Link building is one of the most important aspects of SEO. It helps boost your website’s authority and improves its rankings in search engines.
However, it can be pretty overwhelming for beginners. Where do you start? What tactics should you focus on?
In this article, I’ll share 8 link building tips for beginners to help you get started and see results. Let’s dive in!
What is Link Building?
Before we jump into the tips, let’s first understand what link building is.
Link building refers to acquiring backlinks – links from other websites that point back to your site. Backlinks act as votes of confidence. The more quality backlinks you have, the more authority you build, which leads to better rankings.
There are many ways to build links, like guest posting, Broken link building, skyscraper technique, outreach, etc. The focus should be acquiring backlinks from reputable websites related to your niche. This helps establish your site as a trusted authority.
Now that we’re clear on link building, let’s look at some beginner tips.
1. Focus on Quality over Quantity
When you’re just starting, trying and building as many backlinks as possible is tempting. However, that approach can backfire. Link building is not a numbers game.
Instead, focus on getting links from quality, relevant sites in your industry. A few great backlinks from authoritative sites are worth much more than thousands of low-quality links.
Spend time researching and identifying websites that are respected in your field. Reach out and earn backlinks from just a handful of these sites.
Quality over quantity is the mantra for successful link building.
2. Leverage Linkworthy Content
The best way to attract high-quality backlinks is by creating excellent content that people naturally want to link to. You need to give sites a reason to link to your content.
Some types of linkworthy content include:
- Ultimate guides – Extremely detailed guides on topics related to your industry. E.g., “The Ultimate Guide to Keyword Research“
- Research-backed resources – Create articles, studies, or tools to display your expertise.
- List posts/Infographics – Helpful list posts and infographics make great linking content.
- Interviews – Reach out to influencers in your space for interviews. Their audience may link to it.
- Roundups – Link roundup posts curating resources on popular topics can attract backlinks.
Focus on creating content that provides value and solves people’s problems. Promote this content and make it easy for others to link to.
3. Guest Post Strategically
Guest posting involves writing articles for other high-authority sites in your niche. This allows you to get a backlink in the bio or author box.
Stick to reputable, relevant websites for guest posts – not spammy blogs. Make sure your posts provide value for their audience. Avoid over-optimizing anchor text in your guest posts, and keep it natural.
Also, don’t stick just to guest posting. Diversify your linking strategy instead of over-relying on guest posts.
4. Build Relationships in your Niche
Link building relies heavily on relationships. Focus on building connections with:
- Influencers – Industry thought leaders, bloggers, and social media influencers.
- Website owners – Connect with people who run websites in your niche.
- Journalists – Build relationships with journalists who cover your industry.
Reach out and help them in any way you can – share their content, provide quotes for articles, send them resources, etc. Once they become acquainted, they’ll likely link back to your site.
5. Fix Broken Backlinks
This referral link building tactic involves finding broken backlinks pointing to top pages in your niche and then offering to replace them with links to your helpful content.
Start using tools like Ahrefs and SEMRush to identify pages with the most backlinks in your industry. Then, use a broken link checker to find broken backlinks pointing to those pages.
For example, if the broken page is about “social media marketing,” create a helpful resource and offer it as a replacement link.
6. Create Resources Lists
Put together lists of the best resources, tools, blogs, etc., in your space. Ensure to include a mix of links – some pointing internally to your content, some to external sites.
Share this list on platforms like Reddit, Quora, and LinkedIn. People may replace some of the external links with links to their sites or content, giving you a backlink.
7. Conduct Link Reclamation
If your competitors have recently redesigned their websites, there’s a good chance they now have many broken backlinks. You can assemble a list of these broken backlinks and ask the site owners to replace the broken link with one of your relevant pages.
This helps establish your site as an authority replacement while your competitors lose out on those lost backlinks. Just make sure your outreach is helpful, not spammy.
8. Don’t Buy Links
Avoid buying backlinks from link farms or shady agencies promising quick ranking results. Buying links is strictly against Google’s guidelines and can get you penalized.
Focus your efforts on organic, white-hat link-building strategies. It takes more time and effort but pays off in the long run with more stable, quality links. Here are the Link best practices for Google.
Final Thoughts
Link building may seem intimidating for a beginner, but it gets easier with time as you find strategies that work well for your site.
The key is to be patient and persistent and focus on quality over quantity. Try implementing the tactics discussed in this article, like creating stellar content, guest posting for authority sites, building relationships, and fixing broken backlinks.
Over time, your link building efforts will bear fruit in the form of improved domain authority, search rankings, and organic traffic for your site. Just stick with it!
