Part of doing good search engine optimization work is ensuring that you have a strong backlink profile to support the other efforts you are putting in. Having this foundation can help you not only get found on more websites, but make your website value increase for years to come.
10 Proven Methods to Acquire Backlinks
Unlinked Mentions
When was the last time you Googled your company’s name or website URL? You may be surprised at what you find – you can often have unlinked company mentions! This is one easiest ways to get more links. All you need to do is reach out to the writer or website and ask if they can link back to you.
Partnerships
Both locally and nationally, you likely have some other businesses you collaborate or partner with, so make the most of your relationship! See if they have a page on their website where they could link your company, and be sure to note that you can link to them as well. This is an easy way to build off your existing connection.
Promotions
Along with the products or services you provide, have you ever created a podcast, eBook, app, or anything else that can be linked across the internet? There are thousands of websites that are looking to add to their collection for users to find, so you could be missing out on these great opportunities unknowingly.
Guest Posts
A popular method to gain more links is to reach out to a variety of websites to see if they would be interested in having you write a guest post on their behalf. You will likely need to have a topic in mind and make sure that you can add in a link either within the post or in a bio when you reach out to them.
Broken Links
When doing tactics such as competitor research, you may wonder how they are getting links from high-ranking websites with little effort. Well, one way to try and get links on those websites is to use software, such as Screaming Frog’s SEO Spider, to crawl a site for broken links.
If you see a site has a broken link that is of relevance to your services, products, or content, you could reach out and suggest replacing the broken link with yours. Not only are you helping the website fix an issue with their site, but you will be getting a nice prize in return.
Quality Content
An easy way to try and acquire more links is to create worthwhile content, whether it’s through helpful FAQ blog posts, infographics, PDFs, or something else. If you are creating quality content, more sites would be likely to link to you in articles, blog posts, and more.
Citation Sites
There are a variety of citation websites out there that let you to link to your website so customers can find you. From Yelp to The Yellow Pages to Facebook and everything in-between, there are numerous citation websites that are free to use to expand your link collection.
Testimonials
Similar to guest posting, one way to try and get more backlinks is to reach out to the software companies and platforms that you use to see if they would be interested in having you write a testimonial for them. This is an easy way to get backlinks because, in their eyes, they are the ones receiving the most benefit, which could encourage them to say yes!
Directories
If you search for “(your industry) directory,” what types of results do you get? It is likely that there are plenty of directory websites out there for your industry that you are unaware of that present new opportunities.
HARO
Have you ever heard of HARO? It stands for Help a Reporter Out, and is a free service that emails you queries submitted from journalists who are looking for help writing articles for their publications. You can then respond and let them know your area of expertise and any insights, and they might use your info in a post, then link to your site.
And if you end up liking HARO, you can also look into similar services such as SourceBottle and Cision.
