If you are reading this guide about link building for SEO, it’s probably because you need links, right?
You should already know that good backlinks move your website up in Google’s search results.
But you also need to learn how to get backlinks to achieve that goal.
At SayNine, we have been providing professional link building service for 3+ years now. So, we know a thing or two about link building.
In this guide about link building for SEO, we’ve put together our knowledge and experience to explain all the nuances of link building in simple terms so that you can easily use them in real life.
Keep reading!
Link Building for SEO: The Basics
Starting from the very basics of link building for SEO will allow you to have a better understanding of it and learn how one good backlink can significantly improve your site’s overall SEO.
What is link building?
Link building is an effective SEO strategy that refers to the process of getting other websites to link to yours.
According to the survey of Authorityhacker, 79.7% of SEO specialists consider link building an essential part of their SEO strategy.
The goal of building links is to improve your domain’s rankings, make your backlink profile more diverse, and drive organic traffic.
The success of your link building for SEO campaigns highly depends on how you communicate with partners and clients, as well as the link building project duration and how well you keep track of it.
What are Backlinks in SEO?
What is a backlink in SEO?
Backlinks, also known as inbound links or incoming links, are links from other websites pointing to your site. They are considered votes of confidence in ranking pages for search engines like Google.
Backlinks are important for a website’s SEO and Off-Page SEO, in particular.
Here’s why:
- Higher search engine rankings—The more relevant backlinks your website has, the more likely it is to rank for relevant search queries.
- More discoverability – Getting valuable backlinks from relevant websites allows search engines to discover your content much faster.
- More Traffic – When you create link-worthy content, the number of your website visitors keeps growing.
- Domain rating increase – This is an important metric showing how strong a site’s backlink profile is on a 100-point scale. The more good backlinks you have, the higher your domain rating is.
Note:
Not all backlinks are created equal. There are two types of backlinks – good and bad or spammy backlinks, which you will need to differentiate link types to be on the safe side and ensure your SEO efforts don’t go in vain.
But later on that. You will have a chance to learn about backlink types in the upcoming section of this guide about link building for SEO.
Stay tuned!
Who is a link building specialist?
A link building specialist is an expert responsible for getting relevant backlinks for clients’ websites to improve their rankings, online visibility, and link building for SEO campaign’s performance all in all.
A link building specialist’s main responsibilities include:
- Finding relevant websites for an SEO link exchange and assessing their quality and relevance,
- Performing personalized link building outreach,
- Creating and keeping track of partnership spreadsheets and their requests,
- Auditing contact lists,
- Building strong relationships with partners/clients for effective collaboration,
- Being active on other communication channels like Slack and LinkedIn to find new link building opportunities.
Of course, this list represents a small percentage of a link builder’s job.
In fact, a link building specialist may do other tasks as well, depending on the backlink campaign.
But this is more than enough to have a better understanding of what a typical link building specialist’s working day looks like.
Now, let’s focus on what a link exchange in SEO is. It’s a key element in every link building specialist’s toolkit.
What is a link exchange?
A link exchange for SEO is a common strategy in link building for SEO when two websites agree to link to each other’s content. The goal of link exchanges or link swapping is to boost the visibility of both websites in search engine rankings.
Note:
Excessive link exchange in SEO is considered a type of link scheme, which is against Google’s Spam policies. If found, these links may be devalued algorithmically. Moreover, a website might be subject to manual action, leading to drop in search engine rankings.
Link exchanges can be a beneficial SEO strategy link bwhen done ethically and with the aim of giving some value to users.
Luckily, our link building for SEO guide also covers effective link building strategies for building backlinks naturally.
So, stay patient! The best is yet to come!
Link Building for SEO: Why it Matters?
You already know that relevant and natural backlinks in SEO are highly beneficial to your link building for SEO campaign.
But we’d like to go into detail to explore link building advantages deeper.
