Backlinks are an essential part of a well put together SEO strategy and learning how to get backlinks can help boost your website\u2019s traffic in a variety of ways. As an essential part of SEO strategy, building backlinks is a mandatory task for every website owner who\u2019s looking to build and maintain organic traffic to their website over time. The most difficult and time-consuming part of getting backlinks is figuring out how to get backlinks and doing so in a way that\u2019s acceptable by search engine standards (AKA: Whitehat techniques). As backlinks need to come from sources outside of your own website, convincing other website owners to link back to your site in a way that\u2019s honest and mutually beneficial can be tricky. In this post, we\u2019ll discuss how to link building techniques and strategies for more linkbait content.<\/p>\n
What is a Backlink?<\/strong><\/h2>\nA backlink is an incoming hyperlink from one website to another website.<\/p>\n
For example: In one of our previous articles, a\u00a0Shopify Review<\/a>, our opening sentence reads:<\/p>\n\u201cIt\u2019s been long overdue that we post a Shopify<\/a> review on A Better Lemonade Stand.\u201d<\/p>\nIn that sentence, we included a link to Shopify, the business that we\u2019re making reference to, and that\u2019s a backlink for Shopify.<\/p>\n
Any link from another website to yours is considered a backlink to your site. Any link on your website to another page on your website is called an internal link. As a website, your goal is to get quality (more on that soon) backlinks from other websites because it increases your website value, so you increase your ranking position in search results.<\/p>\n
Why Backlinks are Important<\/strong><\/h2>\nBacklinks are important because search engines read them as a way of websites vouching for one another which helps to improve the rank and domain authority (think of this as credibility) of the linked site. However, these days, site owners practice link building with sites in relevant industries because relevancy is an important factor. So, it\u2019s not as simple as getting links from any site.<\/p>\n
In the example mentioned above, when we\u2019re linking out to Shopify from A Better Lemonade Stand, Google reads that and come to the conclusion that:<\/p>\n
\n- Shopify is likely a reputable website because A Better Lemonade Stand is linking out to them, and;<\/li>\n
- A Better Lemonade Stand is likely in the same industry as Shopify.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Backlinks are recognized by search engines as a vote of confidence and the more reputable websites that link back to your own website, the more reputable it makes your website seem to search engines by association. To simplify this, a link from CNN is seen is much more credible and valuable than a link from Joe\u2019s random thought blog that he started 2 weeks ago.<\/p>\n
When you have other websites with high domain authority vouching for your website it helps to improve your organic search engine ranking, you get indexed faster and you also get direct referral traffic from websites that are relevant to yours which means targeted traffic gets passed on to you and you\u2019ll experience a lower bounce rate.<\/p>\n
How Backlinks are Measured<\/strong><\/h2>\nThat being said, different websites are ranked differently in a variety of ways when it comes to reputation, and that, amongst other variables, affects how backlinks are measured.<\/p>\n
No backlinks are created equally. They depend on a variety of ranking factors that are, for the most part, speculated.<\/p>\n
DOMAIN & PAGE STRENGTH<\/strong><\/h4>\nWebsite authority can be measured in two different ways:<\/p>\n
\n- The overall strength of the domain<\/li>\n
- The strength of the URL<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
This means that, for example, abetterlemonadestand.com<\/a> has its own rank of website authority as one entire domain, whilst abetterlemonadestand.com\/blog<\/a> (or this particular blog post) will have an independent authority that\u2019s connected to the domain but separate still because it is its own page.<\/p>\nBonus:<\/strong> To better understand domain and page authority, check out this free website and page authority checker<\/a>. To use it, just enter some of your favorite websites to see what their domain and page scores are.<\/p>\nNOFOLLOW & DOFOLLOW LINKS<\/strong><\/h4>\nBacklinks can also be measured by being either nofollow<\/em> and dofollow<\/em> links.<\/p>\n\n- Nofollow<\/strong> links are when a website links to another but it doesn\u2019t boost the external website\u2019s page rank or change it\u2019s placement in search results. Nofollow links are often used by websites if they\u2019re linking to an unverified source for any reason, don\u2019t want to be associated to the page they\u2019re linking out to, or in the case of paid sponsorships, as per Google\u2019s advertising guidelines, they require those links to be nofollow.<\/li>\n
- Dofollow<\/strong> links exist when one website links to another one and they want search engines to consider that link as a vote of confidence for the website they\u2019re linking out to. Dofollow links are common when websites or blogs are linking out to other websites or blogs and see no detriment in being associated with that website in the eyes of the search engine.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Note:<\/strong> Generally most links are DoFollow links unless the author of a website, post, or page specifically decides to make a link or set of links NoFollow. NoFollow links are identified by adding the nofollow attribute to the link code.<\/p>\nFor example:<\/p>\n
One important exception to note is easily self-attainable backlinks from self-posting sites\/forums and social networks (like Facebook, Twitter, Quora, or comment sections of blogs) are almost always NoFollow.<\/p>\n
Bonus:<\/strong> To get a better idea of which links around the web are DoFollow vs. NoFollow, download the\u00a0NoFollow for Chrome<\/a>\u00a0extension. It will highlight all links and show you which ones are DoFollow and which ones aren\u2019t.<\/p>\nLINK PLACEMENT<\/strong><\/h4>\nLink placement is also thought to play a role in how search engines rank backlink authority. If a link is included in the context of written content on the page of a website it\u2019s thought that search engines place more emphasis on it because it\u2019s more likely to be relevant to the content of the website overall and is likely to be clicked more than links that are placed elsewhere on a webpage such as in the footers or sidebars.<\/p>\n
