How To Build Backlinks In SEO | Proven Link Building Strategies

Introduction

If you have been in search engine optimization for a while now, you must have heard about the term backlinks. Every SEO expert is aware of this term, either positively or negatively, as backlinks have a direct impact on the website’s ranking and overall organic traffic. However, most SEO experts, bloggers, and webmasters struggle to build awesome backlinks to their websites.

So in today’s blog post, I am going to talk about how to build backlinks by sharing my examples and case studies that will help you create some awesome backlinks in 2024.

All the link-building strategies and techniques mentioned in the blog post are proven and work like a charm. By using them, you can surely make 20–30 high-quality links per month to your site.

What are backlinks in SEO?

Backlinks are nothing but basic hyperlinks that point from one website to another website and help the user navigate to another webpage or website to find more information on the web. Whenever we read any blog post or information on the internet, we come across various texts that are highlighted in blue. These texts are supported by backlinks. When you click on these texts, you’ll land on another web page or website.

The best example of backlinks is when we read a Wikipedia page about anything.

All the texts that are highlighted in blue can be called backlinks.

Why are backlinks so important?

From SEO’s point of view, backlinks are the number one ranking factor on Google. Many SEO experts might say that backlinks are not relevant or important to rank on Google. However, this happens in the rarest of cases when the competition to rank for certain keywords is less and your content is top-notch.

In the general case, backlinks are an important ranking factor, and they will help you rank your website, content, or web page at the top of Google’s organic listings.

In the year 2019, Rand Fishkin, a top-rated SEO expert and founder and former CEO of Moz, conducted a survey of over 1500 SEO professionals to share their opinions on various Google ranking factors. Most of the experts who took the survey suggested that backlinks are an important ranking factor on Google.

This survey was done in the year 2019, however, it still has some weight in the current ranking factors of Google.

Besides increasing the website’s ranking, backlinks help to build authority, increase organic traffic, and also help to get referral traffic on the website.

Two different types of backlinks?

Although there are many different types of backlinks in SEO, to keep this blog post relevant, we will be talking about only two major types of backlinks, which are no-follow and do-follow backlinks.

No-follow links are the ones that do not add any value to the SEO efforts. In short, they do not have a direct impact on increasing the website’s overall traffic and organic rankings. However, they can help you get a significant amount of referral traffic on your site and increase the branding of your site.

On the other hand, do-follow links are the most important type of links that act as a vote of confidence in the eyes of Google. A higher number of do-follow links pointing to a website means better rankings and organic traffic. With do-follow links, you can increase the traffic, rankings, domain authority, and overall growth of the website.

7 linkbuilding strategies that work like a charm [With Examples]

1. Slack channels

When speaking about the best link-building techniques and strategies, Slack channels will always be at the top of my list. I came to know about SEO slack channels in the year 2023 when one of my SEO colleagues told me about their existence. Prior to that, I used to do manual outreach and keep begging for the links.

There are many SEO Slack channels that were created to help you scale up your link-building efforts. On these channels, you can find link exchange offers, paid link offers, ABC link exchange offers, and so much more. These channels have 2000+, or in some cases, 10,000+, members who are actively seeking a link collaboration.

Here’s how the SEO Slack channel looks alike.

On the left-hand side, you can see the different subchannels for backlink exchange, paid links, guest posts, traffic boosts, and also for some random stuff.

People keep sending their list of sites that they have control over and asking for what sites they have in exchange. You can reach out to the people or DM them with the websites that you have in your pocket.

2. Facebook groups

The next technique that I used to build backlinks was by joining Facebook groups. Yes, Facebook is a social media platform, but if you leverage it professionally, then you can surely take your link-building efforts to the next level. I have personally built around 20–30 backlinks per month from Facebook groups by reaching out to people.

You have to head over to the group section on Facebook and search for the term link exchange.

Now, you will see endless communities and groups created by SEO professionals and bloggers.

You can join these groups and start posting if you are interested in link exchange or guest post exchange. You can also comment on others’ posts and ask them to DM you for a backlink collaboration.

