Mastering SEO: Top 3 Link Building Strategies Revealed by Experts
Welcome to our expert round-up post on the most coveted topic in the world of SEO – link-building strategies. As seasoned digital marketers and website owners know, links are undeniably one of the most crucial ranking factors that search engines consider when determining the authority and relevance of a webpage.
Consequently, SEO professionals have long been engaged in an ever-evolving quest to master the art of building high-quality and authoritative links to boost their websites’ search rankings.
In our pursuit to uncover the most effective and favored link-building methods, we turned to the industry’s top SEO experts for their insights.
We asked them to share their top three favorite link-building techniques, along with in-depth explanations of why these strategies hold a special place in their SEO arsenal. By tapping into the wealth of knowledge possessed by these seasoned professionals, we aim to provide you with a comprehensive guide to some of the most potent link-building tactics that can elevate your website’s online presence.
So, if you’re ready to learn from the best and discover the strategies that have stood the test of time, join us as we delve into the minds of these SEO trailblazers.
Whether you’re an aspiring digital marketer, a business owner looking to optimize your website’s performance, or simply an enthusiast keen on understanding the dynamics of SEO, this expert round-up is packed with invaluable insights that will propel your link-building efforts to new heights.
Let’s dive in and unlock the secrets behind their top three favorite link-building strategies!
Here are the questions we asked:
- In your experience, which three link-building strategies have proven to be exceptionally effective in 2023 and stand out as your favorites?
- How do you approach link building?
Table of Contents
ToggleDmitrii Kustov
Marketing Director, Founder of Regexseo
My favorite backlink acquisition methods are all about content marketing – creating such good content, content that provides such a high value to users that they all naturally spread the word through social sharing, linking it on their blogs, websites, etc.
Therefore, instead of manually reaching out, or trying to post links on random sites, the links come to you organically.
So, to rephrase “Build it, and they’ll come“, my favorite link-building method is “Building it in such an awesome way, they can’t NOT come.”
Nathan Gotch
CEO of Gotch SEO
My approach to link building always starts with content. What do you have on your linkable website?
If there isn’t a clear answer, then that needs to be the focus. Create 2-5 linkable assets and then dive into link building.
My big secret is that I create something people want to link to, so I don’t have to pay for links!
Barry Schwartz
CEO of RustyBrick
I never once asked anyone to link to my site. I just produce content that I want to read and remember and thankfully I get a lot of links. My advice, stop thinking about how to get a link and start thinking about answering questions your readers have in the best possible way.
Steven J Wilson
SEO Specialist of steven j. wilson
- Backlinks are difficult to acquire. Anyone who has tried understands this. This is why A-B-C link exchanges have been working great. Taking an everybody-wins approach will not only help you acquire a link but also build relationships that you can leverage for future link-building campaigns.
- Foundation links work well also. It’s time-consuming, but once you have a list of authoritative websites that pass authority on, you can continue to leverage this list if you have a portfolio of websites or run a niche agency. It will give you an edge and is something an intern or VA can easily take care of.
- Content creation is a great way to acquire strong backlinks. I’ve created content that doesn’t get a ton of page views per month, but it ranks high and is responsible for several high DA backlinks that came organically.
Adam Riemer
CEO of adamriemer
Each client gets custom strategies vs. a standalone. This year we’re focusing heavily on visuals and emotional connections vs. detailed guides and written text. Visuals include photos, videos, shorts, reels, etc…
By bonding and connecting we can gain exposure and media links organically.
Fili Wiese
SEO Consultant at seo.services
First, I’d recommend conducting a backlink audit in order to assess the current backlink situation to uncover and mitigate any lingering legacy backlinks potentially holding the website back in Google Search.
Next, I recommend focusing on building conversion-driving traffic links as the primary link building strategy.
Stephen Hockman
Founder of Seochatter
Local Citations
Location citations are easy links to build for any website that has a local address for the business. These are foundational links that every website should create to help establish trust signals for off-site SEO.
You can create these types of links yourself by listing your business’s NAP information (name, address, phone number) and homepage URL on local business directories like Crunchbase, Merchant Circle, Hotfrog, and Manta.
You can also create free business profiles on sites like Google Business Profile and Bing Places.
Creating local citations is an easy way to get high quality backlinks from high Domain Authority (DA) sites for improved off-site SEO.
