of those posts must be unique.

CREATE AN OUTSTANDING PIECE OF CONTENT

Making reference to others and quoting them will always supply your content with authenticity, but at all times ensure you let them know that they are being included in your content. It really doesn’t matter if you are a Start-up Company quoting a large establishment. Although have it in mind that there is a possibility that they will not link you the first time around or even ever, but they will definitely be appreciative even if it’s just a little, and this will be a substantial form to get in their radar. Ensure to make them look real good so as to get their attention. You could even flatter them to an extent that will just have to give you link, but try not to overdo it.

BUILD YOUR HAND-CRAFTED LIST OF INFLUENCERS

This is stating the procedures that a marketer can use to build his or her network of influencers without marketing them to annoyance;

• Communicate with each person referring to the way they preferred to be communicated with be it Facebook, email. Everyone is different.
• After your first relevant connection, offer to keep in touch occasionally, and ensure to only keep in touch occasionally and nothing more.
• Help your influencers at all times with what they need help with, try to know their editorial calendar.
• Don’t send templates, they can be used to start up the message, but make sure you customize it.

All these procedures should be categorized as long term, a lot of time is required when it comes to building a personal network that people can trust in.

These chapter will help you to see how can reach out to other writers to assist you in building quality links without you ending up in their spam folder. There are rules when it comes to using email outreach to build powerful links, these rules are guides to make sure we don’t go the wrong way when asking for inbound backlinks, they are;

1. Only pitch guest posts or backlinks that add value to the reader

Ask writers if you can write for their blogs or contribute to already written content by writing valuable comments. You could also contribute new ideas for the content. Instead of randomly asking that they link your site somewhere on theirs.

2. Send emails individually to specific publishers

Never send a mass email to large number of contacts with just an un-customized template it is considered spammy, and probably won’t get you the results you need, if you like the templates customize them and then individually send the emails specifically to the different publishers.

3. The personalized pitch

This is by far the most crucial part of an outreach email. This personalized pitch is you telling the recipient that you know them and that you know what they are all about , and by doing this you will be portraying yourself as a possible partner in the nearest future.

4. The exclusive offer

 Exclusive offers to top-ranking publications in the same industry as yours will result in the direction of a lot of traffic to your site. Especially if you have managed to generate new data with astonishing results.

5. Keep your subject line short and sweet

Stay on the relevant details and make your presentation as alluring as you can in as few words as possible, also ensure that you don’t fake flattery, authentically complement the writers work.

This refers to a sequence of practises that help increase the ranking of a site in search engines, through processes that violates the terms of service of the search engines. Black hat is usually a term used to identify hackers, and other users who deem it fit to use computers for unethical purposes.

It’s is relevant that you know, black hat SEO can get you banned from search engines which eventually will lead to no rank and your site will definitely not be displayed on search results. All SEO’s are advised to have a clear understanding of black hat SEO and the consequences that follow using it. Take for instance a case were your work is adding no value to the user although its increasing your page rank on search engines, such is termed a black hat.

List of Recognized Black Hat SEO Techniques

• Link Farms, Link wheels or Link Networks
• Article Spinning
• Link Schemes
• Sneaky Redirects
• Buying Links
• Keyword Stuffing
• Hidden Links or Text
• Cloaking
• Reporting a competitor
• Low Quality Content
• Creating pages with duplicate content
• Pages with malicious behaviour

The following stated above is the list of black hat tactics and should be avoided at all times on your site. The risk certainly doesn’t justify the reward.

No link building guide can be complete without a chapter on link building strategy. In this chapter I will be showing the proper tactics to make use of when building a load of high quality links to your site as fast as possible. These tactics are very relevant when it comes to increasing traffic to your site. Well they include;

1.  Get To Know Your Audience

If you are looking to grow your audience, you need to expand your site in order to gain a new audience. Two things should be noted, your audience right now and the ideal audience you would want to have. Links from other websites to your content is also very important in order to reach these new audiences. You will also need to do some research.

2.  Make A List Of Websites That Appeal To Your Desired Audience

If you have set your mind to the desired audience you want, you could make a list of websites that could be the major key in reaching out to your new audience. Find websites that are alluring to your new audience. Links from such website could gain you that new audience.

3.  Write Amazing Content

If you want to get websites to link to your content, that content of yours simply has to be outstanding, don’t forget that the content must also appeal to the audience it must unique, amazing and well structured.

4.  Match Content To Websites

Find websites that fit the specific topic of your blog post. These sites will most likely be willing to link as long as your blog post fits with their own content. You should also know that visitors that would be coming to your site following those links will be interested in the topic of your post, and this will increase the chances of them coming back to your site.

Using these strategies will help you be a lot more efficient in building backlinks, remember a good strategy is one that is aimed at gaining a new aspired audience.

1. Speed Up Link Prospects With Lists.

For instance if you were in the fashion industry and wanted to look for fashion blogs so as to get in contact with them. The first thing that should come to mind will be to search for fashion blogs or blogs that are closely related to them. But there will be so many blogs to select from so you will have pick out the most relevant ones and reach out to them.

To make this search faster and more convenient it is advised that you try searching for “list of fashion blogs” so as to get shortlisted results like this:

From the example above you can see that the results will show a lists of fashion blogs that have already been curated by other people. This not only helps in finding quality blogs but it is faster too.

2. Make Use of Infographics To Gain More Links

Link building with the use of infographics is becoming a very popular trend. In this technique there is a possibility that people will embed your infographics but will not give you a link, most times there are opportunities for you to contact these sites and request a link from them. An example is shown below:

Get the URL of your infographic

Insert URL at our Reverse Image Search Tool (Click on link to open it)

You will see the results of sites that are using your infographic on Google, Yahoo and Yandex as well.

And from here you can just request for a link from them.

                     

We know that links are relevant to search engines as they use links to rank sites. We also know that when we increase number of backlinks directed at our site, it also increases the possibility of us ranking well.

Building Relationships

As we have read in the other chapters link building usually involves outreaching to other relevant websites that are in the same industry as you. The outreach often is used to promote content created by you. An outreach can assist you in creating beneficial long-term partnerships with other website owners in the same industry as you, and this will eventually lead to your business becoming a trusted one.

Sending Referral Traffic

The impact of links on referral traffic should also be considered. Good links that are gotten from well-known website will obviously lead to an increase in sale as well. It should always be observed that links value is not just all about SEO, it value is also connected to the customers.

Brand Building

Quality link building can help elevate your brand and establish it as a major commodity in your industry. There are some link building techniques that not only show your experience but the expertise of your company and quality of your brand, and will assist in building a strong foundation for your brand. For example, if you create content about your brand and get good links directed to that content or even outreach to other site to help promote that content it will go a long way to build that brand.

CONCLUSION:

If you can implement all that you have read above, you are definitely on the right path to building your brand, directing lots of traffic to your site, increasing your rank on search results, establishing your company and building long term partnerships with other relevant individuals in your industry. I really hope you have enjoyed and benefited from this article. Thanks for reading. I am looking forward for comments and ideas of link building.