Link building has been a non-negotiable aspect of search engine success for years at this stage. The ability to provide relevant links to both your content and that of other sites is undoubtedly your best shot at SEO that hits the mark. And, as Google and other such search engines continue to prioritize relevance with every update they release, it’s clear to see that isn’t set to change anytime soon. 

Unsurprisingly, then, companies who focus their efforts here or entrust outsourced white hat services to do so for them can enjoy a multitude of benefits. Most obviously, reliable and informative content links mean landing in the top search engine listings for significantly more click-throughs than second-page counterparts. 

The ability to provide informative content to consumers can also go a long way towards creating those all-important conversions and loyalty rates that content creation comes down to. And, of course, let us not forget that linking to other sites increases your chance of securing return outbound links that can lead to entirely new customer bases.

In short, link building is a modern marketing must, but it’s no longer the easy matter it once was. While you could once enjoy the above benefits and more for even simplistic link efforts, increased scrutiny has seen many companies having to reassess current link building efforts altogether. Hence why countless companies are choosing to outsource this service with colossal success.

If you’re not quite ready to take the leap towards paid link building tools just now, though, it is worth noting that there are plenty of free options on the market in 2020 that could prove invaluable for link building foundations you can trust. And, we’re going to consider some of them here. 

# 1 – Google Search Console

Given that you’ll primarily be working to impress Google with your link building efforts, it also pays to utilize the vast quantity of free tools they have on offer to help you along the way. Google isn’t the enemy, after all, and playing by their rules could well be your best chance at link building that offers real results. 

The Google Search Console could prove especially useful for improvements here on an analytical basis. After all, you won’t always know what qualifies as a ‘reliable’ link placement, or even what your current content links are doing for your click-through rates. You can check all this and more through GSC thanks to information such as your internal link structures and sitemap index, among others. By merely utilizing these free offerings, you can guarantee that your links are the highest possible quality and that your consumers are actually interacting for the SEO boost you’re aiming towards.

# 2 – Check My Links

Though it operates along slightly the same lines, Check My Links is another fantastic free resource that you could benefit from using. In fact, you may find that this Chrome extension offers the easiest possible link assessments on all the content you create moving forward.

That’s because the extension overlays your web content with visible link checks that you can master at a glance. All working links will be highlighted in green, while any broken or incorrect links will appear red when you revisit your content. Admittedly, this service doesn’t quite provide the depth of analysis that you’ll find with GSC, but it can be a fantastic way to check links are working when you’re in a rush. 

# 3 – SEOQuake

Another browser extension, SEOQuake also offers a great deal of worth where link building is concerned. As well as conducting regular SEO audits, users of this program can enjoy a toolbar that will easily check the value of any given external or internal link that they’re considering using. 

In many ways, this is the in-between point of GSC and Check My Links, providing as it does detailed information on the quality and potential returns of any link you enter. What’s more, unlike Check My Links, this free extension is compatible with a range of browsers, including – 

• Chrome
• Firefox
• Opera
• Edge
• iPhone and iPad

# 4 – Buzzstream

As we touched on above, many benefits of link building come from the collaborative focuses behind the process. After all, few companies link blindly to external sources. Instead, it pays to seek companies that complement your own and arrange like-for-like link sharing that benefits both parties.

That’s where free collaborative platforms like Buzzstream come into play. By helping you to both build and manage relationships with other content creators from one easy place, this is a fantastic option for ensuring links do more than just boost your SEO. Admittedly, there is now a small monthly fee for long-term users, but free trials offered on every available Buzzstream service ensure that you can still enjoy those benefits without paying a thing. 

5 – OpenSiteExplorer

While the tools we’ve mentioned trust that you already have links in place, OpenSiteExplorer has taken a slightly different approach by instead focusing on helping you to find links in the first place. With this MOZ tool to the rescue, you can better discover and analyze link building opportunities in one place. With information regarding everything from page link metrics to established links, you can certainly bet that this tool ensures you never again need to stress about where your external links are coming from. 

A final word

As you can see, there are a whole host of fantastic free link building tools on the market in 2020, and any one of them could take your efforts here to the next level from an SEO perspective. Whether you’re just starting in the link building world or are merely attempting to hone your efforts, you can be sure that any one of these could provide the foundations from which to do so. And, as you settle into the benefits of free link building tools, you may well come to find that a paid white hat service in this area would be worth your while after all.