“How do I get links to my website?” This is a sentence many website owners and junior SEO specialists ask themselves.
Getting backlinks has become so hard now, especially after all those Google’s algorithm changes. If you are only starting to learn about SEO link building campaigns, or if your campaigns do not bring results, here you can see the process from our perspective.
What is Link Building?
Link building is one of the most important off-site techniques that contribute to improving website rankings in the SERP. This technique implies connecting your website with other sites in your niche via actual backlinks in a way that is approved by Google (white-hat SEO).
The essential components of every linking campaign include:
- Keyword research
- Domain/page authority
- Natural links
- Guest posting
- Connections
3 Easy Steps for Organizing Link Building Campaigns
1. Make a plan with goals
Many SEOs today consider that getting links is not their job because they prefer doing the on-site part. And even when they need to build links, they do it without any order or plan.
Our advice is to always make a plan. Plans make things work. Without one, you can just cause chaos and hope for the best.
However, when you make a plan of your link building activities and set clear goals, you can see how things work for you and then plan further actions according to the results. For example, if you plan to build links for a year, you can divide this period into quarters and set a smaller goal for each quarter, such as getting 100 relevant backlinks for a three-month period.
This may seem like an ambitious goal, but you can also further subdivide those periods into smaller chunks and then see what you did well or bad. If you did well, you can continue doing so and take things to a higher level. However, if you did poorly, you will still have time to figure out what you did was wrong and then act smarter the next time.
Extra tip: if you are a visual kind of person, you can make a personal calendar where you can mark reaching every milestone. Not only will you be able to see how fast you go, but you will also be proud of what you have accomplished over time.
2. Find your niche
When you have a clearly defined goal and a plan that is expected to work, you should conduct a thorough research of your competition and the niche your (client’s) website belongs to. Niche is a marketing term for an industry, but SEO specialists also use it for convenience. Since domain and page authority plays an important role in link building, including website relevance, you need to make sure that the websites you want a backlink from are connected to yours (i.e. they belong to your niche).
“Connected in what way? ” you may ask. Well, for example, if your website belongs to the car industry, you need to find where your potential customers and clients spend their time. Directories, forums, even social networks can be a great starter point. After that, start thinking about guest blogging. Getting or earning a backlink is so hard to achieve these days so many inexperienced SEOs go with paying bloggers for a link. You should know that pages can get penalized for this because it is not fair to your competition. Get your links in a nice way and always reach out to the people with honesty.
3. Always keep record of what you do
All experienced SEOs will tell you to document what you do. If your company uses a project management tool, even better – you can make a record of all the things you do there. These tools can make the process much easier and are excellent for reporting (to either you supervisor or client).
However, if you still do not use any PM tools, you can still make your own notes and keep track of all the links you have built (or are pending approval) in, for example, OneNote, Evernote or some other note-keeping tool. This way, you will be able to show your client the progress you have made and make the SEO process even more transparent.
Extra tip: If something unexpected happens, such as a website penalty or any other issue, you can go back and disavow those bad links manually. If you have made a connection with webmasters and bloggers, you can even ask them as a favor to remove the backlink to your website. Many will help you.
Back to you: How do you start your link building campaigns? Do you think we have forgotten to add something? Let us know what you think in the comments below.