Link building is a powerful SEO tactic as it leads to:
Better rankings
It’s no secret that search engines place a huge weight on the number, relevance, and authority of backlinks pointing to a domain. By creating a diverse backlink profile, you can easily get your website to the top of search engines and improve your link building for SEO efforts significantly.
It’s not just our view; experts support this, too.
- Let’s start with Google, which “uses links as a signal when determining the relevancy of pages and to find new pages to crawl.”
- According to Ahrefs, backlinks are important, as “search engines view backlinks as votes of confidence from other websites.”
- SEMrush says that “if you want to earn lots of traffic from Google, backlinks are important. Plus, backlinks help Google to discover (and therefore rank) your content.
As you can see, the facts speak for themselves. Want better rankings? Start working on your backlink profile today and see your link building for SEO campaign drive better search engine rankings.
Working with a trustworthy and experienced link building agency can bring you closer to your SEO goals.
At SayNine, we offer professional SaaS link building, which involves getting relevant SaaS backlinks for your business to boost its rankings and make it more visible.
Improved Domain Rating (DR)
Domain rating is a metric by Ahrefs that shows how strong a domain’s backlink profile is. The more you get good backlinks from reputable sites, the stronger your domain rating is.
DR is calculated on a logarithmic scale from 0 to 100, with 100 being the strongest.
It’s difficult to say what a good domain rating score is because it depends on other factors like industry and competition. The higher it is, the better!
More Organic traffic
Increased organic traffic is another advantage of link building for SEO, which we could not leave unnoticed.
When you create link-worthy content, the chances are high to get good backlinks from popular and relevant websites. These, in turn, will pass the link juice to your content and will improve overall website traffic in the long-term.
The more you have such links, the more trustworthy your website seems in the eyes of search engines.
And
More backlinks = more website visitors
So, if you want to increase your organic traffic, focus on creating useful content. To do so, you will need to learn who your audience is, their interests, and their needs.
After all, your readers will be the main consumers of your content, so their preferences should be taken into consideration.
Increased Brand Visibility
The more your brand appears on the top of search engine results. As a result, when you are building backlinks from reputable websites, your brand exposure and credibility significantly improve.
This way, you show that your website is a trustworthy source of information, and people can rely on it. Besides, users will feel more confident in working with your business after seeing links from known companies.
More Revenue
Of course, all businesses seek more opportunities for revenue growth and follow a certain guide to revenue operations optimization. Link building is one of the most effective ways to achieve that goal.
As you start getting backlinks from reputable businesses, your credibility will increase, which means people visiting your website will perceive your products/services as valuable and reliable.
And what does this mean?
It means that the chances are high that your website visitors who decided to trust your business are more likely to convert into paying customers. And, the more you have paying customers, the more money you can make.
White hat vs Black hat Link Building
Link building for SEO is effective yet time-consuming. However, sometimes, people who want to achieve their SEO goals faster use tactics that are not ethical and can only lead to negative consequences.
Yes, you are right. We are talking about black hat link building, which is a big NO if you want to achieve long-term SEO success.
But now let’s go into detail and explain what white hat and black hat link building are in link building for SEO, as well as their differences.
White hat link building is a popular term in link building for SEO which refers to building backlinks using link building strategies that fully meet Google’s guidelines. It’s the safest way to build links and is the least likely to trigger a Google penalty that can negatively affect your search engine rankings.
White hat link building strategies, like link exchanges, guest posting, linkable assets, and broken link building, can take time before you start seeing results. However, if you don’t want to take any risks, focus on these tactics and enjoy the benefits of link building for SEO.
Black hat link building is right the opposite. It is a set of link building strategies, including using public blog networks (PBNs), buying backlinks, spamming blog comments, and more that are against Google’s guidelines.
There is a misconception that black hat link building is illegal. In fact, it is not. However, such tactics can result in a harsh penalty from Google, which can be extremely bad for your rankings, not to mention the slow recovery process.
So, whether you decide to chase the fastest but the most harmful way to build your links or choose the safest and the most sustainable way, it is totally up to you.
Just make sure you understand the risks and outcomes associated with all the strategies in link building for SEO before you start implementing them.