Besides, you can also personally reach out to the group members and directly DM them for a link collaboration request.

3. LinkedIn Outreach

The next link-building technique is LinkedIn outreach, which is similar to Facebook outreach with the only difference of having a higher conversion rate because LinkedIn is a professional platform. On LinkedIn, you can hunt for people who are into link building, off-page SEO, outreach, and related work.

Here’s how you can approach link building via LinkedIn.

First, you have to type link builder in the LinkedIn search bar.

Once you do that, you will get a list of people who are working as link builders for the company. They are somehow related to off-page SEO activities or link-building in general.

You can reach out to these people and send them a connection request with a small note saying that you are interested in a link exchange with them. Once your connection request is accepted, you have a deep conversion with your network and can share the websites you have.

Besides, you can also join some communities on LinkedIn for link building and link exchange.

4. Blogger outreach

Hands down, blogger outreach is one of my personal link-building strategies that I have been using since the early days of my blogging career. I started blogging in the year 2020, and soon I realized the power of blogger outreach. It’s a simple technique where you reach out to bloggers in your niche and ask them either for a link exchange, a link back to your site, or for guest posting.

In order to execute the blogger outreach link-building technique successfully, you need to write a stunning outreach email and shoot it out to the right person.

For example, if you are into a digital marketing niche, then reach out to bloggers from the same niche only. You can further widen your niche by reaching out to tech bloggers as well.

Here’s a sample outreach email that I mostly send.

In the above email, you can see that I am offering some websites for link exchange as well, where I can give the other blogger a link.

It is said that nothing comes for free in life, and so does the blogger outreach technique. You either need to pay the blogger an editorial fee or give him or her something of value, like a link back to their article, a free infographic, content, or a brand mention.

5. ABC link exchange

Reciprocal link exchange, or linking from one website to another, is a spammy activity in the eyes of Google. To a certain extent, reciprocal links are good, but overdoing them can hamper the overall SEO of your website, and your traffic might go downhill.

So, it is better to follow the ABC link exchange, where three different websites are involved in a building campaign.

Website 1: Your main website

Website 2: Website from where you will be getting a link

Website 3: Website from where you will be giving a link to your partner.

The three websites involved in ABC link exchange should have different IP addresses, as Google can detect them via similar IPs. Also, avoid taking ABC links from PBN or general blog websites until and unless they are genuine and made, not just for the sake of building links.

6. Brand mentions

The next item on this list of the best link-building techniques is brand mentions. This technique will work only if you have a good brand name for your site and have some brand mentions on other websites, blogs, and reputable media outlets on the web.

Here’s how you can leverage this strategy for link building:

First, go to Google Search and type the name of your domain.

Now look carefully at the search results and check the websites that have mentioned your brand name or domain name in particular. If someone has mentioned your website without giving a link back to it, then reach out to them with an email and then ask them to link to your site as well.

In most cases, you will get a positive response if you have written a good email.

7. Guest posting

The majority of bloggers and SEO experts say that guest posting is dead. However, this is not at all true. Guest posting is still one of the popular link-building techniques that I and many other smart SEO experts and bloggers use.

The key to successful guest blogging lies in selecting reputable and relevant websites with a strong online presence. By contributing high-quality, informative content, you not only provide value to the host site’s audience but also establish yourself as an authority in your field. This, in turn, builds trust and credibility, benefiting both your brand and your SEO efforts.

When crafting guest blog posts, it’s crucial to incorporate well-researched keywords naturally into the content, optimizing it for search engines. This helps improve the visibility of your guest posts and, consequently, your website in search engine results.

However, it’s essential to prioritize quality over quantity. Google’s algorithms now prioritize the relevance and authority of backlinks, making it crucial to focus on guest blogging opportunities that align with your industry and resonate with your target audience. By employing a thoughtful and strategic guest blogging approach, you can foster meaningful connections, drive organic traffic, and enhance your website’s SEO performance.

FAQs: Building Backlinks in SEO