There is no doubt that backlinks are one of the most important on-page ranking factors in modern SEO. There are a lot of backlink building guides available on the internet. However, the one that I am sharing with you today is created focusing on WordPress websites. This is going to be a very comprehensive link-building guide that will help a new webmaster to create high-quality backlinks for the website. Creating high-quality backlinks is an art.
To be quite honest not everyone gets it in the first go. This takes time and patience and a lot of research. I would also expect readers to wait patiently for results when getting into link building. Furthermore, do not use any of the free backlink generators available online. These fall under black hat SEO methods that Google hates.
Is link building always good for SEO? I would say no. This means that link building helps in SEO if the backlink is coming from a high authority website.
If the link is coming from a low authority website, gone are your rankings. Read about it more in an article I wrote about link building.
How difficult is it to rank on page 1 of Google with high-quality backlinks?
This backlink building guide is for newbies, so I would be clear in terms of the effort you need to put in the get to page 1 in Google. When you are searching about SEO techniques Neil’s website usually grabs the first spot in the SERPs.
I looked up his website in the online tool to check backlinks to a website. The number of backlinks referring to his home page is ridiculous. Take a look at the data image below.
These many backlinks will take years to build. Yes, no one speaks about it, most people will tell you that they can build high-quality backlinks in a short span of time. Do not get fooled. The above metric takes a lot of time and research.
Types of links
In this backlink building guide, I have clearly differentiated the types of links there are in SEO. Most noteworthy, which links are to created and which links are not beneficial to your website.
To name them there are two high-quality backlinks & low-quality backlinks. Before we move further let me define these two link types.
- High-Quality Backlinks: These are the links coming from high DA & PA websites. These links pass on the so-called link juice and help in boosting your website ranking.
- Low-Quality Backlinks: This is as the name suggests opposite to the above backlinks and even though they pass on the link juice, they do more harm than good as they are low authority website links.
Ok, so this was a quick brief about what we are discussing in this backlink building guide. Let me now tell you the strategy I use to improve my rankings by creating backlinks.
How do search engines work?
Its reach is immense. To ensure that all websites have an equal playing field, they provide sites that are built with time. The process must be natural without any sign of manipulation.
Unfortunately, with technology comes illegal methods, where some websites can gain an unfair advantage over others.
This helps their rankings increase within a short period of time. This is when backlinks come into play. SEO experts cannot influence or play around with external backlinks, got from other high-ranking sites.
It has to come naturally. This makes backlinks popular among not only marketers but also website owners who realize its ability and power on search engines.
Due to too many malpractices, over the last few years, Google has come up with methods that have tightened loose ends.
The days of manipulating results are over. Having said that, backlinks are also used in some sneaky methods to gain an advantage. As a website owner, you may want to avoid implementing those methods.
Some of them tend to use websites with the same IP. Doing so causes an immediate increase in rankings and suspicions raised too. This method is known as backlink bombing and is part of what is known as black hat SEO methods.
White hat SEO methods are proper methods implemented to improve the rankings of a website. Since we have now had an idea of what we are dealing with, let us delve into the subject of backlinks and find out more about it.
Collaborate
This has done wonders for me. Let me explain, how? Last year I started a YouTube channel just for fun. I had no intention of monetizing it. I did not have enough subscribers.
This channel was all about my cycling trips and places where I travel. I am an avid traveler too. My blog did not have reader strength and there was hardly any traffic coming on my blog. Once I started socializing the traffic just went ballistic.
People started knowing my name and my blog, at least in my city. I started looking at daily traffic from 10 users a day to a few hundred users a day. This happened as I started introducing my blog to all the people whom I was meeting.
Furthermore, I started indulging in discussions related to SEO, WordPress, and other stuff that I write about on my site. This helped in knowing my competition and other fellow bloggers.
Few people or bloggers whom I knew sent me emails stating to exchange backlinks. Off-course I was looking at their authority first before doing a follow link. People will link to your site when they know you. You do not have to be a celebrity to get a lot of links, just tap people around you and that should get you going.
Write Epic Content
Writing good content requires time and a lot of research. I wrote an article about creating quality content online earlier in my blog.
The purpose of writing epic content is to make people link to your content. The only way people will link to your content is when you would have comprehensive and well laid out content written on your website.
If you do not have the content worth linking to, no one will. It’s that simple.
The broken link method
I was reading about this method a few months back and boy did it worked. This is the easiest way of creating backlinks. All you need to do is tell a webmaster that some of the links on his/her site are broken. Furthermore, provide content which the webmaster can show on that broken link. Simple!
The next question that comes to your mind is how do I find broken links?
