In 2019, we decided to take our relationship with link building to the next level. And over the past year, we have learned a lot about what works and what doesn’t.
Keep on reading to get a few tips and tricks on how you can amp up your link building efforts in 2020.
Our Top 5 Link Building Strategies for 2019
Not only did these link building methods work well for us, but they improved things for our clients as well, meaning no matter your industry you can benefit from trying out these tactics.
HARO
If you have never heard of Help a Reporter Out, it’s a great tool that will send you three emails a day with inquiry requests from various media outlets and journalists who are looking to hear from industry experts on a range of topics.
It is free to sign up for and you can select which industries you want to subscribe to, and then all you need to do is check your email and see if anything relevant to you or your business comes through.
And after you respond to the journalist’s request, if your response is chosen, you just need to wait until its published to see if they included a link. If they didn’t, don’t be shy about reaching out and asking if they can link back to your website. They’re often happy to make the update.
Guest Blogging
It seems like guest blogging was top of mind for various businesses in 2019, and for a good reason! What’s great about guest blogging is that you are usually not limited to just your own industry. Establishing yourself as an author and determining what topics you can write about is the first step.
Then, all it takes is some willpower to reach out to websites and blogs you are interested in getting a link from and writing the content. You could either incorporate a small bio at the bottom of the article with a link back to your site or find a way to sneak in a link strategically within your post.
And with all the websites that are out there, the opportunities are really endless. The worst thing that can happen is they say no, and you move on to the next place!
Testimonials
Similar to guest blogging, reaching out to area businesses, software companies, partners, and companies that have provided you with tools or services is a solid way to get a link.
It’s a great win-win because not only is the company getting a free testimonial that makes them look better, but you can get a link back to your site. You can check out an example by seeing our testimonial for Wufoo.
Unlinked Mentions
Back in November, we revealed that digging for unlinked mentions is one of the easiest ways to get new links to your website – and we meant it! Not only can looking for unlinked brand mentions show great results, but it can also be done for free without any outside tools. Learn how to find unlinked mentions on our blog post.
Local Events and Networking
One of our major payoffs for building links this year was doing a sponsored event with Bearden’s, a local burger restaurant in Rocky River, Ohio. The event was timely and newsworthy since it connected to the government shutdown, helping it to get picked up by various media outlets in the area. It was a great way to get exposure for our company and highlight our drive to help businesses, while also enhancing our SEO.
What We Learned
One of our biggest takeaways was that even if you find a great website that has a high DA, and has an easy way to receive a link, the link itself might not even be valuable. More than ever, we ran into various sites being nofollow (with their links having no value), while some sites even had internal pages set as noindexed, meaning that search engines wouldn’t even be able to find the link in the first place.
So one of the main things to keep in mind when adding link building to your digital marketing strategy, is that one, it can be very tedious and hard, and two, you may never know the outcome until you’ve tried. However, in the end when you find which tactic works best for you, the payoff can be greatly beneficial to your website’s appearance to search engines.
Looking to Have Link Building Be a Part of Your Marketing Strategy in 2020?
At Sixth City Marketing, we are link building experts, and can help incorporate link building into your overall marketing strategy alongside content creation, website optimization, pay-per-click marketing, and much more. Reach out today!
