There are billions, if not trillions of websites on the internet today, but very few of them are performing well on search engines and making a profit.
The difference comes in maintaining it and steering it towards SEO success which is an essential aspect in the growth of your website.
So many people want to own a website but no one is willing to do the work required to grow it.
Well, success is not meant for everyone. It's meant for people who are willing to put in the work and go beyond the surface.
Building a website is no different. It needs attention, constant adjustments, and effective strategies.
It's a lot. But there are more benefits to reap from it that'll make all the hard work worthwhile.
One of the strategies that will help grow your website is creating high-quality backlinks.
That’s what we’re about to show you (how to do) in this article.
Let’s get started.
What are High Quality Backlinks
These are naturally generated backlinks for your website from authoritative, trustworthy, and relevant sites in your niche.
They contribute to increasing your:
- Organic traffic and
- Ranking on search engines.
So, how do you build such backlinks to your website?
Before jumping into the 'how to make backlinks' there are some questions you need to ask yourself first:
- What is your niche?
- What is your target audience?
- What are your website goals and what do you want to achieve?
Answers to these questions will make it easier for you to execute the strategies below.
How to Get Backlinks (15 Quick and Simple Strategies)?
There are many ways to acquire high-quality backlinks to your website but keep in mind that building it takes time, hard work, and patience.
Let's explore how to get backlinks to your website.
#1 Unlinked Brand Mentions
Brand mentions are a great source of high-quality backlinks.
There are two types of brand mentions you can get from any website or blogger:
- Unlinked Mentions
- Linked Mentions
Linked Mentions are mentions that contain backlinks to your website. Whereas unlinked mentions have no links.
To spin this around to your advantage, you need to follow these simple steps:
Step 1: Find these mentions on your website using tools such as buzzsumo or Google Alerts.
Step 2: Make a list of all the unlinked mentions and determine the ones from authoritative websites and high domain authority.
Step 3: Once that is out of the way, reach out to the owners of the websites and request them to link back to you.
This should be a breeze. In the most ideal situation, someone tends to mention you when they believe in the quality of your content or brand.
But still, you'll need to keep your pitch friendly yet professional.
Step 4: If they take long to reply you can send them a follow-up email.
#2 Become a source for reporters and bloggers
HARO is a service that is created specifically to generate information from experts in different industries.
This can be a great way to earn high-quality backlinks from authoritative websites.
How do you do it?
- First, you'll need to sign up for the service. Here you'll receive emails with queries from journalists and reporters.
- Work on the queries and provide reliable and trustworthy answers they need. The goal here is to be accurate so you should pick queries within a niche you excel in.
- You'll be required to then submit the answers to them. Upon which you can add your website link as part of your contact details.
When they use the information you sent them, you'll get a backlink from whatever publication website they use.
#3 Leverage on infographics
Infographics are visual formats of display complex information more simply.
They are used to represent facts and figures like charts and graphs or to break down a topic in a comprehensive way.
They in return provide engagement with their users as they are visually appealing and easy to interpret. For this reason, other websites are likely to link back to you when they use them in their blogs.
#4 Build links from outdated resources
At the beginning of this article, we said that lots of websites don’t see the light of the day. That’s true because they’re not broken or functional but most of them are blank.
Sometimes, in SEO, this is an opportunity—you can generate backlinks from old outdated resources.
You just have to find websites that have either:
- Changed their name
- Shutdown completely
- Changed their URL
- Haven't updated their resources in a long while
- No longer offer a certain service
Use a resource such as Google News to find outdated sites. Just type in a keyword within your niche, followed by terms like 'rebranded' or 'shutdown'.
Alternatively, you can use a tool such as Domain Hunter Plus to find the links that lead to blank pages.
Once that is done, reach out to the websites linking to the blank websites, inform them of the situation, and offer to be a replacement.
If your website offers valuable content and is up to date, they'll consider you.
#5 Publish Ultimate Guides
We like to think of ultimate guides as the written version of infographics. They contain lots of information on one page and provide a comprehensive version of complex topics.
They also display expertise and authority in a certain subject which makes them easier to be a backlink generator.
To write an ultimate guide,
- Choose a unique topic that you have exceptional knowledge about.
- Break it down into simple subtopics to ensure you cover everything at once.
- Write the guide with expertise following Google's Expertise, Experience, Authority, and Trustworthy (E-E-A-T) guidelines.
Stay consistent and be patient. As long as your guides are of high quality you will generate quality backlinks even years from the published date.
#6 Utilize Social Media
Social media is not only useful for marketing your website but can also be a great source of quality backlinks and **************.
However, to make this a success you need to have a great relationship with your audience established in trust and credibility.
You can do this by providing engaging content, using compelling visuals or livestreams, and feeding your audience's needs, ultimately leading them to click on your website.
Once that is achieved any link from your website posted on your social media platforms will serve as a high-quality backlink as your readers will find it valuable and relevant.
Such backlinks can be on a post, comment section or your profile otherwise known as a bio.
So if you haven't established a social media presence yet, this might be a great time to do that.
Keep in mind that platforms such as X (formerly Twitter) and LinkedIn value links and boost posts containing them.
#7 Ask for backlinks
After putting in the work and establishing dominance in your niche, reaching out to other related websites for backlinks is an effective and necessary strategy.
Here is how to do it:
- Identify the website you'd like to get a backlink from. You can do this by searching for certain topics, and keywords within your niche. They could even be websites you know and often visit.
