With a huge variety of SEO tools and strategies out there, you probably find yourself wondering which one’s the most useful. Many people are under the impression that the hard part’s over once you create a website. On the contrary, ensuring your website ranks well is the hardest part.
Well, let me introduce one of the most powerful ways to improve your ranking next year: link building.
Traditionally, link building, as a strategy, was largely dependent on quantity rather than quality and wasn’t really important.
Today, however, it’s in a different arena altogether.
Link building is a necessity for your website’s visibility and ranking. If you want to appear on the first page of Google, link building is the way to go. Regardless of the industry, you operate in, the only way to increase your visibility is through link building.
Just like everything else today, the overall strategy for link building is changing at a rapid pace. What worked last year may not necessarily work this year, making it extremely crucial for you to keep up with the rules of the game.
Every business today wants to rank higher which means the room for error is minimal. Do it right and it’ll give your SEO a serious boost. Do it wrong, though, and it may reverse all the time and effort you’ve invested in your SEO.
Given the fact that link building is one of the main factors that determine how successful you are with your ranking, here are 6 link building strategies to boost your rankings in 2019:
1) Broken Link Building
So, let’s a do a little math. Most websites have a lot of content and, when there’s a lot of content, there are a lot of links, too.
The number of links on any website could easily range in hundreds or thousands. The higher the number of links, the greater the chance of one or more of them to be broken.
A broken link isn’t really a big deal. What it truly is, though, is an opportunity for you. Many website owners don’t realize that a broken link is the reason their SEO rankings are suddenly low.
Broken links are an excellent chance for you to point it out to the owner, build a relationship with them, and add some value. Most importantly, though, you can get a high-quality link in return.
Broken link building is an easy and effective strategy that has immense returns. Before anything, you need to ensure the broken link is relevant to the content you’re publishing on your website. Website owners are usually aware of the impact of a broken link so they’ll be looking for a quick solution that’s high in quality.
Maybe you have a perfect resource on your blog they can use as a replacement? Reach out to find out.
2) Infographics
Ask yourself how many articles you read every day. Have you ever found yourself in a position where you really want to read something and learn from it, but you simply don’t have the time?
Welcome to the dilemma of everyone’s lives.
We live in a world where everything is fast-paced and readers, just like everyone else, want their content immediately.
And that is exactly why infographics are so important. They give readers the chance to get all the information in a concise manner without going through the pages of text.
Did you know infographics are liked and shared on social media platforms three times more than any other kind of content? Not just that, but 42 percent of marketers have reported that infographics and other original graphics were more engaging than any other type of content, including any other form of visual content.
Visual aids help readers process information more efficiently and make your articles much more readable. Create infographics, that are simple, concise, and visually appealing. Once you’ve done that, you should create an HTML piece that embeds the infographic to a web page and links it back to your website.
Once you do this, you can either submit your infographics to other websites or share it with bloggers who publish related content to earn backlinks and improve your link building.
3) Guest Blogging
Perhaps one of the oldest link building strategies, guest blogging (a.k.a. blogger outreach) also remains one of its most effective link building strategies.
Why is it still relevant?
Well, as long as there is a demand for content that’s new, fresh, and great in quality, guest blogging will always be necessary. It just means you’ll be extending your writing efforts for other websites and they’ll extend their gratitude by linking to your website in return. As you can imagine, guest blogging also works as an eCommerce link building strategy.
The concept of guest blogging is actually pretty straightforward; it gives you a chance to write content that’s high in quality, links back to your site with the content piece, and get the article published and promoted on a website that has a high domain authority. By publishing content on well-known sites in your industry you are improving your SEO, getting relevant referral traffic, and building brand trust and authority – all at the same time.
You can also invite guest bloggers to write for you. Guest bloggers have the opportunity to add some much-needed diversity to your website by offering a fresh new perspective on any topic. Link building this way also gives you a chance to expand your audience since you have the chance to make a dedicated following out of your guest blogger’s followers.
