Assuming you are already creating valuable content, building quality backlinks can help it earn significantly more traffic, and engagement and maintain rankings.
However, there were a lot of changes in link building over the past years, and the brands winning the top SERP spot aren’t using the same basic best practices that were commonplace a few years ago.
Today, some link-building strategies are unethical (black hat) and are therefore penalized by Google while others are considered ethical (white hat link-building) and are therefore beneficial for your SEO.
So, if you’re out to build backlinks for your site or your clients, white hat link building services should be your go-to choice.
But where do you start? In this article you’ll get an overview of the following:
- White-hat link building: what is it and why does it matter?
- What are white hat link building services and SEO outreach?
- How to get the best white hat link building service?
The goal here is to ensure that you don’t mess with your link building process, by learning how to use white hat link-building services.
Let’s get started.
White-Hat Link Building: What Is It And Why Does It Matter?
We’ve said it a number of times, not all link building techniques are created equal.
In fact, some links are built using tactics that violate search engine guidelines, such as buying links or using private blog networks (PBNs).
These tactics can only result in penalties from search engines and harm your website’s rankings.
That’s why, it’s important to choose a reputable link-building service that uses ethical tactics and focuses on quality over quantity to build white hat backlinks.
…white hat link building.
What is it?
White hat link building is a legitimate and ethical approach to acquiring backlinks for a website.
It involves obtaining links through acceptable and Google-approved methods and strategies, such as:
- Creating high-quality content
- Guest posting on reputable websites, and
- Building relationships with other webmasters.
…among others.
This strategy is needed in order to establish a solid foundation for SEO efforts. It ensures that a website not only ranks well but also maintains its SERP presence over time without risking penalties or negative consequences.
Why does it matter? Here are 7 benefits you can be guaranteed of when using white hat link building strategies.
#1. Search Engine Compliance
White hat link building techniques adhere to search engine guidelines, such as those provided by Google.
This compliance ensures that your website doesn't risk penalties, such as downgrading in search rankings or removal from search results.
#2. Long-Term Sustainability
White hat link-building strategies prioritize the creation of high-quality, valuable content and genuine relationships (with your audience and other websites).
This focus on quality ensures that your website's rankings are more likely to withstand algorithm updates and industry changes.
(If you listen to the airwaves right now, you’ll hear lots of folks who’ve been hit by the recent updates).
#3. Reputation and Credibility
Ethical link-building boosts your website's reputation and credibility. When you earn links naturally, it reflects positively (before Google and your audience) on your brand and authority in your niche.
#4. User Experience
White hat SEO link building prioritizes user experience by providing valuable, contextual, and relevant links within your content that promote positive interactions with visitors.
#5. Competitive Advantage
No matter what you do, search engines will discover your black hat tactics.
So, prioritizing white hat techniques can help you build a more robust and sustainable online presence, giving you a competitive edge over websites that rely on black hat or unethical tactics.
#6. Improved Website Traffic
Quality content and ethical link-building can lead to an increase in organic website traffic.
When other reputable and authoritative sites link to your content, they result in more discovering your site through the links and visiting your site.
Now that we’ve discussed what white hat link building is and its significance to the sustainability of your SEO campaign, it’s time to look at how to actually build them.
What strategies are involved? More in the next section.
What Are White Hat Link Building Services And Seo Outreach?
White hat link building services and SEO outreach are two important aspects of SEO.
White hat link building services are the process of acquiring backlinks from other websites in a legitimate and ethical manner.
This is done by creating high-quality content that other websites would want to link to, or by reaching out to other websites and asking them to link back to your website.
SEO outreach, on the other hand, is the process of reaching out to other websites and asking them to link back to your website. This can be done through:
- Email outreach
- Social media outreach, or
- Other forms of communication.
The goal here (for both of them), is to build white hat backlinks that Google will love.
That’s what we’re about to share in the next section.
White Hat Link Building Strategies That Work
If you’re serious about white hat SEO link building using white hat strategies, here is how you can start:
1. Guest Posting
This strategy involves identifying authoritative sites in your niche, writing for them, and getting backlinks from their site to your own.
For best results, here is a proven process that works:
- Identify the marketing objective that you want to achieve with guest posting, which topic you want to cover, who is your target audience and so on.
- Do a search of the authoritative sites in your niche that you want to target and analyze their metrics such as traffic, authority, and rankings.
- Craft a compelling pitch showing how they’ll benefit from your guest post.
- Write a high-quality and helpful article or content and insert the links you want naturally within the text (assuming they accept).
- Submit for publication.
2. Create Linkable Assets
This is a content-first strategy that involves creating content in formats that are likely to be shared and linked back to by other bloggers.
A good example is infographics. This kind of content is unique and is likely to be linked to.
