Building Backlinks: The Ultimate Guide to Effective Link Building (2021)

When people speak of SEO, they primarily think of the numerous onpage factors that influence visibility and rankings. However, in this post, we are dedicated to the offpage measure of backlink building. Why this field is so important and how you can positively influence the visibility of your page, you will learn here!

1. build backlinks – the start

Backlinks are the deciding factor for good Google rankings. The truth is that without effective link building, you have very little chance of gaining the rankings that really matter.

In March 2016, during an interview, Google Search Quality Senior Strategist Andrey Lipattsey revealed what the two main indexing factors are for Google:

“It’s the content, for one thing. And secondly, they are links pointing to your site.”

Why? Because the entire internet is built on linking. Through linking, Google can determine the thematic context as well as the popularity of web pages. Good backlinks should therefore point to high-quality and thematically appropriate content.

In this article, we’ll show you how to effectively and, most importantly, sustainably build high-quality backlinks and distinguish them from low-quality ones. We would like to introduce you to the most efficient methods to improve your website’s ranking and avoid being penalized at the same time. So if you’re already building backlinks, we’re happy to help you speed up that process.

Let’s get started!

2. backlinks and their function

Backlinks are links from external websites to yours. To illustrate this, let’s simply place a backlink to Wikipedia: Our backlink to Wikipedia

Ready is the backlink!

Backlinks can be displayed in three different ways:

1. As URL, e.g.

   https://backlinked.com

• As clickable text in the form of a hyperlink, usually with the brand name – de
• As URL with anchor text – <a href=”http://www.example.com”>Here is the anchor text</a >

2.1 Why do you need backlinks?

• To achieve higher rankings

Every backlink that leads to your website is considered a “vote” for your website by the search engines. Every backlink means that the content of your site is valuable and useful. The more referrals you have, the higher your chance of ranking better in search results.

• To increase the user-friendliness
  

Backlinks help users find your website to benefit from the valuable content that could be useful to them. They also foster user trust and social bonds.

3. secure good backlinks

• It’s important to know how to get good links that actually have a positive impact. If you are not careful here, your efforts can have exactly the opposite effect. There are different types of backlinks and they are weighted differently.

3.1 Recognizing good backlinks

• Building quality backlinks is labor intensive. It is not only time-consuming, but also requires constant commitment and motivation.but it is undoubtedly worth it. It leads to impressive results in terms of publishing your website.Next in the program: so which are the good backlinks and how do I recognize them?

3.1 Recognizing good backlinks

Links from high authority websites are the most valuable. These are websites whose content provides valuable information for the user, are very popular and are therefore highly positioned in the search results of Google and Co.

Since Google rolled out the Penguin update to its algorithm in 2012, it’s been quality over quantity.

This generally means that the more reputable the websites are that contain backlinks to your site, the more Google likes it and the better quality attributes are attributed to your website.

Of course Google won’t penalize you if you have few, quality links!

But if you build a lot of low quality backlinks (in the worst case over a very short period of time) and only a few good links, Google will downgrade your page and you will only find your page on page 15 in the search results from now on.

How reputable and relevant a website is to Google is determined by its Domain Authority. To search for websites that are ranked with a high domain authority, you can use Ahrefs for example. The domain autohrity is indicated there as “DR” (Domain Rating).

3.3 Keep an eye on your backlinks!

The problem with links is that they can appear and disappear without warning. As a result, changes are often not even noticed. Therefore, it is recommended to keep a constant eye on your website’s backlinks.

For this the tool Ahrefs is really helpful. Among other things, it provides you with data on websites that contain your backlinks. You can instantly check the authority status of the domain in question to make sure it’s a quality link.

Another way to check your backlinks you can find at https://mention.com/en/ .

Here you register for the time being with your website. Then you will automatically receive notifications when someone mentions you on the Internet. In addition, you can find out where your competition has set their backlinks.

3.4 Keywords in the anchor text

The problem with links is that they can appear and disappear without warning. As a result, changes are often not even noticed. Therefore, it is recommended to keep a constant eye on your website’s backlinks.

For this the tool Ahrefs is really helpful. Among other things, it provides you with data on websites that contain your backlinks. You can immediately check the authority status of the respective domain to make sure that it is a high-quality link.Another way to check your backlinks you can find at https://mention.com/en/ .

Here you register for the time being with your website. Then you will automatically receive notifications when someone mentions you on the Internet. In addition, you can find out where your competition has set their backlinks.

4. important influencing factors

4.1 Websites with high authority

There are no official statements or evidence about which websites make your links look best, but it’s common knowledge that links from .edu and .gov domains are good for your website.

These links are not easy to achieve, but still not impossible. In any case, it’s worth a try.

4.2 Don’t forget Google Penguin!

Google Penguin is the Google police that pays close attention to link text. Originally, the Penguin update was supposed to ban spam and unnatural links from the index.

Its main task now is to check the quality of the web page and decide whether the link text makes sense.

So links with anchor texts like “click here” don’t make sense anymore!

It is very important that the reference text is not always the same, otherwise it will be considered suspicious and unnatural.

