Building High Quality Backlinks: An Expert’s Recommendations
A business owner looking for ways to stimulate the growth of his/her enterprise will come across variety of ways and methods to choose from. While most of the ways work in their own way, there’s nothing that can equate to the potency of optimizing your business’ website for the search engine. If your business seeks movement, SEO is the set of wheels it needs.
To talk in micro terms and as an SEO Expert, if I have to pick something from the different processes under search optimization that makes the most impact, I would pick link building every day of the week.
In fact, I believe it to be something that can impact your business prospects in the most dramatic manner- either positively or negatively depending on how you address it and carry it out. What I have also realized is that despite its unparalleled significance, it is the most overlooked component of most of today’s SEO practitioners’ strategy.
As a result of that businesses fail to realize their true potential and even undermine their own chances on account of faulty backlink profile.
To help you avoid/get out of the trap, I have written this article to help you learn how to build high quality backlinks, based on my experience in this industry and what works and what doesn’t in it. Before I offer my recommendations, let’s first understand a thing or two about backlinks.
Backlinks: Addressing The ‘What & Why?’
Connection and communication are crucial components of marketing. Forget about internet marketing for a minute. We have all heard how things become easier for someone who is willing to launch a startup if one has ‘good connections’.
While we may all vouch for perseverance, strategy, patience and other such traits as more decisive factors behind success, talking down the efficiency of connections and associations would be shying away from reality.
Backlinks for your business website play the same role and have the same value as association with high-ups in real world. Both are aimed at helping you build your authority and prove your credibility-things that are prerequisite for any major success in marketing. It is necessary that you work on all of the other areas of search optimization but without investing your time in building a solid backlink profile for your business, you will end up narrowing down the possibilities of success.
When you understand that your backlink profile is one of the most important Google ranking factors, you will realize why I attach so much value to it. It must be noted here that not all backlinks are valuable. High quality backlinks from sources that have authority, credibility and that are relevant to your niche of operation are all that count. Links that are faulty, spammy and irrelevant do more harm and no good at all and you should refrain from acquiring them.
The truth is that a well created backlink profile that consists of relevant and valuable links from the right sources/platforms goes a long way in setting the bar of success for your business. Its value can be understood when I tell you that the first thing that I check for any business that I work with is the quality of linking that it has and that alone gives me a clear picture of what needs to be worked on.
With something that decisive for your business, I am sure you would want to cut no corners in doing what’s best for you. And that’s exactly what this article has been written for- to help you take charge of things and get started with building high quality backlinks. From social network platforms to article directories and tips and recommendations based on my experience, I have covered it all.
Let’s get right into it.
Social Network Platforms To Work With
Social Network Platforms work wonder in building your presence on the internet. It is that place where you can have a very direct connection with your target audience and through posts and publications, you can take the first step towards backlink generation.
Here’s a list of 7 social networks that I recommend:
Just the mention of LinkedIn brings an image of the corporate world in our minds. Regardless of the type or size of your business, you can always make the best use of LinkedIn’s feature to link content to your profile as well linking short posts to blogs on your business website.
Based primarily on the concept of visual discovery, Pinterest is the second option on this list. As a platform for links, it can be used to publish infographic and visual-centered content to help you create a trail and presence online.
Another major platform of the modern day that is very dynamic is Reddit. It is a widely used discussion platform that also serves as a link distributor. You can choose from the numerous threads/forums aka ‘subreddits’, something that is related to your niche and generate content and link therein.
The talk of the town when it comes to visual content. It can be used as a platform to create the company profile for your business as well as a content distribution platform to create a market base.
Based on the ‘community model’ where like-minded individuals connect with each other in groups called ‘Tribes’, this platform can be used to grow the readership of your blog posts effectively. Besides, it also serves as a platform for you to network with other business owners like you and their ideas.
This is an online content publishing platform that can help you get yourself out on the internet sharing your content among ‘hubbers’ and building a user-base that interacts with what you have to offer. It can be used to redirect people to your website.
The last on the list is BizSugar, a platform that aims at helping entrepreneurs and business owners grow their enterprise by helping them take advantage of the community experience of networking and linking. You can share links, ideas and insights with other bloggers.
Article Directories for Link Generation
Besides social networks, utilizing various directories that allow article submission is another way that I recommend to carry out your linking building strategy. However, one thing to be noted here is that before making submissions on any directory you must ensure that it is authentic and credible.
To ease things for you, I have compiled a list of 7 article directories for backlinks that have the credibility and will serve your needs:
GrowthHackers is the first directory on our list. It is a platform that is focused on digital marketing and the various components, aspects and nuances of the field. You can share relevant information that the user-base is looking for and grow an audience.
This directory incorporates articles bearing information related to a wide range of topics/niche. As such it has a a user base covering people from different backgrounds and fields. No matter the theme of your enterprise, you are sure to find a place to express yourself here.