Interview Links
I also like to get backlinks by participating in industry-related interviews. This includes appearing on YouTube shows, podcasts, and written interviews that are posted on the organization’s blog.
What’s great about this link building method is that it boosts the E-A-T (Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness) signals for Google’s algorithm as well as generates many backlinks from a single effort (i.e., the interview you participate in).
For example, most podcast shows are syndicated on multiple online platforms, such as Apple iTunes, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, etc, which leads to a larger number of high quality backlinks. Plus, the interviewer will often link to your website within the blog post which is a free dofollow link.
And, if there is a specific page you want to build a link to for off-page SEO, you can name-drop that page in the interview and this asks the host to link to the content in the show notes, which then appears on the blog and other sites that the interview is syndicated.
Quoted Link Insertions
Another link-building method I like to use is getting quoted on a web page that has a high Page Authority (PA) metric. Then reach out to the site owner and ask if they are looking to enhance the authoritativeness of the article with quotes by industry professionals.
Most often, if you can add additional insights to the content that benefits the user, then the site owner will agree while adding your quote and link back to your website’s homepage.
You can also use this method by talking to industry contacts you already have by asking them if there is a web page you can get featured on by sharing your expertise as a quote.
This backlink strategy is a great way to generate more high quality links from content with a high PA score, which transfers the most PageRank authority for off-page
Jared Bauman
CEO of 201 Creative
We approach link building from a holistic view, preferring to see it as part of a larger Digital PR process. The goal is to get the website talked about in areas online that are authoritative, trusted, and relevant. Links are the currency, but the process is an active part of the conversation.
It is important to balance all of these factors though. Paying attention to the relevancy of a link and its anchor text is vital.
Keeping a close eye on follow vs no follow percentages, types of links and their ratios, etc – these factors ensure that a campaign will have a positive ROI.
Freddie Chatt
SEO Consultant at freddiechatt.com
- Image Link Building – Utilising your lifestyle image to build links through distribution channels such as Unsplash or Press Loft type services means that your unique images can be used across the web freely, a simple outreach email requesting credit is usually enough to pick up some highly valuable and relevant links.
- Product-Led Link Building – Reaching out to high authority publications who have written product round-ups or gift guides and getting your products featured. Journalists love an easy job, and with a free sample to sweeten the deal, these links can be so much more effective at improving search traffic than hundreds of guest posts.
- Localized Digital PR – Ranking places based on their Google/Tripadvisor reviews and analyzing common trends. You can then reach out to local publications to let them know that X attraction/venue/etc is ranked #1 in the country – this can get some fantastic local links.
Roxana Stingu
Head of Search & SEO of Alamy
Working with enterprise-level websites quickly makes the need of link-building go away. The larger the website’s scale, the more widespread the brand recognition becomes.
As the brand’s prominence grows, so does the organic influx of backlinks.
Nate Nead
Principal of SEO.co
Here are a few of my favorite link-building methods for 2023:
- If you’re looking to get SEO top-shelf backlinks from top-ranked sites, guest blogging could be a total game-changer. Essentially, when I write an article for an established website, it’s like getting a stamp of approval – which makes search engines trust me more and gives my site more credibility.
- Content marketing can take more time than other strategies, but the key is killer content that folks will keep coming back for. Once you figure out exactly what your target audience wants and start delivering it on the reg, they’ll be psyched to spread the word and link up to your page.
- Using social media platforms is another great way of linking up with other websites or influencers who could help spread the word about what you’re doing online. Sharing your stuff across different networks helps get eyes on it – which makes it more likely someone will give you those coveted backlinks!
Kristal Audain
Product Manager of Groundworks
Being in corporate SEO for most of my career, media relationships have been my absolute go-to for link building. This is for both news sources and powerhouses within the industry that already believe in our company’s mission.
I also believe that aligning with similar content creators within the space for cross-marketing is very effective because they are able to naturally link to our content and provide real value to their customers and ours.
Nick Kretz
Growth Advisor, SEO Consultant of Kretz
The blend of the above three link approaches provides me with quick traffic, and high-value earned placements that lead to product sales and targeted audience exposure.
My top three link-building methods are currently:
- HARO (help a reporter out), monitoring and pitching relevant link opportunities.
- Digital PR around news-worthy events for product launches with targeted outreach to niche-specific websites to get direct placements for the e-commerce brands that I work with.