ANCHOR TEXT<\/strong><\/h4>\nWhat words the link is linked to on a page is also thought to be an indicator to search engines of how relevant it is, this is known as Anchor Text. For example, anchor text<\/a> is the words where the link is tethered to. For search engines, these words are indicative that they\u2019re relevant to the content and likely to be clicked.<\/p>\nAs another example, in the yellow bonus section above we purposely linked to a free website and page authority checker<\/a> and specifically chose the words that were linked. Google and other search engines read and register the words that are linked (anchor text) and these words help search engines better understand what the page or website you\u2019re linking to is about and what it should rank for in search engine results. By specifically linking the descriptive words like \u201cfree website and page authority checker,\u201d we have provided that website with a quality backlink that helps search engines better understand what they are and what they do, and we help that website rank higher for some keywords that are important to them and to other people finding them.<\/p>\nLINK RELEVANCY<\/strong><\/h4>\nFinally, link relevancy also plays a role in determining the strength of a backlink. Depending on several factors that search engines are well equipped to measure such as anchor text, other outbound links, keywords, H-Tags, the context surrounding the links and more, each of those helps determine whether a link is relevant to the overall content of the page and therefore whether the backlink is relevant or not.<\/p>\n
Search engines place an emphasis on rewarding websites with authority via backlinks carefully and measure the relevancy of links in a variety of different ways to ensure that the backlinks are authentic and not spammy to encourage well-constructed content by websites that are relevant and helpful to searchers so they find what they\u2019re looking for. Search engines reward websites that meet their demand with higher domain and URL authority as well as relevant organic traffic.<\/p>\n
Low-Quality Links & Spam<\/strong><\/h2>\nAcquiring links from websites or web pages that have been deemed by search engines to have low domain strength because they\u2019re any combination of being low-quality sources, inappropriate, or spam can result in penalizing your own website. It\u2019s important to not fall into the trap of thinking that more backlinks from more sourcing all pointing back to your website will increase your website\u2019s rank authority in the eyes of search engines. It\u2019s the quality of backlinks that counts more than the quantity. Aim to get links from authoritative sites that are relevant to your own in terms of subject matter and search engines will reward you with increased search traffic over time.<\/p>\n
How to Get Backlinks<\/strong><\/h2>\nNow that you have a background on what backlinks are, why they\u2019re important, and how they\u2019re measured by search engines, let\u2019s dive into the ways you can build backlinks for your own website.<\/p>\n
1. Reddit Social Proof Method<\/strong><\/h3>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
![\"Reddit](\"https:\/\/abetterlemonadestand.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Reddit-Social-Proof-Backlink-Method.jpg\"\/)
![\"Reddit](\"https:\/\/abetterlemonadestand.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Reddit-Social-Proof-Backlink-Method.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
For those who haven\u2019t already started using the forum Reddit<\/a> for your business, now is the perfect time to start getting acquainted with it. It\u2019s a very particular kind of forum with savvy users, so if you\u2019re unfamiliar with their content policy<\/a>, what \u201csubreddits<\/a>\u201d are and proper \u201cReddiquette<\/a>\u201d, get familiar with it before you start using these next two methods to build backlinks<\/p>\nThe purpose of this method is to give value, get upvotes, and then replace the content of the socially-proofed post with a link to your site.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s how to perform it:<\/p>\n
\n- Create a remarkable piece of content (more on that in our Content Strategy<\/a> article).<\/li>\n
- Find the subreddit within Reddit that best suits the niche you\u2019re trying to target (make sure to thoroughly search through all the different subs to find the right one (or ones) that is relevant to your content. Relevancy is key as Redditors don\u2019t appreciate spam and this method won\u2019t work if the right niche of people aren\u2019t engaged with the post).<\/li>\n
- Create a post to that subreddit following that sub\u2019s community guidelines (this step of the process is crucial. You have to approach your post on the subreddit very carefully. You cannot just post a link to your content and expect the subscribers of that sub to see the value in it, you have to give value first).<\/li>\n
- Whilst creating the post, include all the valuable information you discuss in the remarkable piece of content you created. Your goal is to tell people the details you discuss in your piece content, why it\u2019s interesting and why it\u2019s relevant to them, and then, after you provide a thorough few paragraphs of information and if the community guidelines permit it, include a link to your piece of content and let users know they can click on that link for the full article.<\/li>\n
- Once you\u2019ve created that post, publish it to the subreddit.<\/li>\n
- Once the post has been up for several hours and it\u2019s generated a significant amount of upvotes and comments, edit the original message of your post to just include the link to your piece of content so that users will then have to click through to your web page to view the content. This only works if you\u2019ve generated a significant amount of upvotes and comments.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Links on Reddit start off as nofollow links and as we discussed earlier in this article, that means that there is no link juice transferring over from Reddit to any outgoing links, unless, and this is the important part, a certain amount of upvotes are achieved and then those links become dofollow. The actual number of upvotes isn\u2019t public knowledge, but through educational speculation and testing, it\u2019s widely believed that this theory is true. Getting a dofollow backlink from Reddit is hugely beneficial as their rank and domain authority is very high.<\/p>\n
Test out this backlink building method for yourself but remember not to be spammy on Reddit, follow the community guidelines, give value and get social proof first then leave a link to your piece of content and hopefully get some high-value link juice and referral traffic.<\/p>\n
Example:<\/strong> Below is an example screenshot of the \/r\/entrepreneur subreddit. You can see from the highlighted link colors which ones are DoFollow (Purple) and which ones are NoFollow (Red).<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
![\"Reddit](\"https:\/\/abetterlemonadestand.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/Reddit-NoFollow-DoFollow-Links.jpg\"\/)
![\"Reddit](\"https:\/\/abetterlemonadestand.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/Reddit-NoFollow-DoFollow-Links.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
![\"Create](\"https:\/\/abetterlemonadestand.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Create-Remarkable-Content-to-Get-a-Backlink.jpg\"\/)
![\"Create](\"https:\/\/abetterlemonadestand.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Create-Remarkable-Content-to-Get-a-Backlink.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
