Link building is a key part of search engine optimisation (SEO).
How to safely build backlinks? Link building is a key part of SEO, telling search engines your content is credible and valuable. But many people fall into bad backlink practices that can get you penalised by search engines. In this guide, we’ll look at safe ways to build backlinks that will boost your website’s authority without risking your reputation. Link building is a key part of search engine optimisation (SEO) strategies, and understanding how to do it correctly can significantly enhance your site’s performance.
What are Backlinks?
Backlinks, or inbound links, are links from one website to another. They’re a vote of confidence that tells search engines your content is worth recognising. Search engines use the number of links pointing to a page to assess its quality and relevance, which can significantly influence its ranking in search results. Backlinks come in many forms:
- Natural links: Given to you by other sites because they like your content.
- Manual links: Earned through outreach or guest blogging.
- Self-created links: Added through comments, forums or directories.
Remember when building backlinks: quality over quantity. A few high quality backlinks from good sources can trump dozens of low quality links.
The Dangers of Bad Backlinking
Getting into black-hat SEO may seem tempting but the consequences are severe. Techniques like link farming, spammy link building techniques, spammy directory submissions, and over self-promotion can get you penalised by search engines, especially Google. The Penguin algorithm targets manipulative linking practices so any short term gains can turn into long term losses. Protect your website by avoiding these risky strategies.
Link Quality and Relevance
When it comes to link building, link quality and relevance are key. A high quality link is one that is editorially placed, from a reputable source and relevant to your site’s content. These links are more valued by search engines and can give your site a big boost.
Page Authority
Page authority is a big factor in your link building strategy. A link from a high authority page (measured by metrics like PageRank) can have a big impact on your search rankings. Tools like Semrush can help you gauge page authority by proxy metrics of PageRank. Pages with lots of quality links and a good reputation are high authority and can give you big SEO benefits.
Site Relevance
Just as important is the site linking to you. Search engines value links from sites in your niche or industry. Relevance signals to search engines that your content is relevant and valuable in your space. As an ex-Googler said, relevance is the new PageRank. So aim to get links from sites that are thematically related to yours.
Strategies for how to safely build backlinks
Let’s explore some effective and safe ways to build your backlink profile through building links:
Creating Good Content
Start with what matters most: good content. Creating a high-quality blog post that is informative and valuable can naturally attract backlinks from other websites. Create valuable, informative articles, infographics or guides that naturally get links. When your content helps others they’ll link to it. Think about your audience and create content that answers their questions. How-to’s and resource guides tend to get shared and get others to link to you.
Guest Blogging
Guest blogging is still a great way to build links and get visibility. Find sites in your niche and pitch them your ideas. Write good, well-researched posts that add value to their audience. Include a link back to your site in the content or author bio. This gets you links, visibility, and credibility in your space.
Building Relationships
Networking is key in the digital space. Engage with industry influencers, bloggers and your target audience on social media and forums. Share their content, comment on their posts and participate in discussions. Building real relationships can lead to collaboration, guest posts, and generate links.
Using Resource Pages and Broken Link Building
Resource web pages are link gold. Find sites in your niche that curate lists of resources. Reach out to the site owners and suggest your content for inclusion. Make sure your content is relevant to their audience. A good email can open doors and get you links.
Directory Submissions
Not all directories are created equal but industry directories can still get you links. Research and choose directories in your niche. Make sure your info is accurate and complete and avoid directories that look spammy or irrelevant. Quality over quantity applies here too, as high quality links from reputable directories can significantly boost your SEO.
1. Local Directories
- Yell.com: One of the UK’s biggest online directories, where you can list for free and get backlinks.
- FreeIndex: A directory for UK businesses, where you can list for free and get more visibility and backlinks.
- Thomson Local: Another big directory where you can list for free and get local customers and backlinks.
2. Review Sites
- Trustpilot: Register your business on Trustpilot so customers can leave reviews. This builds credibility and gets you backlinks to your site.
