Backlinks can make or break the success of your website and your SEO strategy. The problem is, that without an effective link building strategy in place, they can be tough to get. But all of that changes today! We’re going to be answering all of your questions about getting backlinks as well as providing you with our top backlink strategies for 2022.
So, if you want answers to questions like…
- What are backlinks, and why are they important for SEO?
- How can you identify high-quality backlink opportunities for your website or blog post?
- How do you acquire those backlinks without being spammy or blacklisted by Google?
- What are some common mistakes people make when trying to build backlinks?
- How can you track the progress of your backlink-building efforts over time to see if they’re making a difference?
Stick around for the rest of this post!
Backlinks: Basics
Before we get into the nitty gritty of our backlinks strategies, let’s start with the basics. What are backlinks? These are links pointing from one website to another. They help search engines like Google understand the relationships between different websites and can be used as a ranking factor in their algorithms. Additionally, in building more backlinks, you inherently increase your website’s domain authority.
Types of Backlinks
There are two types of backlinks:
DoFollow Links
Backlinks that pass on “link juice” help improve the search engine rankings of the site they’re linking to. They’re the most common type of backlink and what you should aim for when building your website backlinks.
NoFollow Links
Backlinks that don’t pass on link juice but can still help drive traffic to your website. These are typically used in blog comments or sponsored posts where the site is linking to you because they think you have something useful to say, not because they want to help improve your search engine rankings.
Backlink Best Practices
The activity of generating backlinks to your website is called link building. And there are several different strategies you can use to do it. The ins and outs of link building have changed a lot over the years. But the goal remains the same: to get high-quality links from authoritative sites.
But how exactly can you spot high-quality backlink opportunities for your blog versus other link-building options that might not be as effective?
High-Quality vs. Low-Quality Backlink Opportunities
A high-quality backlink is from an authoritative website relevant to your niche or industry. This type of link will help improve your search engine rankings and drive traffic to your website.
A low-quality backlink is a link from a spammy website or a site that is not relevant to your niche or industry. These types of links can actually damage your search engine rankings and should be avoided.
Now that you know the difference between high-quality and low-quality backlinks, it’s time to learn how to spot opportunities for building quality links.
Spotting High-Quality Link Building Opportunities
Here are some of the most effective backlink-building strategies for 2022 to help you take advantage of those high-quality link-building opportunities:
Guest Posting
One of the most common and effective ways to build backlinks is by guest posting on other people’s blogs. This is where you reach out to the site owner and write a blog post for another website in your industry in exchange for a link back to your own website.
This is an ideal way to get high-quality backlinks because it allows you to tap into a new audience, build relationships with other bloggers, and show off your expertise simultaneously.
When you reach out to offer guest posting opportunities, be sure to include a link to some of your best work so the website owner can get an idea of your writing style.
Infographic Creation and Promotion
People love visual content. And one of the most popular types of visual content is infographics.
Creating an original infographic and then promoting it on other websites is a nice way to build high-quality backlinks. But it’s also a lot of work.
First, you have to come up with an interesting and informative topic for your infographic. Then, you have to design the actual infographic itself. Once that’s done, you need to promote it on social media and other websites to get people to take notice.
If you’re not sure where to start, try reaching out to other bloggers and websites in your industry and offering to create an infographic for them in exchange for a link back to your website.
Broken Link Building
This is a more advanced backlink building strategy, but it’s also one of the most effective.
The process is simple: you find broken links on other websites and then offer to replace them with a link to your own website.
You can use a tool like Ahrefs or Screaming Frog to find broken links. Once you’ve found some, reach out to the website owner and let them know what you’ve found. Then, offer to replace the broken link with a link to your website.
Resource Page Backlinks
A resource page on a website contains a list of helpful resources on a particular topic.
For example, if you have a blog about dog training, you might have a resource page that lists the best dog training books, the best dog training websites, and the best dog training bloggers.
If you can get your website listed on one of these resource pages, it’s an easy way to get a high-quality backlink. And the best part is, all you have to do is reach out and ask!
To find resource pages in your industry, try doing a Google search for “[Your Niche] + Resource Page.”
These are just a few of the many different backlink building strategies you can use to get high-quality backlinks in 2022. So get out there and start building those links!
But when you do, you need to be careful about building spammy links or getting blacklisted by Google. Next, let’s talk about how to do that.
How to Avoid Being Blacklisted by Google for Spammy Links
Here are some things you can do to avoid being blacklisted:
Use keyword-rich anchor text
When you’re adding links to your website, be sure to use keyword-rich anchor text. This will help Google understand what your website is about and make it more likely to rank higher in the search results.
Avoid link farms
Link farms are websites made for the purpose of selling links—and that’s it. These are generally considered to be spammy and will get you blacklisted by Google if you’re caught using them.