If you post remarkable content consistently that\u2019s interesting, engaging, valuable, and helpful, you\u2019ll get high-value websites linking out to you organically without having to ask for a backlink.<\/p>\n
This is a difficult method because it takes a lot of time to produce helpful and valuable content consistently and to sustain it over a long period of time. Even if you publish high-value content on your website from day one it\u2019s going to take a while for others to take notice of your effort and in the meantime, it\u2019s easy to get discouraged due to lack of an engaged audience. The difficult part is providing value on a consistent basis over a long enough time period to generate an engaged audience that supports your efforts. Once you reach that point you\u2019ll start to see backlinks from other high-value sources start to come in and that\u2019s when you reap the rewards of the work you put in creating remarkable content from day one.<\/p>\n
Until then, you just have to create content that\u2019s interesting, engaging, and helpful, promote it via every possible method, and work on every other link building method.<\/p>\n
Bonus:<\/strong> For more on how to create remarkable content, check out our content strategy<\/a> blog post where we share all our secrets with you.<\/p>\n3. Create Linkbait Content<\/h3>\n
Link building works best when you don\u2019t need to do a lot of upfront work to get it. A simple hack to get quality backlinks to your site is to create linkbait content. For example, statistics and studies are some of the most linked to pieces of content. By creating content around industry stats for your niche, you can have more people linking out to your content. Depending on your industry, you can also collaborate with a local university or college to do a study in your industry so people link out to your content.<\/p>\n
Alternatively, you can also create custom linkable images like infographics with stats compiled. That way, if the research isn\u2019t your own you can include it with a source section on the bottom of the page but still benefit from quality backlinks while ensuring the source gets credit.<\/p>\n
4. Get a Link from Your Manufacturer\/Wholesaler\/Supplier<\/strong><\/h3>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
![\"Get](\"https:\/\/abetterlemonadestand.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Get-a-Backlink-from-Your-Supplier.jpg\"\/)
![\"Get](\"https:\/\/abetterlemonadestand.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Get-a-Backlink-from-Your-Supplier.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Depending on your manufacturer, this may be an easy method to build a backlink. Basically, you want to reach out to the manufacturer who you source your products from and ask that they link you as a retailer of their products on their website, or link you as a business that they work with. Manufacturers are likely to have aged domains which are thought to be a high ranking factor by search engines. The older the domain the more authority it keeps.<\/p>\n
The difficulty of this method is middle of the range because your manufacturer may not have a place for this kind of link on their website or they simply may not want to link out to you. If your manufacturer is open to the idea it\u2019s an easy link to get but if not, you\u2019re out of luck.<\/p>\n
Beyond the difficulty of this method, the value of this backlink also lays in the middle of the range. It won\u2019t be a low-value or spammy backlink by any means, but it also might not give you super high-quality link juice like you would be getting from a high-authority domain. That being said, if you can get your manufacturer to link out to you then it\u2019s relatively easy to acquire and it\u2019s one more backlink than you had before.<\/p>\n
Before you reach out to your manufacturer make sure you have a reputable-looking website with some valuable content on it (like we discussed in the previous method) so the manufacturer is more likely to link out to you. They want to make sure they\u2019re linking out to a reputable website as well so make sure you look like one.<\/p>\n
Example:<\/strong> Below is an example of Beardbrand\u2019s list of online resellers. When you sell other branded products, it\u2019s usually in the best interest of the supplier or manufacturer to link to you, providing your store with a valuable backlink.<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
![\"Beardbrand](\"https:\/\/abetterlemonadestand.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/BeardBrand-Retailers-Backlink.jpg\"\/)
![\"Beardbrand](\"https:\/\/abetterlemonadestand.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/BeardBrand-Retailers-Backlink.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
5. Interview Authorities in Your Niche<\/strong><\/h3>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
![\"Interview](\"https:\/\/abetterlemonadestand.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Interview-Authorities-in-Your-Niche-to-Get-Backlinks.jpg\"\/)
![\"Interview](\"https:\/\/abetterlemonadestand.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Interview-Authorities-in-Your-Niche-to-Get-Backlinks.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Seek out \u201cauthorities\u201d in your niche, whether they be bloggers, influencers, speakers, entrepreneurs, creators, etc. and interview them. Post the content to your website and reach out to whomever you interviewed and let them know about the content you created.<\/p>\n
More often than not the person will share your content, whether it\u2019s on social media or, if you\u2019re lucky, on their own website, and you\u2019ll generate a backlink from it. People love it when they get noticed, even if it\u2019s by a smaller player in their niche, so you will likely be recognized.<\/p>\n
The trick with this method is to be persistent in every way. Persistently pursue influencers when you\u2019re reaching out to interview them and persistently pursue influencers when you\u2019re reaching out to share your content with them. It\u2019s likely that they have a lot of emails coming in at any given time, so persistently follow up with them. The more eager you seem the more likely they will be to engage with you. Always be polite, don\u2019t get upset or offended if they aren\u2019t getting back to you, but do be persistent.<\/p>\n
If they have a press page also ask to be featured on there as you\u2019ll get a prominent backlink that is likely to have high authority. Build a relationship with the person you interview, generate some good content, and then work on getting the backlink.<\/p>\n
6. Republish Old Content<\/strong><\/h3>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
![\"Republish](\"https:\/\/abetterlemonadestand.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Republish-Old-Content-to-Get-Backlinks.jpg\"\/)
![\"Republish](\"https:\/\/abetterlemonadestand.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Republish-Old-Content-to-Get-Backlinks.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Don\u2019t let great content that you\u2019ve created in the past go to waste. There are some websites where you can syndicate content which means that articles that you\u2019ve published on your own website can be re-published on other websites relevant to your niche that have a much larger and diverse following than your own website. This enables you to get your content out in front of a larger audience and the original source of the content (your website) will get a link back to acknowledge where it was originally published.<\/p>\n
