You may be surprised to see how many sites are ranking higher than you without you putting in the effort. This is because you need to take a certain number of actions, some legal, in order to get them to link back to your pages.

Sending spam blog comments may seem like a quick and easy way to get links, but in the long run, it will only tarnish your SEO reputation.

There are many ways to generate inbound links, but the more important ones are rarely discussed.

Link building shouldn’t be painful. If you’re a source of quality content that is captivating, people will share it. With people sharing your posts and links, social media will make you more popular.Link building strategies

Now that we’ve explained successful techniques for building links, read on to see how you can put these ideas into your SEO strategy.

What is link building?

Link building is the process of increasing the quantity and quality of inbound links to your website so that you can gain more referral traffic, increase domain authority, and get higher rankings in search engines.

What are backlinks?

A backlink is a particular type of outbound links that would redirect your website’s readers to a deeper content on your website.

When a link is referred to as a backlink, it can be displayed in the structure of your webpage.

There’s a difference between backlinks (links from your website to another website) and outbound links (links from your website to another website). Internal links, on the other hand, are links from one page on your website to another.

The right backlinks can do two things for your website: First, they allow search engines to value your site more highly, which leads to better rankings. Second, links from popular, authoritative sites improve your website’s reputation.

The right backlinks can do two things for your website: 

First, they allow search engines to value your site more highly, which leads to better rankings. 

Second, links from popular, authoritative sites improve your website’s reputation.

A good inbound link comes from an authoritative website who’s linking to your content. 

Don’t just hyperlink your keywords after every sentence. Google knows the context of a link, so generic “learn more” and “click here” text are just as valuable as keyword-optimized anchor text.

Some companies use backlinking to achieve better search rankings but many times those strategies don’t work. 

1. Maintain a steady blog with great content.

A successful strategy for getting inbound links from other reputable sites is creating posts that naturally draw people to share.

In order to get your readers to read and share your content, it has to be directly related to their industry. Make sure that your content is actionable and helps them find the solution they’re seeking through sharing with others. This will lead them to return for more.

2. Link to other blogs on your blog.

A blog’s purpose is to engage with the social world. A blogging strategy that advocates for links in a consistent, opportunistic manner makes the likelihood of a blogger reciprocating your efforts higher.

The problem with trying to cover everything is that there isn’t enough time or space to do it justice. Instead, you’ll want to focus on what’s important, and leverage the resources online so that your readers have a better experience with your blog.

3. Write guest blog posts.

Write a blog post that would be a good fit for other blogs, and then reach out to them. You can either ask them in an email or send them an inbound link over social media. Guest blogging is a great way to not only promote yourself but it also helps you earn quality backlinks.

When it comes to pitching an article, one option is to reach out directly to publications that your target audience will enjoy. You should start however with magazines and websites in your industry or niche. If you’re in the fitness space, then contact fitness outlets.

4. Curate and publish helpful resource lists.

Seed lists are great blog posts for content creators, who can compile a comprehensive list of resources with links to easily reference it in their own work. It also makes link bait easier, since they’ll have more content to link to.

5. Do expert roundups to build relationships.

Seed lists are both good link bait and helpful blog posts for readers. An effective way to make your content more accessible is by compiling a seed list of resources for other bloggers to link to in their own posts.

Once you collect your expert roundup, the next step is to reach out later on in case your guests are interested in contributing to your blog. It’s part of our welcome and gratitude that we extend to all writers who contribute to the Expert Roundup.

We reached out to successful marketers and asked for tips on content marketing. Some of the experts shared their top strategies with you.

6. Write newsjack posts.

Newsjacking is a tactic that purposely tries to capitalize on the current popularity of a news story in order to boost your own marketing success. When you’re the first blogger to comment on an event, you’ll rise to the top of SERPs due to Google’s freshness algorithm, and others will share your content for other people in their accounts of the news events.

7. Create case studies about your most impressive clients.

If you want your clients to make a sincere effort to include you in their case studies, there are a few things you can do. Go ahead and pick candidates who have seen the best results, are enthusiastic about using your product or service, and know it well.

Getting the right people involved in your study is more than simply asking. We ask the right questions and lay out the case study in an attractive, comprehensive manner so that it will be understood by your clients.

