Quality backlinks represent for your website what customer testimonials represent for your business reputation. They are proof that your website can be trusted, that it provides useful information and is operated by a reputable business.
Before we show you how to create quality backlinks for your website, let us explain first what they are. A backlink is an anchor text in an article or blog post on a website that leads to your site upon clicking.
Why Would Another Site Offer You Backlinks?
If you are a constant reader of our articles, you will find that we have backlinks on several of them. They usually point to trusted sources of information, such as market research companies that performed a survey we cited, or to government agencies/authorities.
By posting these backlinks we want to gain your trust – to give you ways of verifying the information we post. In the same manner, another website dealing with an issue related to plastic fabrication would link to your website as a source of trusted information.
It also helps to remember that quality backlinks will improve your page rank on Google. Thus, let us show you now hot to get them:
1. Fix Broken Existing Backlinks
If your site has been around for a few years, it is more than likely that you do have backlinks. However, if something changed in the meantime in your sitemap structure, some of those backlinks are not working anymore. Anyone clicking on them gets a “404 – Page Not Found” error message.
To fix that, go to the Broken Link Checker tool developed by Ahrefs and find all the sites that have broken backlinks pointing to your site. Next, you should contact all those sites and give them the correct URL for the page they were linking to in order to update their anchor links.
2. Create Skyscraper Content
To understand this concept, think of a city skyline with lots of skyscraper buildings. Each one is competing with the others to be the tallest. This is what skyscraper content is. It is content created by you on a very popular topic that has lots of backlinks. Only, you try to do it better than all the other sources (presumably, your competitors).
You add more background information, use more recent statistics, add valuable quotes from thought leaders, etc. Once you have your skyscraper content ready, submit it to all those reputable sources that backlink to your competitors’ content. If your content is perceived as more valuable, they will backlink to your site instead.
3. Take Advantage of Public Relations
Public relations are a valuable part of your marketing and communication efforts. It helps you get the chance to promote your brand name to various media channels. And you can be sure that your potential customers are subscribed to different news websites and RSS feeds.
One category of valuable backlinks is press release websites. This is where many reputable companies share important information, such as mergers and acquisitions, new product releases, etc. You should get in touch with some of these websites and find out how you can publish your own press releases there.
4. Start Guest Posting
In this case, guest posting should go both ways. One, your company should start guest posting on reputable websites and business forums. The other, you should invite thought leaders to guest post on your company blog. In this way, you will maximise your chances of getting lots of quality backlinks.
5. Turn Unlinked Mentions into Backlinks
If you are not actively monitoring your brand mentions, you should start doing it. Not only will you be able to respond to negative comments quickly, but you will also discover backlink opportunities.
In some cases, you will find websites citing your site as a source, but without an active link (anchor text). In this case, you should contact the site and ask them to include a link to your site. Since they have already cited your business as a reputable source of information, they will most certainly agree to do it.