- Direct placement in High-DA media publications that are relevant to my client’s business/audience using Affiliate Marketing Techniques.
The blend of the above three link approaches provides me with quick traffic, and high-value earned placements that lead to product sales and targeted audience exposure.
Myriam Jessier
Digital Strategist of myriamjessier
I’ve been doing SEO for more than 15 years now. I can’t remember a time when I liked and found link-building enjoyable. It’s tedious, complicated, and artificial. However, it is an essential part of SEO.
It helps bots and humans figure out their navigation path within the World Wide Web. It helps with branding and contextual understanding. It’s the best way to show you are trustworthy.
With this in mind, I approach link building a digital PR mindset. You have to consider it on the long term not on a punctual campaign basis. Creating tools that people want to share because they are useful is one way to go about it.
But creation is not the only thing you really need to think about. Promotion matters. Being seen where people can discover the tool in the first place helps foster more visibility and more organic links.
I also consider building as part of the customer journey, making sure that people find you where they expect to find brands like you or services like yours is key.
Once again you cannot consider link building in a silo, it’s an integral part of your branding and SEO roadmap.
Nick Leroy
SEO Consultant of nickleroy
Public Relations is by far the most effective link-building method when it comes to scalability. When you have a person/team who is actively promoting a company and its products/services, backlinks are a natural byproduct of this effort.
Unfortunately, PR is often a benefit of large companies, and small businesses or niche sites can’t afford or won’t find a positive ROI in investing in PR campaigns.
Amanda Jordan
Director of Digital Strategy, ricketyroo
I am speaking about link building at MozCon this year. We are focusing heavily on the types of links winning sites have. In local SEO, your competitors typically don’t have a ton of links or many very high authority links so those sometimes don’t come into play.
We expand the definition of what a quality link is by focusing on the linking website’s relevance to our client’s site. We also look at what types of links the competitors are building such as local vs editorial vs citations.
Some other methods I love are looking for brand mentions that are unlinked and deep-diving into competitor backlinks to find hidden gems.
Keith Mint
Web Publisher of mintedempire
I’ve had bad luck with a few agencies that I’ve tested. Some well-known names in the industry reached out to offer them for free in exchange for a case study.
I’ve always been disappointed with the quality of the links that they put forward. For the most part, the links were from spammy link farms. I didn’t want them anywhere near my sites.
I’ve had reasonable success with HARO outreach. I haven’t tried other link-building methods apart from a bit of digital PR which I did manually myself and didn’t get terribly far with it.
Ewan Stevenson
Head of SEO of ayima
Top three favorite link-building methods still relevant in 2023:
- Public data study + expert opinion.
- A Good old promo party.
- Resource link building – with assets people genuinely need or enjoy.
Adriana Stein
CEO & Founder of AS Marketing
Digital PR (being on podcasts, events, contributing guest articles)
Creating linkable assets such as trends, statistics, and data-driven content (especially when you are the data source, not compiling data from third parties)
Co-marketing efforts such as co-written content
One example of a big win from these methods is we got a client over 800 backlinks with a single content piece related to statistics they compiled from a survey.
There is absolutely no need for outreach or buying links. If you’re still doing that, you’re seriously wasting time and money.
Brie Moreau
Founder & CEO of wldm.io
Our Golden Links and CRO testing on backlink target pages.
In 2023 and the years to come, my unequivocal favorite link-building method is our groundbreaking Golden Link strategy, which has redefined the way we approach SEO in the face of Google’s ever-evolving updates.
This strategy was meticulously crafted over six months of dedicated effort, aimed at providing our clients with a competitive edge. It revolves around teamwork and authentic outreach, transcending the conventional link-brokering approach.
Our Golden Link strategy reflects an unwavering commitment to producing remarkable results. Each backlink we build is a testament to our dedication, requiring 6 to 10 hours of meticulous work involving at least five individuals. The challenge is embraced wholeheartedly, as we understand the significant impact that these authentic, high-quality links have on our clients’ websites.
One of the core aspects of our strategy is the meticulous selection of backlinks. We assess a link’s value based on its alignment with desired keywords, relevance to the niche, niche authority, user value, and its proven track record with Google. This approach ensures that every link we secure contributes substantially to our client’s online presence and rankings.
Our strategy’s success story is highlighted by our achievement in securing a first-page ranking for a website specializing in synthetic urine, a niche that could have been affected by Google’s updates. This accomplishment affirmed the power of our GoldenLinks and demonstrated its adaptability to diverse niches.
