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Building backlinks is one of the most powerful SEO strategies. Links have always played a major part in algorithms determining the rankings. However, the best backlink types have shifted. Over time, algorithms got smarter and more sophisticated. The specific number of backlinks became less important for rankings while link quality and relevance took the driver’s seat. Algorithms now understand link quality, link relationships, and relevance on a much deeper level. This more sophisticated understanding is one of the main reasons the best links for SEO have changed. Let’s first look at link characteristics.
Don’t Only Consider Link Type
Whether you’re buying backlinks or earning them organically, there’s more than just the type of link at play. Two editorial links could be completely different in terms of traffic, quality, relevance, and authority (just to name a few). Remember to consider:
- DoFollow v. NoFollow
- Authority
- Link Relevance
- Anchor Text types (link to anchor text types article)
- Quality & Traffic
- Link Placement
DoFollow v. NoFollow Links
In the broadest sense, there are two types of backlinks – DoFollow & NoFollow. You need a mix of both in order to have a healthy backlink profile. While both types play an important part in your overall link graph, DoFollow links can have a bigger impact on rankings.
DoFollow links act as a recommendation. You can think of the relationship as a vote of confidence or endorsement, but in essence the site is vouching for your content. This type of link also signals that the link was not purchased.
NoFollow links are less valuable because they remove the association. According to Google, you should, “Use the NoFollow value when other values don’t apply, and you’d rather Google not associate your site with, or crawl the linked page from, your site.” All NoFollow links include the “rel=nofollow” tag.
NoFollow is Still Valuable
While NoFollow links won’t skyrocket you to the top of the rankings, Google is using these more and more as supporting link signals. That’s why we recommend building both types of links regularly. NoFollow links can also help attract other DoFollow link opportunities. This is especially true on high-authority sites like Wikipedia, Yahoo, and Huffington Post.
NoFollow links also bring in traffic, because you’re reaching a new audience. This will help increase brand awareness and online visibility. In the long run, NoFollow links can broaden your network and bring in more linking opportunities. The bottom line is you need these links for a healthy link profile. Just look at our ratio of DoFollow to NoFollow:
Best Types of Links for SEO
Link building is expensive. To maximize every dollar (and link), it’s important to know the different types of backlinks and when each is best. Highly effective link building means you can achieve higher ranking
- Editorial Links
- Relationship-Based Links
- General Directory Links
- Niche Directories
- Press Release Backlinks
- Business Profile Backlinks
- Free Tools or Resources
- Guest Blog Links
- Paid Backlinks
- Sponsorship Backlinks
- Webinar & Podcast Links
- Badge Backlinks
Editorial Backlinks
Whenever a site links to your content as a supporting source, that’s an editorial backlink. It can be a quote, general link, content roundup, interview, infographic, video, or other piece of content. Editorial links are some of the most powerful, because they are viewed as a cited recommendation.
To build editorial backlinks, focus on producing high quality content within your niche. Then, perform manual outreach through email, social media, and messaging. While the outreach response rate isn’t high, your content will speak for itself if it’s high quality.
We recommend creating infographics and other visual elements instead of promoting blog posts or other written content. Visual elements are easy to understand and stand out from the crowd. They also bring visual value and diversity to the linking site.
Relationship Based Links
If you build relationships with reporters, news outlets, and other creators, you can build many backlinks from one source. This relationship-based link building can be much more effective. Often times relationship-based links are editorial links, but they don’t require cold outreach.
Consider a journalist who covers the stock market. Chances are, they produce a lot of content around this subject, so they need a regular source. You can be that source if you build the relationship!
Reach out to local journalists and content creators to start building relationships. Let them know about your expertise and willingness to answer any questions they may have. While it’s more work up front, these are some of the best backlinks for saving time.
You can also reach out to websites that already link to your content. Because the site is already somewhat familiar with you, a relationship may be easier to build.
General Directory Links
General directory links are from broad directories that include sites like Yelp, Google My Business, and Yellowpages. You complete a form with your basic business info (NAP) and a link to your homepage, which is then used for your profile.
