In this section we will discuss: “What is Link Building”.

We will also see why link building is still important for seo in 2024.

Let’s get started.

What is Link Building In SEO?

Link building is the strategic process of acquiring hyperlinks also known as Backlinks from other websites to your own. These hyperlinks act as pathways that connect different web pages across the internet to increase your website search engine visibility. 

These links can be obtained by posting valuable content on your website, participating in link exchange programs, or by guest posting.

Why are links so important?

You must be wondering, why are these seo links so crucial, especially when we’re talking about making your website more popular? 

To understand this, you must know how search engines like Google and Yahoo rank any website. They ranked their search results according to the content on a webpage.

If your content has more backlinks then search engines consider it as a vote of confidence for your webpage and it would increase your chances of ranking higher.

But now since many new optimized algorithms are introduced, the story of ranking has changed. Now one of the factors which would determine your web page ranking is how many websites are linked to your page.

Link Building is still considered to be the best way to determine the quality of a webpage. Google Penguin is one of the best updates, as it allows Google to determine link quality rather than just link quantity.

Now one question that should come in your mind is, How can you build high quality links for your web page?

To know this – 

Let’s dive into the next section…

How to Find and Build High-Quality Links?

First and most important thing before we move forward in this section is to know what makes your link good or bad. Knowing the factors that affect your links would help you to improve your google ranking.

Page Authority

Page Authority refers to the measure of how likely a specific webpage is to rank higher in search engine results. This ranking is determined by various factors, and one crucial element is the number and quality of links pointing towards that particular page.

This occurs as links originating from authoritative pages transmit greater authority (commonly referred to as PageRank) to your website.

There are many tools through which you can check your page authority. One of the tools that I would recommend is Semrush.

By adding your domain here, 

It will give you authority score along with some other metrics for your page as below – 

Site Authority

The quality of a link depends on a website’s overall authority. 

Links from renowned sites like NYTimes.com have a far greater impact than those from lesser-known bloggers. Though challenging to acquire, they’re incredibly valuable.

You can use Semrush to check a site’s “Authority Score” by entering its root URL.

Relevancy of the Site

The authority of a website is crucial in link building, yet relevance matters equally.

For instance, if your site focuses on SEO Guide and earns a link from an authoritative but unrelated site—it may not carry much weight. 

Ideally, aim for links from authoritative sites closely aligned with your content.

Link Position on a Page

The link’s location matters; links in blogs or even links within the main content carry more weight than those in footers or sidebars.

In essence, aim for links in the main body of a webpage.

Link Anchor Text

What is Anchor Text, the clickable part of a link is called anchor text. Google considers it for rankings. 

For instance, a link with “seo guide” suggests the linked page is about that. Yet, using keyword-heavy anchor text for link building is seen as spammy today. Avoid it in SEO, but if you do get such a link, it’s a win!

Nofollow vs Dofollow

“rel=”nofollow” is a marker on a link signaling search engines: “Ignore this link as a recommendation.”

In SEO, aim for standard, “dofollow” links for better results.

Now that you grasp evaluating link quality, let’s initiate link building.

Acquiring Exceptional Links Through Content Marketing

Content holds the key to valuable backlinks. However, merely creating content won’t secure links.

Specific content types excel in link building, with these top 3 categories being especially link-worthy:

Understanding Visual Assets

Visual assets encompass:

• Images
• Diagrams
• Infographics
• Charts, and other visually-driven content pieces.

Why Visuals Excel:

Visuals easily attract links. For instance, sharing a chart from your site often results in a link whenever it’s shared elsewhere. This strong link-building association doesn’t apply as effectively to text-based content.

As you can see in the above image from backlinko, this image was used by many websites as a reference to their page which indirectly gives backlinko many backlinks.

Understanding List Posts

What It Is:

A series of pointers on various subjects, offering concise information or advice.

Why It Works:

Lists condense plenty of information into small, easy-to-understand segments. BuzzSumo’s study of 1 million articles found lists received more backlinks compared to quizzes, videos, and infographics.

The above image shows the stats for importance of list posts in content.

For reference take this page from backlinko, which talks about 19 seo techniques, the post contains a good amount of list posts which has given a handsome amount of backlinks to the page. 

Importance of Original Research and Data

Definition:

Information unveiling fresh findings from industry studies, surveys, or original research.

Reason Behind its Effectiveness:

Facts and figures are easily shareable. When others reference your data, they link to your content. These links accumulate RAPIDLY.

If you post a boatload of original data then it’s for sure that you will get a good amount of backlinks since people will use your post as reference to justify their own content. 

