We all do know that backlink building is the most important aspect in Google Ranking Factors and make a huge impact on a site prominence in search results.
Are you wondering “What is a Backlink”?
The backlink is also known as “Inbound Links” or “Incoming Links”. Backlinks are generated when one website add the links of another website.
For example, Website A (Tourism site) add a link to website B (Restaurant) on his webpage. Hence website B has a backlink from website A.
f you want more organic traffic for your website, then start focusing on backlink building.
And in this article, I am going to show you how to get high-quality backlinks. So, let’s dive right into it.
What is Backlink Building?
Many SEO professionals have analyzed the search results and found out that backlinks impacted webpage rankings more than any other Google 200 ranking factors.
Google officials have recently made an announcement that backlinks are one of their top 3 search algorithm ranking signals.
To understand why is that, you have to go back to the year 2000 and recall your browsing memory.
Back in those days, search engines like Ask, Rediff, MSN, and Yahoo were the popular players. And they ranked the web pages completely based on the content.
Then in the year, 1998 Google entered the game.
Instead of simply ranking pages based on the content, the Google ranking algorithm analyzed how many websites linked to that page.
And it had been 20+ years, backlinks are still considered the best way to determine the quality of a webpage. That’s why incoming links remained the go-to search engine ranking signal.
Once everyone comes to know about this, search engines started focusing on high-quality backlinks.
That’s what in the rest of this backlink building techniques guide, we are going to cover how to create high-quality backlinks.
Backlink Building Checklist
Before we look into the popular backlink building strategies, it’s important to know what determines the link quality a good or bad.
That is very important in link building because the search engine will penalize the website if the backlinks are not as per ranking guidelines.
Here are the few things which you need to look out for while building backlink:
Authority of Referring Page
The backlink is going to have a huge impact on the page ranking in SERP if the authority of linking page is great.
So many SEO analysis reports stated that the authority of the referring page will matter the most than any other ranking factor.
It is because the backlink from high authoritative pages passes more link juice (also referred to as PageRank) to the linked pages. Although search engines don’t share PageRank statistics publicly, they still make use of it as the foundation of the ranking algorithm.
Authority of the Linking Domain
The quality of the backlink is also determined by the domain authority of the referring site.
For example, a backlink from a branded or popular website like “Wikipedia” will have a massive impact than a backlink from an unpopular weblog.
Although high-quality links are tough to achieve they are worth all the effort. There are so many SEO tools available like (Moz, Ahref, etc.) where you check the page and domain authority of a website.
Relevancy of the Referring Site
When it comes to link building, the authority of page will matters. Although, how relevant is the backlink to the linked site will also be considered by search engine ranking algorithms.
Let’s assume, you have a website about “clothing” and you get a backlink from a high authority “ore mining” site. Do you consider it as a quality link?
According to search engine ranking quality guidelines:
“Having a backlink from an authoritative site will carry good value, but the relevancy of the referring website niche will determine the PageRank of the linked page”.
In general, getting a link from unrelated high authority site will pass the same link juice as a link from relevant sites which are similar.
Backlink Location on the Page
Web crawlers do inspect if the backlink is placed inside the page content or is it embedded in a page widget or footer area?
The position of the link on a page is an important ranking signal. Backlinks buried in sidebar and footer section of the site will not influence ranking as much as backlinks found in the middle of the content of the webpage.
To impact page ranking in search results, you need to make sure that backlinks should appear within the main content of a webpage.
Naturally Placed Backlinks
The search engine bot will analyze how the link appeared on a page? “Did the link self-generated or editorially placed?”.
For instance, if someone links to a site because they thought that the content is awesome then that is a naturally occurring backlink.
Or if you created a profile on a random website and added a link then it is an unnatural or self-created backlink.
As per search engine guidelines:
“Building backlinks that self-generated or manipulating search ranking by creating unnatural links will be considered a violation of ranking algorithm guidelines.”
Backlink Anchor Text
The clickable text section of a link which is highlighted to make it distinct from other words in content is referred to as anchor text. The search engine makes use of anchor text as an ON site SEO ranking signal.
In other words, when you get a backlink to your site with hypertext let’s assume “running shoes for men”. Search bots analyze that hypertext and conclude that the linked page must be related to: “running shoes for men”.
Although keyword-rich anchor text will be appreciated by the search engine. Building lots of backlink with similar anchor text links is considered spammy.
I don’t recommend building a majority of backlinks with same or keyword-rich anchor text. But if you get a natural backlink with targeted keywords in the anchor text then it’s time to celebrate.
Neighbouring Words
Text and phrases that appear around the backlink will be utilized by the search engines. Neighbouring words of a link will act as “partial anchor text”.