While these seem rudimentary, general directory links are easy backlinks to build and benefit both organic SEO & local SEO. General directory links build your brand mentions, serve as NAP signals, and increase prominence for local SEO.
We recommend starting with widely known directories with high authority. To find general directory links, you can evaluate competitors’ domains with link gap tools but that takes time. Our Data Aggregator service submits your info to thousands of directories with the click of a button. You can also use our Business Citations to build links with general business directories. These are essential for any business.
Niche Directories
Niche directory links will always create more impact because they have stronger relevance. These directories center on a specific industry or service, providing users a more focused experience. For example, realtors have many online directories.
While niche directories can be harder to find, they’re more valuable backlinks. To find niche directory links, you can simply search for “niche + directories” or use tools like Whitespark to identify missing niche links and local citations. We also make it easy – we find them for you! Our custom signal building service will evaluate your top competitors to find the niche-specific citations you’re missing.
Webinar & Podcast Links
This type of link is two parts…
First, if you produce a webinar or podcast this can attract backlinks from viewers, fans, and guests. Other thought leaders in your niche may link to your content as a source or quote you. Podcast guests will also want to promote their episode by linking to you.
That’s why we recommend recording your webinars or podcasts, then publishing them on your site somewhere to attract links. You can publish the full video or transcribe your videos to include as written content. Publishing the transcription can provide more content for potential links and rankings.
Secondarily, being a guest on a podcast or webinar also allows you to build links. Podcasts and webinars generally link to more information about their guests, so listeners can find additional information about you. If you’re ever a guest on a podcast be sure to ask for a link!
Let’s use The SEO Vault, Web 2.0 Ranker’s podcast, as an example. Every podcast episode we publish a dedicated page that includes the full video, recap of what was talked about, and links to relevant content. If we have an outside guest, we will link to their site as well.
Press Release Backlinks
When a media outlet publishes a newsworthy brand update, these are press release links. Generally, press releases are published (and linked) through newswire syndication, which distributes news to a network of subscribed media outlets.
With a quality newswire you can quickly build hundreds of links and reach a wider audience. However, keep in mind press links are usually NoFollow links. You can’t just build press release links and expect to boost your rankings. DoFollow news links are available, like our DoFollow press releases on major news sites, but don’t overuse press release links. They used to be very popular back in the day, but their effectiveness led to overuse which devalued this link type. They can still be used effectively, you just have to follow the right press release SEO strategies.
Create a press release when you have a new product, product line, location, executive member, partnership, or you’re rebranding. Then, send your press release to media outlets for coverage. If you don’t have the resources to write your own press releases, no worries!
Our press release services will write, optimize, and syndicate your press release so you don’t have to do any work. Just choose a standard press release or premium press release then submit your order. We also offer other press links.
To get the best press releases, use our AP News Features. These are great for branding. If you want to write the press release internally, we offer Press Syndication Credits to easily blast out your press release to hundreds of high authority outlets. We’ve even revamped our syndication platform to add more high quality news outlets.
Free Tools or Resource Links
This is a popular link building strategy for marketers. You create a free resource or tool, then promote it to attract links. You can get backlinks through feature articles, content mentions, press releases, and product reviews.
We’ve all known a marketer who has created their own tool. I’m sure you could even name a few popular brand tools. Chances are, they created it for backlinks. They probably also want to help users, but everyone shares and links to free stuff. Tools are no exception.
You can explore the free tools we’ve created to get inspiration and find some helpful new tools to use in your business. Our favorite tools are:
Guest Blog Links
Guest posting has been around a long time and like most things in life, a few bad apples spoiled the bunch. Algorithms wised up to random guest posts published for the sole purpose of an authoritative link.
Links built from guest posts must be done properly to be effective. There are 2 important pieces to consider when evaluating guest blogging opportunities:
- Topic relevance
- Helpful, quality content
We recommend targeting niche-relevant guest posts, even if the site’s authority scores are lower than a not-so-relevant site. These links will be more impactful to your rankings. If you’re in a smaller niche, niche relevant content may not be available. In that case, we recommend reading our advice on how to do guest posts properly.
