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3 Link Building Strategies That Are Still Relevant in 2019

Link building strategies are integral for better search engine rankings.

Some people make the mistake of associating SEO purely with keywords. However, to improve SEO, you need a more comprehensive approach. Link building and keyword research need to work hand in hand for better results.

In this blog post, we’re going to discuss 3 link building strategies you can implement without professional assistance. Each one is still relevant in 2019 and can be a valuable addition to your SEO toolbox.

Let’s get started.

What is link building?

Link building is the act of using strategies to gain links from other websites.

Generating links from other websites is more important than ever for better search engine rankings. Each link serves as a signal to search engines that your content is valuable. The more outbound links to your website, the better Google will think your content is.

However, quantity needs to work hand in hand with quality.

Google doesn’t only look at the number of links pointing to your website. It also analyses the websites these links are coming from.

For example, you provide charter flights to remote locations all over Australia. You’ve managed to generate links from your social network. One of your friends owns a beauty salon chain, and their official website linked to yours.

Even if the website has a high domain authority, the link may prove to be invaluable. Google will think that users who visit a beauty salon website will most likely not be interested in a website about charter flights.

Yes, getting a lot of links is important, but they have to be linked from relevant websites.

Use the Skyscraper Technique.

The Skyscraper Technique was originally developed by Backlinko’s Brian Dean.

It involves creating better content than what’s already out there. You then find blogs and websites linking to the said top-ranking content and ask them to link to your content instead.

The process is long and requires plenty of effort, but the results may be worth it.

Begin by finding content that has already garnered a lot of backlinks. This tells you that this type of content has an audience waiting to consume it. There are plenty of ways to find this type of content online.

Conduct a Google search.

At this stage, we’re assuming you already have a list of target keywords. Conduct Google searches for each target keyword, and examine the top five results. There’s a reason why the results are in the top five. Your job is to determine what that reason is.

Ahrefs

Ahrefs is a tool that shows you the backlinks for a specific website. Once you’ve identified the competition, you can create a list of websites linking to them with Ahrefs. You can then contact these websites and present your content.

Buzzsumo

Buzzsumo is a tool that shows you the most shared content for a specific keyword. Social media shares are an excellent indicator of whether people like a piece of content or not. Examine the Buzzsumo results for your target keywords, and determine how you can create something better.

While using the previously mentioned tools, examine the results and figure out how you can create better content. Begin by asking yourself the following questions.

• What is the average word count for the top-ranking or most shared pieces of content?
• How do they present information? Do they use infographics, audio, or video?
• Are there important points that they failed to discuss or expand on?

Keep the answers to these questions in mind when creating content for your website. They should help you understand how you can create something several times better than what’s already out there.

Answer questions on Quora.

Before we discuss link building with Quora, we first need to define several terms.

• Link Juice – This is the authority one webpage can pass to another through links. The higher a webpage’s domain authority is, the most valuable a link from it will be. If a webpage links to several webpages, the link juice will be divided equally among all those webpages.
• Dofollow Link – This is a type of link that passes on link juice from one webpage to another.
• Nofollow Link – This is a type of link that tells search engines not to pass on link juice from one webpage to another. Links on social media websites like Facebook and Twitter are usually nofollow links.

After reading the above definitions, you might think only dofollow links are important for link building.

You would be wrong. Both dofollow and nofollow links are vital for a successful link building strategy. If only dofollow links are pointing to your website, Google may think that you’re getting these links in an inorganic manner.

Google will think you’re getting these links simply because of SEO strategies, not because people truly like your content.

To make your link building more organic, you need both dofollow and nofollow links.

This is where Quora comes in.

Start by creating a Quora account. You can then begin answering questions that are related to your niche. Quora organises questions into categories, so finding questions to answer should not be difficult.

People are allowed to vote for answers they find helpful, so make sure you’re providing valuable information. Don’t answer questions for the sake of merely living a link to your website.

All the links posted on Quora are automatically tagged as nofollow, but it could still be an important resource.

By leaving substantial responses on Quora, you have the opportunity to build a network. This network could then lead to more backlink opportunities on high domain authority websites.

If you include links to relevant blog posts in your answers, you could also drive traffic to your website. More traffic is always a good indicator to search engines that people like your content.

Replace broken links.

Broken link building could be a vital part of your link building strategy. You find broken links and contact website owners about them. You could then ask them to link to your website instead.

It’s an excellent strategy for two reasons.

You’re helping someone else. Most people would be hesitant if they sense you’re only reaching out because you want something from them. In this scenario, you did them a favour, so you have better chances of connecting with them.

Next, you don’t have to create new content. You could ask website owners to link to existing content. This saves you plenty of time and resources.

Check My Links

Check My Links is a free Google Chrome extension that finds broken links on a webpage. If you want a backlink from a website, you can scan it with this extension and find link building opportunities.

Ahrefs

Ahrefs is an incredible tool that helps you find broken links. Unlike Check My Links, it scans an entire website in one go. You no longer have to manually scan each page, saving you plenty of time. The difference is, Ahrefs is a paid tool while Check My Links is free.

Conclusion

Link building is as necessary for better search engine rankings as keywords. The more relevant links you have, the more valuable your content appears to search engines.

Utilise the Skyscraper Technique. It involves finding content that’s receiving a lot of backlinks and creating something better.

Answer questions on Quora. You might receive nofollow links, but you’re creating a more diverse link profile.

Replace broken links. You can find broken links using a variety of tools. Reach out to website owners, and offer your content as a replacement.

Need a top-class SEO strategy? Cornerstone Digital is an SEO agency in Sydney that can lead your ideal customer to your website. Call us on (02) 8211 0668 or email us at info@cornerstone-digital.com.au.

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Darlyn Herradura

A self-professed book and digital marketing nerd, Darlyn Herradura focuses on building trust between customers and businesses with the written word. She understands that creating valuable content is the best way to get found online and happily spends her time doing that.