What sets our approach apart is our commitment to integrity and authenticity. Many link-building methods prioritize quantity over quality, relying on superficial metrics like Domain Authority. We go where others hesitate, identifying opportunities that stand out in the crowded SEO landscape.
While it demands significant manual effort, the results are unparalleled, reminiscent of the adage of quality. Our strategy thrives on obtaining links from recognized authority sites that offer invaluable link juice, and we execute this with utmost stealth, harmoniously integrating backlinks within the content to ensure a natural and organic appearance.
In summary, the Golden Link strategy’s uniqueness lies in its holistic, dedicated, and authentic approach. It has revolutionized the realm of link building by prioritizing quality, relevance, and integrity, paving the way for meaningful, long-term success in the ever-evolving landscape of SEO.
Anatolii Ulitovskyi
Founder of unmiss
My favorite strategy, which we delve into in our course, is PR. This isn’t your standard link-building method, but it can deliver remarkable results when you pitch succinct studies that bring something fresh, unique, valuable, and newsworthy to the table.
Of course, not all campaigns will hit the mark. But that’s part of the journey. Success in PR requires patience and persistence, understanding that not every pitch will yield immediate results.
What’s important is continuously striving to create and share content that stands out from the crowd, captures attention, and provides value. It’s this commitment to quality and uniqueness that ultimately makes PR such a powerful strategy in the SEO world.
Luca Mussari
Freelance SEO Consultant at lucamussari.com
- Content Collaboration: Partnering with industry influencers and experts to co-create content not only provides value to readers but also broadens the reach and potential for backlinks.
- Digital PR: By positioning oneself or one’s brand as an authority in the industry and sharing insights with journalists and bloggers, you can earn high-quality backlinks from reputable sources. Publications and journalists are always looking for unique points of view, stats, or expert advice so building relationships in advance allows brands and individuals to be top of mind whenever they are looking for a new story or feature.
- Community Engagement: Participating in industry forums, webinars, and online communities allows for organic link-building opportunities. It’s not just about dropping links, but genuinely engaging and providing value. You never know if they will reach out to you for a quote, an interview, or a specific story about you or your brand.
Andreas (Dre) Voniatis
Founder of artios.io
It depends on who you ask. Some brands will never need to pursue link acquisition programs because they acquire links constantly due to the amount of media activity they do such as TV advertising. However, for most if not all startups, link acquisition is incredibly important.
I only have one favorite technique for link building and that’s data-driven digital PR because, like brands, these campaigns grow links over time.
This strongly signals to Google that your startup is achieving brand standard popularity and growth.
Jason Mills
Founder of theaffiliateschool
I mix it up with manual outreach, blog posts, HARO, digital PR, and even the odd PBN. I don’t have one preferred method but I like to mix it up and keep it looking as natural as possible
Ryan Jones
SVP, SEO at Razorfish, RyanMJones.com
I work mostly with big brands so we are lucky to not need to do a lot of link-building. Launching a new vehicle phone or product usually gets lots of news/ press / social coverage that provides links – and that’s what all SEOs should strive for.
Be so useful or so relevant to people that they link on their own. It’s not easy, but it’s not impossible.
One method that has worked very well for my personal sites is research. I’ve curated a couple of data sets that are useful to college researchers. I let them use the datasets for free if they properly cite the website they got it from.
Usually, that means a link to their published research papers. Again, the key here is providing value.
Being an expert on something is helpful too, because then you get asked to contribute to posts like this one 😉
Generally though, if you build something that people really like and find useful, they’ll link without you having to ask.
Gerry White
Co-organizer of TakeItOffline
There are so many approaches to link building, there isn’t a single way that works for everyone, but prioritizing relevance and trust is always critical, who should link to you and why is it important?
Great content is often the best way to gain these types of links. The other approach is to be a voice in the industry, being the source of truth or an opinion that shows you are the authority on a given topic, digital PR is increasingly challenging but this is the best approach typically.
Karl Kangur
Director of Marketing at smashdigital
My favorite strategy by far is focusing on content directed to website owners and content creators instead of your usual audience – in other words, linkable assets. These could be surveys, case studies, statistics pages, or anything else worth quoting.
Your goal should be to rank these pages for terms that someone might want to search for when looking for data to back up their point. Links are on autopilot and extremely scalable.