If you’re searching for guest post opportunities, we offer guest post services as well as niche guest posts – travel guest posts, eCom guest posts, law guest posts, and tech guest posts. You can also use resources like HARO or search social media platforms like Twitter using “guest post + [area/topic/industry].
Paid Backlinks
Paying for backlinks is frowned upon by search engines, so some marketers avoid it. If you get caught in a link scheme, it can lead to manual actions and penalties, which we all want to avoid. However, as long as you responsibly build links, you will be fine.
You can purchase guest posts, sponsored content, or other links without Google knowing you paid for it. Think about it. Google doesn’t have access to your bank account. How do they know you purchased a link? Unnatual link building.
The key is to find sites that are relevant to your niche, area, or another factor. Make the link look as natural as possible. Don’t link to a site simply because it is high authority.
Sponsorship Backlinks
If you sponsor an industry event, tradeshow, charity, or even a scholarship, they usually link back to your site. Whenever you sponsor anything, ask for a link.
Scholarship link building is a perfect example. Businesses will offer a small scholarship in exchange for a dedicated page on a university website. The business get the link, as well as the good will.
We recommend strategically choosing sponsorships based on their relevance and local profile. You want to choose sponsorships in the same community (build local relevance) or in your niche (build niche relevance authority). Additionally, look at their site before sponsoring to see if they have a “sponsor” or “acknowledgement” page. It’s harder for sites to link to your page if there isn’t a framework already in place.
Badge Backlinks
These backlinks use a branded badge, award, or symbol to attract links. A business adds the badge to their site and links back to the referring domain. Badge links are generally used by notable businesses with strong brand awareness. For example, the Better Business Bureau offers a BBB badge for any BBB accredited business. Websites are incentivized to include this badge as a trust symbol for users. The BBB gets a link each time the badge is used.
While it’s difficult to build up that type of brand notoriety, it’s something to work towards. Even if your brand isn’t national or well-known, there are badge link opportunities. For example, if you’re a local business you could poll your audience on social media to vote for the best restuarant, stores, etc. Then, each winner can publish the badge on their website.
Links to Not Overuse
While you must have a diverse backlink profile, there are some types of links you should use sparingly. They can signal spammy practices to Google and should be used carefully.
Sitewide Links
These are links that appear on every page of the linking site. For example, links in the header, footer, and sidebar are all sitewide links. These are less valuable because there is no context or specific use. Therefore, there isn’t much benefit to building this type of link. For example, web designers sometimes create links in footers of sites they develop.
Comment Links
Including links in your comments has little to no value, unless you’re providing another commenter with a helpful resource. You may even look like a spammer if you use this link building strategy frequently. While it used to be effective, algorithms don’t value these links.
Links from comments are NoFollow. They can help you build up a more natural link profile in some cases, but we recommend only including links in your comments when it will direct the user to additional helpful information.
Forum Links
While leaving links in forums used to be a popular linking strategy, it became overused. Now, Google often equates this type of link building with spammers. Forums also add the NoFollow tag to these links.
Use these links sparingly. You can add links in forums if they provide valuable info to users or support co-occurrence, but you should only participate in high-quality forums that are relevant to your site’s niche.
You Need a Diverse Backlink Profile
Focusing too heavily on one type of backlink can negatively impact your ranking efforts.
Like we mentioned above, you must focus on building a variety of backlinks to support a natural, yet diverse backlink profile. When creating your backlink strategy, sprinkle in many different types of links. This will protect your site against using one specific type too much. Almost like a buffer!
If you need help finding links, use our Google Alerts strategy. Instead of manually searching for links, you can set keywords and Google notifies you when content fits the criteria. It saves quite a bit of time.
Don’t Have Time to Build Links?
Sometimes there just aren’t enough hours in the day…
If you need help building backlinks, we offer DFY link building, citation creation, custom signals, and guest posts (general and specific niches) that take the load off your plate. Outsourcing your link building can speed up the process, save you time and money, and leverage experts who can achieve a higher ROI.
WEB20 Ranker has the necessary experience to build you the best backlinks!
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