Smart Ways to Building Links to Your Site in 2017

link building

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This is the guest post by Nikolay Stoyanov.

Link building has evolved a lot and still remained the same.

Although most SEO experts say that Google’s algorithms have improved significantly in last few years and are able to recognize certain patterns (which is true) link builders are still doing a lot of gray hat techniques.

Still, I have to say that people are slowly starting to recognize potential dangers of such strategy and are instead opting to go full white hat.

Let’s check the best link building techniques that are still working today.

#1. Guest posts

3 years ago, Matt Cutts stated that link building through guest posts is entering dangerous zone.

Soon after the whole SEO world exploded and guesting was quickly perceived as a black hat practice. However, fast forward to 2017, this technique still remains the most popular way of getting backlinks.

Although we are still uncertain to what extent Google is able to control these guest articles, we can tell with certainty that you shouldn’t overdo them. They should be just one fraction of your overall link profile.

That being said, it is much more important to focus on relevancy and quality of links; getting just about any link will serve you no good.

As long as you do it moderately and focus on top to medium tier sites, you should be fine.

#2. Power Pages or Ultimate Guides

When we talk about pure white hat link building, ultimate guides or power pages are among first things that pop in our head.

Simply put, this is a process of creation top notch posts that will be linked to naturally.

Creation of ultimate guides is based on two main elements: quality content and outreach. Both are necessary for your plan to work.

Additional benefit which you get when creating ultimate guides is that you’re leaving a mark on a whole community. During outreach process you will have to contact numerous bloggers which can potentially open a lot of doors. So even if a campaign fails, it can provide great secondary benefit.

Unfortunately, I have noticed a steep drop in influencer responsiveness.

With ultimate guide strategy, you are trying to impress bloggers with sheer information and packaging of the article. But, at one point people started overspamming it which resulted in less links and responses by the bloggers.

#3. Infographics

Like ultimate guides, infographics have one aspect that is really impressive: they are visually appealing making them easy to digest.

Great infographic can land you a lot of links. However, you need top notch graphic designer to pull it off.

Strategy behind infographics can be really complex and it includes proper usage of colors, nice-looking patterns as well as relevant and wholesome data. Contrary popular opinion, it is really hard to create a winning infographic.

That being said, I would recommend it only if you have a graphic wizard.

Similar to power pages, there are a lot of guys on the web that are creating this kind of content. Blogosphere is saturated with them and it is really hard to attract enough attention during outreach phase.

In fact, if your infographic is not good enough, there is a good chance influencer will delete your email without ever giving it a second glance.

#4. Explainer Videos

As you presume, explainer videos are a type of content similar to ultimate guides and infographics. However, there is a bit of a difference.

While infographics and ultimate guides are made as stand-alone pages, explainer videos should be elements of a post. These videos are meant to explain a term, they are usually short and this allows them to be placed almost anywhere.

An explainer can be embedded in any post and it is really great as it quickly explains something without taking extra space. These videos are also amazing for diversifying your content and adding something new.

You can promote them in the same way as previous two content types.

I truly think explainers are the future given how people are focusing more and more on video content. Here are fourteen great examples of animated explainer videos you can use for inspiration.

#5. Resource Pages

Depending on niche in which you’re working, there might be a lot of website with resource pages.

These pages may be littered with different links and likely won’t transfer a lot of link juice to your site. Still, this is a good opportunity to get a link from a new domain.

Ideally, you should have some sort of relationship with website owner. However, even if you do not have, you can always pitch him through email and ask him to add your link to the list.

#6. HARO

There has been a lot of talk about HARO or Help A Reporter Out.
It is one of those tools that can really boost your visibility and yet, it is not the best fit for everyone.

HARO is a website that connects bloggers with media outlets. If you have some great news that needs to be shared with others, you can try to contact one of these media outlets and pitch them with your story.

Have in mind that this won’t work for every industry and you also have to have something really special on your hands.

Nevertheless, it can be really good for studies and other types of revolutionary publications that haven’t gotten enough attention so far.

I wrote an article about how to use HARO for link building which you might find a useful read.

#7. Scholarships and contests

This one is very similar to HARO in a sense that it connects you to most authoritative websites in the world. But, it can present quite an investment.

During scholarships and contest, you need to invest some money. You will then offer this money to students attending a college. Of course, this will have to be published on a website and you will get a link back.

Good thing about this strategy is that it allows you to penetrate the most authoritative .edu domains in the world. This link can be irreplaceable and can send a strong signal to Google search engine regarding relevancy and authority of your website.

Last precautions

Always have in mind that these strategies provide different results from industry to industry. The way you do perform them is also important.

It is hard to tell what you need to do in your particular case. The best scenario is to try different things and figure out which one suits you the best.

About Author

Nikolay Stoyanov is a well-known Bulgarian SEO expert with nearly 10 years of SEO experience. He blogs about SEO on his blog NikSto.com. Nikolay practices 100% white hat SEO and has a vast experience in keyword research, on-page optimization, SEO auditing and white hat link building. He enjoys learning new things, making new friendships and improving his skills all the time.
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Umesh Singh
Umesh is blogger by heart and digital marketer by profession. He helps small companies to grow their revenue as well as online presence.

4 thoughts on “Smart Ways to Building Links to Your Site in 2017”

  1. Again a nice post Umesh Singh,

    I really like this post which has such a amazing summary about Building Links. I like Guest Posting which is superb ways to build links & apart Guest post there are also another amazing way to build like. Those are too appreciable.

  2. Hi Umesh,

    As always an interesting read. I agree with your points as I have personally tried this & I appreciate your efforts that you have selected this topic to write an article.

    By the way, It’s always pleasure to read your posts and comment.

    ~ Donna

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