SEO oftentimes feels like the elephant in the room when we talk about online marketing.
Because sure, there’s tons of talk about social media, new ad types and emerging trends in marketing automation.
And the while SEO is just sort of, well, there.
Of course, the need to invest in SEO and link outreach services isn’t going anywhere. Every business needs to have a link-building strategy regardless of their industry.
In a day and age where it’s so easy to build an online presence from scratch, effective link-building is arguably more valuable than ever. Those who are capable of ranking for their desired keywords in the SERPS immediately set themselves apart from the competition.
That said, there is no “silver bullet’ for link-building. You need to take a holistic approach and combine multiple strategies if you really want to rank. Below we’ve highlighted some actionable link-building strategies that still work like a charm and integrate seamlessly with your existing online marketing efforts.
Step Up Your Email Outreach:
For starters, link-building outreach is still alive and well. Rather than hope that new mentions are going to fall into your lap, businesses should take a proactive approach to winning links. Some prime examples of outreach that still work like a charm include…
- Messaging someone you’ve given a shout-out to in a blog or other relevant piece of content
- Promoting a post or linkable asset that would be of interest to an outreach candidate (think: a case study, lead magnet)
- Offers to guest post or produce content on behalf of another business
Of course, link-building outreach can be somewhat tedious and time-consuming. To help speed things up, tools such as GMass can be a huge help. GMass serves as a scheduler and mass sender that allows you to upload outreach templates which can easily be personalized. This allows you to roll out campaigns faster and reach more prospects at once.
Score More Linkless Backlinks:
Here’s some good news for businesses: link-building is no longer a game of being mentioned for hyper-specific terms and anchor texts.
We’ve seen the rise of colloquial search which has moved away from exact matches and hard terms. On a related note, the concept of linkless backlinks is something that businesses should take the time to understand. In short, linkless backlinks are mentions and links that help sites rank without necessarily being tied to a specific anchor text. This types of “links” include…
- Social mentions and social links
- Mentions and links produced from ratings and reviews sites
- Mentions from third-party forums and sites such as Reddit
The more buzz you can build by getting people to talk about your business in the blogosphere and beyond, the better chances you have to score such links.
Continue Creating Killer Content:
The need to create content is universal.
Don’t let anyone tell you that the need to create explicit content for SEO is dead. Writing pieces that target keywords on-site still matters, as does create content that people actually want to link to.
In other words, it pays to put some serious effort into your content creation so that those links start rolling in over time. Consider the types of content that win the most links
- Long-form blog posts, including “pillar posts” and case studies that integrate original data (think: 2,000-3,000+ words)
- Infographics, serving as a visual representation of data that’s prime for social sharing and citing on other websites
- The video, encouraging more time spend on sites and high click-through rates which are great SEO signals
Don’t Stop Guest Posting:
Piggybacking on the last tip, the constant need for quality content is among the top challenges of content marketers. In other words, people need high-quality writers to help them fill out their calendars.
Guest posting campaigns allow you to fill that void while also building links and increasing your industry profile in the process. The takeaway? Beyond creating your own valuable content, think about what you can create for others in your industry.
Rethink How to Leverage Your Social Presence:
The debate over how social media impacts SEO is a long and complicated one. That said, there are many actionable ways to use social media that directly relate the link-building tactics above such as…
- Warming up prospects you’re going to reach out
- Researching potential outreach candidate through Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook
- Mentioning and tagging industry players in pursuit of a shout-out in the future
- Liking and sharing the content of others in your industry
Reality check: link-building isn’t going anywhere and businesses that ignore this fact can do so at their own peril. Rather than let your rankings slip away, businesses should adopt a multi-channel attack to win as many links possible. The end result is a holistic link building strategy that’s actionable and attainable for businesses of any shape or size.
