Writing fresh content is arguably the most popular link building technique used by SEO managers. Rightly so: Content and link building are important ranking factors on Google’s SERP. Back in 2016, Search Quality Senior Strategist at Google, Andrey Lipattsev stated that high-quality content and link building were the two most important signals used by Google to rank websites for search.
This is as true today as it was three years ago. However, using content is just one among many link building strategies used by SEO experts. They understand that there’s nothing like a one-size-fits-all strategy when it comes to SEO.
Besides, diversity in your marketing strategy increases your chances of appearing on the top search results by extending your reach. The following techniques can help boost your link building strategy by bringing in that diversity, all without the need to create fresh content.
Broken links are links that don’t lead to the intended page. They are dead. Broken link building involves finding the dead links then alerting the owner and offering them a working link. This works because nobody wants broken links on their website. They are bad for user experience and harm SEO efforts.
To help you find broken links, there are many SEO tools some of which are free and others premium. Two of the best examples are Check My Links Chrome extension and Ahrefs Site Explorer. Here you want to find websites within your niche i.e. those you can provide valuable content.
Once you find the broken link, you can reach out to that one person and offer your working alternative. However, it’s also possible to find everyone else that are linking to that page. Again, there are many tools to help you with this. The final step is reaching out to each one of the website owners and offering them your link.
Link reclamation is the process of replacing backlinks and internal links that aren’t passing value as efficiently as they could. This includes finding and fixing/replacing broken links pointed at your website. Every time content is changed, a URL altered or the website is redesigned, you’re bound to have some broken links. Link reclamation is necessary to keep the juice flowing.
Start with analyzing your internal links to find any that aren’t functional. While you can easily fix broken internal links using 301 redirects, this isn’t the best way. You’re better off changing of replacing the page/link itself.
To fix broken backlinks, find all the sites linking to a page you’ve recently moved or removed. For this, you’ll need a backlink checker tool to analyze the site. Once you have the list of all broken links and sites using them, simply send the website owners a short email with the updated URL.
This ensures you’re not replaced through the above-mentioned method of broken link building. The process of link reclamation also helps you identify defective pages, duplicate content, and issues to do with site navigation and internal linking.
Building links through online mentions is one of the most organic techniques. Simply find the mentions of your website, product, brand, resource, company figure, etc. Mention and Google Alerts can help you find those mentions.
Once you have them, simply reach out and ask for a link along with the mention. However, keep in mind the quality of the mention. You want a positive mention from an active site with an engaged audience. Overall, the link should make sense for your current marketing objectives.
Getting mentioned in the media is a great way to promote your brand, establish authority and get more site visitors. Additionally, media mentions can also come with quality links. Luckily, there are many tools that allow you to reach out to journalists, and they to you.
But before giving examples, it’s important to remember that relationship management will play a key role in getting mentioned in the media. The most successful PR professionals focus on managing and leveraging their contacts. Similarly, you’ll enjoy more coverage if you focus on building authentic relationships with journalists. Some of the most popular platforms linking journalists to business owners are Help a Reporter Out (HARO), SourceBottle, Cision, Pitchbox and ProfNet.
Reviews and testimonials can be a source of fresh and frequent content that requires practically no input from you or your team. When a new review or testimonial about your business goes live, it acts as a signal to search engines that a certain page has been updated opening it up to crawling and giving you a chance to rank higher.
Additionally, reviews and testimonials allow you to rank for long-tail keywords. To get started, find out reputable brands within your target market that feature reviews and testimonials then reach out to them.
You can also make it easier for your customers to review your products by sending the link to your email subscribers. Scale this by making it easier for them to share the link on social media and encourage their colleagues to post reviews and testimonials.
If you’re not doing local link building then you’re missing out on a ripe market. Naturally, Google promotes local businesses for many of the searches even when the query doesn’t include strictly local terms.
Additionally, getting listed on niche directories is an important indication to Google of how relevant your website is to a particular audience. The goal here is to get a high-quality link so you want to find relevant directories that are also active.
While content is important for link building, you don’t always have to create fresh pieces of content in order to get new backlinks. Sometimes all you need to do is make sure you don’t lose what you already have through link reclamation; at other times, user-generated content does the work better as in online mentions, reviews, and testimonials.
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