Well known websites where you can syndicate your content include:<\/p>\n
While it\u2019s commonly thought that content syndication can lead to penalization from search engines for publishing duplicate content, that isn\u2019t the case because there will be a link back to the original piece of content acknowledging its origin. Oftentimes the original creator of the content will also add a new introduction or title to the content as a means to differentiate it from the original post, but that\u2019s optional.<\/p>\n
Look for high-quality sites you can syndicate your content to (like the ones we mentioned above) so that you get valuable link juice from an authoritative domain. This method is also likely to generate social shares and put your content in front of an audience that\u2019s interested in your niche so you\u2019ll be gaining valuable referral traffic as well.<\/p>\n
Bonus:<\/strong> For an additional 46 publications that accept republished content along with the appropriate contact info, please see this list<\/a>, originally curated by the good folks at Sumo<\/a>.<\/p>\n7. Reach out to media sources<\/h3>\n
You can get a lot of high quality backlinks by reaching out to the media. Keep in mind that while media sites have high domain authority, most of the time they aren\u2019t relevant. So don\u2019t focus on this strategy exclusively to ensure that you have a well-rounded backlink profile.<\/p>\n
You can build links using sites like Help A Reporter Out (HARO). This tool will send you emails three times a day (morning, noon, evening) with various reporters reaching out for sources for their articles. Not all pitches are accepted, so aim to put a unique spin to your response.<\/p>\n
Alternatively, you can also reach out to niche magazines to promote your blog, business, or app for a potential feature. Not only will this help you get a backlink but it might also help you generate more sales too.<\/p>\n
8. Guest Posting<\/strong><\/h3>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
![\"Guest](\"https:\/\/abetterlemonadestand.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Guest-Posting-to-Get-Backlinks.jpg\"\/)
![\"Guest](\"https:\/\/abetterlemonadestand.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Guest-Posting-to-Get-Backlinks.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
One of the most authentic ways to build a backlink is to guest post on someone else\u2019s blog and earn a link back to your website in the byline or add some relevant contextual links to your website throughout the piece of content. When you guest post on someone else\u2019s website you\u2019re able to showcase your expertise in front of a new audience and control which pieces of your own context you link out to. It\u2019s also a mutually beneficial relationship for you and the website host as you provide them with valuable content and they provide you with a quality backlink.<\/p>\n
Securing guest post assignments isn\u2019t always easy and you\u2019ll likely have to start small and build a portfolio before you earn guest posts on larger blogs. Your best strategy is to be persistent, polite, eager, and let the website hosts know what value you have to offer. Always lead with what value you have to offer them, not with what you\u2019re hoping to get out of it as they\u2019ll be much more receptive to your guest posting pitch if they see that you genuinely have value to give and want to share it with their audience.<\/p>\n
If you plan to reach out to other websites to guest post for them make sure your own site has valuable content already published on it so they have some way to gauge whether you\u2019d be a good fit for their audience or not. Make sure your website looks professional and like you would fit into their niche market. Don\u2019t forget to peruse their website and see if they have any guest post requirements or any particulars your guest post would need to meet such as a specific word count or formatting.<\/p>\n
9. Promote on social media<\/h3>\n
Those wondering how to get backlinks should consider promoting their website on social media despite some of the no-follow links pointing back at your site. Link building on social media means that you\u2019re guaranteed a link and might also get some decent website traffic back.<\/p>\n
If you\u2019re promoting blog content, the two easiest social platforms to promote links on are Pinterest and Quora. The cool thing about Pinterest is that it\u2019s a search-based image site for links. You can use a keyword research tool to find the site content with the most search volume and start posting those links on Pinterest first. While you won\u2019t get high quality backlinks from it due to no-follow, you can generate a lot of traffic back to your site. Plus, when something goes viral on Pinterest, it typically ranks higher in search results too. So double win.<\/p>\n
Quora is also pretty laid back about including external links to your site on their platform, as long as your response is at least a few of paragraphs long. Link building strategies centered around social media tend to be beneficial for traffic too, so it\u2019s an additional bonus to link building.<\/p>\n
10. Broken link outreach<\/h3>\n
Using SEO tools, you can find websites with broken links based on keywords. For example, say you own a fitness app, you might search for articles that link to the \u201cbest fitness apps\u201d and scrape a tool to find broken links in the article. Then, you reach out to those sites and tell them that you found a broken link on their website and your site could replace it. This is a link building strategy that\u2019s really effective for cold, outreach emails.<\/p>\n
You can also use a target keyword for other pages that your article has. For example, if someone links to a study that has a broken link, you might promote one of your statistics webpages with a newer updated link they can replace it with. You don\u2019t need to do a Google search to find this information, but you can also do it manually if you can\u2019t find free tools that do this.<\/p>\n
11. Product Reviews<\/strong><\/h3>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
![\"Make](\"https:\/\/abetterlemonadestand.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Make-Product-Reviews-to-Get-Backlinks.jpg\"\/)
![\"Make](\"https:\/\/abetterlemonadestand.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Make-Product-Reviews-to-Get-Backlinks.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
If you have a certain product you\u2019d like to promote to an audience, getting a blogger, influencer or another website to publish a review of your product is a valuable way to not only have your product featured in front of an audience that\u2019s relevant to your niche, but a great way to get a contextual backlink as well.<\/p>\n