Link Building Myths
Myths, myths everywhere.
Link building is not an exception, and when discussing link building for SEO, we cannot just leave myths unaddressed.
There are many misconceptions and myths associated with link building, and we believe it’s important for you to differentiate facts from fiction to make informed decisions.
So, let’s uncover some of the most common link building myths together!
- Myth: Link building is dead. The Reality Check: Of course, this is not true. Link building is important, and Google prioritizes relevant backlinks from reputable sites.
- Myth: Backlink quantity is more important. The Reality Check: Absolutely not! It’s better to get valuable backlinks from authoritative websites, rather than get a bunch of spammy and irrelevant links that have no SEO value.
- Myth: Getting links for service pages should be a priority. The Reality Check: Service pages are indeed important, and getting a few backlinks for them won’t harm your SEO. However, your service pages are among the pages that are less likely to be naturally linked to.
- Myth: Anchor text should always be an exact match. The Reality Check: Although exact match anchors are useful, you should not fully rely on them, as they might look spammy. Instead, aim for a diverse anchor text profile.
- Myth: Internal linking doesn’t matter. The Reality Check: Internal links help search engines crawl and index your site more efficiently. So, of course, strong internal link strategy matters!
- Myth: You can ignore broken links. The Reality Check: If you don’t fix broken links on time, they can negatively affect user experience and hurt your site’s credibility.
There are many other myths which we have not listed here.
It does not matter how many link building myths you know or have heard; the key is to learn the difference between reality and misbelief, as the latter can prevent you from succeeding in your link building for SEO campaigns.
Good Links vs. Bad Links
Backlinks in SEO are highly important, and this is a fact! No link building for SEO is complete without understanding the importance of having a good backlink.
But have you ever wondered if all links work for your website? Have you ever checked your backlink profile to see what links point to your site?
If not, then you should, as you probably don’t want to be associated with websites that have no relation to your business.
There are good links, and there are also bad links.
Which backlinks in SEO matter the most? The answer is obvious.
You should always aim for valuable and relevant links, as these are links that search engines love the most and can help your link building for SEO campaign to succeed.
But let’s first understand the difference between good and bad links.
What makes a good link?
Let’s break down the key elements of a good backlink.
- Relevance: Ideally, both the content of the referring domain and the backlink should be topically and contextually related.
- Anchor text: This means a backlink should be naturally placed within a website’s content rather than be a forced text edit.
- Referring Domain Reputation: Backlinks should come from websites that are trustworthy and reputable for Google.
Since backlinks in SEO are an important ranking factor and essential part of link building for SEO, ignoring these essential components will be a huge mistake.
So, always measure links in terms of their quality, check where they are coming from, if they contextually match the content of the referring domain, and how natural the anchor text is, if you want to build a strong backlink profile and enhance your results in link building for SEO.
Read related posts:
Toxic Backlinks: All You Need to Know In 2024
Backlink Monitoring: 5 Best Practices (+3 Tools)
Backlink Analysis: A Comprehensive Guide (2024 edition)
What makes a bad link?
Google clearly states that any activity in link building for SEO that aims to manipulate search engine rankings is considered manipulative and is against its guidelines.
That said, any links that have been acquired through such tactics are toxic and can be extremely bad for your SEO.
So, when doing link building for SEO, it’s essential to follow the best practices, also known as white hat link building strategies, and avoid any black hat tactics.
Toxic links:
- Come from a “link farm,” which is a set of websites that link to each other to improve their search rankings.
- Come from websites irrelevant to the linked content.
- Come from websites that aren’t indexed by Google.
- Come from online directories
- Come from websites with illegal content (e.g. hate speech)
- Are paid links
- Are placed in widgets
- Are hidden in a site footer
- Are forced in blog comments
- Are flagged as sponsored
If you don’t want your link building for SEO efforts to backfire, always check the health of your backlink profile.
Look for the best link building tools to monitor backlinks, more specifically link metrics and analyze competitor links to gain insights into their strategy and performance. This way, you can spot toxic backlinks and remove them on time before they become a problem.
