Building backlinks is a big part of ranking well in the search engines like Google. So, how do you build backlinks? It’s important to be creative and build your link profile over time.
You can’t just submit tons of articles to tons of different spammy article directories and expect to succeed. You can’t just spam blog comments and expect to zoom to the top of Google in no time. It takes some hard work, some smarts, and some patience.
The first thing I want you to know is that you should not be scared of building links. Yes, there are search engine optimization experts out there who will charge you a ton of money to make it happen. But, this really is a case of slow and steady wins the race. It is much better to have high quality, relevant back links then it is to pay for a high-priced package to have your link spammed all over the web.
Getting Links Naturally
The very best way to get links, and the way Google hopes for, is to get links naturally. If you have great content and start to build authority in your marketplace, people naturally want to link to you. This means being different, writing epic content, and really trying to make a name for yourself and your business on the web.
If you write high quality content, people will naturally link to you. You want to become one of the people others want to impress - that’s when you get the high-quality links you crave.
Manual Link Building
However, I don’t know a single successful person who doesn’t do at least some manual link building. Whether it’s writing guest posts on other people’s blogs, blog commenting, submitting to article directories, or something else, you’re going to want to build links the old-fashioned way.
You can get these links a variety of ways. You can even reach out and ask for links from relevant websites. You can submit articles to article directories, get links in exchange for favors, comment on other people’s blogs, submit files to file sharing websites, and so many other methods.
Please don’t buy into software that mass submits your site to dozens of different places. It's so important to, mostly manually, build a great link profile over time. Note that some types of link building are more valuable than others.
Guest posting on an authority blog is going to get you much better results than having a link in your signature file on a forum. All methods have their place, as long as you’re not spamming and as long as you have variety.
You can:
· Guest post on others' blogs
· Comment on blogs
· Submit articles to article directories, like EzineArticles.com
· Submit your site to blog directories
· Submit your site to site directories
· Write a great, different post that many people want to link to
Guest Posting
There are so many different ways to build backlinks. One of the most powerful ways to build backlinks, authority, and your presence on the web overall, is to submit guest blog posts.
Guest posting on other people’s blogs is a fantastic method of leveraging the traffic of an already established marketer. Many website owners love guest posts because it gives them a little bit of a posting break and exposes their audience to a different viewpoint, which is very valuable.
There are plenty of ways to find opportunities to guest post. You can simply search for blogs in your niche, using queries like, “guest bloggers wanted,” “submit post,” “add your content,” and more. You can also find guest posting opportunities by networking with other bloggers, website owners, and marketers via social media and more.
If you also have your own blog, you can offer to trade guest posts with the other blogger, you can write for their blog, they can write for yours, and of course you can mutually promote the post each of you makes to the other by linking to it, giving an extra backlink each way.
And I know, there are rumors that guest blog posting is getting out of favor with Google lately, but we’re talking about traffic, and having someone else’s traffic coming to you is a good thing.
Web 2.0 sites are a good way to increase your exposure on the web and get additional search engine traffic. When I talk about Web 2.0 sites, I'm talking about sites like HubPages.
It used to be that including your content on these sites was a sure fire way to shoot right to the top of the search engines. Those days are long gone, probably because they were overused by marketers looking to game the search engines.
However, you shouldn't let that deter you altogether. Consider these sites just another place to put your high-quality content and be seen in more places. Don’t dedicate yourself to these sites full time, but they are valuable to dabble in here and there.
Social Media SEO
I mentioned before that social media is most definitely a factor in organic rankings in the search engines. Social media is important to take advantage of on its own, but when you factor in search engine rankings, it’s impossible to ignore.
They say content is king, and while that may be true, it’s not enough. Your website can’t exist in a vacuum. You can have all the wonderful content you want and still not do very well if you don’t have a social media presence. Social media, including Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Tumblr, Google+, LinkedIn, and other websites are absolutely essential these days.
We know that search engines like Google look to popularity and freshness as factors in rankings. If you have a lot of links pointing to your website, that’s just one element of popularity. But, they also look at the mentions you get on social media, and things like likes, re-tweets, and +1's to determine your rankings and popularity.
If you want to rank highly, you’d better pay attention to the factors I mention below.
Make It Easy to Share Your Stuff
You've no doubt visited some of the most popular blogs on the web. You probably noticed that they have links that make it easy for you to share their content with your own social media profiles. They have links to retrieve content, like it or share it on Facebook, and more.
You need to do the same on your content. For instance, if you’re using WordPress, there are a variety of plugins (like Cunjo) you can use to make this a super simple and automated function on your site. You can also manually include links to your social media profiles, but these plugins are so much easier to implement.
Share Your Content on Social Media
You should also be sharing your content yourself on social media. This makes it easy for people to just re-tweet, like, comment on, or share what you’ve shared. Google may also take notice when other people share your links, because that is another checkmark in the box of popularity.
People Will Start to Seek You Out
The more present and relevant you become in social media, the more frequently people will seek you out. They’ll search for your content, link to you, and consider you an authority – and so will Google. Your backlinks will build over time. You want to be the first business or person that comes to mind when people think of your topic.
The Pulse of Your Content
Freshness and relevancy are huge factors when it comes to search engine rankings. If you’re being talked about on social media, Google will take notice. Social signals are extremely important when it comes to building backlinks and ranking in Google, which is why you need to get in the game.
Building Backlinks Is Worth It…
It’s well worth it to come up with a game plan for building backlinks. Write content, link to others, and find ways to naturally get backlinks. Over time, you can build a fantastic link profile that really works, no matter which changes Google brings to their algorithms.