Words surrounding link is an essential ranking signal and it will make sense when you think about it. The words around the backlink will indicate the search engines what the page is about.
Link Attribute (Dofollow | Nofollow)
Hyperlinks can have various attributes associated with it such as noopener, noreferrer, noindex etc. As per the link building perspective, you need to be aware of “dofollow” and “nofollow” links.
List of 31 Best Link Building Techniques and Strategies
Here I have mentioned the complete list of backlink building techniques which can be used to create an incoming link for your site.
In fact, in this article, you will come across more than 150+ backlink building strategies, tactics and techniques.
So if you are looking to create powerful high-quality backlinks then you will enjoy this link building guide.
Let’s dive in.
1. Email Outreach
Let’s begin with a simple and very effective strategy of link building. First, you need to search for your target keyword in the search engine.
Copy the URL which is ranking and insert it into a backlink scraping tool (such as Ahrefs, Moz, SEMRush etc). Then extract all the backlinks of the competitor page.
As we mentioned above in backlink building checklist, wisely select the high-quality sites where you need to build links for your site.
Next, check website contact credentials and look for site owner email address. You can also make use of Hunter tool to extract website contact details.
Alternatively, you can use the ContactOut Chrome extension. This tool adds an overlay to LinkedIn that finds your prospect’s email address and other contact information right on their LinkedIn profile.
Once you get hold of likely linker (a person that can actually add your link to their page) email address, send them your backlink outreach mail.
Here’s an example of the best email outreach mail script:
2. Guest Posting
Guest Posting is also referred to as Guest Blogging, which typically means publishing or writing an article on someone else’s blog or website.
That said, search engines have largely devalued link from guest posts but it is still perceptible in backlink building techniques.
First, look for a website with accept guest posts. Here I mentioned a few search strings which you can use to find guest blogging opportunity:
Select sites that are very picky about what they publish and have decent authority. Focus on sites that are relevant to your site niche and pitch for guest posting.
While submitting the article, don’t optimize the outbound link anchor text with exact match keyword. Make sure that you don’t rely on guest blogging as your main link building technique.
3. Resource Pages and Sites
These are perfect backlink building targets, as these sites like out to awesome content on a given page topic.
First, you need to dig out resource pages using the search strings. You can use there are a string in the search box:
“Keyword” + inurl:links
“Keyword” + “helpful resources”
“Keyword” + “useful resources”
“Keyword” + “useful links”
From search results, select quality sites which are relevant to your page niche. Then pitch for a link by sending the script which is mentioned below.
4. Broken Links Strategy
Broken or damaged link building is one of the very efficient backlink building techniques. First, find the websites with are relevant to your site niche.
Then install the “Check My Links” or “Broken Link Checker” chrome extension and find the broken (404 pages) links on the likely linker site using these tools.
Finally, notify the site owner about the damaged link and pitch to link your content as a replacement.
Here’s the effective script for this strategy
5. Podcast Jacking
Podcast jacking is a useful link building strategy that can build links from high authority and high traffic sites.
And the thing is:
It’s easy to do (if you’re fairly established in your niche) and costs absolutely nothing.
But the best bit is:
You get to build exposure and gain a new audience, not bad for a few hours work, right?
Podcast jacking can be broken down into five simple steps:
Finding Your Targets: The idea at this step is to find relevant podcasts to your niche. Most people will spend hours searching for variations of keywords.
But there’s a quicker way, using the index tool “keyword” inurl:podcast, it makes it super quick to find your targets.
Make an excel sheet of any potential opportunities.
Find The Right Person: Before you think about pitching, you need to make sure you’re contacting the right person. This can be done using tools like Find That Lead.
And if there’s an email that is designated for podcasts (podcast@….) then you are onto a winner.
Pitching Your Idea: Once you’ve found the right contact, it’s time to pitch your idea. The key here is to be original.
They’ll get hundreds of emails from people asking for the same thing, make sure you stand out. You can use templates, but make sure you edit them and make them personal and your own before sending them.
Make The Video: At this point, you would have had a conversion with the host that details the topics you’re going to touch on.
Make sure you go in prepared ready to answer the question. If you mess up, don’t worry too much, most podcasts are pre recorded, so you can always go back.
Share The Content: This is the final step. Once it has been published with a nice healthy backlink back to your target page, make sure you share the content with your followers; it adds value for all parties involved.
6. Directory Submission
The practice of submitting the website URL and its details under a particular category on the directory websites is defined as directory submission.
Directories are somewhat similar to the traditional phone directories. Instead of people contact numbers, these directories will have a list of websites in each category.