As per search engine ranking systems, product reviews garner high ranking backlink authority because they fulfill many of the high-value ranking requirements such as optimal link placement (within the post itself, not in a sidebar or footer) and link relevancy (within a relevant niche). If it is a sponsored product review, which depending on the website you work with they may only accept sponsored product reviews, as per Google guidelines, the link will have to be a nofollow link as opposed to a dofollow link, which isn\u2019t ideal for a backlink but is still thought to provide some ranking power.<\/p>\n
Make sure you reach out to reputable websites for product reviews, and as we recommended with guest posting you may have to start with being featured on smaller websites before you\u2019re able to get onto more popular ones. Approach potential product reviewers with some fact-based data of your product such as how many units you\u2019ve sold, what your customer\/market demographics are or how much revenue you\u2019ve earned so you can give reviewers a way to gauge the demand of your product or what target market would be interested in it. Always lead with what value you have to offer the reviewer, be persistent, polite, eager, have a valuable product with some reputable reviews or data backing it up, find reviewers that serve a relevant niche to yours, and have your own professional looking website.<\/p>\n
Product Review Sites:<\/p>\n
12. Try influencer marketing<\/h3>\n
Every company has potential influencers in it. It could be your content creator, social media team, founder, or even product person. By using the spokespeople in your company, you can get backlinks from making statements and being included in expert round-ups.<\/p>\n
Those active on social platforms like LinkedIn or on your website\u2019s blog, could easily be quoted by another website, with a backlink included to their personal website or workplace. You can get more links by being active online and creating quotable content. If someone links to your social media instead, you can look up your brand mentions and ask for a link to your website instead.<\/p>\n
13. Reach out to \u201cResource\u201d pages<\/h3>\n
Many popular websites have resource pages. In the ecommerce community, many people refer to them as \u201cpartner\u201d pages. By looking up listicles of popular blogs, websites, or even Shopify Apps, you\u2019ll find countless resource pages.<\/p>\n
You can then reach out to those companies who have set them up and ask to be included. This is an easy way to get a backlink to your website from a company who is willing to give them out. Often, resource pages show that a company is backlink-friendly.<\/p>\n
You can find resource pages manually by going through lists of websites in your niche, browsing app stores, or through a Google search. You can also try the broken link tactic for these pages too if you notice that another site featured in the section is no longer active.<\/p>\n
14. Request a Link<\/strong><\/h3>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
![\"Request](\"https:\/\/abetterlemonadestand.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Request-a-Backlink.jpg\"\/)
![\"Request](\"https:\/\/abetterlemonadestand.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Request-a-Backlink.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Search for blogs or websites that have conducted roundup lists or compilations of products, businesses or websites in your niche and ask to be added to the list.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been long overdue that we post a Shopify<\/a> review on A Better Lemonade Stand.\u201d<\/p>\n In that sentence, we included a link to Shopify, the business that we\u2019re making reference to, and that\u2019s a backlink for Shopify.<\/p>\n Any link from another website to yours is considered a backlink to your site. Any link on your website to another page on your website is called an internal link. As a website, your goal is to get quality (more on that soon) backlinks from other websites because it increases your website value, so you increase your ranking position in search results.<\/p>\n Backlinks are important because search engines read them as a way of websites vouching for one another which helps to improve the rank and domain authority (think of this as credibility) of the linked site. However, these days, site owners practice link building with sites in relevant industries because relevancy is an important factor. So, it\u2019s not as simple as getting links from any site.<\/p>\n In the example mentioned above, when we\u2019re linking out to Shopify from A Better Lemonade Stand, Google reads that and come to the conclusion that:<\/p>\n Backlinks are recognized by search engines as a vote of confidence and the more reputable websites that link back to your own website, the more reputable it makes your website seem to search engines by association. To simplify this, a link from CNN is seen is much more credible and valuable than a link from Joe\u2019s random thought blog that he started 2 weeks ago.<\/p>\n When you have other websites with high domain authority vouching for your website it helps to improve your organic search engine ranking, you get indexed faster and you also get direct referral traffic from websites that are relevant to yours which means targeted traffic gets passed on to you and you\u2019ll experience a lower bounce rate.<\/p>\n That being said, different websites are ranked differently in a variety of ways when it comes to reputation, and that, amongst other variables, affects how backlinks are measured.<\/p>\n No backlinks are created equally. They depend on a variety of ranking factors that are, for the most part, speculated.<\/p>\n Website authority can be measured in two different ways:<\/p>\n This means that, for example, abetterlemonadestand.com<\/a> has its own rank of website authority as one entire domain, whilst abetterlemonadestand.com\/blog<\/a> (or this particular blog post) will have an independent authority that\u2019s connected to the domain but separate still because it is its own page.<\/p>\n Bonus:<\/strong> To better understand domain and page authority, check out this free website and page authority checker<\/a>. To use it, just enter some of your favorite websites to see what their domain and page scores are.<\/p>\n Backlinks can also be measured by being either nofollow<\/em> and dofollow<\/em> links.<\/p>\n Note:<\/strong> Generally most links are DoFollow links unless the author of a website, post, or page specifically decides to make a link or set of links NoFollow. NoFollow links are identified by adding the nofollow attribute to the link code.<\/p>\n For example:<\/p>\n One important exception to note is easily self-attainable backlinks from self-posting sites\/forums and social networks (like Facebook, Twitter, Quora, or comment sections of blogs) are almost always NoFollow.<\/p>\n Bonus:<\/strong> To get a better idea of which links around the web are DoFollow vs. NoFollow, download the\u00a0NoFollow for Chrome<\/a>\u00a0extension. It will highlight all links and show you which ones are DoFollow and which ones aren\u2019t.