The Ultimate Link Building tactics Guide

Have you ever questioned how brands establish themselves as authorities and gain a competitive edge? Are you thinking about how your business can enhance its online visibility? In this link building tactics guide you will understand wondering what link building is and how you incorporate it in your marketing strategy.

What Is Link Building?

Link building tactics is the manner of creating high-quality backlinks to a website to enhance online visibility. It is a trend that has shifted the dynamics of search engine optimization (SEO).

Old Google days were different. Back then, search engines ranked websites essentially for their content. However, Google has transformed online marketing and developed better methods to increase website rankings. One of these methods involves analyzing the number of people linking to a particular page, which is known as and referred to as link building.

Importance of Link Building tactics

Due to the influx of online customers, business success is almost impossible without a decent link building strategy. Link building is necessary for determining how a page ranks on search engines. The higher the figure of quality hyperlinks to a site, the higher its online visibility.

With plenty of start-ups arising every day, adopting link building tactics is essential. Not only does the business become reachable, but it also aids establish it as an authority.

Link Building tactics

Technological improvements provide a myriad of strategies to help business owners reach online victory. However, the method to employ depends on the available resource, business niche and target market. For maximum outcomes, businesses in flooded markets require aggressive link building tactics compared to the less prominent ones.

On that note, below are some strategies business owners can use to achieve world-class links, despite the niche.

Guest Posting

Guest posting is one of the most popularly used link building tactics. It is a typical tactic with small companies and other enterprises looking to build an online presence.

Guest posting includes writing high-quality articles for websites, then creating a backlink to your website. Its reputation attests to the fact that it is beneficial to both the guest blogger and the publication site. The publishing website receives new content for their target audience while the author gets referral traffic to their page, which is essential in improving online visibility.

For optimal outcomes, a guest blogger needs to discover the right niche. The publication site needs to have a massive social following and share the same audience as the target website. That way, an entrepreneur is guaranteed that their message will spread to the right market.

Niche Edits

Contrary to common belief, niche edits have been beside us for a pretty long time, despite its reputation only in the last few years.

Also known as contextual links, niche edits include the placement of hyperlinks in an earlier published piece. This is unlike guest blogging, where a fresh article is written.

Niche edits are a potent link building tactics, as some articles already have traffic. It is even more profitable if the article has pre-existing external and internal links. Niche edits are a priceless resource to affiliate marketers, and their popularity is growing by the day.

Skyscraper Technique

With the development of modern marketing trends comes different link building tactics making headlines – the skyscraper technique.

This technique includes analyzing a quality article with backlinks, creating a better piece and replicating the backlinks.

To increase the chances of success, an entrepreneur needs to look for a previously published high-quality article with many backlinks. Then, they need to create a relevant, actionable and well-designed piece. From there, they can use email outreach to get the right people to link to the masterpiece.

Digital PR and Editorial Outreach

It is not unusual for entrepreneurs to ask editors of big websites for links at a charge. More often than not, journalists require input or quote from trend-setters or people from a particular industry to create a good piece. Why not get a mention online for your contribution to this collaboration?

Acquiring editorial links includes reaching out to journalists and finding editorial occasions that can source quality backlinks. A fantastic way to find journalists is via Help A Reporter Out (HARO), and guess what are they already looking for. It works as a message board for journalists needing a little extra help for their articles, and you can be that extra hand.

Although very labour intensive, it’s a great strategy that pays off big time for completion.

Is There a Right Or Wrong Way To SEO Link Building?

Now that you know the response to the question “What are link building tactics?” let’s get into how to execute it. If you are interested in SEO trends, chances are you have heard of black hat and white hat methodologies of building links.

To have a better understanding, let’s look at these methods below:

White Hat Methodologies

Link building arrives with guidelines for Google, and white hat link building tactics are those strategies that apply these guidelines to the letter. These tactics are secure and are on par with Google’s expectations, eliminating the risks of penalties that hurt online visibility.

Entrepreneurs looking to increase traffic to their pages must create quality, relevant content that appeals to their customers to be on the protected side. Through other online platforms and social media, there is a need to build a following that regularly engages with the brand. Additionally, they should try to personalize client outreach through emails or other favoured messaging platforms.

White hat strategies are advantageous as they do not suffer any harsh punishments for breach of guidelines. They are the best methods for entrepreneurs to build a genuine and long-term relationship with their target audience. However, they focus more on the long-term gains and are not a quick-fix for business owners looking to be an overnight sensation.

Black Hat Methodologies

On the other hand, black hat link building tactics violate Google’s stipulated guidelines regarding the same. In the quest to rank higher on search engines, some webmasters use uncouth and devious methods to trick search engines into improving the online visibility of their pages. They take advantage of loopholes in the algorithms of search engines using advanced technologies.

