Link Building in SEO – a complete guide to link acquisition

Want to learn how to acquire links for SEO? If so, you’ve come to the right place! In this guide, we’ll teach you everything you need to know about link building and how it can help improve your site’s rankings.

We’ll cover topics such as what links are, why they matter, and how to get started on getting them. We’ll also give you some specific ways to make the link building process easier and more effective.

We’ll also give you some specific ways to make the link building process easier and more effective.

So whether you’re a beginner or an experienced SEO specialist, this guide is sure to help you improve your site’s link acquisition!

What are links?

<a href=””> is an HTML attribute used to define a hyperlink. It contains the href attribute, anchor (also called anchor text or anchor) and several additional attributes. The value of the href attribute contains the URL of the page to which the link will direct. In most cases, when a user clicks on the link, it will load the destination page in the current browser window.

Links are important because they allow us to easily navigate the Internet. Without them, we would have to remember long strings of characters (URLs) in order to visit more pages.

Links are important because they allow us to easily navigate through the Internet.

What are anchors?

Anchors are the visible names we click on to navigate between pages on the Internet. By default, they appear as blue, underlined text. When you hover your mouse over them, the browser displays the URL (web address) of the page you intend to visit. When you click on the anchor text, the browser loads a new page.

Anchors are important because they help us know what to expect on the landing page.

What is Link Building?

Link building is the process of acquiring new inbound links (commonly referred to as “backlinks”) to a website. Link building strategies may use different methods, but the goal is always the same: to increase the number of inbound links pointing to a website. The goal of link building is to improve a website’s position in search engine rankings.

There are many different ways to build links, but the most popular methods include:

• creating informative and shareable content that others will want to link to (such as blog posts, infographics, documents, research studies, etc.);
• asking other websites in  the industry to post a link;
• participating in online forums and discussion groups;
• and much more;

If you are interested in detail on the topic of why link building is crucial in SEO, I invite you to read Ada’s separate post about link profile

Finding high-quality links

A good link for your site should meet several conditions. The most important is the place (site) from which it comes. A site with high authority (power) is desirable here. About link power Carolina wrote in detail in a separate post. In addition, other parameters such as organic traffic (overall and that related to a specific subpage), anchor text, text surrounding the link, the topic of the portal or the dofollow attribute of the link are also valuable.

To check the power of a page or an entire site, you can use any of the SEO tools available on the market. These include Semrush, aHrefs, Senuto, Majestic or MOZ.

Content Marketing in the Service of Link Building

Let’s take a moment to talk about creating informative content and content that has the potential to be shared. The kind that others will want to link to: blog posts, infographics, charts, documents, reports, research.

Research, Data or Case Study

This is the most difficult and time-consuming method. You will have to create something so great that other people in your industry can’t help but link to it. This can be an in-depth research study or a detailed report.

The key is to make sure that your content is truly unique and provides value to your readers. If you manage to create content that has high merit, you’ll be well on your way to quality link building.

The key is to make sure your content is unique and provides value to your readers.

List of X things

People love lists because they are easy to read and usually contain a lot of condensed but useful information. When creating a list, make sure it is comprehensive and preceded by decent research. A good list will be shared and linked to by many people. Of course, people also need to know about it.

Graphic Resources

Visual content is often more effective than written content because it is easier to digest and share. When creating visual content, make sure it is high quality and contains relevant information. People are more likely to share and link to things that are well-made and useful. Some ideas for visual content are infographics, charts, maps.

Detailed guides like “how-to”

Tutorials are another type of content that is very popular and useful. When creating a tutorial, make sure it is detailed and easy to follow. The more helpful and detailed your tutorial is, the more likely people are to share it.

Building Links from Email Outreach

Email Outreach is the process of contacting other websites and bloggers with the intention of getting a link to your site. This can be done by sending a personal email or using a tool like BuzzSumo to help you find influencers in your industry.

When creating an email, make sure you have something of value to offer the other party. This could be a guest post that’s missing from the blogger’s site, content that replaces a current missing 404 link, an infographic, or research findings related to the post.

The influencer’s content could be something of value.

Find a site to contact for a link

There are several different ways to find websites suitable for link acquisition. One way is to use Google and analyze your competitor’s backlinks. To do this, you can use an SEO tool that specializes in backlink analysis, such as aHrefs, Majestic, Semrush or MOZ.

Find relevant email addresses to contact

One way is to simply copy them from your site one by one, but there are also tools for this. A good example is Hunter.io, which is free with a limit of 50 searches per month. It works perfectly if you want to contact the author of a blog or personal site. For larger sites, the problem is finding the right person to contact. Another tool – VoilaNorbert makes it easier.

Sending an email

When sending an email, make sure that you are polite, professional, and that the content of the message itself is as personalized as possible. This does not mean you have to do it manually.

Explain in the email what prompted you to contact them, praise the current content and suggest something that would make it even better. This could be an article written by you or simply a link to something else that would complement the current content. Remember, the goal is to add value to the page or article about which you are writing, not just to get a link.