Directory submission helps to optimize your website and improve your backlink building strategies. There are various types of online directory site in the digital space such as:
Business Directory: Just like general directories, you can submit your site to company directories which list different businesses and their services.
Blog Directory: If your website has a blog, then you can submit it to various blog directories and get a backlink for your blog page.
Niche Directory: Unlike other web directories, some directories will only list websites that belong to a specific category.
Paid Directory: Some website will charge money in order to list your website on their directories. I don’t recommend a paid listing, but if you want to go for it then focus on high authority directories like BBB directory, BOTW and JoeAnt.
7. Comment Links
Comments are one of the easiest ways to get backlinks and to drive traffic on your website.
Commenting on web articles is an action taken by the site readers or visitors to leave a comment on the posts in the form of questions or simply leave a reply for appreciating the information published.
When you comment on other site articles, you can build self-generated backlink for your site which might indirectly be helping you to gain traffic. Although links generated from comments will be “no follow” but they are an awesome way to get on a search engine radar screen.
8. Crowdfunding and Charities Sites
You can donate to non-profit organization sites that are seeking funding and are willing to give links to those who contribute.
Apparently, donation links are one of the most overused backlink building techniques and it is classified as “paid links”. So, use this technique at your own risk.
9. Connect With Sites You Mentioned
This is a simple but promising tactic that works. Whenever you add an external link in your content, let the site owner know about it.
People do show little appreciation for the effort you have made and will return the favour. Here is the effective script for this link building technique:
10. Ask People You Know
Ask your friends, employees, relatives, business partners, colleagues, clients for links. Connect with the people you know who owns a site and ask for a backlink.
Try to get a link from the relevant website and if the referring domain is not relevant then it is not going to have much of an impact. Also, some people might be hesitant to link to your food store from their sports blog.
11. Add Link in Email Signature
Generally, an email signature is a block of text which is used to provide the recipient with your name, email address, contact information and website URL and this technique doesn’t require much effort.
If you are sending 100’s of email per day then add your website link in the email signature. Although the search engine will not consider it as a backlink it will drive some extra traffic for your site.
12. Backlink From Scraped Content
If someone scraped your site content and the scraped part of the content doesn’t have a link back to your site then contact the site owner and ask to insert one.
Similar to images and video the scraping content without source reference is considered as a copyright infringement. So when you find any sites with your content, inform the webmaster to refer your page or delete the scraped content if that want to avoid DMCA complaints.
A backlink from sites with make use of scraped content will be of poor quality and it isn’t going to do much impact on page ranking.
13. Job or Internship Posting
If you have any opportunity in internship or job opening then you can get some easy backlinks from job listing or educational institute portals.
Web crawlers will dig into employment-related search engines and index the job opportunity pages in search results. You can also contact the academic institutes to include the links of internship and job opening in their websites.
14. Local Business Listing
Website similar to “Yelp” or “Justdial” will list local businesses and categorized them by niche, location, activity, services or size.
You can build a backlink by submitting your site information in local listing websites and these will be very relevant
You do come across thousands of local listing sites, so keep an eye out for portals that focus on your city, state or country.
15. Links From Business Partners
If you run a B2B or retailer business model, then make a list of suppliers and manufacturers websites of the products or services you carry.
Reach out and ask them to refer your website to their list. As simple as that..! This is a great way to obtain business citations.
For example, if you have an eCommerce website, then get in touch with all the vendor or suppliers whose goods are listed.
16. Links From Profiles
Online profile links don’t have much impact on PageRank but they technically come under “backlink building strategies”.
When you sign up or register to become a member for a site, most of the sites allow you to include a link in your profile.
While creating online profiles make sure to focus on niche-relevant and good authority site. So, your backlinks don’t look unnatural or spammy.
17. Q&A Website
Question and Answer website is open to all internet users where you can build links by mentioning your website as a source in your answer.
A backlink from Q&A sites similar to “Quora” or “Yahoo Answers” will be having nofollow attribute but they can generate a good amount of traffic for your website.
18. Reciprocal Link Exchange
Even though I don’t recommend this technique but I need to include it to complete backlink building strategies list.
Reciprocal links occur when two websites exchange backlinks with the sole purpose to improve website SEO. This method will violate the search engine ranking policy and the chances of site getting penalized will be very high in this approach.
If you’re willing to use link exchange then be picky about with whom you exchange links and make sure it is the most trustworthy and relevant website.
19. Reclaim Broken Pages Links
You would probably have a few broken web pages (404 pages) on your site or maybe you redirected few pages. Sometimes a person that linked to your site might mess up the URL.