The second one will sound like a cliche but it’s genuine relationship-building and value exchanges. Few people are going to waste their time editing an old article because your link is “better for their” readers, no matter how good your content is.
Build some links for them yourself and get them to return the favor. Generally, this is done by guest posting but just with much higher quality content than what is out there today and on sites everyone else thinks are impossible to get on.
Lastly, digital PR. This is something we’re still experimenting with and learning but the results are pretty amazing.
We’re talking about hundreds of high authority links on a well-researched campaign. It’s hard to replicate with other strategies.
Alek Asaduryan
SEO & Niche Site Expert, alek-asaduryan
The topic of link-building tends to stir up quite a bit of debate within our industry. Nevertheless, I believe that even in 2023, links continue to hold significant sway.
Currently, I’m not engaged in any active link-building campaigns, but when I do, I tend to gravitate toward Help a Reporter Out (HARO) outreach and guest posting. In my experience, these two strategies have proven to be the most effective.
Christian Stenger
SEO Consultant at Moccu
- “Assisted” Link Earning: Creation of highly ambitious & helpful content (think: industry analysis, study, how-to guides, …) in combination with Digital PR and social Media marketing (and maybe even PPC). It’s simple! When you’ve created incredible content, get that info out there! Inform your followers, clients, and partners, since they already have (had) an interest in you. Additionally, make use of services like HARO, JustReachOut, Help a B2B Writer, OnePitch, or SourceBottle, to form strong relationships with journalists and researchers who might even actively need your data.
- Local Link Building: There are many opportunities in the area of local SEO; you can receive links e.g. through charity, sponsorships, local partners, and so on. In this case, even web catalogs can make sense. The advantage is that some of these links can be based on personal relationships.
- Link Earning through Networking: Businesses always collaborate. The chance of receiving links from partners and/or clients you’ve worked for oftentimes is above average. For me, part of this is guest-posting, taking part in an interview, or collaborating on a podcast – still some of the most effective link-building opportunities IMHO.
Koray Tugberk Gubur
CEO of Holistic
I inaugurated my Saigon Speech at the SEO Mastery Summit by discussing Link Building, a topic often misunderstood. I want to clarify that I am not averse to Link Building.
My development and structuring of the Topical Authority approach is not a reaction against Link Building, but rather a response to the widespread misunderstanding of how search engines work.
In my perspective, it’s crucial to recognize the diversity of links that can bolster a website’s visibility and the fact that authority is not synonymous with PageRank. Yes, certain links can amplify your authority without necessarily boosting your PageRank.
At times, even in the absence of a link, a positively toned review featuring a brand mention within a relevant context can enhance your authority and relevance on a particular topic.
Consequently, I propose that either the definition of PageRank should be modified, or we need additional, supportive contexts that clarify the role of links and branding in today’s digital environment.
In my methodology, I have incorporated content marketing strategies that I term Link Maps and Link Sprints.
This approach meticulously plans the linking process – from determining the originating URL and target URL to deciding which paragraph, word, and sentence will be linked, and even when and how frequently these links will be deployed, as well as their relevance to the topic and query context. Every link is planned considering its correlation to the succeeding and preceding links.
In my experience, once I initiate the link-building process, it becomes a relentless endeavor. One must maintain a certain level of link velocity, ideally in an unpredictable pattern, to evade detection by search engine algorithms. As a part of my strategy, I also interlink my competitors along with my site to obfuscate any traces of manipulation.
This strategic approach to link-building forms an integral part of my SEO mastery.
The efficacy of link building pertains to the ratio between the time and financial investment per link and the continuous, enduring positive impact it has on the ranking and revenue generation process. As such, the majority of links in the long term may register a zero effectiveness score as their contribution to ranking degrades over time due to decay.
Consequently, I place a premium on constant queries exhibiting a high level of search demand, and I seek links from high-quality sources, even if they are costlier or more challenging to acquire. This strategy sustains an ongoing boost in ranking and fortifies against potential distortions in the link graph.
Several link-building methods, renowned for their long-term effectiveness and permanency, are at the forefront of my preference list.
These include producing viral content, generating unique statistical insights, creating infographics, developing original images for image credits, embedding unique videos within content, collaborating with influencers, and utilizing strategies such as newsjacking, broken link building, webinars, and customer testimonials.