<\/p>\n Link placement is also thought to play a role in how search engines rank backlink authority. If a link is included in the context of written content on the page of a website it\u2019s thought that search engines place more emphasis on it because it\u2019s more likely to be relevant to the content of the website overall and is likely to be clicked more than links that are placed elsewhere on a webpage such as in the footers or sidebars.<\/p>\n What words the link is linked to on a page is also thought to be an indicator to search engines of how relevant it is, this is known as Anchor Text. For example, anchor text<\/a> is the words where the link is tethered to. For search engines, these words are indicative that they\u2019re relevant to the content and likely to be clicked.<\/p>\n As another example, in the yellow bonus section above we purposely linked to a free website and page authority checker<\/a> and specifically chose the words that were linked. Google and other search engines read and register the words that are linked (anchor text) and these words help search engines better understand what the page or website you\u2019re linking to is about and what it should rank for in search engine results. By specifically linking the descriptive words like \u201cfree website and page authority checker,\u201d we have provided that website with a quality backlink that helps search engines better understand what they are and what they do, and we help that website rank higher for some keywords that are important to them and to other people finding them.<\/p>\n Finally, link relevancy also plays a role in determining the strength of a backlink. Depending on several factors that search engines are well equipped to measure such as anchor text, other outbound links, keywords, H-Tags, the context surrounding the links and more, each of those helps determine whether a link is relevant to the overall content of the page and therefore whether the backlink is relevant or not.<\/p>\n Search engines place an emphasis on rewarding websites with authority via backlinks carefully and measure the relevancy of links in a variety of different ways to ensure that the backlinks are authentic and not spammy to encourage well-constructed content by websites that are relevant and helpful to searchers so they find what they\u2019re looking for. Search engines reward websites that meet their demand with higher domain and URL authority as well as relevant organic traffic.<\/p>\n Acquiring links from websites or web pages that have been deemed by search engines to have low domain strength because they\u2019re any combination of being low-quality sources, inappropriate, or spam can result in penalizing your own website. It\u2019s important to not fall into the trap of thinking that more backlinks from more sourcing all pointing back to your website will increase your website\u2019s rank authority in the eyes of search engines. It\u2019s the quality of backlinks that counts more than the quantity. Aim to get links from authoritative sites that are relevant to your own in terms of subject matter and search engines will reward you with increased search traffic over time.<\/p>\n Now that you have a background on what backlinks are, why they\u2019re important, and how they\u2019re measured by search engines, let\u2019s dive into the ways you can build backlinks for your own website.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n For those who haven\u2019t already started using the forum Reddit<\/a> for your business, now is the perfect time to start getting acquainted with it. It\u2019s a very particular kind of forum with savvy users, so if you\u2019re unfamiliar with their content policy<\/a>, what \u201csubreddits<\/a>\u201d are and proper \u201cReddiquette<\/a>\u201d, get familiar with it before you start using these next two methods to build backlinks<\/p>\n The purpose of this method is to give value, get upvotes, and then replace the content of the socially-proofed post with a link to your site.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s how to perform it:<\/p>\n Links on Reddit start off as nofollow links and as we discussed earlier in this article, that means that there is no link juice transferring over from Reddit to any outgoing links, unless, and this is the important part, a certain amount of upvotes are achieved and then those links become dofollow. The actual number of upvotes isn\u2019t public knowledge, but through educational speculation and testing, it\u2019s widely believed that this theory is true. Getting a dofollow backlink from Reddit is hugely beneficial as their rank and domain authority is very high.<\/p>\n Test out this backlink building method for yourself but remember not to be spammy on Reddit, follow the community guidelines, give value and get social proof first then leave a link to your piece of content and hopefully get some high-value link juice and referral traffic.<\/p>\n Example:<\/strong> Below is an example screenshot of the \/r\/entrepreneur subreddit. You can see from the highlighted link colors which ones are DoFollow (Purple) and which ones are NoFollow (Red).<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n If you post remarkable content consistently that\u2019s interesting, engaging, valuable, and helpful, you\u2019ll get high-value websites linking out to you organically without having to ask for a backlink.<\/p>\n This is a difficult method because it takes a lot of time to produce helpful and valuable content consistently and to sustain it over a long period of time. Even if you publish high-value content on your website from day one it\u2019s going to take a while for others to take notice of your effort and in the meantime, it\u2019s easy to get discouraged due to lack of an engaged audience. The difficult part is providing value on a consistent basis over a long enough time period to generate an engaged audience that supports your efforts. Once you reach that point you\u2019ll start to see backlinks from other high-value sources start to come in and that\u2019s when you reap the rewards of the work you put in creating remarkable content from day one.<\/p>\n Until then, you just have to create content that\u2019s interesting, engaging, and helpful, promote it via every possible method, and work on every other link building method.<\/p>\n Bonus:<\/strong> For more on how to create remarkable content, check out our content strategy<\/a> blog post where we share all our secrets with you.<\/p>\n Link building works best when you don\u2019t need to do a lot of upfront work to get it. A simple hack to get quality backlinks to your site is to create linkbait content. For example, statistics and studies are some of the most linked to pieces of content. By creating content around industry stats for your niche, you can have more people linking out to your content. Depending on your industry, you can also collaborate with a local university or college to do a study in your industry so people link out to your content.<\/p>\n Alternatively, you can also create custom linkable images like infographics with stats compiled. That way, if the research isn\u2019t your own you can include it with a source section on the bottom of the page but still benefit from quality backlinks while ensuring the source gets credit.