8. Volunteer to be the subject of a case study.

Share your time and expertise in a case study. Businesses will often conduct case studies on individuals, and in return you’re likely to get backlinks from that case study article that drive traffic to your website.

9. Administer surveys.

If you conduct research, post your findings online and make sure to share them with anyone willing to listen. With that in place, high authority sites will usually do some PR work for you and give a link back.

10. Write book reviews.

Providing comprehensive reviews of content authors that are linked to can have a positive impact on their exposure.

11. Conduct free webinars, and post archived copies online.

If you have an important presentation, share it with your target audiences by turning them into a SlideShare presentation and publishing them on a blog post.  You can also embed them in the webinar landing page so that anyone looking for a webinar already over can review your presentation.

One of the best ways to build backlinks is to partner with two companies, brands, or influencers for a webinar. Two companies talking about the same topic will make for a powerful presentation, and widening the audience base is just as easy after your webinar hypes up. The post also outlines some tips for promoting your event online.

12. Create free tools.

What is it that people typically include and link to on curated resource lists? Resources like tools are a big one. You might not realize, but it can be extremely helpful to create free resources that others in your field need. By creating useful and helpful resources for your target customers, you’re opening up new opportunities for free advertising when someone mentions your business name or even your blog.

13. Create shareable templates.

Templates are an excellent option for people who produce content on a consistent basis.  Before you can create one, think of the kinds of templates that would help people use your content more easily. There are a lot of benefits that can come from having customizable templates. Designers might make templates that they could share with the world and others could link to repeatedly. Websites often build links from bookmarkable assets, which is why we don’t recommend using templates for long-form content.

14. Create compelling infographics.

People love sharing infographics. If you make an original outline yourself, you’ll get backsite links and the benefits of the people seeing your infographic in their article. To increase the chances that you’ll get inbound links, submit your design to the sources cited in the infographic.

15. Create other forms of visual content.

Visual content for your website can range from cartons to charts and graphs, with slight tweaks to create a unique style. Even if your competitors are able to create them on their own, they probably won’t spare the time and budget it would take to produce. Since you’re already creating excellent content for your site, why not be one of the few who ends up generating inbound links instead?

16. Create SlideShare presentations.

You can split up your infographic input into many smaller infographics, or repurpose it from your last speaking engagement. You can share these with your blog, website’s resource center, or even a SlideShare to get more links.

The most shareable presentations are dotted with engaging and creative content and designs.

17. Do something funny.

In social media marketing, humor is usually a great way to spread your message and spark engagement. As always, be careful not to offend anyone. That’s one of the reasons why we have an entire etiquette guide that you can use when you’re creating content that uses humor.

18. Write press releases about interesting company news.

If you want to think outside the box and stand out from your competition, then an inbound marketing strategy might be what you need. That’s when you’ll create opportunities where none exist before, and carve out a unique place for your company with meaningful mindshare from your target audiences.

19. Send out a joint press release when your news involves another company.

With an article distribution network, you’re never out of the loop when it comes to reaching your audience. You can reach more people and get more backlinks as a result.

20. Do some outreach when you have big news or a great piece of content.

Getting the attention of industry publications and getting press is a great way to build your brand, improve your credibility and get backlinks from authoritative sources.

If you want news outlets to cover your story, be sure you have a dedicated resource page on your website. Then, reach out directly to journalists and publications that you can see would be interested in this type of content. Follow their guidelines, write a compelling subject line on your pitch email, and remember that it’s not about boasting; it’s about being helpful and giving context to your request.

21. Set up press request alerts and look for opportunities to send quotes.

Press requests are sent to media outlets from users so they can schedule interviews and events. They use these mediums to send requests to specific people, in order to find the right quotes to include in their article.

22. Write and pitch op-ed articles.

If you have an interesting opinion to share and can express it in an op-ed article, you can reach a lot of people, get recognition for yourself and your organization, and earn authoritative backlinks to your website. I find the most effective op-ed articles give a single point with connection from cohesion and offer specific recommendations.

The best way to get inbound links is to write articles that get published on industry publications’ websites. You can target online versions of these publications for a valuable inbound link.

23. Partner with companies in complementary industries.

For many of us, marketing within a company means following and promoting our own company’s content as often as possible. We understand that your individual success depends on the success of the whole team.