3 Ways Bad Links Harm Your SEO
In our link building for SEO guide, you have already learned that toxic backlinks are bad for your backlink profile, but let’s discuss how exactly they can harm your SEO.
Getting a Penalty From Google
A bunch of toxic backlinks can trigger a Google penalty – the worst thing that can happen to any business engaged in link building for SEO.
Google’s algorithms apply these penalties automatically whenever websites go against their spam policies. You are not going to receive a notification in Google Search Console when you get a penalty. However, you might notice a drop in rankings, traffic, or even the removal of your pages from SERPs.
How do you avoid a penalty from Google?
All you need is to keep up with Google’s algorithm updates to implement only the best practices in link building for SEO and be careful with any activities that aim to improve your rankings.
Drop in Rankings and Traffic
One or two spammy links from poor websites are not disastrous, but it’s recommended to avoid manipulatives at all cost.
We have already discussed that Google can impose harsh penalties if it finds any links that aim to manipulate your ranking position. As a result, your site’s position in SERPs and organic traffic will decrease.
So, we highly recommend staying away from such tactics regardless of how lucrative they seem, as their short-term “benefits” can lead to devastating effects that are not easy to handle.
Negative Brand Reputation
The negative influence of bad backlinks does not end with Google penalties and your website’s drop in rankings and traffic. They can also harm your brand’s reputation and credibility. As a result, your link building for SEO efforts can go in vain, leading to a loss of trust from both search engines and users.
People visiting your site may perceive it as untrustworthy if it comes from a spammy website. As a result, your brand image will suffer, and it will become extremely difficult for your business to attract new customers or partners.
Remember, damaging brand image is a matter of minutes while building a positive reputation takes time.
How to Find and Remove Bad Links?
We have already discussed the importance of monitoring your backlinks on a regular basis in our link building for SEO guide.
Effective and regular backlink analysis is the only way to spot bad links and take all the necessary steps to get rid of them for better link building for SEO results.
All you need is a reliable backlink monitoring tool. At SayNine, we prefer to use Ahrefs, but you are free to choose another tool that best meets your needs and requirements.
Follow these simple instructions to find toxic backlinks on Ahrefs.
Option 1: You can use the Anchors report to see the words and phrases people use when linking to you.
If you see many exact matches of keywords you’re trying to rank for, it’s a sign you have paid or other links that manipulate rankings.
Option 2: You can also use the Backlinks report to dig even deeper.
Click on Backlinks on the left sidebar.
You can set a low DR, for instance, up to 10. If several websites appear, they are big probably spammy.
Once you’ve found bad backlinks, it’s high time to remove them.
There are two ways to remove bad backlinks.
Option 1: Manual removal
If you have the email address to reach the domain linking to you, then this option is for you. Reach out to website owners and ask them for removal.
This can be time-consuming, but this way, you can ensure a complete cleanup and removal of harmful backlinks from the web.
Let’s explore the second option as well to allow you to choose the one that best works for you.
Option 2: Disavowing
Backlink disavow is when you ask Google to ignore particular links pointing to your domain.
Follow these steps to disavow your backlinks efficiently with the Google Disavow tool.
Step 1: Create a list of links to disavow
There is a specific format you should follow when making a list of links to disavow.
- Each entry needs to be on a different line
- Each entry needs to start with “domain:” (without the quotation marks)
- The disavow file should be encoded in UTF-8 or 7-bit ASCII
- The disavow file name must end in .txt
- Maximum URL length in a disavow file is 2,048 characters.
- Maximum size for a disavow file is 2MB and 100,000 lines— blank lines and comment lines included.
- You can leave comments if you want by starting a line with a # mark. Any lines starting with # will be ignored by Google.
Once you are done, double check everything to make sure everything is correct and only then proceed with the uploading process.
Step 2: Upload your list
Your .txt file ready, and all you need is to head to the Google Disavow Tool and choose the property that you want to disavow links from.