One notoriously popular black hat strategy in SEO link building is known as cloaking. Cloaking refers to the method of displaying different content to the audience and search engines. In this particular situation, when web visitors perform a search query, they notice that the page’s content is different from what is shown in the meta description. Another notoriously popular black hat method is tech-savvy web owners hacking into a website and adding backlinks without permission from the relevant personnel.

These game plans are only periodically. Google’s algorithm is ever-changing and is programmed to catch these schemes sooner rather than later, causing an imminent drop in search engine rankings.

Why Links Are the #1 Ranking Factor and Always Will Be

An array of strategies was invented to enable websites to rank higher in search engines present themselves. However, link building continues to be the number one factor in 2021 and beyond.

Are you asking why? Links are efficient at getting third parties to affirm a site’s authenticity, enhancing user perception.

If you know a little about search engine optimization, you know that Google is continually upgrading its algorithm to increase customer satisfaction. No one knows the rules used, but one thing is for sure: Link building gets the majority percentage of the ranking factor.

In the case of two authority websites from the same niche, the site with more quality backlinks will automatically rank higher in search engines. Quality backlinks will almost continually produce outstanding results. Affiliate marketing social media platforms are two other fit ways to leverage link building tactics.

Why Not All Links Are Created Equal 

As much as we are discussing about the perks of link building, the keyword to watch out for is quality, as in quality backlinks!

Without quality, your SEO plan is as good as dead and typically doesn’t exist to search engines.

Below are the primary types of links and whether or not they will damage your business:

No-Follow, Do-Follow, Pillow Links and Redirects

In search engine optimization, the most commonly utilized links are no-follow, do-follow pillow and redirect links.

Do-follow links count as points on Google’s PageRank (PR) metric. They are efficient at boosting a page’s ranks on the search engine results page (SERP). They are the most used links by enterprises striving to prove themselves as brands in a competitive market.

On the other hand, no-follow links do not affect a website’s rank on search engines. Keeping this in mind, it can be pretty tricky for budding entrepreneurs to think of no-follow links in their marketing strategies since they do not support the website rank. Right?

Well, that’s wrong! No-follow links were developed due to unscrupulous individuals who cheated their way to the top of search engine results using unscrupulous methods. Their decision for online visibility led them to spam anyone, including authority websites like Wikipedia. In some cases, the linked content was unverified and low. So what Google did was introduce no-follow links to avoid damaging the authenticity of authoritative sites.

As much as no-follow links do not provide any “link juice”, a well-placed no-follow link is essential to a business. It can send a massive amount of referral traffic to a business, increasing conversions and leads.

Apart from the no-follow links and do-follow, some entrepreneurs use pillow links redirects.

Redirect link building involves purchasing a new domain then creating hyperlinks that redirect to the leading site. Additionally, pillow links are familiar with new business owners looking to establish their online presence. Building pillow links requires the creation of posts and on social media sites, for example, and linking these posts to your homepage. Redirects and pillow links were effective a couple of years ago, but it is hard to get to the top of SERPs with the unstable Google algorithm, as search engines consider these practices unnatural.

Natural Links and Content-Based Link Building, What Makes The Content Linkable?

Natural links are the basis of all link building tactics. As the name hints, they are naturally occurring. There is no interruption needed from anyone in your marketing team to get them, and the webmasters don’t need guest blogs or any other tricks. They are created when businesses and individuals link to your page because the content is appropriate and appealing to their target audience. Put your content just that good.

Content-based link building is secure as it veers off manipulative ranking methods, eliminating the risk of bringing penalties from Google’s penguin algorithms. Considering its advantages, leveraging it for SEO objectives is the best course of action.

The internet has plenty of content that includes articles, images, eBooks, videos and many more. With the thousands of results achievable on a search query, a good majority of them are not link-worthy.

To make your content engaging to other webmasters, come up with well-researched articles. It is credible and quality content that makes articles deserving of citations. Using high-quality visual elements is a different way to get natural links to a page. Not only are they encouraging, but they also complement the article, making it relatable and readable.

Furthermore, you can write about topics related to consumers and those they are expected to connect with. For instance, rather than writing an article titled “Rank Your Page On Google Today”, be more precise and write “5 Effective Ways to Improve Your Page Rankings” or “How to Improve Your Web Presence in 5 Steps”.

SEO Backlinks Diversity and Why It’s Important

As much as backlink difference is instrumental in SEO progress, it was still an underutilized link building strategy in 2021. Search engine algorithms are becoming better at identifying foul play in building links, and this is where the variety of SEO backlinks comes in.

Backlink diversity is the method of acquiring various inbound links to redirect to your webpage. However, due to the severe Google link building guidelines, this strategy should be executed within the recommended limits to avoid attracting and spammy penalties.

Webmasters use a mixture of blog comments, citations, do-follow, no-follow, and pillow links to incorporate variety into their link building campaigns. Link diversity makes the links seem natural, escaping detection from statistical link analysis programs.

