By Dustin Williams
Even with Google’s push to give quality, engaging content the greatest weight in search results, inbound links are still a key factor to ranking organically. Here are the best link outreach strategies in 2018.
Create Shareable Content:
The goal of this strategy is to create engaging content that instructs and answers the most common questions relating to your niche. Generic articles no longer cut it in 2018. Content will not provide value unless it engages its readers.
Website content needs to be easy to read and include high-quality visuals in form of high-resolution images, high-definition videos and infographics.
Content also needs to be credible by citing your information sources and making specific reference to industry influencers.
These strategies will take your content to the next level and make shareable, which will earn you inbound links.
Guest Blogging:
Guest blogging on authority news sites and industry-targeted blogs is an effective way to build brand awareness. In a recent blog post about four link-building campaign tips that will work for 2018, New York Times bestselling author Neil Patel says that the goal is to “brand yourself as an industry expert and thought leader.” As a contributor to popular news sites, you can build an audience of loyal readers who will connect your name with your brand. You connect your guest articles with your brand when you include an author biography with a link to your company website.
Prospecting for Broken Links:
Often websites will publish content that links to other websites with related information. Over time, the pages being linked to may get moved or deleted. With this strategy, you search for websites that have related content with broken links. You then reach out to the webmaster to notify them of the broken link and suggest your article as a good alternative.
Searching for Name and/or Brand Mentions:
Other website owners often publish content and mention people or brands in their articles without linking the reference to the related website. You can earn links by searching for mentions of your name or brand and contacting the website owner to ask if they will update it with your link.
It’s important to make sure when contacting website owners that you take time to read their content before reaching out, and to compliment them on specific takeaways from the article.
List Websites:
Also called competitive link building, this strategy involves searching for websites that list several of your competitors. You then contact the webmaster and ask to include a link to your website because of the relevance to the competitor sites they have included in their list.
Categorized Site Lists:
Another great suggestion comes from Rand Fishkin’s Whiteboard Friday about the three easiest link building tactics any website can use to acquire their first 50 links. In addition to searching for sites that list competitors, look for sites with categorized lists. Such lists might be based on geographic data, such as similar businesses located in Salt Lake City. These websites may list companies based on areas of operation or those that offer similar services. Another category could be based on unique company attributes, like supporting a charity or having all in-house employees.
Remember, Google is focused on giving preference to websites that provide engaging content. As you continue moving forward into 2018, it’s vital to incorporate a strong backlinking strategy into your overall digital marketing strategy. FORTHGEAR’s SEO and content marketing experts can help. Contact us today to get started!