You will receive a reminder from Google about using this feature with caution, as accidentally removing or disavowing backlinks would be a huge mistake.
In the meantime, make sure to check out the Google disavowing guide to properly complete this process.
So, once you are sure that your file contains only harmful links from spammy websites, you can upload your disavow file to this window and click submit.
After submitting your disavow file, you’ll have to wait up to 6 weeks before Google takes your file into consideration.
How to Build Good Links: 4 Proven Strategies
We have reached the most interesting part of our guide about link building for SEO.
It’s high time to learn how to get backlinks.
Let’s explore together the best strategies in link building for SEO that will help you build relevant and natural backlinks.
Link Exchange
Link exchange, also called reciprocal linking, is a powerful practice in link building for SEO, where two websites agree to link to each other’s content.
In the world of SEO, it is also known as A-B link exchange.
In fact, a recent study from Ahrefs shows that about 40% of websites with good traffic have reciprocal links.
The goal of backlink exchange is to boost the visibility of both websites in SERPs.
Note:
Excessive backlink exchange is considered a link scheme and is against Google’s Spam policies. If found, these links might be devalued algorithmically. Besides, your website may be subject to manual action, resulting in a drop in search rankings.
When done right, a link exchange for SEO can be highly beneficial.
Always question yourself if the website you are going to link has any content, products or services that your audience might find useful and whether they are going to link to yours in a relevant way.
If you answered “Yes” to both questions, then you are free to initiate the process of finding link exchange opportunities for successful link swaps.
A cheat sheet to use before doing an SEO link exchange
- Does the website have a DR above 50?
- Does the website have 1000+ organic visitors per month?
- Is the website’s target audience relevant to mine?
Our link building specialists share their tips for effective link exchanges;
- Exchange links only with people who you can trust and rely on.
- Keep spreadsheets with your link exchange partners to track your requests more effectively.
- Collect contact details such as email addresses, LinkedIn profiles, and Slack channels from your SEO link exchange partners to reach out to them across different channels.
- Don’t bother your partners every single day.
- Don’t make any promises if you can’t keep them.
- Link exchanges should not be your only link building strategy. Use a mix of different tactics, such as guest posting and broken link building.
These link building tips can help you get along with your partners and build good relationships with them. After all, link building collaboration highly depends on how well you interact with your partners.
A-B Link Exchange vs A-B-C Link Exchange
While an A-B link exchange or reciprocal linking is a common strategy in link building for SEO, it’s better not to overuse them to avoid Google penalties.
This is how it looks like.
Instead, consider A-B-C link exchanges, which can be highly beneficial in terms of SEO.
An A-B-C link exchange, also known as a three-way link exchange, is a strategy in link building for SEO where three different domains are involved.
This is how exactly it looks.
Domain A links to Domain B, Domain B links to Domain C, and Domain C links back to Domain A.
The goal of three-way exchanges in link building for SEO is to create backlinks that seem more organic and less reciprocal to search engine algorithms, as no two domains are directly exchanging backlinks with each other like in A-B link exchanges.
This way, you can create a diverse backlink profile, improve website visibility, and maximize link building for SEO results.
Guest Posting
Guest posting is another common strategy in link building for SEO that involves writing content for other websites, preferably related to your industry.
The goal of guest posting is to write content that adds value to the target audience and brings you relevant backlinks for your website.
How exactly?
When you write content that is interesting to specific audiences, the chances are high that they will visit your page to learn more about you. In other words, your site gets a vote of confidence, which signals to Google that you are a trustworthy and credible source of information.
Why guest posting?
This is a good question to address because many people doubt the effectiveness of guest posting.
In fact, when done correctly, guest posting can lead to:
More Brand Awareness and Visibility
No company can survive without awareness and visibility.
How do you imagine growing your business when your target audience does not know about you?
This is where guest posting can be helpful.
If you consistently create good content on popular and reputable websites, you can gradually become a thought leader and expert in your field, attract new audiences, improve your rankings on SERPs, and maximize your link building for SEO efforts.