4.4 Vary the domains of your links

Let’s assume that a website has several links that lead to your website.

Sounds good, doesn’t it? The answer is: it certainly won’t hurt (as long as the anchor text isn’t always the same and looks natural) but it won’t really help either.

A second link from the same website is not nearly as important as the first link.

Therefore, repeated links from the same web page do not provide a significant advantage.

So it’s better to have a healthy mix of different domains.

So remember: 10 links from 10 domains are better than 100 links from one domain.

4.3 Note the page relevance

When building links, it is important to pay attention to the relevance of the websites. That means you have to look for websites from the corresponding industry.

Example: It makes no sense as an online shop for sportswear to set a backlink on a blog for animal welfare.

Of course, we’re not suggesting that you negotiate links from competitors. The connection to the topic does not have to be that close but it should be related to the topic.

For example, if you’re putting together a website that offers certified translations, you can search for websites that offer language courses or educational materials for languages or even travel blogs and travel agencies for your links.

If you can get a link from websites in the same industry, it counts more than dozens of other links from non-topic websites.

5. effective method to build backlinks

By now you’ve learned which links are high quality and can positively impact your ranking. Now you will learn how to convince other websites to place backlinks on their site.

5.1 You need first-class content!

The easiest way to get a reputable website to publish your link is to have your site provide valuable content. Thus, the site also benefits from your link, which it offers added value to its users. It’s time-consuming and nerve-wracking, but it’s worth the effort.

While content is not the most important criterion for ranking a website, good content is helpful to encourage links to your site organically.

However, your content must really offer added value!

Variety and shape are the order of the day: create a work of art that deserves to be shared. Use infographics, video clips, recommendations and image galleries!

5.2 Content that is distributed

Be better than the rest!

The websites you found probably have very good content. You should analyze them well to figure out how to best bring in your content. Think about what is missing and what should be added.

For example: someone writes an article about the 10 best SEO tools. Why don’t you just do some research and write an article about the top 20?

So: analyze, write and improve!

Optimize your design

Some websites already have valuable and useful content but the presentation is not right, that is, the site is not user-friendly enough or even unclear!

Take the challenge and beautify your site. You can add eye-catching media effects or make your design more concise. Either way, it should improve your chances of getting new links.

SEO optimization

Don’t forget: Your final text still needs to be optimized for the search engines. You can find a detailed description of how to do this in our guide:

OnPage SEO: The Ultimate Guide to Increasing Organic Traffic (2019)

5.3 Establish contact!

You need to introduce people to your just published site first so they can see the value. This then leads to new backlinks in the best case.

Advertise so you get results.

send emails

The email method is time consuming and requires extensive research. After all, you don’t want your email to end up with the wrong person, or even on websites that have nothing to do with your site or your topic. Instead, you want to reach people who are already linking to similar articles and websites, or who are at least in the same category.

This way, you can make sure your content is useful to them.

To find these websites, you can also use the tool Ahrefs. Also, we recommend you check out the most popular websites on the web that write about topics in your industry to see where they get their links from.

Call up the complete list of pages that contain links to specific relevant articles. You can now contact all the websites that match you and your website. It’s best to send two emails:

Trick 17

Email #1: Introduce yourself, acknowledge their work, and ask a simple question.

Email #2: If they respond to the first email, mention your article and try to make it palatable. Next, politely ask if there’s interest in sharing your article with their readers, which is much better received than jumping right in and begging for links.

This is an old trick, but still very effective. If your content is good enough and you manage to connect with the right people, then you can get valuable links without much effort.

The personal touch

Add a personal touch to your message. Thus, the recipient can immediately recognize that it is not spam.

That being said, you’re showing that you’re genuinely interested and serious. However, please make sure your email is error free, e.g. recipient’s name, etc.

Short and crisp

Not only is it a time saver, but it also increases your chances of getting a response. The recipient typically receives a lot of emails, so get to the point quickly.

Contact people you mentioned in your article

When you’re writing long, good articles, it’s common to refer to various sources, other websites, statistics, etc. If that is the case, contact these sites and let the writers know that in your article. If the article is well written, they may well agree tomention your article on their website. An e-mail is already sufficient in this case. Of course, you still want to praise their work and introduce your article. And don’t forget to keep it short.

6. help others and make yourself popular!

This method also requires an email to be written to the author. However, the success rate is even higher. Why? Because you’re helping the website owner solve an actual problem.

6.1 Have damaged links repaired

Here’s how:

When replacing broken links, you must first find “dead” links on relevant web pages that are no longer accessible (404 errors).

What you need to do about it:

• Find the broken links
• Email the authors and explain the problem and suggest replacing the broken link with a link to your site.

Sounds like a lot of work, but in our experience it’s the easiest way to get links. This is where Ahrefs comes into play again. It is extremely simple and time saving. Here’s how it works:

If you enter the address of certain websites, you will get a detailed analysis. In the left column you will find the category “Backlinks“. In this column you can select the option “broken backlinks” and a complete list of broken backlinks that lead to 404 pages will be displayed.