Social Signals and Their Relevance

Social signals are the actual metrics of a website in terms of shares, views, likes and dislikes. They play an enormous role in showcasing a site’s reputation. Social signals are crucial in SEO link building tactics and have affected how search engine giants like Google and Bing deliver queries from online customers.

Social signals have gone up the lines and are currently considered a simple and accurate measuring of a website’s outreach and popularity. They directly affect how a business ranks in search engines. As such, building eCommerce marketing strategies that spin around them is imperative. Failure to do so means a business wastes its competitive edge, trailing behind other market players.

Some of the most powerful platforms to encourage social signals include Google My Business (GMB), Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Pinterest and many more. To enhance social signals, a business needs to use various strategies namely:

• Publishing high-quality and appropriate content
• Posting frequently to ensure the brand remains at the top of the different social media news feeds
• Making use of high definition videos to increase consumer engagement
• Using high-tech applications to monitor likes, shares and tweets
• It’s no secret that social signals affect link building tactics.

With an improvement in the number of social media engagements, a web page will likely appear at the top of SERPs sooner rather than later.

Preferred Trust Signals For You

Trust signals are elements found on websites that assure an online customer of the legitimacy of the site. Whether subtle or instantly recognizable, trust signals are effective in building trust with prospective customers. A loyal following leads to client satisfaction, which triggers Google into building the website as a reliable site.

A couple of trust signals show themselves on online platforms. We scanned through various of them and came up with a few we would suggest:

• Social Media Engagement: The way a business engages with its audience on social media platforms is a significant indicator of its success. The greater the interactions and the larger the following, the more genuine the business resembles on Google. As such, a buzzing website is more suitable to rank higher than its silent competitors.
  With all these advantages, social media engagement is a viable factor to count when determining a brand’s sincerity, and it comes as no surprise that it is first on the list.
• Trusted Affiliations: In life, you will often be judged by the people you connect with. Likewise can be said for link building.
  Online customers are on a constant lookout for companies building affiliations with authority brands. Such collaborations sit well with potential customers as well as search engines.
• SSL Certification: With an SSL Certification being one of the essential aspects in protecting server-client communication, most online customers will avoid a website without one. The same applies to websites without trust badges from well-known businesses.
• Privacy Policies: The addition of privacy policies and terms and conditions guarantees web guests the protection of their sensitive information.
• About Us Page: A website that exposes information about the company allows customers to understand their manners and better relate to them.

These are just some of the trust signs web visitors quickly inspect when they land on a webpage. They are also one of the quickest ways to build a webpage’s trustworthiness, making them a primary factor in a business’ conversion rate optimization.

Link Building for Other Marketing Goals

Since the beginning of the Penguin update, the entire scope around link building tactics has been transformed. Link building is no longer about ranking high in search engines; it carries more weight.

The evolution of online customers has allowed companies to embrace link building to achieve specific marketing intentions. This is a relief for businesses in competitive niches, where ranking high on search engines demands much more effort than link building.

Building links is beneficial to large and small businesses in more ways than one. Let’s dive into specifics:

Building Links for Branding

Branding is a major contributing part to online and offline business success, and building links can aid. Take guest blogging, for example. Its sole objective is to drive referral traffic to the target website, fostering commonly beneficial relationships between the two websites.

Additionally, quality links allow businesses to organize themselves as authorities in their niche, which helps promote the brand.

Building Links for Traffic

It is not uncommon for webmasters to use backlinks to get referral traffic from the publication site. This is a habitual SEO manner for business owners targeting an audience related to that of another website. Such traffic is earned through social media engagements and guest blogs, among others.

Building Links With A Keyword Strategy

Keyword search is still a robust SEO strategy and is necessary for the link-building process. It allows entrepreneurs to track customer needs and patterns. Building backlinks without proper keyword research is like shooting darts in the dark.

With solid link-building tactics, websites can rank higher for keywords linking to their niche and industry trends, always keeping the query intent center and front.

Building Links for Geo-Specific Goals

Sometimes, business owners are not looking to rank high on search engines but aim to be the leading brand in specific geographical locations. Their online local appearance in these target locations grows significantly by obtaining backlinks from authority pages in the region.

Building Links for Mobile App Downloads

Smartphones have changed how customers and service providers engage with each other. They offer a channel that helps digital interactions and eCommerce. By reaching out to industry influencers within link building tactics, companies create mutually valuable connections that support the marketing and downloads of mobile applications.

Conclusion

Despite the complexities revolving around Google’s algorithm and manual actions, backlinks are still one of the top three ranking factors for online brand visibility. Link building tactics and off-page SEO remains essential practices for brands, and it should be part of your SEO strategy when optimizing or building a new website.

Are you ready to take your traffic and ranking to the next level? Do you have questions about how to get there? Reach out to us, and let’s chat about your intentions, your backlink profile, and how we can maximize your backlink strategy and obtain the benefits.