You may want to consider checking up on a partner’s ranking on SimilarWeb to see their overall web presence. These sites are helpful when trying to get an idea of how much traffic a partner can drive and what actions people take after visiting their website.

24. Do some co-marketing.

Do you find yourself going to the extent of searching for appropriate post promotion opportunities? You can leverage your current relationship with that company and work together to create more links. Plus, we’ll help you create new content and increase the buzz around your business’s marketing strategy.

Unfortunately, a lot of businesses fail simply because they spend too much money starting them. With good, effective co-marketing, you can reach out to other similarly-sized businesses, pitch them your project and start with something as simple as a few tweets. Then build up to creating marketing collateral.

25. Ask for reviews.

You can ask users of your product or industry experts and analysts to review new features you’re rolling out. You get an inbound link, valuable feedback to strengthen your reputation among reviewers, traffic referrals, and social mentions.

26. Make friends with other webmasters in real life.

You never know when you might need a link partner. Start building relationships now and strengthen your prospects for future opportunities.

Networking is one of the most crucial skills a business person can have, because it opens the doors to opportunities that they never dreamed were possible. The more open your network, the more potential will be unlocked.

27. Search for and monitor mentions of your brand.

The best thing to do if you get a lot of mentions across the web is to contact those website owners who mention your content. Mentioned websites want nothing more than inbound links back to their content! However, don’t approach this tactic without a valid reason.

28. Identify broken links through site-crawling tools.

This is normal as you change and update your website. However, these inbound links are still valuable – and you can take care of them.

29. Search for and monitor your competitors’ backlinks.

You should be doing research on potential link opportunities up to three times a week or at least once a month. Want to know what your competitors are doing? Check out their websites, social media accounts, and published content to find new link opportunities. These will be fresh while they’re still hot.

When you start a new blog, it’s important to have an idea of what your competitors are doing. Get a list of backlinks from a link analysis tool like Ahrefs, Majestic, or Moz’s Link Explorer. Then, use this information to look for what your competitors are doing off-page SEO-wise and benefit from their work.

If your industry is seeing a lot of guest posts from potential competitors, there’s a high probability that they’re looking to do similar things on other publications.

When it comes to writing guest posts for publications, it can be a great way to get the word out about your brand. One possibility is to look at competitor content and see if they’re writing for similar publications.

30. Incorporate “Tweet This” links into your content.

Some marketing tactics involve using “Tweet This” or “Click to Tweet!” links in your content to make it easy for people to share it on social media.

When you distribute your data to another entity, it gives your content a greater chance of being featured in search engines, news feeds, and Twitter streams. It also increases the opportunity for those pieces of content to be taken and referenced by other people.

31. Install social sharing widgets.

By embedding social sharing buttons and widgets, you can easily increase your site’s visibility on other social media sites. Putting them on your case studies, whitepapers, ebooks and blog posts will also ensure that viewers are aware of what content you have and share it more often.

32. Sponsor or speak at an event.

Events know that good publicity can boost your website and lead to more brand awareness. They’ll list you on their sponsors page, blog post about you, or include you as a speaker. You can even negotiate inbound links into your contract to make sure the initiative yields beneficial results.

33. Help another webmaster fix an error on their site.

As you build your own internet empire, you’ll always need to connect with webmasters who have big audiences of their own. One great way to do this is to notify them when their site has broken links. Don’t send them rude messages though—be professional and courteous and offer something that you think would be a good replacement for the broken link. You could build a relationship in this way and be a useful resource for future needs!

34. Give away free trials and sneak-peeks of your product.

When people get to use your product, they will be able to instantly tell others that they are part of the VIP scene. And as a bonus, they might even write a review with a link back to your website, which is sure to boost traffic.

Announce new products to high-quality customers by sending a new product announcement email. We have a guide that can help you, too.

Build Inbound Links the White-Hat Way and Increase Rankings

Most of the link-building and commenting services people pay for now fall under the category of White hat SEO- including creating backlinks using paid links. White-hat methods are often more effective at boosting organic traffic, which will attract more potential leads and clients.

Author bio: Sambhav Shah is a founder of Digital Aura and takes great pride in creating digital marketing strategies from mid market business size to enterprise. Digital Marketing and SEO is his passion. While not at work he loves to play cricket and spend his time on research and reading digital marketing content.