Each of these methods plays a vital role in enhancing the quality and durability of link-building efforts.
Roberto Robles
Founder of Katlinks.io
- Guest posts, either via outreach or collaborations with known contacts.
- Side projects are always a good way to acquire backlinks.
- If done right, buying backlinks/niche edits can also be good, but it has to be carefully done.
Blas Giffuni
Digital Marketing Consultant at Blasgiffuni
I no longer recommend chasing links, if you’re an expert, you shouldn’t need to beg for a link. Instead, create better content by involving all the teams in the organization.
Then find the right distribution channels and methods based on topics. The links will come. If links don’t come, rankings will.
Marc Brookland
Founder of seolocale
It really depends on the type of client to determine which link-building strategies would be best. But generally speaking the clients we work with, in no particular order:
- Local citations
- Domain purchasing
- Outreach
Marco Giordano
SEO Specialist of Seotistics
I don’t offer link-building services.
My take is the usual boring advice you hear online:
- For Ecommerce, target articles and categories, not product pages. You can craft infographics or relevant guides to fish for some links and then internally link to your products.
- For content websites, infographics, interviews, and even “editorials” may do the trick. In this case, I recommend using social media consistently to push some strategic articles.
- Dedicated images may also be attire links if used properly. You may sometimes get a nofollow, and this depends a lot on what license you are using.
Stephanie Nelson
Owner of sbnmktg.com
My niche is on-page SEO, so I do not work a lot in the link-building space. When I do work on link-building, it’s based on genuine relationships and outreach to folks who know and use the product/service of the site.
As much as we all love our filters for our images and all on social media, there’s really a push for authenticity across all forms of search engine marketing, SEO included.
Gabriella Sannino
Co-Founder of Level343
Relationships, local support, and, when there’s no other option, slogging through website lists with outreach.
The best has always been relationships. Worthy content people want to link to. Build relationships with influencers, with great online news feeds (especially if you’re in a niche industry) and I can’t speak enough about getting your local news to be part of your efforts. Especially if you have local stores/businesses.
Noah Kain
Owner of workwithnoah
We use a combination of cold email outreach and prospecting and tools like HARO (help a reporter out).
Baileigh Dabdoub
SEO Account Manager of greenlanemarketing
When building backlinks, there is a lot of spam and misinformation out there. I personally don’t believe in wasting time and effort in getting useless backlinks on spammy websites, so I’ll never recommend posting links on Quora on things like that.
However, there are a few strategies that ARE effective and can result in valuable backlinks, however, these strategies do depend on the size and type of a business.
Organic Media Coverage:
Works for Small Businesses + Enterprise Businesses
If you’ve got a small or local business, the best and only method you should focus on for gaining backlinks is community outreach to garner local organic media attention. Host an event for the community or even a charity event.
Do a giveaway or raffle that benefits a local organization. Not only are you giving back and doing good, but your local news is more than likely to cover the event, which can get you a high-trust, high-traffic backlink. Not to mention, you’ll also be spreading brand awareness.
For enterprise businesses and larger companies, the same thing can be done on a larger scale, and the coverage will also be more widespread, especially if the brand name is well known.
However, organizing things like this on a massive scale can be complicated and take time, so there are other ways to effectively garner some backlinks in the meantime.
Valuable Content + Valuable Asset:
Works Better for Enterprise Businesses
If you’re an enterprise business or a fairly well-known brand, providing valuable information along with a valuable asset like a graphic, table, chart, video, etc is a simple task, but it’s a very effective strategy.
If you’ve been around for a while, Google knows, as it takes into account domain history, related entities, etc. So, odds are your site has “index priority,” meaning that as long as you don’t have an obnoxious crawl bloat, your content should get indexed regularly and quickly, so you don’t have to do the usual waiting.
Not only does Google recognize your name if you’ve grown authority and trust in your industry, but users will too, meaning they’re more likely to share your content with others since they can trust that it’s accurate.
So, giving users valuable content, “insider” info, or even your unique, expert opinion along with a nice, pretty asset they can share or link to, gives you an excellent chance of getting some great backlinks!
This can work for smaller or local businesses, but it’ll take a lot more work, time, and effort, and there are no guarantees either. However, you should 100% still be making an effort to produce quality content that holds value.
