When you earn a backlink on an authority website in your niche, you’re effectively taking some of the site’s “SEO juice” to fuel your own SEO strategy and position your company higher in the SERPs. That said, it’s not just about building backlinks, it’s also about making your backlink portfolio better over time. Keep reading to find out what you need to do to achieve this goal.
Search engine optimization is a science and an art form, simply because there is a lot of trial and error that goes into the process of developing a winning SEO strategy. Digital agencies will monitor the latest SEO trends, pick up on signals from customers and competitors, and test their innovative ideas in order to find out what still works, what works better, and what should be scrapped for good. Now, if there is an SEO practice that has stood the test of time and still delivers great results, it’s building backlinks.
What makes an amazing backlink?
For your backlink strategy to be successful this year, and every following year, you need to know what makes a good backlink special. You probably know by now that not all backlinks were created equal and that some could even send your website tumbling down to the abyss of Google’s second results page. To prevent this, keep this checklist in mind:
- Portfolio diversity. Let your “link juice” come from a variety of authorities in the industry, not a single source.
- Brand reputation and trust. Look for high-authority domains in the industry that command the respect and trust of their audiences – hence the search engines as well.
- Make your backlinks relevant to the site, niche, and topic. Otherwise, Google will notice, and there’s no strike two.
- Ask for the do-follow attribute. If your link has been labeled as no-follow on the site, then you won’t be able to enjoy the SEO benefits of the website.
Find and reach out to authority blogs
Speaking of authority, in order to get the best bang for your SEO buck, you really should go the extra mile to earn quality backlinks on reputable websites.
Building your backlink portfolio on a foundation of quality and authority will go a long way in boosting your website up the SERP ladder, but that doesn’t mean that it will be easy. After all, there’s a reason why digital agencies specialize in content marketing, SEO, and link building – it’s difficult.
Authority websites and prominent bloggers are notorious for their vetting processes. So, you can bet that the content you submit not only needs to be of stellar quality, but it also needs to be relevant, optimized, and it needs to earn the link.
This requires networking and communication and establishing relationships with influential bloggers. Before you submit an article, be sure to get to know the blogger first.
Focus on creating stellar content
Of course, the most important element of an amazing backlink portfolio is the content itself. In a nutshell, your content development strategy needs to encompass all of the aforementioned insights, but then integrate story-driven narratives, factual information, in-depth topic examination, proper citations and verifiable data, and much more.
Remember, creating quality content that captures the eyes and imagination of bloggers and audiences is a cumbersome task, one that requires a team of experienced content creators and SEO experts.
Without a doubt, there is a need to go above and beyond when it comes to the quality of the piece, and that means that you will need to go more in-depth on every topic, resolve all issues and questions, integrate keywords seamlessly, make it readable, and satisfy all other requirements imposed by Google and the modern reader. To achieve all of this, though, you need to monitor the market and SEO trends closely.
Keep close tabs on market and SEO trends
SEO and backlinking are not set in stone – they are constantly evolving with the times (or algorithms, rather), and Google loves to keep bloggers and SEO experts guessing. Otherwise, everyone would know exactly what to do for maximum backlink success, which defeats the purpose. With that in mind, it’s important that you stay on top of the latest SEO and market trends.
This will allow you to craft winning pieces, and even repurpose and adapt old content to perform better on YouTube and all other platforms for example, and deliver that extra SEO benefit you’re looking for. Most importantly, staying up-to-date will allow you to appeal to authority sites in your industry, as better content overall means better SEO performance for their sites as well.
Stay active on social media and beyond
And finally, do remember to promote your content in the digital realm on a regular basis. Sure, creation in itself is a tiring process, but if you stick to a “publish it and forget it” mindset, you’re severely limiting the exposure potential of your piece, your backlink, and your brand.
Instead, use social media and other platforms in the digital world to spread the news of your content, get people interested, engage with readers, and drive traffic to your website and the website that hosts your link – this is how you make your backlink portfolio shine.
Backlinking is a tried-and-tested strategy that has stood the test of time. Even though it’s not the be-all-end-all of SEO, it does play one of the leading roles in long-term, sustainable search engine optimization.
With these tips in mind, you can improve your backlink portfolio and give your online presence the drive it needs to climb the SERPs.
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