Building Backlinks Through Content Strategy

When it comes to SEO and optimization, building backlinks are a powerful tool in the marketing toolbox.

Backlinks draw people to your website who might not have otherwise discovered your content. The people who click through to your site from another website are also predisposed to trust what you have to say. They were visiting a website they viewed as trustworthy, and that website vouched for your site by linking to you. Therefore, the people who land on your page will be more inclined to engage with what you have to say.

Building backlinks can also offer powerful ammunition for SEO. Google works to understand how the various websites fit together and which ones customers will likely view as trustworthy. Backlinks help them better understand which brands other sites view highly enough to link to. Pages that cultivate a number of backlinks from other well-regarded websites will therefore be viewed as having a solid reputation within the digital ecosystem. This will boost the page’s ranking on the SERPs, thus attracting even more attention for the content.

Given the benefits of backlinks, businesses should understand the optimal ways to attract this type of positive attention. Here is what everyone should understand about backlinks and some of the best strategies organizations can use to build their backlinks.

Building backlinks

Building backlinks does present a challenge for many businesses. Since the early days of SEO, people have promoted backlinks to attract attention of Google and site visitors. Over the past few years, Google updates have cemented the idea for people that backlinks only offer value when they come from other quality websites and that brands should focus only on positive backlink building strategies. These strategies might take longer to start to produce results, but the value they produce is infinitely higher. When it comes to nurturing backlinks, quality remains the supreme criteria.

People sometimes note that brands can put ‘nofollow’ on the links within their site, and this diminishes the value the backlinks can provide for SEO purposes. While this is true to a degree, it does not eliminate the benefits of backlinks. To begin, the traffic the link drives remains intact. The trust that customers are more likely to have in the site upon their arrival also remains. The increased traffic and improved engagement metrics will still boost SEO for the site, even if it is not as dramatic as a standard backlink.

Surveys and research for building backlinks

Surveys and research offer you the chance to add something original to your industry, which makes it easy to establish yourself as an authority. Solid surveys and research will help you catch the attention of others in the industry and encourage people to build backlinks to your material. The content you produce can be used to support material that other people produce, which will then encourage building backlinks.

The research and surveys you produce will also likely interest those who participate in the survey. They will feel encouraged to read the results and may produce their own content on the final statistics and insights. This will naturally encourage additional content that links back to your results.

You can promote your surveys and research in third-party publications across your industry as well as social media. This will help the results of your work gain the most possible attention, and it will help you start building backlinks to yourself.

In general, original research and surveys offer strong opportunities for cultivating backlists as they offer more objective insights rather than just your opinion or impressions. It will encourage people to link to your material or at least mention it-- and the name of your company. This all works together to improve the reputation of your organization.

Newsjacking for building backlinks

Newsjacking can also provide valuable opportunities for producing backlink-ready material. By closely monitoring news sources and trends on social media, you can be ready to jump at potential topics as soon as they arrive, making your material among the first to be published in the industry on the topic. This increases your visibility and makes it easier to engage users.

As one of the first to discuss a particular rising topic, your content will attract attention on the SERPs. It will be easier to get your page ranked highly, which will boost the clicks and traffic your piece receives. You will then naturally increase the number of backlinks you receive as people find and then link to your content as they start to research this emerging topic.

Earning your place as one of the first leaders to discuss a particular topic makes it easier to further enhance your reputation and encourages people to listen to what you have to say. You present yourself strongly as a leader in the field and encourage people to remember your brand and organization.

Backlinks and the sales funnel

Building backlinks have value for brands throughout the sales funnel. They can play an important role in nurturing new leads and coaxing them through the path towards conversion. At the top of the sales funnel, the backlinks make it easier for brands to get their name and content in front of those interested in conducting research and learning more about solutions to potential pain points.

Newsjacking to nurture backlinks can be particularly beneficial for these top-of-the-funnel visitors. By producing content related to the latest trends and news within your industry, you will attract the attention of those just beginning to inform themselves about your sector.

Towards the middle and bottom of the funnel, customers want to see what sets you apart. For more information about how to nurture mid-funnel customers, read our post on creating material for the mid-funnel here.

Backlinks created through original research will help to establish your reputation as a leader within your industry. Prospective customers want to know why they should trust you over other brands within the industry. Original research and surveys that receive links within other industry publications will increase your positive brand mentions and your reputation as a thought leader. This will help you set yourself apart from others.

Measuring and building backlinks

As you engage in these positive link-building strategies, be sure to regularly monitor your progress to gauge your success. Don't forget to check in on broken backlinks that lead to orphan pages, too. The BrightEdge platform offers a backlink tracking feature that makes it easy to see how your efforts correspond with building backlinks. You can see which types of content and investments correspond with the greatest increase in backlink attention. You can therefore modify your strategy when needed and continue to build your backlist directory and the reputation of your site.

Backlinks offer your organization tremendous potential for building reputation and attention on the SERPs. By driving more interested traffic and giving your site an SEO boost, no brand can afford to overlook the potential for building backlinks. Use a content-driven strategy to increase the number of sites that link back to your page, and build your position within the industry, and exercise the power of the backlink throughout your sales funnel.