An important note is that guest blogging for low authority websites and building links from them will have little to no impact on your overall rankings. In contrast, links from high authority websites will have a considerable impact, as long as the content and links are relevant.
Want to take it up a notch? You can combine guest posts with infographics, a strategy that has the potential to double the traffic you would potentially get using these strategies separately.
Don’t forget, guest blogging is your chance to shine in front of someone else’s followers. You should use this opportunity to engage these followers directly by responding to their comments or questions yourself, expressing gratitude to followers who share your content, and keeping track of where and when your content is getting shared.
4) Newsjacking
A crucial factor that determines your success is your content and its ability to break the clutter. However, creating content that has people talking about it isn’t an easy feat at all.
So, instead of trying to figure out how you can come up with something that’ll make people talk about you, you can use something they’re already interested in for inspiration.
This particular strategy is commonly known as “newsjacking”. Why? Because you’re using a trending topic to create and promote your own content.
To start off, you can use a platform like Google Trends to determine what people are talking about. The search bar on Google Trends is a great place explore different ideas and see if an idea is popular enough to warrant an article of its own.
Time is your biggest ally and your greatest enemy in newsjacking. Publish and promote your content as soon as you can and not later than a week of the original news, since the trend would probably have died down by then.
Ensure you’re choosing trends and topic that are at least somewhat related to your industry. However, you can always take advantage of general news that has taken the world by storm.
For instance, look at the example below for how newsjacking could work well for your brand. Virgin Airlines used the same-sex marriage bill verdict to promote a positive message about the cause.
5) Resource Page Link Building
Most people fail to realize how intensive the entire process of link building is. Just like everything else, before committing to something, you first need to know the position you’re currently in.
A great way to do that is through quality link building resources. So, what exactly are these? Well, simply put, a resource page is just a page on a website or blog that lists down useful links and references for a range of topics. Through this, you can learn what position your current linked assets are in and what your competitors are up to, too. You can search for resources on Google with the keyword, just like in the example below.
If you find you’re falling behind, you can always find opportunities in various other areas, such as keyword selections, different content opportunities, and getting backlinks that are worth the effort. It’s truly as simple as creating content that’s valuable and relevant enough to be included on a resource page.
6) Data-driven content
It’s becoming more and more difficult every day to come up with content that’s relevant and useful. It truly is a struggle to ensure your content piece has the potential to break through the clutter and stand out.
And that is why you need to justify whatever you’re trying to convey.
How many times have you believed far-fetched stories when there is no evidence to back them?
Just like that, readers are hesitant to believe something that isn’t backed by data. By using data to enrich your content, you can draw attention and attract links that could boost its rankings. People want to know why you’re claiming something; if you’re stating a fact without its source, nobody’s going to take you seriously.
So, how do you make your content more data-driven? For starters, you should thoroughly research your industry and filter data that are relevant to your content. You can also go through your lists of customers, and industry peers. You should also not ignore your email list, which itself is a great way to convert visitors into paying customers.
Having content that’s data-driven isn’t just a strategy; it’s a process. Ask yourself whether the content you’re about to publish has unique data. If not, you should try adding more depth to it.
Content that’s rich in data and statistics has more likely to earn links since readers prefer links to relevant sources. If you don’t have time to conduct research of your own, you can always use sources, such as Google Trends, academic studies, and, even, State and Federal databases to create engaging content that builds links and drives traffic to your website.
Which link building strategies will you use in 2019?
Mastering link building strategies, just like any other technique, requires investment in terms of time, effort, passion, and determination. Its requirements are exactly why you need to ensure you’re ready for a commitment like this.
However, once you’ve already gained some traction and have familiarized yourself with the know-how, you’ll start seeing an upward trend in your website traffic. Eventually, your overall ranking on search engines will witness a substantial boost, and you’ll see that your hard work has finally paid off.
Don’t have time to run all of this yourself? Consider outsourcing your link building efforts?
Dave is the founder of LessChurn, churn reduction app. In 2012 he quit his job to travel the world and has visited over 65 countries. In his spare time, he writes about SaaS and business at DaveSchneider.me.