- Filter out the ones that seem to have authority and make a list of them. This will help you tailor personalized pitches and avoid pitching to the same website twice.
- Reach out to the web owners and request an inbound link from them.
As you make the request, make sure you pitch to them in a way that will show off your website's expertise and why it deserves backlinks.
If you do it well you can land yourself high-quality backlinks for your website.
#8 Give Testimonials
Most of us are guilty of checking for reviews on items online before making a purchase.
Entrepreneurs know this and they make an effort to prove to their clients how great their products are.
You'll find in most cases, websites showcase testimonials from satisfied clients on their home page or right below their products.
Testimonials and reviews are equally as important to every business as they are to new buyers.
Writing testimonials about items you have purchased and used is a strategic way of building backlinks to your website.
Make a list of all the products or services you frequently use and write your best reviews about them.
The goal here is to be truthful and genuine only reviewing what you have used.
Ensure before you submit a review that they have a section of testimonials or at least they encourage them on their website.
Reach out to them after submitting the testimonials and provide them with your website link for a backlink.
As a way of providing proof of the quality of their products and appreciating your honesty, they are likely to link back to you.
#9 Write guest posts
Guest posts are articles you write for other websites as a way of promoting your website while showcasing your skills. In return, you can add backlinks to your website.
- The best approach to guest posting is to research other related websites within your niche that accept guest posts. Make a list of your preferred websites.
- Approach them with a unique pitch on the need and value of guest posting for them.
- Make sure you customize the pitch specific to the website you picked.
- Once that is done and your request is approved, create high-quality content that provides value to the reader and shows your expertise.
In the process, add backlinks to your site relevant to the topic at hand.
#10 List Your Site In Trustworthy Directories
Directories are platforms such as Yelp that offer business owners an opportunity to display information about their businesses for potential clients.
Essentially, they are business listings that users trust to provide useful information about businesses in certain niches.
For example, on your profile, ensure you add a link to your website. This will help potential clients find you easily while also acting as a backlink.
When adding your website to these directories consider the relevance and the level of domain authority.
#11 Create Great Content Consistently
Creating great content is one thing and staying consistent is another. To naturally attract high-quality backlinks you need to prove to other websites and your audience that you deserve them.
Great content is well-written, answers your reader's questions, engages with your audience, and provides relevant information.
Staying consistent in creating and publishing great content is a way to do that. You build relevance and dominance in your niche.
Consistently create high-quality content that shows your expertise and provides value to your readers.
Doing this will attract backlinks from high-quality websites that believe in the expertise of your website.
This is a long-term method of earning high-quality backlinks so be patient with it.
#12 Create Roundup posts
Round-up posts are posts with top links to websites in a certain niche. They are often tailored as a collective guide for users searching for sources for specific items.
An example of a roundup post within the SEO niche can contain posts that look something like, "Top 5 links to On-Page SEO tactics". A link that then directs a reader to sites that talk about On Page SEO tactics.
Creating round-up posts on your website is a simple yet effective way of building backlinks to your site.
There are two types of roundup posts:
- Link roundups
- Expert roundups
By creating either of the two you are guaranteed to gain backlinks as the roundups will act as a resource for valuable information in the case of link roundups.
In the spirit of showing gratitude and promoting themselves, the experts you interviewed might link back to you.
#13 Resource page link building
From the word itself, a resource page is a page within a website with a collection of valuable links to resources such as tools, products, and services.
Bagging a backlink in one of such pages is guaranteed to bring SEO success as readers consider them useful and efficient. In return, Google deems the page worthy of ranking higher on SERPs.
To create backlinks on such a platform, you need to first find the right resource page that is related to your niche.
You can do that by simply searching a relevant keyword and adding a "resource page" at the end.
For example, if your website is in the health and wellness niche your search could look something like this "health and wellness resource page"
Once you narrow down the pages you'd like to create backlinks on, proceed to contact them and pitch to them your request.
As usual, customize it to suit them and show them why you deserve the spot. You can also send them the links you'd like to get featured as solid proof of your work.
#14 Use the Reverse Image Search Technique
You've come across images on the internet with branded initials or logos. That often happens to curb the use of images without crediting the owner.
We don't blame them, once any content is on the internet there's no way to tell where it will land or who will use it.
When it happens that a website has used your images without linking back to you, you can use that opportunity to request a backlink from them.
How do you find them?
- By using tools such as the Google reverse image search tool.
- Once you've identified the websites, pick the ones with a high Domain Authority that are likely to generate high-quality backlinks.
- Send out a friendly yet professional request to them asking them to link back to your website.
#15 Give Interviews
Appearing in interviews as an expert within your niche is a great way of naturally attracting backlinks from several websites.
Interviews allow you to display your level of expertise by discussing topics and answering questions within your niche.
To land on one you can do a quick research on bloggers, journalists, and podcasts that specialize in interviews within your niche.
Next is to reach out to them and express your interest in sharing ideas and knowledge you've acquired over time.
If and when they agree, the success of it will see your website flourish with high-quality backlinks.
Final Thoughts
Attaining SEO success is not just meant for experts, beginners and new website owners can get it through hard work and the right guidance.
Of course, with time you will gain expertise and first-hand experience but that shouldn't stop you from trying.
Remember, a website is like a baby you don't see its full potential yet until it's grown. In the meantime, all you have to do is keep nurturing and steering it in the right direction.
Building backlinks is one of the nurturing aspects of your website. Yes, it takes time and patience but the results are worth every drop of sweat.