A solid link building strategy can earn you a spot on the coveted first page of the search engine results pages (SERPs). We’ll show you several ways to build high-quality links so you can improve your rankings on Google, Bing, and other search engines.

Why is link building important for SEO?

Linkibuilding is an essential part of search engine optimization (SEO). Top search engines use it as one of the main factors in their algorithms to determine rankings. If you have lots of quality – and relevant – links leading to your site, you could end up on the first page of results. And, once you land on that first page, the sky becomes the limit for your brand’s visibility and reach.

In the past, link building strategies focused on quantity over quality. These days, the opposite is true, as you need to link to relevant, quality, and authority pages to climb the search engine ladder. As you can imagine, this can take a while, so use the following link building strategies to get the fastest path to that first page so you can start getting more eyes on your content.

Read: Best SEO Software and Tools (Paid and Free)

SEO Link Building Strategies

Now that you know the importance of getting high quality links from other sites, here are the SEO actionable link building strategies that can make it happen.

Use the broken link method

If you’re busy running your business, you might not have time to write engaging content for your site. A simple hack to get around this obstacle is the broken links method, which starts by finding pages on sites with dead links that no longer work. Once you find such a link, you can suggest replacing it with a link to content like this on your own site.

If you think a webmaster would scoff at this request, it’s probably not true, since you’re doing them a favor. Not only are you reporting a broken link that can negatively impact their user experience and SEO, but you’re also offering to replace it with something of value.
You can make their life easier and if they accept your offer, you both win.

You can use a tool like Check my links Chrome extension to find broken links.

Do guest blogging

One of the most effective link building strategies for SEO is guest blogging, as long as it’s selective and done right. Instead of blogging en masse on unofficial sites that aren’t even in your niche, create unique pieces of content for sites that have a similar audience, are authoritative in your industry, and relevant. By doing so, you can increase your traffic, get qualified leads, and move up the SERPs.

Read: SEO Competitor Analysis Tips

Look at your competitors’ backlinks

If a competitor has a higher search engine ranking, it probably means they are doing something right. Instead of reinventing the wheel, take a closer look at what they’re doing to see similar success.

The goal here is to find out where your competitors’ links are coming from. To check their backlinks, use a tool like Ahrefs Backlink Checker. Enter your competitors’ domain names to see their backlinks, then focus on sites with the highest domain and page authority to build your own links.

Is your competitor getting links from blogs in their niche? Then guest blogging is probably their link building strategy. Do they get links from sites like CNN, Forbes, or Huffington Post? So it can be a paid investment. Are their links from corporate sites? Networking and outreach may be involved.

See what works for them, then see how you can implement it into your SEO link building strategy.

Track your backlinks

Getting new links is great, but if you don’t follow them, it will be difficult to determine if what you’re doing is working and whether you should keep building more or put this strategy on hold.

Many links can disappear for a variety of reasons, such as site owners removing them. You may think you have 450 links pointing to your pages now, but unless you check, you won’t know for sure. Monitor your backlinks with your tool of choice to see if your link building strategies are on target or need to be changed.

Use social media

If your brand isn’t present on social media, now is the time to change that if you want your SEO link building to measure up. Even if you’re new to social media, just getting active can spark engagement with your fans.

Create new posts and updates about your brand. Share informative and eye-catching images. By doing so, you can expand the reach of your brand and introduce it to new people who will share this content with your target audience so that you can improve your link profile.

Read: Common Social Media Mistakes

Focus on infographics

Visitors love infographics because they effectively communicate ideas and concepts and are easy to digest. While they can be expensive to create if you hire a third party, aiming for infographics as part of your on-brand content can pay off as an SEO link building strategy.

They can do wonders for driving organic traffic on autopilot, which can help you get quality links easily. Inject an informative and eye-catching infographic into one of your articles, and you should earn a lot more links than just an article.

Improve existing resource articles

Think of a resource as a compiled guide that helps your target audience get their money’s worth when visiting your site. An example would be “10 freelance blogs that will increase your income”. If you found this resource on a trusted site, such as Huffington Post or something similar, you can expand on it to make it even better. What is the goal here? To get more backlinks.

So let’s say you use this sample article above as the basis for your new content. To improve it and provide more value to readers, you offer “30 Freelance Sites to Explode Your Income”. Once this resource article is completed and published, you can get backlinks by emailing the sites you have included. Not only did you manage to make connections, but you also created a relationship with other people in your industry who can contact you in the future.

Develop pillar content

If you want to build links, you need to provide value through your content. One of the best ways to achieve this goal is to create pillar content, which is usually over 500 words, and share tons of actionable tips or advice for your audience to use. Tutorials work well in this sense, so think of different ways to teach something to your audience. Then build your new content around that.

Pillar content has been proven to attract organic and referral traffic, increase conversion rates, and boost search engine rankings. As such, this should be one of your SEO link building strategies. Create a how-to article or share list of useful tips or strategies for your audience, and you should be good to go.

Read more tutorials, guides and SEO tool reviews on search engine optimization.