As is the case with SEO overall, the building of backlinks is now all about quality over quantity. In short, not all backlinks are created equal and the emphasis now is all on the forging of high quality backlinks earned by investing considerable time in attracting high authority sites into linking to your site by doing research and sophisticated digital PR.
Lojix, a digital marketing agency in the UK, says that one of the most important ways to get started in the mission to achieve high quality backlinks is to become a trusted source for journalists and bloggers. This may seem like an arduous task that will involve many hours of hard graft, but while the graft will pay extra dividends getting started is quite easy. You can register on HARO (Help A Reporter Out) which is a platform for bloggers and journalists and others in PR. It’s almost like an online dating platform except it connects those in need of sources with people who are after links or exposure (you). You will need to keep your eye on the ‘requests’ section of the platform to see what you can contribute to, sending bloggers and journalists concise pitches as and when you can. You are now on the road to receiving valuably high quality backlinks.
The skyscraper content technique
Skyscraper content is an inbound marketing technique that if you are diligent and a decent writer can pay real dividends. The idea is to find high performing (but not necessarily high quality) content in your field and write a very similar article that is many times better and maybe a bit more up-to-date and therefore relevant. That is the first step. One thing, ensure you quote some industry figures in your article that are active on social media – this could help you no end in the next step, which is: promoting your content. You need to use your social media platforms to cleverly market your content. Tag and mention and even thank people you have referenced in your article, hoping for shares. Tag others you think may like your article and as long as you don’t come across as spam or desperate you should get some pleasing results. Make sure you try to structure your content in such a way as to give it the best chance of being the go-to content on your subject. One of the most optimal strategies is to make it a top 5 or top 10 list. Such articles are easier to read and often searches are made requesting precisely such a list – feeding not only consumer demand but also the algorithm beast!
Ultimate guides are a powerful tool
Never underestimate the power of an ultimate guide. They are so easy to link to and bloggers and journalists hoover up such content and link to them as easily as they breathe. Often short, snappy articles perform better, but for ultimate guides, this goes out of the window and long guides tend to do really well. An ultimate guide can be like your backlink cash cow as they just need a little tweaking every now and then to keep them up to date and relevant and they will hopefully continue to supply you with quality backlinks for months and even years to come. Make sure you structure the guide well, with cleverly thought out subtopics and bullets to make for easy and quick navigation to salient points.
Make use of popular formats
Videos and quizzes are among the most popular content formats along with lists, ‘how to’ posts and infographics. So much content is well written but ignored as it is in the wrong format. Do a little research on what makes for a popular content format in your area and you’ll be rewarded by more views and by proxy more backlinks.
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