four ideas for linking campaigns that work
It's no secret that link building campaigns are vital to organic ranking.
If you want better search engine rankings, you need more backlinks.
Links give context and power to pages that Google deems relevant.
Google will almost certainly consider a page with 100,000 links to be more authoritative than one with 1,000 links. (Unless all of those links suck.)
But that's exactly the problem – everyone needs links and everyone is committed to them.
How in the world do you get links when half of your inbox messages are asked for a link by someone else?
Many marketers have stopped their campaigns because they think link building is "annoying" or "disrespectful".
However, you need these links if you want to increase organic traffic.
Link building must still have priority.
Thankfully, there are a few ways you can promote backlinks that are guaranteed to produce results – and avoid annoying people.
Here's why you need to create links, plus four tips for creating links that still work today.
Why Link Building Matters
We often hear that link building should be a cornerstone of our SEO efforts.
That's right, but a lot of marketers don't know why.
Why do you need links? What about links that improve your content rank?
Backlinko analyzed over 1.8 million Google search result pages.
Their goal was to find out which factors correlate with higher rankings.
Guess what they noticed on backlinks?
They found that building links is critical to ranking.
The top ranking 3.8x more backlinks than posts in positions 2 to 10.
But that's not all.
If you only have 100,000 backlinks you will not get a ranking.
If you spam your links in a forum or directory, or in the comments section of a blog, you will not get good links.
Because they found that the number of referring domains also mattered.
This means that backlinks from different websites are vital to ranking.
Backlinko also found that sites with higher domain link authority rank higher on Google.
What exactly does this mean for link building?
This means that you need to focus on getting high quality links from high quality websites.
The higher the domain entitlement, the more powerful the site and the better the link.
Let's do this simple experiment on our own.
Start Google and search for a random industry keyword like "content marketing guide".
Click on one of the top results on the first page.
Now copy and paste this link into Moz's link explorer to see how many links this single page has.
Check the Established Links section.
Did you notice how many links it has? A lot of. Almost 3,000 of them.
That means nearly 3,000 pages are linked to that particular post, which gives it a ton of authority.
Now let's go to the second page of Google to get the same search result and click on the first result (on the second page).
Take this link and plug it back into Open Site Explorer. Check the number of links.
You can immediately see why some content is higher than others.
This second piece of content is excellent. I've read it myself several times.
The domain authority of the site is important. However, without links, you can't expect competition.
Links are one factor that Google uses to measure relevance, authority, and popularity of content.
Link building is a necessary evil in building your SEO strategy and getting more organic traffic.
Here are four link building tips that still work.
Link building strategy #1: Guest blogging
Guest blogging is one of the ways to drive new traffic to your website.
It's relevant, industry-specific, and enables you to distinguish yourself as an industry expert and thought leader.
Despite what you might have heard, it's not dead. But you have to get it right.
Blogging on your own website is great. However, posting on guest pages that already have millions of fans is an easy way to generate traffic that you would otherwise not be able to access.
I do this on other sites all the time.
For example, I often blog on sites like Inc., Entrepreneur, and Huffington Post:
Take a look at the boxes I highlighted. These are links back to my pages.
In fact, I get a custom author byline for every single post that links to my websites.
Think of guest blogging this way: it's almost free advertising.
You're writing a great article for publication. In return for the work you have done, you will receive valuable links.
So the key here is to only guest post on high quality, high profile websites.
Don't waste time blogging guests on websites without authority.
You'd better post on your own blog.
However, focus on posting with quality websites like Huffington Post or niche marketing blogs like HubSpot.
Guest blogging is a give and take.
They offer a great article that takes time and effort and you get the rewards for links and traffic to your website.
How you do that?
It's actually pretty simple.
To get started, all you have to do is search for websites that allow guest posting.
It's easy too. Do you have a favorite marketing blog? For example, SEMrush might be your favorite blog.
First, go to Google and then do a custom search like this:
You can also use searches like:
((Landing page)) + guest post
((Landing page)) + guest blog
((Landing Page)) + Blogging Guidelines
And see what comes up first:
Click on this post and read the guidelines. You can start sending a guest post almost immediately.
The beauty of this technique is that it's quick and easy.
No need to find a fancy email outreach tool or spend hours looking for emails.
No need to send cold emails and wait weeks for a "no".
You simply fill out a form and will be judged for submission.
There is no easier way to get links than the guest blogging technique.
Link building strategy #2: Mention influencers in your post
Have you ever found a blog post like "What do the top industry experts say about X?" Read.
I know I have.
In fact, I see her all the time.
Or maybe round posts like this:
Those who write these articles do so for a very specific reason. They are interesting and get links like no other.