Answer: To find the broken links first find relevant websites in your niche that have resource pages. You can find them by running below mentioned search terms in Google search.
Your Keyword + links
Keyword + Resources
keywords inurl: links
For e.g., if I have to search for websites related to cycling hashtags. I will simply type in cycling hashtags + Links. Once you find the list of all your keyword website, you need to find broken links (404) in the search itself. You can do this by installing a Chrome Plugin for finding 404 bad links. The plugin is known as check my links.
All you need to do is contact the webmaster, be friendly and introduce yourself. Make the webmaster aware of the broken link and offer him a piece of content that can compensate for the content on his broken link.
A very few webmasters might say no to this, however, most of them agree to place the content on their link. In a way, you are helping the webmaster more than you are helping yourself.
Infographics
This is something new and trendy. I mean ask your self, don’t you like visuals instead of boring text. YES
Infographics have becomes the most popular way of getting traffic today. Furthermore, they are easy to understand and saves a lot of time.
Now, just do not go around making infographics just for backlink purposes. Try and include a story and show some stats. E.g. take a look at this infographic that I created comparing Bluehost with Siteground. You need to download this.
I have strategically placed links in this PDF. Furthermore, I have optimized this PDF for SEO. You should learn how to optimize your PDF for SEO, this brings an amazing amount of web traffic.
Most noteworthy, you do not need to hire designers to create infographics for you. Go to Snappa and Canva, theses are amazing free tools to create infographics.
Try to include some research or statistics, these are eye candy and people love these. Once your infographic is ready its time to distribute it. I send emails to my subscriber list with the infographic in it. There are other platforms where you can share your infographics. This list has over 100 places where you can share your infographics.
Guest posting
This is another way of creating backlinks. A most noteworthy, effective way of creating high-quality Backlinks.
So all you need to do is write articles for others to put up on their website. Ensure that you have the links for your pages embedded in the content.
Website owners are constantly looking for free and great quality content. This is because it is impossible to write all the content of the website on your own. Furthermore, not everyone has a budget to invest in content writers to get quality content.
Not only guest posting will have your embedded link in the content, but it also amplifies your relationship with other website owners.
Now the question comes that how to search website accepting guest posts? Simple use below mentioned search strings in Google to find out these websites.
- your keyword + inurl:write-for-us
- keyword + guest-posts
- your keyword + inurl:guest-post-guidelines
- keyword + become a contributor
- your keyword + bloggers wanted
- keyword + submit an article
- your keyword + want to write for
- keyword + contribute
- your keyword + become an author
- keyword + guest post by
- your keyword + now accepting guest posts
Users on social media constantly post gues posting messages for link building. If you are a part of writing groups of guest posting groups on Facebook keep a check on their posts.
You will get a lot of guest posting websites there.
6. Spying on your competitors
You need to take a look at what your competitors are publishing in order to be in the link building race. I have subscribed to a few of the leaders in the SEO industry. Neil Patel is a name often heard when we talk about SEO.
I keep on getting his newsletters periodically. This not only enhances my knowledge but there is additional stuff that I do. I visit the link in the email read his article and make a comment there.
When you interact with the site owners frequently there is a trust that develops. Post which you can also request them to exchange links. An easy way of doing this to create a Google alert. This way whatever is changing on your competitor’s website you get get a prompt from Google. Like I have for Neil Patel.com. All you need to do is just type site: “Domain Name”.
One interesting platform to keep a track of all your backlink possibilities is backlink monitor.
Write testimonials
Who doesn’t like testimonials? I mean everyone does. If you write a testimonial for someone they would love to display that on their website. All you have to do is include your page link in the testimonials.
Every testimonial will have a place for the author. This is exactly where you can place your link. Take a look at the example below. This is an example of a well-written testimonial with “cole mize studios” acting as a hyperlink to the page of Cole Mize.
Promote your content
If you want people to link back to your content they should know that the content exists. Hence, it is important to promote your content.
Besides the SEO that I did to get organic traffic, I share my content on Facebook, Twitter, and other platforms. There are directory submissions that I do when I write an article.
Here, I am not just talking about sharing content on social media. Furthermore, I am talking about making an introduction to your website to other bloggers and site owners in your niche.
If your content is strong in quality they will try to link your content on their website. Just try to create resourceful content and see the magic when people link to your content.
Summing Up
Creating high-quality backlinks takes time and a lot of work. Do not get bothered if you are constantly working on this SEO technique but getting no results. It took me a year to get a lot of organic traffic through backlinking. However, when it starts there is no limit to it. So these were 8 steps for creating backlinks in this backlink building guide.
If you have any questions related to link building and High-Quality Backlinks please leave them in the comments below.