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Depending on your manufacturer, this may be an easy method to build a backlink. Basically, you want to reach out to the manufacturer who you source your products from and ask that they link you as a retailer of their products on their website, or link you as a business that they work with. Manufacturers are likely to have aged domains which are thought to be a high ranking factor by search engines. The older the domain the more authority it keeps.<\/p>\n The difficulty of this method is middle of the range because your manufacturer may not have a place for this kind of link on their website or they simply may not want to link out to you. If your manufacturer is open to the idea it\u2019s an easy link to get but if not, you\u2019re out of luck.<\/p>\n Beyond the difficulty of this method, the value of this backlink also lays in the middle of the range. It won\u2019t be a low-value or spammy backlink by any means, but it also might not give you super high-quality link juice like you would be getting from a high-authority domain. That being said, if you can get your manufacturer to link out to you then it\u2019s relatively easy to acquire and it\u2019s one more backlink than you had before.<\/p>\n Before you reach out to your manufacturer make sure you have a reputable-looking website with some valuable content on it (like we discussed in the previous method) so the manufacturer is more likely to link out to you. They want to make sure they\u2019re linking out to a reputable website as well so make sure you look like one.<\/p>\n Example:<\/strong> Below is an example of Beardbrand\u2019s list of online resellers. When you sell other branded products, it\u2019s usually in the best interest of the supplier or manufacturer to link to you, providing your store with a valuable backlink.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Seek out \u201cauthorities\u201d in your niche, whether they be bloggers, influencers, speakers, entrepreneurs, creators, etc. and interview them. Post the content to your website and reach out to whomever you interviewed and let them know about the content you created.<\/p>\n More often than not the person will share your content, whether it\u2019s on social media or, if you\u2019re lucky, on their own website, and you\u2019ll generate a backlink from it. People love it when they get noticed, even if it\u2019s by a smaller player in their niche, so you will likely be recognized.<\/p>\n The trick with this method is to be persistent in every way. Persistently pursue influencers when you\u2019re reaching out to interview them and persistently pursue influencers when you\u2019re reaching out to share your content with them. It\u2019s likely that they have a lot of emails coming in at any given time, so persistently follow up with them. The more eager you seem the more likely they will be to engage with you. Always be polite, don\u2019t get upset or offended if they aren\u2019t getting back to you, but do be persistent.<\/p>\n If they have a press page also ask to be featured on there as you\u2019ll get a prominent backlink that is likely to have high authority. Build a relationship with the person you interview, generate some good content, and then work on getting the backlink.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Don\u2019t let great content that you\u2019ve created in the past go to waste. There are some websites where you can syndicate content which means that articles that you\u2019ve published on your own website can be re-published on other websites relevant to your niche that have a much larger and diverse following than your own website. This enables you to get your content out in front of a larger audience and the original source of the content (your website) will get a link back to acknowledge where it was originally published.<\/p>\n Well known websites where you can syndicate your content include:<\/p>\n While it\u2019s commonly thought that content syndication can lead to penalization from search engines for publishing duplicate content, that isn\u2019t the case because there will be a link back to the original piece of content acknowledging its origin. Oftentimes the original creator of the content will also add a new introduction or title to the content as a means to differentiate it from the original post, but that\u2019s optional.<\/p>\n Look for high-quality sites you can syndicate your content to (like the ones we mentioned above) so that you get valuable link juice from an authoritative domain. This method is also likely to generate social shares and put your content in front of an audience that\u2019s interested in your niche so you\u2019ll be gaining valuable referral traffic as well.<\/p>\n Bonus:<\/strong> For an additional 46 publications that accept republished content along with the appropriate contact info, please see this list<\/a>, originally curated by the good folks at Sumo<\/a>.<\/p>\n You can get a lot of high quality backlinks by reaching out to the media. Keep in mind that while media sites have high domain authority, most of the time they aren\u2019t relevant. So don\u2019t focus on this strategy exclusively to ensure that you have a well-rounded backlink profile.<\/p>\n You can build links using sites like Help A Reporter Out (HARO). This tool will send you emails three times a day (morning, noon, evening) with various reporters reaching out for sources for their articles. Not all pitches are accepted, so aim to put a unique spin to your response.<\/p>\n Alternatively, you can also reach out to niche magazines to promote your blog, business, or app for a potential feature. Not only will this help you get a backlink but it might also help you generate more sales too.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n One of the most authentic ways to build a backlink is to guest post on someone else\u2019s blog and earn a link back to your website in the byline or add some relevant contextual links to your website throughout the piece of content. When you guest post on someone else\u2019s website you\u2019re able to showcase your expertise in front of a new audience and control which pieces of your own context you link out to. It\u2019s also a mutually beneficial relationship for you and the website host as you provide them with valuable content and they provide you with a quality backlink.<\/p>\n Securing guest post assignments isn\u2019t always easy and you\u2019ll likely have to start small and build a portfolio before you earn guest posts on larger blogs. Your best strategy is to be persistent, polite, eager, and let the website hosts know what value you have to offer. Always lead with what value you have to offer them, not with what you\u2019re hoping to get out of it as they\u2019ll be much more receptive to your guest posting pitch if they see that you genuinely have value to give and want to share it with their audience.<\/p>\n If you plan to reach out to other websites to guest post for them make sure your own site has valuable content already published on it so they have some way to gauge whether you\u2019d be a good fit for their audience or not. Make sure your website looks professional and like you would fit into their niche market. Don\u2019t forget to peruse their website and see if they have any guest post requirements or any particulars your guest post would need to meet such as a specific word count or formatting.