7 Backlink Tips for Better SEO

Marketing Morsels is a series of short and sweet blog posts for Marketing Managers looking for bite-sized knowledge hits that’ll help drive business. These blog posts have been shortened and adapted from their original home, InspireFirst.

 

It’s Monday and you’re NOT thinking about your backlinks strategy. I mean, why would you? Mondays are for coffee and meetings and thinking about your to-do list. Thinking about your backlinks strategy could feel as random as noodling on the IQ of an octopus. Well, put aside your octoped musings and pay attention because while backlinks are just a small part of your overall search engine optimization strategy, they’re a critical cog of your larger strategy machine! In fact, according to Google Penguin, backlinks are still a viable way to increase your SEO ranking (provided they’re organic, quality links, and not defunct and/or spammy, that is).

That’s why we put together seven backlink tips to help you create a backlink profile you can boast about in your next team meeting with pride!

Seven Snazzy Backlink Tips

Building backlinks takes effort and a well-executed plan. Luckily for you, these quick-hit backlink tips make that planning a breeze.

1. Build Relationships

Build relationships with other content creators in your industry. Not only does having an outbound strategy help connect you with peers (a great way to build social proof and site authority), it can also introduce you to relevant influencers (and who doesn’t want that?). Think of this as an extension of your professional network. Who else is publishing great content in your niche? Shoot them an email, introduce yourself, keep your ask clear and concise, and — above all — be ready to reciprocate! Like with any other relationship, no one likes to feel used. Engage with their content, offer backlinks in return, or go above and beyond and pitch the idea of working together on fresh new content!

2. Get into Guest Blogging

Speaking of working together, use that relationship-building to do some guest blogging. Ever heard of “piggybacking on [someone else’s] audience”? Guest posts are a fantastic way to connect to an audience that is closely related to your own (who may not have found you otherwise).

3. Revisit Old Posts

Have some quality links kicking around? That’s an excellent way to update your current backlink profile. Use a tool like Ahrefs’ Backlink Checker. It’ll help you identify any outdated links and give you the opening you need to reach out to sites and (gently) suggest they update to your new, obviously more awesome link(s).

4. Build Site Authority

We’ve talked about outbound but how do you get inbound requests for backlinks? There’s no way around it — the best way to earn backlinks from high-authority sites is to write valuable content. Keep your blog up to date with a fresh stream of great content. Get strategic and curate helpful resource lists (making it even easier for others to link back to your posts). Check out this rundown of content types that’ll make the idea of sharing your posts irresistible!

5. Check Your Competitors’ Backlinks

Take note of which websites have backlinks to your competition. Ahrefs and other backlink checking tools are some of the best methods for analyzing your competitor’s backlink profile. This will give you insight into which websites you should approach to help build your own profile. 

6. Identify Unlinked Mentions

An excellent source of backlinks are pages that have mentioned you but didn’t include a link. If you approach them, there is a good chance that they’ll add a link to your site. It helps them with their outbound links, too. Win/Win! 

7. Be Proactive (Be, Be, Proactive!)

If you haven’t noticed, a lot of our tips can be boiled down to, “Get out there and ask”. Start by making sure your site has quality content and use that as a foundation for your prospect outreach strategy.

PRO TIP: Answer calls for content (or knowledge) from reporters using the HARO link-building strategy. Help a reporter produce excellent content through your expertise, and get a juicy backlink in return!

 

Remember: A solid backlink strategy drives up your SEO, site authority, and brand awareness. So, take these seven backlink tips and knock your backlink profile outta the park this year!