If you find broken links that are relevant to the article you are trying to promote, then you can contact the website owners and suggest they fix the problem with a link to your site. This method is extremely effective as both sides benefit. The author fixes the problem and thereby improves his site and you get your link. Perfect!

6.2 Link restoration (complaint)

Link recovery works differently than the method of replacing broken links. Link recovery repairs links that should lead to your website but no longer work.

There are different types of links that need to be restored:

• Not linked images

It can also happen that someone uses your images or graphics without linking to your site. You can easily find out via TinEye and Google’s Image Search. This then provides a great opportunity to gain further links.

• Not linked mentions

Websites may mention your brand without providing a link to your site. It’s not hard to track down these sites. If you find it, just contact the owner of the site and ask for the link you are entitled to.

• 404 pages

These links lead to pages that no longer exist. You have a few options to fix the problem: Ask the owner for a replacement, redirect the link, or submit a request to the webmaster to change the link.

7. other effective link building methods

In the following, we will introduce you to other goal-oriented link building methods. You will be surprised how diverse this area is, and with what simple means you can contribute to the visibility of your site!

7.1 Resource pages for link building

A resource page is a page that lists many helpful links on specific topics. For example, a website about German culture could have a resource page with links to language learning, travel agents, etc. You can also use these to get your site mentioned.Advantages of this strategy:

• You increase the links to your website
• Resource sites are usually among the reliable websites
• Your website is shown to people who are also your potential audience

How do you find resource sites? I’ll give you three guesses:

The best and easiest way is to do a Google search. Just enter the following:Keyword + “Resources”.

Keyword + “useful resources”

keyword + “helpful resources “keyword + “links

Keyword + “useful links

Keyword + “helpful links”

Here is an example of a resource page

Again, of course, the content and its quality plays a big role, otherwise your linking will not last long.

But still an easy way to get backlinks!

There are thousands of resource sites out there. Find a few of these sites and let them know about your content. You can often edit wiki web pages yourself and add your own links. Whether or not this will stick depends on the content and the benefit for the website.

It pays to attract resource sites from .edu or .gov domains.

Universities are a good example. Their resource pages often help students find their way around. Anything can qualify, from valuable content to restaurants in the area.

It’s best to do a little brainstorming and think about which sites might be relevant to your topics!

Here is another example of a resource page:

7.2 Link building with infographics

Infographics have become very popular in recent years. With them, you can present your content clearly and concisely. Who doesn’t?! It is indeed the case that infographics are underrated and not enough people make use of them. However, they are a great source of valuable links

Many people think that it is too hard to create infographics. That’s not correct. With programs like Piktochart it is even very easy!

Once your infographic artwork is done, everyone will want to feature it on their website. Just try it out!

Make sure your infographic is really good. It’s not about the design, but rather the content, which must be valuable and useful to the user. The reason for the high link rate of infographics is that they give the user an added value. It’s something exceptional and special that the competition lacks.

How it works:

Choose an appropriate theme for your industry.

Writing an article on a random topic is not nearly enough. So you should definitely do your homework and find out what your audience is interested in. Also see what these people are googling for. Your website must be a valuable source of knowledge for users.

Ask yourself this question sometime: “What information would a website have to contain that you would go to?”

Put some thought into it. This is the first step to creating useful and valuable content.

After you’ve picked a good topic for your article, you should start by getting some inspiration.

Make your job easier by searching Google for your keyword. The sites you find in the first place through organic search are established sites that already have lots of links. Here you can find examples of what others write about and in what style.

Ahrefs can also be helpful here:

If you go to the ‘CONTENT EXPLORER’ option and then type in the topic you want to write about, you’ll get all sorts of search results:

Ahrefs shows you everything you need. The domain rating, referring domains, and the number of mentions on social media. What more could you want?

1

Create a great infographic with content that is trendy and useful. Be sure that your infographic has a clear layout and a logical structure.

3

Contact website owners and show them your infographics. Compose an email. Don’t forget to praise their work and suggest posting your infographic on their site. Convince them of the usefulness of your graphic!

2

Find websites from the same industry. Do a Google search on the topic you made the infographic about and make a list of the websites you want to offer it to.

4

Don’t forget your text dependent links either! These should be in the introduction of the article (Google doesn’t like them to be at the end).

7.3 Testimonials as an aid to link building

Most websites that you visit on the internet now have a testimonial section.

This customer feedback is now extremely important for all types of websites.

You probably also know this from Amazon, for example. They appear confidential, give feedback and thus show that they are not scammers.

But as life goes, they are also important for link building. And it’s not too hard to get. Companies need customer testimonials and you need backlinks.

Another situation where both parties get their money ‘s worth.

Think of products that you like or products that are used by your company. Then write a review. Often, the author’s website is included to show that it is a real person.

This is what it looks like:

The ball’s in your court!

We hope you can benefit from our article and incorporate these strategies into your work. If you stick to these methods, you will gradually get more quality backlinks for your website and in the process, you can see how they positively affect your ranking on Google and the like.

We wish you a lot of patience and a lot of motivation while optimizing. If any questions have arisen, don’t hesitate to write to us – we’ll be happy to help!

Have fun optimizing! – Your Backlinked Team!