When it comes to Search Engine Optimization (SEO), there are certain key aspects that you simply cannot ignore. One of them is link building.
Link building can be described as the steps that you take to increase the number of inbound links to your site. That has a direct impact on your domain authority and, by extension, your search rankings.
Therefore, you must incorporate link building as an essential part of your SEO strategy. Once you have your strategy in place, you need to figure out the link-building tactics that will work best for you.
In this article, we will introduce you to the 7 most effective link-building tactics that you can put to use right away and get results soon.
1. Publish Authoritative Content
The most effective link-building tactic is a bit of a no-brainer. Other websites will only mention and link to your site if you publish authoritative content.
But you should not jump into publishing high-quality content about everything under the sun. Even if the topic happens to be related to your industry.
The internet is littered with hundreds of articles, tools, and resources on many topics. Simply publishing the most high-quality content on any of them will not bring you to the attention of other sites.
You need to identify and tackle topics that have not been adequately addressed already. You can seek assistance from link building agencies. The expertise and knowledge some of these agencies bring to the table will largely benefit your business
Alternatively, you can learn the ropes of effective content marketing for startups and do it yourself. The choice is yours.
2. Be Smart About Guest Blogging
Many marketers have expressed skepticism about guest blogging recently with some of them writing it off completely as ineffective. But there are effective guest blogging strategies that still work.
Being smart and strategic about guest blogging is one of the best link-building tactics that can bring you results. But you need to follow certain principles and best practices.
For instance, you should avoid publishing anywhere and everywhere. The days of mass guest blogging are definitely over. However, if you target reputed sites with whom you have an audience overlap, you will have better results.
3. Look to the Competition
As a small business owner, you should not hesitate to learn from your competitors, especially if they are doing better than you in SEO terms. That is one of the best link-building tactics that you can follow today.
You could learn a lot about the SEO tactics that are working for them and incorporate them into your strategy.
From a link-building perspective, you should look at the sort of content that is getting them the most links. Moreover, you should take note of the sites that are giving them the most links.
On the other hand, you can identify the topics and the keywords in which they are not performing well. You can publish authoritative content on those and get inbound links.
4. Target Broken Links
If you scour the web, you will find a lot of sites with broken links. That means they are linking to a page that is no longer functional.
Once you identify such links, you can suggest that the site replace those links with links to similar content on your site. This is a link-building tactic that pays off immensely in the long run.
However, this exercise can be quite a time-consuming and resource-draining exercise. As a small business owner, you may not be able to spare those. That is where link-building agencies can come in and help you out.
5. Create Linkable Assets Such As Infographics
As far as link-building tactics go, not all content is created equal. Some tend to attract more links easily than others. A classic example of such content is infographics.
If you publish high-quality infographics on a range of topics your target audience is interested in, you will attract links from related sites. That is because sites are always looking for high-quality visuals to enhance their own content.
Infographics are not the only kinds of content that are easily linkable. You can consider creating graphs, charts, or anything that visually represents your targeted topics. Consider the benefits of video content for this purpose as well.
6. Fix Mentions Without Links
If you want to induce other sites to link to your content, there is no better place to start than sites that mention your content but without a link. You can easily convert those mentions into links.
But you might ask, how to identify such mentions? Here too, link-building agencies can come to your rescue. They can identify such sites and bring them to your attention without draining your in-house resources.
If you would prefer to do it in-house, there are many ways in which you can turn mentions into links. For instance, you can simply look for the most authoritative sites within your niche. This should narrow the list down significantly for you. Scour the content on those sites for mentions of your brand or content.
7. Devote Resources to Outreach
Finally, none of the link-building tactics explained so far will amount to much unless you take outreach seriously.
If you want other sites to link to yours, you need to be able to reach out to them. That means creating an outreach strategy, building a team, and investing resources into it.
Simply identifying broken links or unlinked mentions is winning only half the battle, the other half involves reaching out to those sites. You can only do that if you have the strategy and the resources in place.
Final Thoughts
As a small business owner, you may not have the resources to run long and expensive advertising campaigns online. But you can definitely make the best out of organic SEO no matter how small or bootstrapped you are.
Link building is an indispensable aspect of SEO. It is absolutely vital to improving your site’s search rankings and visibility. You must follow the most effective strategies and tactics to be successful.
You learned the 7 most effective link-building tactics for small businesses. Start with as many as you can and you will surely get desired results quickly.
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