As every digital marketer knows, backlinking is an essential factor in SEO rankings. Especially for Google, it is one of the top 3 most important factors. And frankly, this will probably not change in the near future. But backlinking is not as easy as it might seem. You can't just put any link wherever you first think of and hope for the best. It is even harder to get your links shared on reputable sites. This article will share a bit more about backlinking and ten very handy strategies to try out in 2022.
What are high-quality backlinks?
Getting a backlink might be considered an effortless task if you think it is enough to ask any site to add your link. But this is not the best strategy because this might not be a high-quality backlinking.
A high-quality backlink is considered a highly relevant link coming from a reputable site, and it is very naturally included in the content. So, it shouldn't sound like you are adding some random sentences just to add a link from a reputable site, but it doesn't really fit your topic. This is why it is essential for the links you are using to cover all the three main requirements, and it would be nice if the others were covered as well. Below you can find some more details:
- Relevance — It is more important to have relevant backlinks than as many links as possible. So, you should be focused on getting relevant links for your piece of content and your backlinking strategy. The Pyramid Backlinking is a great strategy you might want to look over.
- Traffic — Getting links from sites with high traffic is an excellent sign that this site is reputable. But even better would be if you manage to place your links on such a site because it will guarantee you more visits.
- Authority — Getting more visits thanks to backlinking will increase your site's authority. The same applies if you are getting links from better sites.
- Link Quality — You need to be sure that the link you are getting is considered high-quality, and some tools can help you with that.
- Naural language — You should include the link in the most natural way possible. Search engines will check if you just added a random link to a random text.
The same rules apply if your link is being used in some blog post. So, when your website is being used as a backlink, make sure the publisher follows those rules.
10 strategies for backlinking in 2022
Create an image library
If you create some useful infographics or images that someone might want to use in the future, it is good to build an image library. And at the moment a site asks to use it, you might ask them to feature a link to some of your content or directly to your website. It might be in a text or just to mention you as the source for the image. In this way, if someone likes it, they might go to the rest of your image library, and you might win more potential backlinks.
Some of the topics that are most likely to need some free to use stock images are:
- Places and buildings reviews;
- All kinds of objects;
- Product reviews;
- Different actions;
- Technical topics;
So if you either take photos of something linked to those topics or create an illustration, you should definitely try to leverage it for backlinking.
Create skyscraper content
Publishing skyscraper content is an excellent strategy because many sites with outstanding reputations will be more than willing to use those links. Also, as the name might suggest, the skyscraper content is very long and can cover a couple of topics. So, you might win backlinks not only for your main topic but the smaller complimentary ones as well.
The key to success when it comes to skyscraper content is to promote it as much as possible. If you don't, it will take some time for the search engines to notice it, start ranking it, and then it will take some more time to have enough visits to climb in the charts. Promoting it in the right way would be very beneficial because if you get backlinks fast, you will win higher rankings easier.
Broken link building
This is not a new strategy, but one of the most useful ones. It consists of finding great blogs or other types of content that contain broken backlinks. Those links can lead to a page that doesn't exist anymore or be broken for another reason. What should you do after that? You should write to the site's owners and tell them that there is a broken link somewhere on their site.
Now you might be thinking about what would benefit you in this. Well, while telling them that there is a broken link, you will offer them the perfect replacement. This is why you should actually find broken links, but you have a piece of content that you can offer to be put in its place. You can either already have very suitable content or create/rework one that might fit the purpose.
Initiate reciprocal linking
Link exchanging is always a great idea. If you find a site that might be interested in your content, you can try to initiate reciprocal linking. You will offer them a piece of content to add as a link on their site or content piece, and in exchange, you will do the same for them. A piece of advice is to ask some big players to share your links. The prerequisite is that you should try to build a good network for backlinking before that, and then you can ask some famous sites.
Listicle link building
Listicles are a crucial part of your backlinking strategy. If you are writing some content like “The best of,” “Top X tools for,” or other listicles, you have a great chance to get your article noticed and possibly reshared. Especially for listicles on places/tools/etc. You can try to contact them and inform them about the listicle you produced and offer them to feature it in exchange for another piece of content about them or put them further up in your list.
Use round-up strategy
Round-up posts are pieces of content that contain some tips from industry experts on a particular topic. This is a perfect way to get some backlinking from the experts you want to quote. You might find the quotes on their personal blogs or contact them to get one. This might take time, but if you find the best people to use, they might also be willing to reshare your content on their blogs, socials, etc.
Publish ultimate guides
The word ultimate should already give it up to be used for almost any purpose. You can create ultimate guides on any topic you can imagine. It can be how to use a particular tool, any marketing or technical topic, or anything else you can think of and write about. But if you would like to use it for backlinking, it is always good to first research which topic could generate the most interest.
Try cold email outreach
This is not the most straightforward strategy because it will take you a bit of time. You will have to collect first some emails that you would like to write to. Then you need to prepare your message and try to make it sound as convincing as possible but not too pushy or demanding. For example, say that you would like to contribute by writing a piece of content for the business you are contacting and add a link pointing to a piece of content of yours. Also, share some examples of your work and point out your strong sides.
Help out a journalist
This is also known as Help a Reporter Out (HARO). Help out a journalist, as it might suggest, consists of you helping out a fellow writer or a journalist looking for some help or quotes to writing their stories. If you help someone like that, they might be willing to add some link to your content in this blog or a future one or mention you and your blog as a source.
Try the Phantom technique
Getting your page linked is excellent, but it shouldn't be linked too many times. You will have different targets for each of your pages, and once it is reached, you can try the Phantom technique. This technique is about strengthening your existing links instead of getting new ones. You might think of it as tier two linking.
What's next
Backlinking is not easy, and it takes a lot of effort. You need to put some thought behind it and develop a strategy for how to improve on this front. Since it is essential for SEO, you shouldn't neglect it because it can benefit you. Don't forget to align it with your strategy about all the other SEO initiatives you are running to achieve maximum results.