Example Template for Email Outreach:

Hi [name],

Hope all is well with you! I came across your site and noticed that you could use some help in [area of expertise]. I have a lot of experience in this area and would be happy to share my knowledge.

I have some ideas that I think would work great for your site. [Idea #] would be a great addition to your site and I think your readers would love it.

If you are interested, I would be happy to send you the article/links/etc. to check out. Let me know if you are interested and I will send it to you.

Thank you for your time!

[Your name]

This is just a template, so feel free to customize it. Remember, the goal is to be polite, professional, and relate personally to the other person in order to build relationships and gain links.

Continuation

Even if you don’t get a response the first time, don’t give up. After a few days, write a polite email. If you still don’t get a response, it’s probably time to move on.

Paid guest articles

Paid guest articles is the process of publishing your articles on blogs and third-party sites in exchange for monetary gratification. It is the most effective way to get quality links because you are essentially paying for them. In the SEO industry, this method is also known as sponsored articles

When looking for sites for sponsored posts, make sure they are relevant to your industry and have high Domain Authority You can use the same tools mentioned earlier to check the authority of the domain you’re considering.

Sponsored posts can also be found by using the same tools mentioned earlier to check the authority of the domain you’re considering.

The process of paid sponsored links is relatively simple. You find a suitable blog or website that accepts guest posts, pitch your article idea, then write content with a link and submit the article. Once it is published, you will get a backlink to your site.

In Poland, there are some marketplaces that aggregate offers from website publishers. They automate the process of site owners contacting advertisers. Two are worth mentioning here: Linkhouse and WhitePress You can also order copywriting services from these tools.

Link building techniques in action

Link recovery

Link reclamation is the process of finding mentions of your site, your person or your brand, but they don’t actually link to your site. This can happen for a variety of reasons, but the most common is that the author doesn’t think it could be useful to you. This method is also called non-linking brand mentions.

To find these mentions, you can use Google Alerts, IMM or another tool. Once you’ve found these sites, you can reach out to the authors and let them know that they are not currently linking to your site and how important it is to you.

Broken Link Building

Broken link building is the process of finding non-working links on websites and then replacing them with your own links. It’s a great way to get quality links because you’re basically fixing someone else’s site. So you automatically add value to it.

To find broken links, you can use a tool like Check My Links. This is an extension for the Chrome browser. Some other tools, such as aHrefs, Semrush Site Audit or even Screaming Frog, can also help you find broken links.

The next step after finding the non-working links, you will need to reach out to the site owner and let them know about the erroneous link. Then you can suggest your own article as a replacement.

This is a great link building technique because both sides win. You get the link, they fix their content with minimal effort. Everyone is happy! You can also mix this strategy with another method.

Collection of links

A link collection is a blog post that collects the best content from around the Internet on a specific topic. They are often called Resource Pages.

Link collections are a great way to get links because you’re essentially improving content that is intended for other people. If a link is outdated or doesn’t work, the entire article loses value and may not satisfy the user’s intent. To find these places, you can use Google’s advanced search operators, such as: “keyword” + “useful links” or “keyword” + inurl:links

While this method is not popular in Poland, it works great abroad. The prerequisite for using this strategy is to have a valuable sub-site that people find valuable.

Interviews, reviews and podcasts

Interviews, reviews and podcasts are a great way to get links because you are being interviewed or featured on someone else’s site. It’s a good way to get links, with the added benefit of exposure to a new audience.
One way to find places to give feedback can be to look for mentions of your competitor. Reaching out to podcasts is much easier.

Recent image search

Returned image search is a technique that allows you to find websites that use your images without providing source information. Using Google Images, for example, you can reach out to these sites and let them know it’s ok, but expect a link to the source i.e. your site.

Become a sponsor of an event

This method probably doesn’t need to be introduced more widely. In addition to events, you can also sponsor foundations, ideas or projects. At one time there was the Open Collective project, which made it easy to become a sponsor of a selected project in exchange for certain benefits.

Before doing so, consider whether the event or product is relevant to the niche in which you operate.

HARO – help a reporter

Help A Reporter Out is a site that connects journalists with experts. To use HARO, you need to create a free account. Then you will be able to see all the available opportunities. Specifically, you will receive inquiries from journalists to your email. There are some great sites out there, but the competition is extremely high.

Research competitor backlink profiles

Take a look at your closest competitors to see where they are getting links from. You can use a tool like Majestic or Ahrefs for this. There is also a tool called Semrush Backlink Gap that does much of this work for you.

Build Video Links

Don’t like to read? Nothing lost. Listen to my video on SEO link acquisition techniques.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=iHBbapjhrQk%3Ffeature%3Doembed

Summary

In the competitive link building market, the best strategy is an out-of-the-box approach. Try to think of your own unique strategy or add something of value to the above methods.

Get into the role of the publisher. Try to think as if you were standing on the other side. Playing the role of the site owner, consider what would prompt you to add a link.