19January 2020
Getting backlinks is by far the most difficult part of SEO; we all know that; it is more difficult than creating content, and more difficult to perform onpage and technical SEO.
Creating content is easy because you just create content following the SEO rules and you post them on your site; you don’t rely on other sites to publish your content. The same goes for onpage and technical SEO; you create the strategy and apply it.
Getting backlinks is the most difficult because you rely on other sites to give you links; that requires a lot of hustling, content creation and followups.
Nowadays, you can buy links, but Google doesn’t like that strategy and penalizes you when it finds out. If you want to buy links, you must buy them from sites that aren’t SPAM sites, and you have to be careful not to buy a lot of them in a short period of time so Google doesn’t flag your site.
The best way to get links is to get free links. Free links are by far the most difficult ones to get, the reason most marketers don’t do it. That’s the opportunity though; the less people doing it, the higher the chances to get such good links.
The first effective link strategy to get free links is the Skyscraper technique: that technique requires tools like ahrefs or semrush.
The first step is to make a keyword research and choose the keywords that have high search volume.
Second, start by inserting these keywords in Google search bar; if let’s say you are a bike rental shop, and you chose the keyword “how to rent a bike”; insert that keyword in the search bar and see the blogs that rank highest. Copy these blogs into the tool and check the ones that have the most amount of backlinks.
Third, write more elaborate content that these blogs; if for example these blogs wrote a 2000 blog, write 4000 words. If these blogs designed an infographic, design a better one, and so fourth, you got the point right?
Fourth, create a pitch email, and start approaching the sites that first are giving the links to these blogs, second the sites that high the highest domain authorities, and third the ones that drive the most traffic to these blogs. Your pitch email should say why your blog is better than the one they currently host, and why they should use yours. Then mention that they can use it for free, and that you’d appreciate a link back to your site.
Fifth, make sure you follow up, I would follow up after 2-3 days after the first time I sent the email, another follow up after 5-7 days, and I would continue about 8 times to follow up. Following up is crucial to the success of getting links; these sites get tens of emails daily with similar pitches, so keep that mind, and ensure you followup to succeed.
The second effective link strategy to get free links is Guest Posting.
Guest posting is a similar approach to the skyscraper technique but slightly easier. If you are using tools like ahrefs and semrush, check from where your competitors are getting links, and filter the links they are getting through guest posting.
Next, make a list of all these sites and approach them. A good percentage would accept your offer as your content would add value to them and their readers.
Send a pitch email with some articles you have written showing them the quality you can create for them.
As the skyscraper technique, ensure you follow up. Such sites also get tens of emails daily, so be persistent with your follow up to get results.
The third effective link strategy to get free links is called HARO and the website is helpareporter.com
HARO has today over 50,000 journalists and bloggers looking for resources to help them create their content.
Simply go to helpareporter.com, register yourself which takes a couple of minutes, and start receiving daily 3 emails with service requests from these journalists and bloggers that need help.
After you receive these emails, check the service requests, click on the one you have expertise in, and reply with your answer to that journalist/ blogger with your bio or your client’s bio. If that journalist/ blogger likes your answer, they will feature it in their content and give you the credit back which is a link to your site.
Most links don’t come from the highest domain authority sites but you will be surprised to get links from sites like Forbes and other top publications; and sites like Forbes have some of the highest domain authority today.