Think of doing a step-by-step infographic on how to do “SEO for a local business” which bloggers will like but will have to link back to when they use it in their content.
Other content formats in this strategy include:
- Industry studies
- Original research
- Statistical round-up listicles
- List of tools, people, and companies
Here is how to do it correctly:
- Incorporate memes to encourage sharing
- Optimize images by adding descriptive keywords
- Add visual content to the assets
3. Broken Link Building
Broken links are harmful to your SEO or literally any website owner.
If you find a broken link (s) in any of the authoritative sites that you’re targeting, the best thing is to reach out to them and offer a replacement.
The good thing about this strategy is that it is scalable, and high chance of naturally replacing the link in a manner that presents it as organic before search engines.
…and there are plenty of tools to use, so you don’t have to worry about brick-and-mortar outreach. They include:
- Moz’s link explorer
- Screaming frog
- Ahref’s site explorer
4. Link Reclamations
This strategy involves finding and fixing content where your brand has been mentioned but improperly linked.
While this strategy is a cheap option for gaining white hat links, not all sites or mentions are worthy of chasing—some mentions may be from low-quality sites.
5. The Skyscraper Technique
This is a pretty straightforward and easy-to-use technique to build solid, high-quality backlinks to your site.
It involves the following:
- Start by evaluating Google’s first page for content that’s already ranking well.
- Next, you figure out what all that content has in common.
- Finally, write a post that’s similar to what you just found but better than it.
- Promote the content to people who are likely to use it and link back to you through email outreach and other strategies.
At the end of the day? You have fresh, helpful, and up-to-date content that bloggers and webmasters are willing to link back to, offering you quality white hat links.
6. Link Insertions
Niche edits, also known as content-based link building or in-content links, are a white hat SEO strategy used to add hyperlinks to existing content on websites.
This process involves placing relevant and contextually fitting links within the body of the content, making them appear natural.
If you’re new to this strategy, here is how to use it:
- Start by identifying relevant, authoritative websites (in your niche) where you'd like to have links inserted.
- Prepare high-quality, informative content to be used for link insertions.
- Contact the webmasters or site owners of the target websites and propose the link insertions. Explain how the links will benefit their content and readers.
- Monitor the progress of your link insertion requests and ensure they are implemented as agreed.
- Continue creating valuable content and seeking opportunities for link insertions to keep building a strong link profile.
Always remember to check the following metrics before proposing a link insertion from a given site:
- Keyword rankings
- Organic search traffic
- Engagement metrics
- Lead generation data
- Backlinks profile
This will help you to focus your efforts on a site that is likely to help you gain the obvious SEO benefits.
7. Local Link Building
Today, local businesses are moving the needle. They’re shaping the business environment and SEOs are already aware of their power.
That means, if you have a local business, you can build backlinks through various strategies so that you can influence your rankings. They include:
- Local citations from Google Business Profile
- Local link-building opportunities like local colleges, and news outlets among others
You can get those backlinks by doing the following:
- Creating valuable and helpful content that can be linked to
- Sponsoring a local event or charity event link-building
- Use testimonials and case studies
- Buy local companies or their websites for the potential ranking benefits
8. Internal Link Building
When it comes to link building, internal links also hold some value to your SEO growth.
Internal links allow you to distribute link juice, authority, and trust to other pages within the site.
Additionally, they direct users within your website ensuring they don’t leave as soon as they arrive.
To build internal links, you can either do it manually or use tools like Screaming Frog or linkwhisper.
Does that sound like something you can do? If yes, in the next section, we’ll give you an overview of how to get the best link hat.
Let’s get down into business.
How To Get The Best White Hat Link Building Service?
White hat link building is the only way up the SERPs and visibility.
That’s why, today, many website owners opt for professional link building services.
However, finding the right service provider is key. But we can help you through the following checklist:
- Start by identifying your specific link-building goals. Are you looking for backlinks to improve your website's authority, drive organic traffic, or both?
- Ask for examples of their previous work, including case studies or success stories. This will give you an idea of their expertise and the results they've achieved. Ensure they strictly follow white hat SEO practices to avoid any penalties from search engines.
- The best link building services are transparent about their processes and provide regular reports on their activities and progress.
- While quality link building services are an investment, ensure their pricing aligns with your budget.
- Choose a service that maintains clear and open communication channels throughout your engagement.
- Avoid one-size-fits-all link building solutions.
- Ensure they create and use well-researched, informative content.
- Be cautious of services that promise too-good-to-be-true results or use black hat tactics.
Final Thoughts
Let’s wrap it up.
Search engines are continually advancing, and the place for black hat or unethical link-building strategies is behind us now.
White hat link building strategies are the backbone for sustainable SEO growth.
If you’re not using them, you’re putting your site (or that of your clients) in jeopardy.
Start using ethical strategies today and see your site gain an unfair advantage in the SERPs.
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