Another generalist article directory on the list is BlogEngage which markets itself as a platform for bloggers to boost their engagement with the reading audience as well as other bloggers. You can search a niche that suits your business and begin sharing.
This is the directory on the list which offers a coverage of the widest range of topics. Whether it is money and finance, career counselling, business, lifestyle, relationship or spirituality, this is that one platform that will offer you the stage as well as the audience to express yourself.
Home to the submission of largest number of articles in the largest number of categories, EzineArticles is the most sought-after name in any industry when it comes to relaying of articles. Make use of this platform to publish yourself and build your backlinks alongside.
ArticleBase has been serving as one of the finest link building directories owing to its authenticity, authority and credibility in the market. Make content and publish posts that serve as a redirection to your blog posts on your business website.
Triond is an effective, multi-purpose platform that serves as a social networking platform as well as a directory for article submission. All you need to do is sign in with your Facebook profile and you can get going.
Techniques That I Recommend
By making use of some or all of the aforementioned platforms and directories, you can get a solid footing as far as the backlink generation process for your business is concerned. Since all platforms and article submission directories that I mentioned are solid, reputable and credible ones, you don’t have a thing to worry about if you decide to make use of them.
Now that we are done with those platforms, let me share with you some of the other techniques that I recommend. If you are able to get a hang of these and are able to execute things in the right manner, you will add great value to your website.
Converting Blog Posts To Audio/Video Media:
With the rising consumption of media/information in the form of audio and video as well the growth of podcast-based marketing and video marketing platforms such as Facebook, YouTube etc., one of the ways to expand your audience as well as marketing platform is to convert your blog posts to audio/video formats. By doing this you can make your content more appealing to the public and also help you earn link from various distributors.
Addressing Queries On Quora:
There is no such thing as enough questions. Platforms like Quora are dedicated towards helping people find answers to their questions of all kinds. Make use of this by finding out and addressing questions that are related to your niche. What you can do is leave a link as a part of your answer that redirects to one of your blogs.
Writing Testimonials:
In the realm of marketing, most, if not all, of us make use of carious tools and products. One way to gain link is that the next time you make use of SEO tools or any product, write a testimonial for it. Since that means a valuable review for the service provider, in return you can request them to link the testimonial back to your blog/website.
Converting Implied Links To Real Links:
At times you will find yourself in situations where you will have your brand name or any of your content mentioned in posts of others without any linking to your website/blog. Such mentions are termed as ‘implied links’ where the other is mentioning about you but isn’t actually offering you a backlink. In such cases, you can get in touch with them and point out the implied link and request them to convert it into a real link that redirects to your blog.
Guest Posting:
Another way to get backlinks is through guest posting. If done in the right manner at the right platforms, it can turn out to be very rewarding. Make sure that you only target those websites/platforms that have a solid background and a good reputation failing which will do more harm than good in the long run.
DOs & DON’Ts- Things To Keep In Mind
No matter what course of action you resort to in pursuit of your link building process, there are certain rules to be followed and things to be kept in mind while carrying out the process. Based on my experience, here is a compilation of the ‘must-know’ points:
- Quality matters a lot more than the quantity. One backlink from a high-authority, reputed source is far more valuable than ten backlinks from shady, irrelevant sources. Always ensure that you check the background and quality of the platform/website before trying to get a link.
- Never ever resort to comment spamming/article spamming as a quick way of getting number of links. Not only are they entirely useless and invaluable, they also weigh your website down, bringing it under lights of suspicion for the search engine.
- Do not purchase links. Most of them are cheap and there’s no fooling the search algorithm. It can very easily gauge which links are ‘paid’ and which are actually ‘earned’.
- Link building via link exchange is a two-way process. It is expected of you to not exclude yourself from practices such as featuring others, linking back to others’ websites etc.
- Keep things relevant and meaningful, always. Don’t let it slip from your mind that the process of legit marketing, in itself, is predicated on relevance, meaning and resourcefulness. Make sure that similar values are reflected in your link building process and your backlinks.
- Nothing tops quality and therefore it must be noted that no number of backlinks can help you if all they redirect to is low-quality, irrelevant and dodgy content. Make sure that you amp up your content creation game as utilizing solid content works manifold in SEO.
- Last of all, take things slow and gradual. Don’t rush the process. The longer it takes, the better it gets.
The Best Is At Your Disposal
That’s all for this article. I have listed down all the valuable resources for you to consider and make use of as an assistance in your journey of building backlinks that create the desired sense of authority and credibility in your niche. This is a compilation based on my extensive experience in serving numerous clients that have similar need as yours and I hope you find it useful.
Just keep in mind that like all other processes of SEO, building the right backlinks in the right manner isn’t an overnight thing. It requires structure, patience and an inevitable need to make sure that you are on the right track every now and then.
With so much to keep a check on, it might seem like a herculean task and the load might feel like a burden at times. If you ever end up feeling that way, I don’t want you to kick the can down the road. If you feel like you need a shoulder to share the load, I am only one call away.