For your reference, there was a post from Brian Dean on the largest Google ranking factors study ever. This post got 23k Backlinks. As I told you above, most of the backlink sources were from those who were using this post as a reference to a specific statistic from the study.

How to Craft Potential Links Through Email Outreach

To create ethical links in 2024 (and beyond), email outreach is essential.

But how do you contact bloggers and journalists without landing in their spam folder?

Explore this section for insights.

Discover Potential Link Providers

To get authentic links you must find potential link providers in your niche.

First, search your target keyword on google.

Then go to the first url that appears, copy the url and paste it on any online tool such as semrush or se ranking.

For now, I am using SE Ranking but you can use any tool of your choice.

After clicking on the backlinks link as shown above, you will see the websites that are providing backlinks to the page.

Sites listed here are all potential Link Providers.

Discover Their Contact Email

After finding potential links, it’s time to reach out to them through their mails.

Now the question that comes to mind is how to get their emails since the list has hundreds of links and visiting them one-by-one could cost you a lot of time.

To resolve this problem there are several tools that you can use to extract email addresses from the links. One such tool is hunter.io. This tool is very easy to use, you just have to enter the url in its search bar.

After entering the link here, you will get the owner’s email address that you can refer to outreach and ask them to link your page on their site.

But remember that your mail must not be too long or too short, it must be in such a way that the person reading it for the first time could get the idea of what enquiry or help you are asking from him/her. Customized email is the key to get approved.

Insights into Unethical Link Building

Let’s talk about a part of link building called black hat SEO. These links are quite easy to spot since they don’t match the rules and regulations of Google.

Completely avoiding Black Hat Link Building depends on yours. Personally speaking, I would not recommend you to follow this practice since it’s not worth the efforts you have to put for link building. But as I said it’s up to you.

We will understand what consequences one has to face who applies back hat link building practices to rank according to google’s rules and regulations. Let’s quickly go through them:

Google Penguin

Google Penguin is a penalty from Google that targets websites using spammy methods to build links, such as sketchy guest posts and spamming blog comments. 

To stay clear of this penalty, focus on building legitimate links (white hat techniques). Research suggests that minimizing the use of exact match anchor text can help evade Penguin, but it’s more about building trustworthy links. The simplest way to steer clear of Penguin is to steer clear of dubious links, regardless of the anchor text used.

Other than Google Penguin, google could also send you a notification through google search console about wrong link buildings. So try to build trustworthy and legitimate links.

The Top Three Link Building Approaches

There are certain strategies that I personally experienced that you can use to build links which would be effective and authentic.

Resource Page Link Building

Let’s start with the basics: what exactly are resource pages?

Resource pages are dedicated web pages that link to excellent content related to a particular topic. For instance, imagine a page called “healthy-living-guide”. This page collects and links to valuable content related to maintaining a healthy lifestyle.

These pages are perfect targets for building links since their primary purpose is linking out to other useful resources.

Now, here’s a step-by-step guide:

• Discover Resource Pages: Use specific search phrases in Google tailored to uncover these resource pages. Try combinations mentioned by backlinko in below image – 

Source: Discover Resources Pages Backlinko

• Evaluate the Page: Quickly assess whether getting a link from this page is worthwhile. Consider factors like the page’s quality and relevance.

For example, if a resource page has a decent URLRating of 12 and belongs to an authoritative domain, it might be a good opportunity.

• Align Your Content: Even if your content is top-notch, it needs to align well with the theme of the resource page to secure a link. Ensure that the content you choose from your site perfectly fits and complements the theme of the resource page you’re targeting.

What is Broken Link Building?

Let’s break down Broken Link Building, a strategy one should use for building links.

Why is it a favorite? Because instead of simply asking for links, this approach adds value to someone else’s website.

Here are the steps to execute it:

• Screaming Frog SEO Spider or Dead Link Checker:
  
  These tools, available within your Chrome Browser, swiftly identify broken links on any page.
• Identify Pages with Numerous Outbound Links:
  
  Pages with a higher number of links are more likely to have broken ones. Resource pages are excellent targets for this strategy. Use specific search terms to find these resource pages.
• Spot Broken Links: Use the extension you installed earlier to discover broken links on these pages.
• Reach Out to Site Owners: Once you’ve found broken links, contact the website owner and kindly notify them about the issue. Additionally, suggest content from your own site that could serve as a replacement.

This method is about being helpful and offering solutions rather than just asking for a link.

Conclusion

And that wraps up my 2024 guide to link building!

Which strategy are you most eager to try from today’s guide? Do you have any questions or need further clarification on something?

If you are a business owner or someone looking for a consultation with Noboru World, you can contact us and we will be happy to help you out.