You know you need links if you want to rank. I know you need links if you want to rank. Everyone knows you need links if you want to rank.
So.. why are there still people out there saying links aren’t important and content is king? The real SEO players know very well that links are the biggest deciding factor when it comes to Google’s search algorithm. It has been like that forever and it isn’t going to change anytime soon.
What HAS changed is the way that you need to build (or buy…cough, cough) links.
You can’t just order a package of links from a seller like you could six years ago. You can’t use software to just auto-blast spammy comments all over the internet. It just doesn’t work that way. You need to either map out a strategy to build them, or buy them from agencies with connections to high quality authority editorial links.
It really comes down to the amount of time and money you have available for link building purposes. Are you very busy and don’t have time to seek out link building opportunities? Then you will need to buy them. Are you on a budget and can’t afford to buy links? Then you will need to build them yourself.
Not many people like to talk about buying links, but guess what? Anyone ranking on top for competitive keywords is buying links. Don’t be fooled by the “content” gurus that like to pretend it doesn’t happen. Hell, most of them are involved in link brokering, both on the selling and buying side.
So, if you are willing to put the work in, you should have no problem adding 60 or more high quality links to your backlink profile in just 30 days. Yes, it will require work, and yes, it will help your website rank.
Let’s get started..
The TRUTH About Link Building
STOP being afraid of building links or buying links. The SEO gurus like to put the fear of Google’s spam team into everyone’s head in all of the garbage articles and videos they create. Heck, if you listen to Rand at Moz talk about links you would believe that all you have to do is write a magical blog post and links will just start to show up.. LOL! The real truth which Rand and co neglect to discuss is that nobody is going to link to your content unless you put a huge campaign behind it and promote the hell out of it on social media and do a huge outreach campaign, emailing thousands of websites.
You can build links. You can buy links. They just have to be high quality links and they have to be natural.. well appear natural that is. It’s as simple as that. You want to focus on securing links from authority website that are related to your niche. You don’t want to get a link from a motorcycle blog for your blog about pet accessories. Keep them all niche related and from legit sources.
You Need Authority Links
Forget Moz’s Domain Authority (DA). It’s a made up metric that doesn’t mean shit. Yes, you can use it as a way to estimate authority, but I have seen some spam blogs have DA60 and up because they hammered the domain with Fiverr links or did some sneaky redirects.
A true authority website…
- Is a website that receives a lot of traffic because it’s popular and has visible proof of this when you visit it, like several comments per post and a lot of social shares.
- Is a credible source of information within your niche. Do people trust this source?
- Has a nice website design that provides a nice user experience.
- Posts new content on a regular basis and it is all indexed in Google.
You Need to Forget Old School Blackhat SEO
Look, I just told you that people buy links. I don’t even consider that “Blackhat” because it’s something everyone does and links are the driving force behind the SERPs. When I say forget old school SEO, I am referring to using mass comment spam, directory submissions, web 2.0 mass creation bots, and all of the other crap automated processes that were used to blast thousands of links out there.. forget it, those days are long gone and any minor gains made with these redundant approaches to link building will be very short lived.
Things to Master Before Seeking Link Opportunities
There are some things you need to have a firm grasp on before you even think about building links. Once you have these three things masters it makes snagging links much easier.
How to find authority link targets: You should be able to name dozens of authority websites in your niche. Start with that, and then use tools like Buzz Sumo to locate content that is popular using keywords and search terms that are related to your niche. This is one of my favorite ways to discover blogs that I have never seen before. Content with a high number of social shares is a good indication of a popular website.
How to contact the websites: Most websites will have a contact form that you can use for initial contact, or they will have their email address listed. If you can’t find a contact option you can always do a “whois” search. I’ve learned that if a website doesn’t have a contact option visible they aren’t going to be too responsive to a link opportunity pitch. I don’t waste my time. Don’t go for the link in the first email. Introduce yourself. Start a relationship. Or, offer money! ;-P
What you need to offer in order to get a link: Money always works, don’t let the guru crowd tell you otherwise! “Oh, but that’s against Google’s quality guidelines.. you can’t offer money for a link.” Yeah, Ok. Whatever you say guru-master. But, if money isn’t an option you need to have a lot of content. A huge arsenal of blog posts covering all of the possible topics in your niche. This improves the odds of you having something to offer another site. I’m a big fan of infographics. It’s hard to find a website that won’t accept one, especially if it’s a high quality infographic design. You need stuff they can link to.
Ok, now that you know what you are doing, here are 10 ways to help you build links. If you put in the work, there is NO REASON at all that you shouldn’t be able to land 2 links each day. Make that your goal. If you do this, then you will build 60 or more links every 30 days.
