If you’re looking to improve your site’s ranking in search engines like Google – you’re probably already aware of how important backlinks can be. If not, then you should be. Getting lots of good quality backlinks is the foundation of any successful SEO strategy. In this article, we’re going to look at 7 great ways to start building backlinks to your site without costing a penny.
One important thing to remember with backlinking is that sometimes – quality beats quantity. Yes – you do want to try and get lots of backlinks, but they need to be good ones. If you can get relevant links from high-quality authority sites, these will be worth a lot more than lots of links on sites that don’t carry any weight. There’s a reason why those Fiverr gigs that offer thousands of backlinks overnight only cost $5 – and they could be doing your ranking more harm than good.
1. Testimonials
If you’ve got something good to say about another site – this could actually work in your favor as a great way to get some high-quality backlinks. Try reaching out and offering your (positive opinion) on some relevant authorities in your niche (or beyond). Many of these sites will be more than happy to provide you with an anchored backlink in return for a positive review. They’ll place this prominently on their site and you should get both link-juice and residual traffic.
You could also try a testimonial exchange and offer someone a similar link on your site for a favorable review.
2. Site Mentions and Broken Links
One great way to reach out and find new possibilities for backlinks is with site or brand mentions. If your business is getting talked about online (hopefully in a good way) – then there should be lots of people mentioning your site or company without including a link. It’s easy to understand, as normal internet users don’t really have backlinks and their importance at the front of their minds.
Try reaching out to these people. Thank them for their comment, and explain honestly why you’d really appreciate if they edited it to anchor it to your site. You could even offer them a discount or special offer in return, but many will be happy to do this for free. If you can turn lots of those site mentions into anchored links, you could see your ranking start to improve.
3. Forum Posting
If you’re aware of some relevant authorities in your niche that have forums – post on them. Make yourself known in that community. Not only will you get hits and business from other people on the forum, it should also increase your backlinks – especially if you leave a link in your signature.
Try not to spam the forum with only links to your site. Offer value and take part in legitimate discussion.
4. Syndicating Content
Another thing to remember about building a successful blog is a lot of your success will depend on the quality of the content you post. While you might have been able to throw up useless posts and trick your way to the top in the past – those days are long gone. If you can create great content – it’ll start to work for you in more ways than one.
One of the best ways to start making the most of your high-quality posts is to look for relevant places to syndicate them. If you know of an authority in your niche – try reaching out to them and offer them some of your content for free (in return for a link). This sort of backlink will be super-relevant, which search engines love. And it should also provide you with residual traffic that already switches on to your message or interested in your niche.
5. Social Media
Another way great content can work for you is by getting shared. If you can get your content to a stage where people are sharing it for you – they’ll be doing all that hard marketing legwork on their own. Every time someone “likes” something you post – they’ll be sharing it with their whole friends network and letting even more people know about you and your site.
While some of these backlinks will be no-follow – social media is still a great place to start spreading the word about your site or business.
6. Comment Posting
You can still build links successfully by commenting on other people’s blogs. Just make sure you don’t get to spammy with this. Nobody wants to see completely irrelevant links in comments sections that have nothing to do with the article. Try adding value and using your links selectively.
7. Link Exchanges
This type of link building is probably one of the oldest going – but it can still be effective. We’ve already looked at a few examples of link exchanges, like testimonials. Simply approach a site and offer them a link on yours in return for one on theirs. It can still be a great way to grow your backlinks.
Hopefully, you’ve now seen a few ways to get your backlinking strategy on the route to success.
AUTHOR BIO
Peter Ellington has years of experience writing about internet marketing issues and helping those new to the industry with his advice. He also writes for a Local Tuition Agency, SmileTutor.
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