How to Get High-Quality Backlinks as a New Website
Did you build a new website recently? Do you want to establish your brand as an authority in your industry and niche?
Backlinks are one of the keys to doing so. Backlinks or “inbound links” work by linking one website to an external website. In the realm of search engine optimization (SEO), a backlink is a “vote of confidence.”
A backlink means another website is vouching for yours. It is one of Google’s ways of determining if your content is relevant. So your goal is to get high-quality backlinks for your website.
But how do you do that if your website is the new kid on the block?
Continue reading below as we discuss backlinks and how to get high-quality ones.
Getting High-Quality Backlinks: What Every Newbie Must Know
Backlinks are one of the most essential parts of SEO. But you need to realize that not all backlinks are the same.
There are “black hat” SEO companies. These companies use unethical strategies to create links for their clients.
Since their strategies are shady, they can potentially hurt your website’s rankings. On the flip side, there are best practices that owners of new websites like you must consider. Here are 13 of them below:
1. Start with Relationships
One of the foundations of building quality backlinks is building relationships. You do this by leveraging public relations and companies within your networks.
Keep in mind that you are new in the scene. Not many people know who you are. Hence, they will not link to your website…yet.
By focusing on your public relations, you can create public awareness for your brand. There are a number of ways to build relationships. First is to become more active in social media.
When making your presence felt in social media, you need to establish an interesting personality. You need to connect to the public by connecting on a personal level.
This means you need to practice transparency. You need to maintain a genuine approach in your posts. No fluffs and no pretensions.
If people see that you are honest in your posts, they will appreciate you more. They will likely relate and connect with you if you voice out your true feelings. When people see you are honest, they are likely to trust you.
Another strategy to consider is connecting with people off-line. This means hosting an event or sponsoring a conference or small meet-up.
Here, you can easily get links from event listing sites. Moreover, you will likely get a link on the event page too. Additionally, it is also a great way of generating mileage and exposure for your brand.
You can put tarpaulins and signage bearing the name of your company to help build brand awareness.
2. Use Your Data (original study)
Do you have relevant industry data that is unavailable online? Then use that data to come up with an original study.
An original study can turn you into a valuable resource. When writers and other companies see that your study is relevant, they will want to use it as a reference. To do so, they will have to create a link to your study.
This equates to a backlink.
The downside to coming up with studies is that they take a lot of time to complete. Thus, you need to resort to more creative and efficient ways.
If you’re looking to run a survey for your study, Google Forms holds the key. Simply click the “Go to Google Forms” button. Click on the big plus sign that has the word “Blank” under it.
Fill up the blank sheet with a title and description. Write down your questions and make them answerable through a multiple choice.
Once you’re done with the question, hit the “Send” button on the upper right-hand corner. Now wait for your respondents’ answers and collate your data.
3. Content Is King
In the world of SEO and backlinks, content is still king. It is one of the biggest factors that dictate your website’s ability to attract high-quality backlinks.
The key is writing competitive content. People are craving for content that is interesting. They want to read something that is compelling.
Though keeping things simple works don’t go too overly simplistic. Don’t write articles that are too wordy with fluffy nonsense. Avoid topics that are dull and overly familiar that won’t help your audience.
One way of avoiding these pitfalls is to analyze the competition. Check out what your competition churns out. Find out their articles’ word count, title, meta description, and the number of images they used.
Go up a notch higher by using their numbers. If they use four images, go for five. Make your titles more engaging. Pick a featured image that easily draws attention.
Consider writing “ultimate guides.” These are articles that easily attract readers. They quickly catch people’s interest.
If your business is about car accessories, then try coming up with a definitive guide to choosing the best dash cams.
4. Testimonials Work
You should also consider writing testimonials for other products and services. This is one of the simplest ways of generating quality backlinks.
When writing your testimonials, the website will likely dedicate a spot for a backlink. It may look counter-intuitive, but in the grander scheme of things, testimonials can give you the backlinks you need.
5. Use Infographics
Some people nowadays prefer looking at graphics than reading lengthy posts. They want to save time as they acquire new information.
Thus, you need to start using infographics.
Instead of focusing solely on copy and text, add an infographic to your post. This will help condense the information that you have. It will also make the presentation of information more attractive to your readers.
If someone shares your infographics from your website on theirs, they will need to link to yours. There are several websites that offer tutorials on making infographics. Some may charge you a small amount but the investment will certainly go a long way.
6. Look for Authority Resource Pages
We mentioned earlier that one of your goals for getting backlinks is to build your reputation. Hence, you need to find authority resource pages. These are pages people consider as resources if they want to learn how one thing works.
Your first step is to search for terms such as “useful resources,” “helpful resources,” “further reading,” and “additional resources.” You will then put a keyword after these words. The keyword must be about a subject you wrote about.
After finding a resource page, reach out and request a link. Make sure to do this nicely via email. Tell the author that you stumbled upon their article. Tell them that you loved their post.
Now, smoothly transition and explain that you published a guide on the same topic. Ask them they can add a link of your article to their page.
7. Fix Broken Links
Sometimes, even the most reputable websites suffer from broken links. Each website has a link that connects to another page. But when websites move and transfer content, these links break.
The result is the “404 error page.” This page tells you that the content no longer exists.
Use these links to your advantage by building them.
Search for a broken link that is relevant to your business. You can use a broken link checker tool to see links that are not working.
Follow the trail of the broken link until you reach the publisher. Reach out to the publisher and inform them of the broken link. Tell them that you can replace the link with a new one.
Simply offer your article that tackles the same subject. Thereafter, you can provide a link back to your website.
8. Become Link-Friendly
You also need to ensure that people will have a breeze linking to your content. Your goal is to make life easier for other publishers to link back to your website.
One good practice is to use snippets that are HTML-ready. Publishers can easily copy-paste these snippets on their respective websites.
You can also consider using tools that insert links back to your website. These tools automatically insert links whenever users copy-paste your website’s content.
9. Improve on Social Strategy
You need to maximize the power of social media to generate quality links. Make sure that your website’s content is shareable across all social media platforms.
Your goal is to penetrate Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat, among others. This will help you generate more exposure faster.
If you are not the social media-savvy person, you may want to consider hiring professional social media trainers or managers.
10. Feature Other Brands
Earning quality backlinks is also a give-and-take thing. Thus, you need to start featuring other brands on your website.
Featuring other brands means increasing the likelihood the website you linked will do the same thing. If you feature a certain brand, they likely mention your company on their posts too.
Moreover, they will share the post in their social media accounts. This means more exposure for your website.
11. Offer Guest Posts
Lastly, consider writing guest posts. A guest post is free content that you offer to another website. In exchange, the other party will give a link back to your website.
They usually place the links to cite information within the article’s body. Sometimes, they put the links in the author’s bio section.
It is a longstanding practice that remains effective in boosting links.
Going Beyond Backlinks
Creating high-quality backlinks is crucial for a new website. But it is not the only thing that matters. There are other areas that you must cover.
Since time is of the essence, we want to take the burden off your shoulders. Get in touch with us and let us handle your website development and design requirements.
Give us a call or send us a message and let’s discuss your options, today!