In any case, make sure the backlinks on the broken page should not go waste. You can easily redirect those broken pages to similar web pages on your site. Just like that, you can build a chuck of the link without any outreach.
20. Submissions Sites
You can find numerous websites on the internet which list different types of content such an infographic, articles, video, ppt, audio etc where you can easily build a backlink for your site.
Search for [Type of Content] Submission Sites and submit your content to build backlink.
Video Submission Site: If you have a video content then make sure you get a link from all that hard work you put into creating it.
Majority of these video submission sites (like Dailymotion or Vimeo) not only provide high-quality backlink but also help to improve your site brand awareness.
Infographic Submission Sites: If you designed a remarkable infographic than quickly list your design out in digital space while gaining SEO benefits such as social signals and backlinks.
Article Submission Sites: It is one of the cost-effective link building techniques and very easy means to increase site PageRank.
While submitting the article make sure the quality of content is good for instant approval and don’t over-optimize the backlink anchor text.
21. Testimonials Links
Wondering how a testimony help you to build links? It’s simple, the first list the products or services you have bought recently. Then, write a testimony of that product and let them know how much you like their services, tools, products etc.
As long as it’s not an enormous organization (like Amazon), there is a good chance that they will feature your testimony and link back to your site.
22. Best or Top Lists Pages
We could have come across web pages which list the Best or Top products or services in the market. In fact, even I have published several lists pages of myself.
So if you have any products, tools or services that fit these pages then let the page author know about it.
23. Brand References
If your brand name is referred by any site without a link then you have got an easy backlink building opportunity staring you in the face.
All you need to do is email that site webmaster and gently inform them to link to your site. So that people can easily find your site. I recommend BuzzSumo tool to find these kinds of references as they happen.
24. CSS Galleries and Event Listing
Does your website look stunning? Then there are tons of CSS Galleries which list a website with amazing layout design and awards them with a backlink.
If you’re organizing an event or seminar then mention it in the event listing websites such as (MeetUp, Evvnt etc) and get a high-quality backlink for your site.
25. Expired Domains
Using expired domains backlink is definitely a black hat strategy and it may put you in trouble. That said, it is still a backlink building technique where people buy the expired site and 301 redirect the broken domain backlinks to their website.
Although, there are plenty of white hat approaches to utilize expired domains for link building.
For example, when you find expired domains that still have backlinks pointing to them. Then, make use of archive.org to create content similar to that broken site. Finally, email people that still link to the expired domain and ask them to replace the broken link with a link to your site.
26. Reverse Image Search
Using reverse image search technique you can easily find other websites using infographics or images which you have created.
Here a demo: Go to Google Images -> click on “Search By Image” icon -> Upload an Image
If this happens to you then with considerate manner ask them if they can link back to the original source and most people will be happy to give a backlink to your site.
27. Forum Submission
Links from forum sites aren’t as big as they used to be before. An online forum is described as internet discussion sites where people hold conversations and help each other in the form of posted messages.
Forum submission is a link building strategy where people get involved in discussions and add their site link as a reference. You can easily locate a handful of active forums on just about any topic of your interest.
28. Digital Press Release
Digital PR is one of the practical link building techniques used to increase online presence and to gain high-quality backlinks.
There are hundreds of press release websites from which you can get a legit dofollow backlink. Manage to write a newsworthy content about your company, services or products that hold enough value to be published of these PR sites.
29. Webpage Builder
A site such as “JIMBO” or “FROONT” offers a demo for users to create and design the webpage layout with their website builder tool
All of these sites will be having drag and drop feature where you can easily create a webpage or subdomain with your name and easily generate a link to your site.
30. Reclaim Lost Links
Did you know that site backlinks can be lost? Link building is a natural process, you will be getting new links and the old links will be lost due to two common reasons:
- The link was removed by the webmaster
- Linking page is deleted or ceased to exist.
Using SEO tools like “Moz” or “Ahrefs” you can quickly identify your site lost backlink. Then, reach out to the site owner and notify them about it.
31. Purchase Backlinks
Search engines have made it clear that buying a link to improve website ranking will violate their guidelines. Although the list of link building techniques wouldn’t be complete if I haven’t mentioned it.
There are many organizations available in digital space which sells links in exchange for money. I do not recommend this approach and there is a very high chance that the site may get penalized in this strategy.
Final Thoughts
Backlink building isn’t rocket science and the strategies which I shared above will work for all websites.
Most SEO professionals invest 30% of their work time in building links. You just need to execute them and see which tactics work best for you.
Do you think if I missed any effective backlink building strategy then do let me know in the comments below..!