- Google My Business: While mainly for local SEO, having a Google My Business profile gets you a backlink and more online presence.
3. Niche Directories
- UK Listings: This directory connects service providers with customers, free listings for various industries.
- UK Small Business Directory: A simple platform for UK small businesses to list their services and get backlinks.
- DesignRush: DesignRush is a B2B Marketplace for businesses to find agencies and select agency partners.
4. Social Media
- LinkedIn: Create a company page on LinkedIn. It’s a social platform and gets you backlinks to your site.
- Facebook Business Page: Create a business page to promote your services and add a link to your site.
5. Community and Local Forums
- Reddit: Join relevant subreddits (like r/UKbusiness) and share your knowledge, including links to your site when relevant.
- Mumsnet: If you cater to parents or families, join Mumsnet discussions and share your services and get backlinks.
6. Blog Commenting
- Find blogs in your industry that allow comments. Comment and provide value and leave a link to your site and get backlinks.
7. Resource Pages and Educational Institutions
- University Resource Pages: Some UK universities have resource pages with links to useful sites. Contact relevant departments with your content.
- Local Community Websites: Many local councils or community centres have directories or resource lists where you can submit your business details.
8. Q&A Platforms
- Quora: Answer questions in your industry and include a link to your site where it adds value to your answer.
- Yahoo Answers (although defunct, similar Q&A sites may still exist): Join relevant discussions and link back to your site when relevant.
Use these to get more visibility and backlinks for your business. Remember to quality and relevance when submitting.
Advanced Link Building
If you want to take your link building to the next level advanced strategies can pay big. These require more effort and expertise but can get you high quality backlinks that will boost your site’s authority.
Broken Link Building
Broken link building is a very effective strategy where you identify broken links on other sites and offer a replacement link to your own content. This helps the site owner by fixing a broken link and gets you a backlink.
To find broken links you can use tools like Check My Links or LinkMiner which can find broken links on any page. Resource pages which have many outbound links are great places to find broken links.
Once you’ve found a broken link, email the site owner with a polite message offering your content as a replacement. This helps you build high quality backlinks and also builds goodwill with other site owners.
Alternatively Ahrefs has a “Broken Backlinks” feature which makes it easier to find broken links on other sites. Broken link building can be time consuming but the high quality backlinks it gets you are worth the effort.
Besides broken link building try:
- Resource Page Link Building: Create a resource page on your site and reach out to other high quality sites in your niche and ask them to link to your resource page.
- Guest Blogging: Write articles for other sites in your niche and include a link to your site in your author bio.
- Linkable Assets: Create high quality, shareable content like infographics, videos and podcasts and promote them across your site and social media.
- PR and Outreach: Do proactive outreach to other sites and media outlets in your niche and ask them to link to your content or feature your site.
By employing these advanced link building strategies, you can significantly enhance your website’s authority, drive more traffic, and improve your overall online visibility.
Monitoring and Analysing Your Backlinks
Monitoring your backlinks is key to measuring your SEO. Use tools like Google Search Console, Ahrefs or Moz to keep an eye on your backlink profile. Check the quality of your backlinks regularly and remove any harmful ones that are hurting your site’s authority. Knowing your backlink landscape will help you refine your strategies and focus on high impact links.
Clean Link Profile for High Quality Backlinks
A clean link profile is key to long term success. Audit your backlinks regularly to make sure they’re helping not hurting your SEO. If you find any toxic backlinks use Google’s Disavow Tool to remove the impact. Stay proactive in preventing harmful links by using the safe methods above.
Conclusion
Building backlinks doesn’t have to be a scary thing. Focus on quality content, real relationships and safe methods to build a strong backlink profile that grows your website’s authority. Remember, it’s all about long term growth in the digital world.
If you need help with backlink audits or strategy get in touch. Let’s do SEO together, safely.