Search engines are constantly updating their algorithms.
Tactics and strategies (for link building) are always changing.
Not only are there a handful of new strategies and tools that previously didn't exist, but the previous ones have also changed.
Yet it’s not uncommon for backlink builders to get busy in the mix and forget to identify and leverage these new strategies and tools to the maximum.
To avoid this problem, we created a checklist of effective SEO link-building services that you can follow now and grow your SEO campaign.
If you consistently follow and execute these new strategies, the rest will fall into place.
Let’s get started.
What Are Link Building Services?
Links-building services are a digital marketing strategy used by SEOs (freelancers and SEO agencies) to acquire backlinks from other websites in their niche.
This process involves manual outreach, guest blogging, broken link building, and other tactics.
The goal here is to drive traffic to your site and increase your SERP ranking by finding relevant websites that your target audience visits and placing links back to your website.
However, not all links are created equal and have the same impact.
For example, if you build links from low-quality or spammy sites, it won’t have any impact on your SEO campaign.
Instead, it presents you as a candidate for penalties such as losing rankings and a drop in authority from search engines.
Therefore, if you’re going to hire a freelancer or SEO agency for link-building services, the best thing to do here is to focus on building high-quality backlinks, instead of focusing on the quantity.
Are Link Building Services Worth It?
Does link building still work? Yes. Google (and pretty much all other search engines) use links as a ranking factor.
That’s because Google looks at backlinks (from high-quality, authoritative sites) as votes of confidence or nomination of the receiving site that it has helpful and high-quality content.
Again, note that it’s not just any link, it must come from:
- Websites with a low spam score
- Websites that are topically relevant to your content or industry.
- Authoritative and trusted websites that have a good reputation.
- Websites that have real traffic potential and can send visitors to your site.
- Trustworthy sources, such as government websites, educational institutions, and established news outlets.
The links must also be:
- More recent or fresh.
- From diverse websites for a natural link profile.
- Placed within the body of content than footers, sidebars, or comment sections.
- Earned naturally, rather than through manipulative practices like link schemes or buying links.
- Formed from diverse anchor text usage, with a mix of branded, exact match, and partial match anchor text.
If your links meet the above criteria, then your backlinks will validate your site authority and ultimately boost organic traffic.
But there is a problem, some link building services that you’re going to use (or are using already) have potential hazards than good.
So, how do you go about it? In the following section, we’ll pinpoint some potential pitfalls you can avoid when hiring a link building services company.
Link Building Services: What You REALLY Need To Know
Some link building services are a red flag, which means you should avoid them like plague.
#1. Avoid Services That Share Site Lists
If you’re on social media (and at one point made a “confession” that you’re looking for backlinks), then you might be familiar with tons of outreach DMs of people trying to sell you backlinks.
In the process (most of them), will want to share with you a list of sites they have that you can expect backlinks from. While that may sound attractive, the downside is gravy.
Some sort of “buy this if it doesn’t work, I guarantee a refund” scheme.
Think of the whole idea as exposing critical data that breaches the privacy and integrity of the other sites.
Always, avoid them.
#2. Avoid Links From Sites With “Write For Us” Pages
Here is the trick, most link-building experts run a simple scrape for sites with “write for us” pages, then reach out to the webmaster to publish their content.
The downside to this link building service is that it comes with little to no quality control of the site, content published, or link placement.
To Google, the links will look spammy and attract an automatic devaluation.
Is that good for your SEO? No.
#3. Avoid Links From Sites With Zero Search Traffic
We all build backlinks from sites that have the potential to transfer some page authority and traffic.
So, if you’re going to build links from sites that receive little to no traffic, it’s going to be hard to convince search engines to see that as a vote of confidence for your site.
So, even if you’re not an SEO (and you own a website), it’s important to monitor the links your SEO agency or freelancer is building.
Luckily, sites like Ahrefs and SEMRush can help you monitor your links and if they’re sending in any SEO benefits.
#4. Anything On Cheaper Options
Do not be lied, when it comes to link building, you get what you pay for.
According to Ahrefs, the average cost of buying a link is $361.44. Well, that’s just statistics but it makes some sense.
How much can you pay for a potential 10k traffic? Some 20-50 bucks? No.
We’re not saying that paying much for a link guarantees you some sort of quality (at least not always).
But we’re saying, a good backlink comes with some cost on its own, you have to get a content writer, a publishing fee, some quality control, and so on, all that cannot cost that less.
At the end of the day, it goes back to you to find the best link-building agencies that can offer you quality link-building solutions.
That said, “If you focus on problems, you’ll only find more problems,” let’s focus on some of the strategies that work.