1. Create a downloadable resource library.
This is something that you can easily outsource or put it together in your spare time. Think of something helpful and useful that would appeal to people in your niche. For example, in the SEO world, I could create resources like a guide to securing guest blogging opportunities and a onpage optimization checklist.
Things that would be helpful to a large group of people are going to get noticed, and other niche websites will often link to the resources. They do this because they are providing their visitors with something useful without having to do any work. So, they are willing to give you a link for your effort and it makes their website appear to be helpful as well.
2. Comment like a madman on relevant blogs.
Blog comments get read. That’s a fact. Spend time each day leaving comments on popular blogs. It’s a simple way to get some links, even if they are no-follow comment links. But, more importantly you can promote links to content you reference in your comments. This is a good way to get a lot of people to jump over to your website and some will even link to the suggestions you leave in the comment section.
3. Create a high quality infographic.
Do you want links from the best websites in the world? Then create an infographic. It’s really that simple. But, you need to separate your infographic from the other thousands being made. There are ok infographics, there are shitty infographics, and then there are amazing infographics.
If you want to get links from top websites, you need to create a great infographics. $250 and $500 infographics don’t cut it. You aren’t going to get the content research required to create a great story and you aren’t going to get the design talent to make it into a visual masterpiece.
4. Spy on the competition.
Keep a spreadsheet with your top 50 competitors in your niche and run link checks weekly on them. Find out where they secured new links from and keep them all in a column on the same spreadsheet. Spend time each day attempting to secure the same placements.
If you pool a large group of sites within your niche you are going to find a lot of opportunities and if you constantly add to your link profile you are going to push up the SERPs much faster than the competition. It doesn’t take a lot of links these days to rank, just the right ones.
5. Write a new blog post every single day.
Remember how I said you need to have a huge arsenal of content as an offering for other websites to link to? Well, writing one new blog post a day is a way to quickly increase you content count. Keep a list of topics handy and cross one off each day. This is going to help your website a lot. It will be crawled nonstop and Google will start to see you as an authority.
It will be a pain in the ass at first, but after some time you will be able to pump out a new post in 15 minutes. You have to start somewhere, so just do it!
6. Interview experts on your blog.
Want to cross 10 links off your monthly goal in one blog post? Then interview 10 experts in your niche and create a round-up post, that features each person. You have to go the extra mile if you want them to link back to the post. Include a headshot of them, link their name to the social media profile of their choice and then include a link back to their website in the post.
If you select your participants wisely they will want to share it on social media, which might grab you some easy links and they will also be likely to reference it in one of their future blog posts. Conduct these on a regular basis and links will drip in throughout the month.
7. Publish a great eBook.
People love eBooks. Not only is this a great way to collect email addresses from your website visitors, but it’s also a great way to get links from people referencing your eBook. Again, just like the infographic recommendation, your eBook will need to be high quality.
You can’t throw together a 3-page piece of crap and call it an eBook. If you are going to do this, hire a freelancer to create it that has experience writing and designing great ones. Ask for samples. Or, if you want to tackle this yourself make it your best work. Any eBook you offer is a direct reflection of your expertise.
8. Check for broken links.
There are lots of free broken link tools available. Keep that list of ideal link opportunities handy and run them through a broken link checker monthly. If you find broken links see if you have a piece of content that can replace it (or create something that can). Then reach out to the website and tell them that the broken link is hurting their SEO but you have something they can link to that patches the problem.
9. Automate your social promotion and sharing.
If you take my advice above and write a blog post every day you are going to want to promote it on social media. You should also re-share your older content. Use a tool like Hootsuite to automate this. The more content you push out the more potential people will discover it.
Work in popular hashtags to help people find it. You can even tag influencers in the automated posts and hope they check it out and give it a share. I have seen this work very well. The right influencer sharing your content can make it go viral.
10. Respond to H.A.R.O requests daily.
You can knock a big chuck of your monthly link goal out simply by taking the time daily to respond to reporters looking for information. You aren’t going to find relevant requests every day, but some days there will be plenty. Take your time to give intelligent replies if you want links. Do this and you will see them come in
Conclusion
The key to building links is being consistent. If you do a few of these things daily you will start to attract links on a regular basis, and you will soon see that 2 quality links a day is very easy. You just have to decide to start and don’t give up.
If you have any questions about building (or buying) links, drop them in the comments below and I will try to answer you as quickly as possible. This will most likely be the only blog post we do this month, December is a busy month for us here at the office and of course at home.. a time of year for enjoying family and friends, we’ll see you all again in the New Year!