If you mention a popular influencer in your post, you'll get more links.
Why? Because the influencer you mentioned is most likely sharing it (if it's good). And that will lead to more links.
For example, check out this post in the Content Marketing Institute:
It's titled: "50 Best Social Media Tools From 50 Most Influential Online Marketers."
If this isn't a link generating post I don't know what it is.
Scroll down and you will quickly see mentions from the top industry experts.
I got a simple link myself by submitting my answer for this post.
So there is give and take.
I am providing information for this expert article in exchange for a link. Then I'll give back another link on this post to get more traffic.
It's a cycle of link building that works almost every time.
If you mention someone in your article, let them know that they are a popular, insightful influencer.
It is powerful.
For this reason, I want to return a link on this particular post as it mentions me and has relevant, helpful content.
How do you start
Start by looking for posts like this one.
For example, you can search for something like this:
This type of search brings up list-style roundicle posts with tons of the top influencers.
Click on any of these posts and find the best influencers to mention in your next article.
But remember: the article has to be high quality to get links. When mentioning an influencer, make sure that the overall quality of your article is top notch.
Gaining links is not a quick process.
Techniques like these will help speed this process up.
Mentioning influencers is a wonderful way to get their attention and praise them while building links for yourself.
Link building strategy #3. Prospect of broken links
Scanning for broken links is an old technique that still works.
The method has been around for many years and for good reason: it still works today.
The idea is pretty simple.
You browse a popular industry blog or influencer blog and search the page for broken links.
If you come across one, email that blogger to let them know that their post contains a broken link.
Here you slip into your blog post for the pitch.
They say something like, “I noticed that the X connection was broken. I have an article on this subject that you can replace with. "
Of course, you want to be a little less aggressive when pitching, but that's the basic requirement.
How you do that?
Use a tool like Check My Links.
Just add the extension to your Chrome browser and go to your favorite industry blog.
For example, we can do this test on my own blog.
This is how using the tool looks on my website:
Find this invalid link and use it to assign your own blog post to the author to replace it.
Try a simple email template. I have used this short and sweet product before with great success:
Hello, __,
I read your post on X and found the X link not working.
I loved the post and just wanted to let you know so you can fix it.
I actually have an article (insert link) that I wrote on the subject. If you want, you can use it to replace the broken link.
Best,
Neil.
Try to be real, honest, and simple in your correspondence.
Do not attempt to gamble or people to use the system. Just offer your link as a simple solution to their problems.
Link building strategy #4. Use infographics as connection bait
Infographics are some of the most common types of content.
In fact, there are entire websites devoted solely to publishing infographic content.
Why do people love infographics?
This is because visual content works best.
People don't want to read a 6,000 word blog post. You want to scan your infographic and get that information in just a few seconds or minutes.
I use them all the time because they work. They get stocks and they get links.
People often crop images from your infographic for their own blog, which means you get tons of links.
It is known that people perceive visual content more efficiently than text.
For example, if you are looking at an entire block of text, you have to read it to understand it.
However, with an infographic image, you can understand the information displayed almost instantly.
Luckily, you don't have to be a design expert to create infographics.
You can use a site like Fiverr to find people who can make cheap infographics.
You can get a pretty high quality infographic for just five dollars.
So if you don't want to spend an hour or two making one, just pay a few dollars.
If you prefer to customize everything yourself, you can use a tool like Venngage.
You can create a free account and instantly create infographics based on existing templates.
Choose from multiple categories based on your infographic theme.
Once you've selected one, you can preview the template or click "Create" to start editing.
You can edit the images and text right on the infographic page or add even more page elements.
Venngage is a great tool for creating great looking infographics quickly.
Once you've created one, just post it and get the word out.
People love infographics, of course, so you're almost guaranteed to get some links.
Consider creating infographics for existing posts.
For example, do you have a blog post that is already generating a lot of traffic but not many links?
Take some of this information and reuse the content in an infographic.
This tactic gives you a better chance of getting more links as people love to share infographics online.
When in doubt, add an infographic so that your content gets more shares and links.
Conclusion
If you want to rank better for organic search terms, you need to focus on creating links.
It's no secret that more backlinks give you more power in the rankings.
Your content marketing efforts depend on links to gain meaning.
Mentions and backlinks can drive large amounts of relevant traffic back to your website.
It is important that you focus your time and effort on link building.
Fortunately, there are still some link building campaign tips out there today.
Start implementing an updated guest blogging strategy. Next, mention the top influencers in your post for a good chance of getting a link. If you get noticed, try looking for broken links and posting your content.
When all else fails, create high quality infographics to include links.
What link building campaign tips did you find that are still working?