So, how can you tell if a website is a link farm? One way is to look at the quality of the websites that are linking to it. If they’re all low-quality, then there’s a good chance it’s a link farm. Another way is to see if the website is selling links. If it is, stay away!
Get high-quality backlinks from relevant websites
One of the best ways to avoid being blacklisted is to focus on getting high-quality backlinks from relevant websites. Relevant websites are ones that are in the same niche as your own website.
To revert to the dog example, if you have a website about dog training, you would want to get backlinks from other websites about dog training, pet care, or animal care.
Getting high-quality backlinks from relevant websites is not only more effective, but it’s also much less likely to get you in hot water with Google.
We’ve talked a lot about what you should do, but what about some of the things to avoid when you’re implementing these backlink strategies for 2022?
Here are some of the most common link building mistakes you’ll want to avoid.
Not Diversifying Your Link Profile
One of the most notorious link building mistakes is not diversifying your link profile. A link profile is simply a collection of all the links pointing to your website.
If you only have a few links, and they’re all from the same type of website, Google will likely view it as suspicious.
So, what’s the best way to diversify your link profile? The answer is simple: get links from a variety of different types of websites. This could include blog posts, guest posts, resource pages, infographics, etc.
The more diverse (and high-quality) your link profile is, the better.
Not Checking for Broken Links
Another mistake to avoid is not checking for broken links. A broken link is a link pointing to a website or page that no longer exists.
If you have numerous broken links on your website, it will negatively impact your SEO and could get you penalized by Google and other search engines.
To avoid this, be sure to regularly check for broken links and fix them as soon as possible.
Link Spamming
Link spamming is the act of adding links to your website in a spammy or unnatural way. This could include adding links to irrelevant websites, adding links to low-quality websites, or adding too many links to your website.
Link spamming will not only hurt your SEO, but it will also get you in trouble with Google. So, be sure to avoid it at all costs!
Paid Links
Lastly, we wanted to touch on the topic of paid links. Paid links are links that you pay for.
While there’s nothing inherently wrong with paid links, they can be abused. If you’re caught paying for links that are intended to manipulate the search results, you could get penalized by Google.
So, if you do decide to use paid links, be sure to use them sparingly and only from high-quality websites.
Track Your Progress with these Backlink Strategies
Of course, you want to make sure your link building and social backlinking efforts are paying off. To do so, you need to implement tracking and measurement into your process.
There are a few different metrics you’ll want to track, such as the number of links pointing to your website, the quality of those links, the anchor text being used, etc.
To track these metrics, you’ll need to use a link building tool. There are a variety of different tools available, so be sure to choose one that best meets your needs. Look for a tool that’s easy to use, provides accurate data, and offers a variety of features. Better yet —outsource your ecommerce link building to the pros so they can take care of all of this for you!
Once you have a link-building tool in place, you’ll be able to track your progress and ensure your efforts are paying off.
By following these backlink strategies for 2022, you can improve your SEO and get ahead of your competitors. Just be sure to avoid common link building mistakes, track your progress, and only use high-quality links.
But we’re not quite done yet…Before we go, we’re sharing some bonus tips to help you get backlinks from high-quality .edu and .gov sites.
Bonus tips: How to get links from .edu and .gov websites
Find relevant .edu and .gov websites
The first step is making a list of relevant .edu and .gov websites that could potentially link to your website.
To do this, you can use a variety of different search operators, such as “site:.edu” or “site:.gov”. For example, if you sell products for toddlers, you could search for “site:.edu toddler products” or “site:.gov toddler products”.
This will give you a list of relevant websites that you can then reach out to.
Reach out to the website owner
Once you have a list of potential websites, it’s time to reach out to the owner and let them know about your website.
When reaching out, be sure to be polite and professional. Let them know why you think their website would benefit from linking to your website.
For example, you could say something like, “I noticed that you have a page about toddler products. I think your readers would also be interested in our website about toddler products.
Would you be interested in adding a link to our website?”
Offer something in return
One of the most effective ways to increase your chances of getting a link is to offer something in return.
For example, you could offer to write a guest post for their website or give them a discount on your products or services. Make it valuable and ethical.
By offering something in return, you’re more likely to get a link from a high-quality website, which is one of the best tried and true backlink strategies for 2022.
Follow up
If you don’t hear back from the website owner, don’t be afraid to follow up.
Sometimes people are just busy and need a reminder. So, send them a polite email or give them a call and see if they’re interested in linking to your website.
Backlink building is an important part of SEO, so be sure to use these strategies in 2022 to get ahead of your competitors. And, if you need help, don’t forget to reach out to the pros. We’re always happy to help! The team at Blue Water Marketing uses proven white-hat link-building strategies to help our clients improve their SEO and rankings.
To learn more about our backlink strategies and link-building services, contact us today. We’ll be happy to answer any of your questions.
