Without a solid base of links, your site's SEO won't be competitive. This Whiteboard Friday shows you three relatively quick, easy, and tool-free ways to (link) build a sturdy foundation for your site.

INFOGRAPHICS

Infographics are an important tactic for SMBs because they are cheap to create and can be shared quickly across social media and with influencers. One of the best tactics is to use infographics as guest content. Reach out to a couple of hundred websites or bloggers and show them the infographic. Then, you can ask them if they’d like you to write a custom intro so that they can share the graphic on their website (with a link back to yours, of course).

GUEST POSTING

Guest posting is one of the most powerful link building methods because it gives you an opportunity to network with other industry leaders.

EGO BAIT

The last tactic that many SMBs ignore is ego bait. Ego bait is a general term for content that is used to appeal to the ego of other business owners. This ego bait might include resources pages that include links to other companies or ‘top XYZ’ posts that celebrate the top websites in a particular field.

Links are key to SEO success this blogger outreach definitive guide show you every step to get links. Learn how to find bloggers and build relationship, develop a never say die attitude to outreach

Unlike shareable content, linkable content is something people will post/link back to on their website. Infographics, resource guides, heavily researched articles, demonstrations, and tutorials can all be different forms of linkable content. By creating shareable content, you bolster brand engagement and put yourself on the map with users by existing among users. You also drive shares and engagements up, with means better exposure and more publicity.


Ideally, linkable content is evergreen, catered to a specific audience, and thorough. For example, a highly researched and informational infographic about the life cycle of clothing items before they end up in landfills is something that an environmental or sanitation department website will likely link to. By creating linkable content, you assert yourself as an authority and reputable resource worth referencing. As a result, having linkable content results in links, and a strong, high quality link profile is never a bad thing in Google’s eyes.

Check out these great link building techniques that will boost your website and will keep you safe from penalties.

Here are a few opportunities that likely already exist for your business that you can use to build links without content:

• Mentions
• Directories
• Partnerships
• Community involvement
• Testimonials and reviews

Links result from real connections. As long as your business is active and engaged in sound marketing, you can build links without creating fresh content.

"Link building is one of the most essential aspects of SEO, yet also one of the most misunderstood and difficult pieces of the search marketing equation. We all know that acquiring high-quality links to your website is one of Google’s primary ranking factors, but not all links are created equally and link building has changed considerably in recent years.

If you are looking to increase rankings and drive traffic, you will need a consistent strategy to acquire these “white hat” links — which is easier said than done. Link building is a complex, and frequently difficult, task.

That’s where this guide comes in! Whether you are a link building novice or a seasoned pro, we hope that this guide will help you build links confidently and effectively. In it, you will find a little of everything you might need as a link builder including: best practices, examples, tools, and explanations of the how and why of link building."

Building lots of links to lots of pieces of content sustainably, while taking other important factors into consideration, can result in an increase in domain-wide rankings over time.

Okay, but what did this do for the company? Did they see an increase in rankings for valuable terms, or just terms related to the content itself? Over the duration of these link building campaigns, the client saw their most important keywords move from positions 3 to 1 and 3 to 2, respectively. The client said: "A position change from 3 to 1 on our top keyword meant a 15% increase in sales."

Benefit 1: Gain keyword authority. By creating a valuable piece of content that is relevant to your target audience and optimized for SEO, a link building component can help you move up in the rankings for a specific keyword. 

Benefit 2: Build partnerships and authentic relationships within your industry. Again, while relevancy and quality is the number one factor for SEO, building trust and loyalty for your brand is a powerful way to build links and, eventually, domain authority. Publishing a list of industry leaders gives your brand an opportunity to engage with a variety of top-tier brands. 

Benefit 3: Exposure to new and relevant audiences. Publishing a report that calls out specific brands within an industry is a ripe opportunity to get in front of new audiences. 

Skyscraper technique is simply a system for turning your high quality content into backlinks to your website.

You start following the skyscraper technique by first looking for popular topics and trends that have or are gaining customer attention. The topics must be relevant to the nature of your business. After you have found one, you need to organize it in a new way along with a value proposition for your user.

So now, if you are moved enough by the power skyscraper to re-direct traffic to your website, here is the list of steps that you need to go about:

The eternal question: How much time does it take for a link to affect rankings? Kristina Kledzik breaks out the entire process from start to finish.

To create a successful resource page, you just have to do two things:

Link to content your audience will appreciate and find useful
One-up any resource pages your competitors have built
You can one-up your competition by creating a similar, but more comprehensive resource page than what they’ve already built. You can also one-up them by thinking outside of the box and doing something new.

We’ll look at both methods. In either case, think of it as making the perfect mixtape for your audience. You want to include their favorite hits, but you also want to include some obscure tracks they’d never hear otherwise.