5 Tactics for Building Quality Links in 2016

The only the reason the internet isn’t a giant unorganized mess is because we have links to provide direction and structure. Without URLs that point to each website or page, and without search engines like Google to catalogue them, the internet would be a very different place.

If links form the highways of the internet, then backlinks are the exit signs that take travelers off the main path and into your website. Whether it’s for traffic, SEO, or influencer outreach, building high-quality backlinks is something that should always be on our minds. Today I’m going to show you 5 advanced and highly actionable tactics to start building smarter, not harder.

5 Ultra-Effective Backlink Building Techniques for 2016

Backlinks can come from anywhere, but not all backlinks are created equal as we all know. These tactics will absolutely help you build high-quality links to your site, but before we dive into them, let’s quickly review what we’re looking for in a high-quality backlink:

It comes from a relevant source
The link comes from a site with a high TrustRank
It provides consistent traffic
Relevant and varied anchor text
The link is placed within the sending site’s content
It’s placed on a page with high PageRank
The link is near other high-quality links on the page
It comes from a different source than your other backlinks
Ideally it’s not reciprocal
There aren’t a ton of other links on the sending page
The link isn’t easily earned.

You don’t need to check off this entire list for every backlink, but it’s something to keep in mind when you’re hunting down new opportunities. Now, let’s dive into our link building techniques!

1. The Skyscraper Technique

When I first decided to create a blog, I was in the camp of people that thought backlinks would come naturally to those who post awesome content. Once I did that, people would stumble upon it and automatically link to it once they finished picking up the pieces of their blown mind.

As Brian Dean taught me with his Skyscraper Technique, that’s not enough. Publishing great content is only the first step. Once you’ve done that, you have to take a planned approach to promotion that will ensure it gets seen by the right people. That’s the aim of this technique.

The Skyscraper Technique is divided into three major steps:

Find content people are linking to
Create something similar (but way better)
Show it to the right people.

For the first step, use a tool like Ahrefs to look at your competitor’s websites and see which pages are getting the most links. Ideally we should be looking for sites with 25 links or more. That data tells us that people want to link to that content.

Examine these pages in-depth and look for ways to improve them:

Make it a lot longer
Update elements of the post that are outdated as you write your own
Give it more visuals and design elements
Go deeper and into more detail

Once we’ve done these, the final step is to utilize email outreach to get this amazing new post in front of the right people. You should target the same people who were linking to your competitors by downloading all of the links pointing to that content from Ahrefs.

Remove any directories or forums and create a template that you can use to email the rest. Something like this will work perfectly:

Hey (site owner),

I noticed you linked to one of my favorite articles on (subject) + (URL)

I actually wrote something similar that I think you’ll really like. It’s longer, more thorough, and up-to-date.

I thought I would let you know in case you want to mention/link to it on your page.

Thanks for your time!

Cheers,

(your name)

Simple and easy. This template will help you earn new links from high-quality sources, all while providing internet users with amazing content on your blog or website.

2. Create and Promote a Scholarship

When it comes to backlinks, anything that comes from a .edu or .gov website carry the same level of authority you would get from a major TLD, so they’re absolutely worth getting when you can. A great way to do this with .edu links is to create and promote a scholarship.

Just like the technique above, this tactic isn’t something you can do half-hearted or even just once. You need to fully invest in this technique if you want to see lasting results. Here’s as step-by-step breakdown of this process:

Establish Your Scholarship Details

Start by answering the big questions like “how much will the winning applicant earn?” and what you’re basing the award on in terms of financial needs, academic performance, community outreach, or a combination of them all.

Decide if you want applicants to fill out an application, or if you want transcripts and an essay as well. Provide contact information like an email or phone number as well. I recommend creating a customer scholarship email for handling these inquiries, just make sure it is an email pointing to your business’ domain.

Create Your Scholarship Page

The next step is to create a page dedicated to your scholarship. Here you’ll include all the details outlined above. Make the page organized and functional, but don’t be afraid to make it visually engaging.

Hiring a designer to create a separate information sheet that you can include in your email outreach isn’t required, but it does add an extra layer of sophistication that shows you’re serious about your program.

Perform Email Outreach

You’ll find that many backlink tactics require you to perform email outreach at some point in the process, and this is no different. You can start by looking for similar scholarships locally by searching for them using this format:

(City) College intitle:scholarships

Change out the word “college” with “university” and other terms to expand your results. You can also replace college with specific industries. Create a spreadsheet and start compiling lists of competitor scholarships.

Once again, you can use a backlink tool to see which schools are linking to these sites. You can also check local universities yourself and look at their financial aid page to see if they post links to external scholarships like your own.

When you have a list going, look at the school’s contact page to see if there’s a specific email for scholarships and use that address for your outreach.

3. Find High-Quality Guest Post Opportunities

Guest posting has been and continues to be a great way to earn backlinks to your site, while also gaining new readers through carefully crafted content. As you begin your search for opportunities here, start by looking for blogs that are in your industry or niche and are active on social media.

When you’ve found some that match your content, start performing keyword searches to narrow down your results. Use these inputs:

Your keyword “submit a guest post”
Your keyword “guest post”
Your keyword “guest post guidelines”

This will pull up more specific submission pages so you can see which sites are currently accepting new content. The same searches can be performed on social media sites like Twitter for similar results.

Looking at your competitor’s backlinks, you’re also certain to find a few they earned from guest posts they’ve done. Submitting a post of your own to one of those sites is also advised.

You can hire a virtual assistant using a platform like Upwork and have them compile a spreadsheet for you that incorporates the information you or your writers need to start producing guest posts. A link to the guidelines for each site, contact information, and a potential topics to pitch them are all recommended elements.

4. Building Links With Infographics

This is probably the part where you stop reading because you don’t have design experience and you’re not able to shell out tons of money to a designer. Don’t worry, I’m no graphic design major either, but I’ve still made some awesome infographics myself and with the help of inexpensive designers.

If you’re set on building your infographics, then I wholeheartedly recommend Canva which is a free tool you can use to build amazing graphics of all shapes and sizes.

If you’re more interested in hiring someone. I recommend using either Dribble or Fiver to look for potential designers at a low cost to you. Once you’ve created a useful and visually enticing graphic, you need to create an embed code.

Luckily, I have the perfect solution for you in the form of Siege Media Generator. Put the infographic on your site first with a post surrounding it, and then you can send emails to others in your niche or industry with the embed code.

Ask them to share it on their site and offer to write a small introduction for the post so they don’t have to.

5. Earning Backlinks From Social Media

Backlinks on social media come from posts that you share and from others that share your posts. These links are rarely given much attention for their SEO value because they’re noFollow links, but the reason we’re bringing it up here is because noFollow links do have value for your site.

Consider these facts about noFollow links:

noFollow links raise awareness of your business/brand
They lead people to your landing pages and create conversions
They can lead to other pages with doFollow links
They give your backlink profile a natural and varied look

While you don’t need to prioritize backlinks from social media, you should keep them in mind as a means of raising awareness and balancing out your backlink profile to avoid penalties from Google. Don’t write these off just because they don’t directly add to your SEO.

Final Thoughts

Link Building is more alive than ever. Not only does it benefit your rankings in the ever-shifting world of SEO, but it bring new visitors to your website through numerous avenues of the internet. It’s an essential practice for startups looking to grow their brand. How do you build backlinks for your site? Let us know in the comments!

Author Bio:

Marie Svenson is an experienced marketing professional with a passion for data-backed and high-value content. You can find her online: @SvensonMarie

5 Tactics for Building Quality Links in 2016