<\/p>\n Those wondering how to get backlinks should consider promoting their website on social media despite some of the no-follow links pointing back at your site. Link building on social media means that you\u2019re guaranteed a link and might also get some decent website traffic back.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re promoting blog content, the two easiest social platforms to promote links on are Pinterest and Quora. The cool thing about Pinterest is that it\u2019s a search-based image site for links. You can use a keyword research tool to find the site content with the most search volume and start posting those links on Pinterest first. While you won\u2019t get high quality backlinks from it due to no-follow, you can generate a lot of traffic back to your site. Plus, when something goes viral on Pinterest, it typically ranks higher in search results too. So double win.<\/p>\n Quora is also pretty laid back about including external links to your site on their platform, as long as your response is at least a few of paragraphs long. Link building strategies centered around social media tend to be beneficial for traffic too, so it\u2019s an additional bonus to link building.<\/p>\n Using SEO tools, you can find websites with broken links based on keywords. For example, say you own a fitness app, you might search for articles that link to the \u201cbest fitness apps\u201d and scrape a tool to find broken links in the article. Then, you reach out to those sites and tell them that you found a broken link on their website and your site could replace it. This is a link building strategy that\u2019s really effective for cold, outreach emails.<\/p>\n You can also use a target keyword for other pages that your article has. For example, if someone links to a study that has a broken link, you might promote one of your statistics webpages with a newer updated link they can replace it with. You don\u2019t need to do a Google search to find this information, but you can also do it manually if you can\u2019t find free tools that do this.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n If you have a certain product you\u2019d like to promote to an audience, getting a blogger, influencer or another website to publish a review of your product is a valuable way to not only have your product featured in front of an audience that\u2019s relevant to your niche, but a great way to get a contextual backlink as well.<\/p>\n As per search engine ranking systems, product reviews garner high ranking backlink authority because they fulfill many of the high-value ranking requirements such as optimal link placement (within the post itself, not in a sidebar or footer) and link relevancy (within a relevant niche). If it is a sponsored product review, which depending on the website you work with they may only accept sponsored product reviews, as per Google guidelines, the link will have to be a nofollow link as opposed to a dofollow link, which isn\u2019t ideal for a backlink but is still thought to provide some ranking power.<\/p>\n Make sure you reach out to reputable websites for product reviews, and as we recommended with guest posting you may have to start with being featured on smaller websites before you\u2019re able to get onto more popular ones. Approach potential product reviewers with some fact-based data of your product such as how many units you\u2019ve sold, what your customer\/market demographics are or how much revenue you\u2019ve earned so you can give reviewers a way to gauge the demand of your product or what target market would be interested in it. Always lead with what value you have to offer the reviewer, be persistent, polite, eager, have a valuable product with some reputable reviews or data backing it up, find reviewers that serve a relevant niche to yours, and have your own professional looking website.<\/p>\n Product Review Sites:<\/p>\n Every company has potential influencers in it. It could be your content creator, social media team, founder, or even product person. By using the spokespeople in your company, you can get backlinks from making statements and being included in expert round-ups.<\/p>\n Those active on social platforms like LinkedIn or on your website\u2019s blog, could easily be quoted by another website, with a backlink included to their personal website or workplace. You can get more links by being active online and creating quotable content. If someone links to your social media instead, you can look up your brand mentions and ask for a link to your website instead.<\/p>\n Many popular websites have resource pages. In the ecommerce community, many people refer to them as \u201cpartner\u201d pages. By looking up listicles of popular blogs, websites, or even Shopify Apps, you\u2019ll find countless resource pages.<\/p>\n You can then reach out to those companies who have set them up and ask to be included. This is an easy way to get a backlink to your website from a company who is willing to give them out. Often, resource pages show that a company is backlink-friendly.<\/p>\n You can find resource pages manually by going through lists of websites in your niche, browsing app stores, or through a Google search. You can also try the broken link tactic for these pages too if you notice that another site featured in the section is no longer active.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Search for blogs or websites that have conducted roundup lists or compilations of products, businesses or websites in your niche and ask to be added to the list.<\/p>\nWhy Backlinks are Important<\/strong><\/h2>\n
\n
How Backlinks are Measured<\/strong><\/h2>\n
DOMAIN & PAGE STRENGTH<\/strong><\/h4>\n
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NOFOLLOW & DOFOLLOW LINKS<\/strong><\/h4>\n
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LINK PLACEMENT<\/strong><\/h4>\n
ANCHOR TEXT<\/strong><\/h4>\n
LINK RELEVANCY<\/strong><\/h4>\n
Low-Quality Links & Spam<\/strong><\/h2>\n
How to Get Backlinks<\/strong><\/h2>\n
1. Reddit Social Proof Method<\/strong><\/h3>\n
<\/p>\n\n
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n3. Create Linkbait Content<\/h3>\n
4. Get a Link from Your Manufacturer\/Wholesaler\/Supplier<\/strong><\/h3>\n
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n5. Interview Authorities in Your Niche<\/strong><\/h3>\n
<\/p>\n6. Republish Old Content<\/strong><\/h3>\n
<\/p>\n7. Reach out to media sources<\/h3>\n
8. Guest Posting<\/strong><\/h3>\n
<\/p>\n9. Promote on social media<\/h3>\n
10. Broken link outreach<\/h3>\n
11. Product Reviews<\/strong><\/h3>\n
<\/p>\n12. Try influencer marketing<\/h3>\n
13. Reach out to \u201cResource\u201d pages<\/h3>\n
14. Request a Link<\/strong><\/h3>\n
<\/p>\n
![\"Subreddit](\"https:\/\/abetterlemonadestand.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Subreddit-Moderator-Backlink-Method.jpg\"\/)
![\"Subreddit](\"https:\/\/abetterlemonadestand.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Subreddit-Moderator-Backlink-Method.jpg\")
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