Hire a Niche Specific Outreach Specialist:
Any, Mainly Bigger Businesses
Any business can take this route, though it makes more sense financially for a medium to large company to try this method. An outreach specialist is someone who knows how to “sell” content, and they typically work within one niche or industry, so they are able to become experts within that area.
They’ll work with you to craft content that will be “sellable” and then reach out to people and companies to which the content is relevant and helpful.
Now, this method is not foolproof, nor are results guaranteed, and it is quite a large investment. Smaller businesses can try this method if they please, but media coverage will prove to be a much more effective method for them
Overall, I’d say my recommendation for smaller businesses is to work on community outreach to garner organic media attention. My suggestion for a larger company, especially one with a well-known name, would be to provide valuable info combined with a valuable, shareable asset.
They can also layer on the community outreach method as well. I’d only recommend the outreach specialist if the company is larger and has money to spare, as it’ll more than likely get results, but it won’t be very budget-friendly.
Dan Richardson
SEO consultant at danrich
- Tool creation – say for example you have a site in the finance industry, you could create a tool that helps people work out how much they stand to lose/save when interest rates change by inputting their savings and mortgage details into a calculator. You can then reach out to any blog that talks about recent interest rate changes and suggest your calculator as a useful tool that their users may find helpful.
- Local Community Initiatives – For Local SEO you can’t beat getting your business involved in a local community event/initiative, sponsoring a local sports club, getting your team involved with a community building event (such as a graffiti removal day/litter picking, etc) are simple and highly effective ways of getting local media coverage.
- Industry-specific outreach – Traditional guest post outreach is hard to do well, however, industry-specific outreach can work far better providing you know the niche well. For example, in a previous role, I worked in the student accommodation niche and there are many sites that are quite happy to list your website as a valuable resource for free providing you know who the right person to speak to is.
David Zimmerman
SEO Consultant at Reliableacorn
Branded link building, where you find who is talking about your company and ask them for a link, is always effective and productive. This can work when you look at your competitors- who is talking about them and linking to them- and might link to you, too.
Guest blogging works well too- if you’re contributing something new and speaking in industry-specific periodicals (but Google ignores guest blog farms and PBMs).
Michael Schumacher
Owner of Schumachermarketing
Link roundups and resource page link-building tactics are still my favorite link-building methods. They’re tried and true and still hold weight in effectiveness.
This strategy consists of reaching out to people most likely to link to you based on previous behavior. The methods necessitate value propositions, which position your content as the ideal candidate for link placement.
My third favorite link-building method would be Brian Dean’s new “reverse outreach” method. It’s based on the premise that manual link outreach is very time-consuming.
This new approach enables massive leverage to help attract thousands of backlinks by carefully crafting content around trending linkable topics.
As an SEO, you need to hyper-focus on leverage as much as possible to scale your time as a professional.
Ben Poulton
Founder of Intellar Agency
My favorite link-building method in 2023 is the tried and tested link bait tactic, with a combination of journalist outreach. This is how you land the best links, in my opinion. With this approach, you get press coverage on high authority and highly trafficked domains. Plus, you create a killer piece of content on your site in the process that can rank. A win all around.
My 2nd would be responding to requests from the likes of HARO & Featured. And lastly, the odd guest post. Yes, I do believe guest posts work under the right circumstances.
Romain Brabant
Founder of seobuddy
Our holy grail links are getting contextual links on a page that is indexed by Google and actually ranking for the keyword we target. This starts by doing a SERP Analysis for that keyword, auditing the results, and then outreach.
This used to be a manual process, but that is now faster with the help of automation, and that will also be disrupted by AI in the months to come.
- Finding contextual backlinks with SERP Analysis is our number one.
- Next is to monitor unlinked mentions and ask for a backlink.
- Competitor Backlink analysis comes third.
- Finally, even though it’s not link-building, collecting more reviews will always be one of the strongest off-page SEO Signals to grow your authority.
Optimizing the process to collect quality reviews should be your top priority in your SEO Journey.
A heartfelt thank you to all the brilliant SEO experts who generously shared their top three favorite link-building strategies in this round-up post. Your expertise and wisdom have undoubtedly enlightened our audience and inspired us all to refine our SEO tactics.
Now, it’s time to spread the knowledge!
If you found this post valuable, don’t forget to share it with your peers and fellow enthusiasts.
Together, let’s empower the digital community to conquer the world of SEO and achieve unrivaled online success. Happy linking!