Other results? Improved brand reputation and trust among potential customers, which, in turn, results in increased brand loyalty and financial success.
Increased Organic Traffic
When you guest post on reputable websites with high traffic, you can boost your own website traffic as well and enhance your link building for SEO efforts. If readers find your content relevant, informative, and engaging, they are more likely to explore your site to learn more information about your products/services.
The increased traffic from guest posting can help your overall SEO performance and improve your search engine rankings, which is the dream scenario for any marketer or business owner looking to improve their online presence.
Higher rankings
Improved search engine rankings are another huge benefit of guest posting.
Publishing guest posts on authoritative websites allows you to build good backlinks, which, as we have already mentioned, are a crucial ranking factor for Google.
More leads
Imagine your ideal customer scrolling through, coming across your guest post, and thinking, “Hey, this is good stuff!” Those impressed with your content might even take the next step and explore what you offer, turning their interest into actual sales.
So, guest posting isn’t only about rankings, visibility, and traffic.
It’s also about converting curious visitors into loyal customers who keep your business growing.
How to Find Guest Posting Opportunities
So, guest posting is an essential part of link building for SEO, but how do you find guest posting opportunities, you may ask?
There are certain ways you can try to find websites for guest posting.
Option 1: Google Search
Most websites that accept guest posts have a dedicated page with their detailed guidelines for guest post writers to follow.
This allows you to easily find them with a Google search.
Let’s say, you are looking for websites that accept guest posts about digital marketing.
All you have to do is type digital marketing and + guest post, digital marketing + write for us, digital marketing + submit a guest post, and so on.
A lot of results will pop up. Make sure to research every website to ensure it is credible and reputable enough to guest post on and create backlinks.
Option 2: Use Ahrefs
Ahrefs is cool in many ways.
With this tool, you can easily look up guest post opportunities.
Here’s how:
- Go to Ahrefs’ “Content Explorer”
- Type your keyword
- Select “In Title” from the drop-down menu
- Apply filters, such as domain rating, page traffic, and when it was published.
- Click “Search”
- Then tap on “Websites” to find relevant sites for which you could guest post.
In the video screenshot below, you can see that we have searched.
Once you find relevant sites to reach out to, prepare a compelling guest post pitch that highlights your interest, expertise, and mutual benefit.
Biggest Guest Posting Mistakes to Avoid
It’s easy to make guest posting mistakes. If you want to achieve effective link building for SEO, it’s crucial to avoid common pitfalls
That’s why we have gathered common ones to help you avoid them in a timely manner.
Here they are:
Ignoring Website Relevancy
This is the biggest guest posting mistake you should avoid at all costs.
If you want to get the most out of your guest posting efforts, you need to thoroughly research the sites you are considering to guest post on to ensure they are relevant to your industry.
Contributing to irrelevant sites won’t help your SEO and can even be disastrous for your rankings.
So, always double check potential websites for guest posting before you get started to save time and resources.
Not Following Guidelines
Every website that accepts guest posts has their own guidelines that you must follow. Some guest post writers don’t follow them. Instead, they do things their own way.
However, they don’t realize that, this way, their guest posts can simply get rejected and not be published at all.
So, before hitting the send button, make sure your guest post matches the host website’s needs and requirements.
Prioritizing Quantity Over Quality
Quality is more important than quantity in the case of guest posts and link building for SEO. Some people think the more guest posts they have, the better.
However, this is not true. One compelling and thoroughly researched guest post is way better than a bunch of them that add no value.
Question every aspect of your guest post, whether it is informative, useful, and engaging enough for a specific audience.
Broken Link Building
Broken link building is another effective link building strategy in link building for SEO that involves finding dead links on other websites and asking web admins to replace them with working links pointing to your website.
It’s a win-win situation, as the web admin replaces broken backlinks on their site (thereby improving their site quality and user experience) and your website gets a new backlink.
