8 ways of getting backlinks to your website

Have you experienced writing a long blog post, researching it for hours and making sure that content is great? That is a great way to earn backlinks, but users need to find your content. If this doesn’t happen all your efforts will be for nothing. 

This is why backlinks are important, the more businesses that are reputable that point to your website the better. The key part of that sentence is reputable businesses and websites. Getting businesses that have a very small online presence will not do your business any good.  

Domain authority 

You might believe that it is impossible to see how reputable a business is. That is usually the case, but there are tools that can provide a good indication. Moz has created a tool called Domain Authority (DA). This provides a good indication as to how well a site will rank. 

Domain Authority is a 0 to 100 point system. 0 means you are unlikely to rank and 100 means you will rank all the time. We recommend going for brands that have at least a DA of 40+. These websites will have a good reputation and are reliable. 

The more domains with a high Domain Authority that link to you, the better. The first 20 points for Domain Authority are relatively easy to get, possibly under a year, but afterwards it is difficult to get.  

So how do you get high Domain Authority websites to link to you? We will be working from the least involved to the most involved. 

Third party review sites and directory listings 

These are a quick and easy way to get links with high Domain Authority. Even better yet, it’s free! 

We do recommend looking at the review site and directory. Make sure that they aren’t spammy and that they are legitimate. Of course, also make sure they are relevant to your industry. Don’t have a nursing home and get onto a directory for youth groups, for example.  

If you want to know where to get backlinks for directories. Some examples can be found here. These are not an exhaustive list. There are more directories and third party review websites. If you want to see where to rank, you can always look at your competitors to see where you aren’t being listed.

Look for brand mentions and find no-follow links 

Some businesses mention your company but don’t add a link to your website. Some businesses mention you but have a no-follow on this link. A no-follow means that search engines won’t count this as a link to your website. 

There are various tools that can help you find these mentions and no-follow links. Good tools are SEMRush, Moz and WebCEO. They will help you capture the no-follow links and mentions. Then it’s just a case of reaching out to the website owner and asking them to correct this. 

Of course, make sure that the website is authoritative, relevant and not spammy.  

Content and social media 

Social Media is a great way to share your own content. Make sure that when you do share content you quote and refer to the people that you are talking about. This way the influencers might link back to you if your content is high quality enough. For example, we reach out to influencers in our field to ask for quotes. Or we quote their blog posts with a picture and a quote box. Also, talk about the influencer and why they are an influencer. 

By trying to get as much reach as possible for the social media posts it’s going to attract more attention and interest. 

Content collaboration 

If you have a good working relationship with another business in the same niche or field, content collaboration is a great way to get more backlinks.  

Host a podcast together, write a whitepaper together or collaborate on an infographic or webinar.  

These will help you get more exposure since both businesses have their audience looking at the same content. This can not only provide you quality backlinks but might also help you get leads. 

Guest blogging 

Guest blogging is a great way to get backlinks. Reach out to reputable websites and tell them you can provide them with great content. It is more effort than just blogging but it can provide great backlinks. 

  • The same important rule as above counts here too. Make sure the website has a high DA (50+). 
  • Then reach out to the site owner. Let them know your skills and what content you can provide. Ask them if they think it will be beneficial to their blog. If they say yes, ask if they would like to feature your blog. 
  • Once they agree, create a draft outline and send it to the website owner to approve. 
  • As soon as they approve the outline, write the post and copy edit it thoroughly. 
  • Send it back to the website owner to approve and wait for it to go live. Make sure you keep checking back to see if it goes live. Then double check the link is a follow link and that the copy isn’t pulled out of context. 

If the company takes too long to get your blog up and they don’t respond to your messages, start reaching out to other websites. They might be willing to publish your content. 

For guest blogging, domain authority is the most important factor. But don’t publish outside of your niche. Make sure your posts are published on relevant locations. 

Broken link building 

This is another method of getting backlinks. Your competitors might have links on great websites, but those links are broken. Using a broken link checker is a great way to find out if your competitor has broken links. Then reach out to the website owner of that broken link and let them know there are broken links. Provide a few alternative links, including your own of course. 

You can also go to Google and search for the following: 

  • Your keyword + links 
  • Your keyword + resources 
  • Keywords inurl:links 

For example; since we are a marketing business, we might search for marketing + links. Then go to the website and use the Google Chrome Dead Link checker plugin. Then report the broken links to the website owner and provide a few alternatives, including your own. 

Don’t just provide your own link. This looks too greedy. 

Promote your own content 

There are bloggers that make roundups of news and articles every week. These website owners would love to get more great content to write about. By reaching out to these guest bloggers and providing them with your best articles you will have a great chance of getting a backlink. 

As with other outreach methods, don’t ask for a backlink. Just provide helpful content and if they like it they will add a backlink. 

Press releases 

Press Releases are still a good way to get backlinks and provide helpful content. There are a few restrictions to what you can and can’t do for press releases. Google has gotten more strict with press releases that are too optimised for SEO. These restrictions are: 

  1. Don’t have too many internal links. Keep it to 1 or 2 
  2. Don’t make anchor text too keyword dense 
  3. Always use no-follow links, by adding rel=”nofollow 
  4. Make sure your press release vendor also only uses 1 or 2 links, all no follow 
  5. If you have old press releases, change them to add the restrictions above. It might help your ranking immediately! 
  6. Only use press releases naturally. Don’t make them spammy. 

The above was are the most convenient ways to create backlinks and get more relevant websites referring to your domain.