What Are the Best Link Building Services?
Here are some of the proven link building services and link building methods to use:
1. Help a Reporter Out (HARO) Services
Over the last few years, HARO has become a very popular link-building strategy among SEOs and website owners.
Basically, HARO connects journalists (who are seeking expert opinions, quotes, and information) to include in their content with sources who have that expertise.
This often comes with benefits, an exchange for your information with a backlink.
The first step to that effect is to register as a source on the HARO website, select a paid plan, and subscribe.
After that, you’ll start to get emails in your inbox with queries (depending on your expertise) in which you can provide a quote, statistic, strategy, or case study that the journalist can use in their reports.
Here are the pros and cons
Pros:
- You can get superior links from popular news sites and blogs.
- Compared to most other link building services, this option is affordable.
- The majority of links that you get are from legit sites.
- You can get started today.
Cons:
- Replying to HARO queries can be pretty tiresome.
- Most of the links you get from HARO will point to your “homepage or about your page.”
2. Guest Posting Services
This process involves writing and publishing link-building service articles on another site with a link to your site—the content has to align with their audience and niche.
It often involves the following:
- Finding sites that accept guest posts
- Making a pitch
- Talking to editors
- Writing the post, and
- Getting the post published.
If this strategy is executed well, it can have tons of benefits to your SEO campaign, however, fake guest posts are a real problem.
It’s therefore good to do some quality control and ensure what you’re getting are guest posts and not some crappy content published in PBNs.
3. Skyscraper Link Building Services
This strategy involves the following:
- Finding content on competitors’ websites with lots of backlinks.
- Creating a better piece of content on the same topic (to outperform them) so that the sites link to your content instead.
4. Shareable Content Link Building Services
This backlink-building service involves creating valuable information people can’t find anywhere else in terms of visuals with the goal of getting backlinks.
This includes:
- Infographics
- Original research and studies
- Calculators and other tools
- In-depth guides and tutorials
The only downside to this strategy is that you have no control over the kind of sites that will link back to you.
As a result, you may end up with some spammy links linking back to you, however, you can also remove them.
5. Digital PR Link Building Services
Although it is designed to manage a brand's online reputation and build relationships, this strategy can be used to build high-quality backlinks.
This SEO backlink service strategy leverages creating a newsworthy story (about your products, services or company) and then pitching it to media outlets who eventually mention you in their press.
6. SEO Agency
What is an SEO link building agency? This is where you hire an agency to manage the entire process of link prospecting and acquisition.
When using this strategy, it is important to share with the agency your marketing objective and business goals so that as they get down to work, they’re delivering on what you want and not some guesswork.
The SEO agency can combine a number of link-building tactics to acquire links and keep you updated on the results.
This includes broken links building services, niche edits, and other organic link building services.
Lastly, ensure that you pick an agency that has a good reputation so that you don’t put your SEO in jeopardy.
7. Blogger Outreach Link Building Services
This strategy involves hiring someone to promote your content using manual link-building and blogger outreach to secure high-quality backlinks from their content to your website.
If you’re in a competitive niche, you need blogger outreach services to tap into influential and authoritative websites to secure backlinks that not only boost your SEO but also drive targeted traffic to your site.
This method is super advantageous because:
- You get quality, white-hat links.
- You only pay for results.
- Email outreach is a white-hat approach to quality link-building services
You, however, don’t want to trust everyone. Some unscrupulous SEOs may build backlinks using their PBNs and present them as outreach links (assuming you have no SEO background).
8. Content Marketing Agencies
If you want you want to earn links to your site, naturally, your content has to stand out.
That’s only possible when you have someone who can write stellar content for your website or blog.
…one that webmasters and other bloggers want to link to.
To do that, you may hire a content marketing agency that can take care of your content writing needs.
As a white hat link-building strategy, this strategy is pretty sustainable, do the right thing (produce awesome and helpful content) and you’ll get high-quality backlinks.
9. Brand Mentions Link Building Services
Brand mentions is a premium link building service that involves online citations where your brand or products have been mentioned but there is no link.
You can reach out to the admin of the website that has mentioned you and ask them to link back to your site.
Final Thoughts on Effective Backlink Building Services
So far so good, we covered pretty much everything you need to know about how to build high-quality backlinks for your site (starting today).
You also know what won’t work, no matter how hard you try but can only present you penalties from Google such as paid link building services.
Do yourself a favor and use the 9 strategies and tools presented above for guaranteed SEO benefits such as Authority, traffic, and better rankings (if you do it right).
Link building shouldn’t be an uphill task, go for it.
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