Here’s how to find broken backlinks on any website:
- Go to Ahrefs’s Site Explorer
- Enter a domain
- Click Broken Backlinks section
As you can see in the screenshot, we have searched ahrefs.com to find its broken links.
The same you can do when it comes to finding your competitors’ as well as your own website’s broken links.
You can also look for broken pages about a particular topic.
Here’s how to do it:
- Enter a topic
- Choose “In Title” from the drop-down menu
- Tap search
- Filter for broken pages only
- Filter for pages with at least 20 referring domains
Here’s how to look for broken links on resource pages
Resource pages are web pages that curate and link to resources on a certain topic.
What makes them good sources of broken pages with backlinks?
- Such pages rarely get updated, so they often link to dead pages.
- Resource pages list useful information, which often have links from many other websites.
To find resource pages in your field, search this on Google.
KEYWORD inurl:resources intitle:resources
Here’s what we got when searching for resource pages about content marketing:
Then you should check for broken links on these pages by using Ahrefs.
Vet the backlinks
Many people rush to create a replacement page after finding a dead page with backlinks. This is a huge mistake, and here’s why:
Not all backlinks are created equal. So, you should always check their quality before making the replacement page and reaching out to people for resource page link building.
To check the quality of the links:
- Go to Site Explorer
- Enter the dead page’s URL
- Go to the Backlinks report
- Apply filters to eliminate bad backlinks
- Set Domain Rating (DR) above 50
- Set Traffic above 1000
- Choose Dofollow links only
- Exclude subdomains
This way, you can ensure that broken links are not coming from spammy and bad websites.
Create a replacement page
Once you are done with the broken backlink quality assessment process, it is time to create a replacement page. There are two ways to do this; with or without content improvement.
For the first one, you can create a rough outline that reflects the purpose and content of the dead page.
Doing replacement with content enables you to enhance your value proposition and explain why it’s a good replacement. In this case, you still have to use the right primary keyword, add visuals, and incorporate other elements from the old content.
There are several ways you can improve content. You can make it easier to digest, visualize complex information by using different graphics, fix any errors, and so on.
If you go with the second option, you just need to make sure that the replacement page has the same level of relevance and usefulness as the original.
Do outreach
After creating a replacement page, you can reach out to website admins to persuade them to replace the broken link with your URL.
Since they get requests like this all the time, it’s important for your link building outreach message to stand out.
An email that lacks personalization will be ignored.
As we are quite good at link building outreach, we’ve put together a highly personalized outreach approach that can maximize your broken link building efforts.
Using personalized subject lines with their name included, for instance, is a great way to catch the website admin’s attention. You can also use a question to pique their interest. Alternatively, you can mention content they have published recently.
Now, you should inform the website admin that a link on their website is broken and explain why it’s better to use yours instead.
It’s important to research what their website is about and what they published before to clearly explain how your article can add value to their target audience.
If you don’t get a reply, don’t lose your hope yet. As they receive a bunch of emails every day, they might have missed yours. So, make sure to follow up with them after a few days to see if they are interested.
To Sum Up
Let’s wrap up by highlighting a couple of main points from our guide about link building for SEO:
- Link building for SEO is essential for boosting domain rankings and increasing organic traffic, and it relies on effective communication and tracking.
- Backlinks, or inbound links from other websites, act as votes of confidence and are crucial for search engine rankings.
- Link building can boost SEO effectively through white hat methods like guest posting and link exchanges, while following Google’s guidelines to avoid penalties.
- Conversely, black hat techniques like using public blog networks or buying links, while not illegal, risk severe Google penalties and affect long-term SEO success.
- A good backlink should be relevant, use natural anchor text, and come from a reputable domain, as these factors are crucial for building a strong backlink profile.
- Bad links can come from link farms, irrelevant or non-indexed sites, online directories, or sites with illegal content.
- To find and remove bad links you can ask to manually remove them or disavow them.
- Link exchange, broken link building, guest posting, and brand mentions are great strategies in link building for SEO, allowing you to build good links.
Hope you stuck around till the end. Good luck with your link building efforts!
