11 Simple Ways for Link Building in 2024

Link building is crucial for SEO. It is a popularity contest where links are the currency. Links from high-authority websites hold more weight than others. We have listed simple link-building methods to boost your website’s ranking.

What is Link Building, and why Does It Matter?

Link building is acquiring new inbound links (backlinks) to a website or a specific webpage from other websites or leveraging internal linking opportunities. The main objective of most link-building efforts is to improve search engine rankings and thereby increase organic search traffic. However, the links can also be an excellent source of referral traffic, partnerships, brand recognition, etc.

Nofollow vs. Dofollow Links

Contrary to popular belief, there is no such thing as a do-follow link – it is just a term used to describe a link without the rel=nofollow attribute. Adding rel= “nofollow” to a link tells search engines not to follow it, which is helpful for blog comments and paid links. Google no longer treats “nofollow” attributes as it once did, but an excellent nofollow link can still contribute to rankings. It is best to have a mix of “nofollow” and “dofollow” links in a site’s backlink profile.

1 Find Internal Linking Opportunities

One of the most accessible opportunities for link-building can be found on your website. That is right. You can use internal linking on your site, which is a great place to start. Most websites have content that drives revenue and other informational content, such as blog posts and reviews. However, the number of links to informative content is often higher than those to revenue-driving content, even if you intend the opposite.

How to Create an Internal Linking Strategy

Step 1: Find Your Pages with External Links

Find pages that receive the most links from external websites to link pages on your website. Use Google Search Console to find these pages quickly. Open your property and select “Links” from the left-hand menu to see the pages with the most external and internal links.

Step 2: Evaluate Pages with The Most Links

To improve your website’s ranking:

1. Identify pages with the most internal and external links and categorize them as money or information-driven.
2. Determine if pages with the most internal links receive the desired link juice.
3. If not, link to them from pages with the most external links to boost their authority and ranking.

Step 3: Review and Update Contextual Links

After passing authority to the pages you want to rank, review the content on those pages to identify other contextual links you can add. For example, if you link a page on “Best SEO Tools in 2023,” check for different pages on your site related to SEO best practices. Creating internal links to relevant content helps build overall connections and structure.

2. Get Links from Broken Links on Other Websites

What is a broken link? It is essentially a link on a website that no longer goes to a working page.

These happen all the time. Sometimes, a landing page that gets linked to no longer exists, or the website linked to it is no longer in business.

Web admins and site owners want to provide a great experience to their visitors, and it is in their best interest to fix any broken links since it can impact their SEO.

However, they often need help to keep up with reviewing things, where you can swoop in and save the day.

With the steps we will give you below, you can find broken links on high-authority websites to allow you to pitch your website and score some links.

If you want to attract links from sites with broken links, you can follow these five steps:

How to Attract Links from a Site with Broken Links

Step 1: Create a List of the Publications You Want Links From

Start by creating a list of high-authority publications in your industry from which you want to gain external links. Use a tool like Google Sheets or Notion to generate the list and continue to compile it by researching and adding more publications. Do not focus only on popular sites but also on smaller publications.

Step 2: Use a Tool to Check for Broken Links

To find broken links on the sites you listed, you do not need to check each one manually. Use a fractured link-checking tool like Deadlinkchecker.com, Small SEO Tools Broken Link Checker, BrokenLinkChecker.com, or Ahrefs’ Content Explorer.

Step 3: Make a List of the Broken Links and Pages

Once you have a list of broken links, look at the content they initially pointed to. This will help you understand what type of content the webmaster was willing to link to so that you can start formulating ideas for your resources.

Step 4: Create Similar Resources on Your Website

Create resources on your website similar to those other sites have linked to. However, do not create content just for the sake of it. Spend time creating resources that support your current content marketing strategy and can draw links from multiple places.

Step 5: Reach Out and Pitch Your Link Replacement

Start contacting the web admins and pitching your link to replace the broken link. You can do this by connecting with them on LinkedIn or outsourcing it to a virtual assistant or outreach specialist. To save time, create pitching templates that you can use repeatedly.

3. Get Links By Providing Testimonials

Getting high-quality links to your website can be a challenging task. One easy way to obtain valuable links is by providing testimonials to companies. Many businesses have a dedicated testimonials page or showcase them on their homepage or inner pages. You can get a link back to your site from the company’s website by offering a testimonial. This strategy is what makes testimonial-based link-building work. 

Our company, Rank Math SEO, implements this approach by creating a dedicated reviews page on our website where we link back to the bloggers who have used our products and shared their views. Awareness of this technique can give you an advantage in acquiring a link from a high-authority website.

How to Get Backlinks from Websites By Giving Testimonials

To collaborate with brands:

1. Create a list of products and services you use focused on your business niche.
2. Gather contact information from LinkedIn, Instagram, or Facebook.
3. Reach out to them by email or social media and start praising their product/service.
4. Ask if they display testimonials and offer one.
5. Ensure it is positive and honest.
6. Accept a no-follow link, which still helps gain traffic and influences brand perception.

4 Create “Link-Worthy” Content (A “Linkable Asset”)

4.1 Be the First to Talk About A New Product, Service, or Upcoming Event

Tech bloggers and reviewers review new phones as soon as they come out to gain links and reach a broader audience. This phenomenon can be leveraged for all products. Please find a new product, write an in-depth tutorial, and promote it. To build relevant links, cover events, and conduct roundups. Attend popular events, wrap them in the best way possible, and interview people. Build ideal relationships before the event to increase your chances of scoring links. Contact bloggers and publications linked to similar event coverages to increase your chances.

4.2 Quizzes

Quizzes are a popular way to engage with your audience and receive backlinks. Create a fun and shareable quiz in your niche to get links. Buzzfeed has had much success with its quizzes, generating more traffic than its articles. You do not need to be a big brand like BuzzFeed to benefit from quizzes. Use the WP Quiz Plugin to create a quiz quickly. Check out this guide for help.

4.3 Coin A New Phrase

Having a unique term can help you get backlinks for a long time. Rand Fishkin coined “Linkerati” to refer to people who link to your website. Creating a tour like this can make it stand out. “Skyscraper Technique,” “3D Touch,” “10x Content,” “Inbound Marketing,” and “Drafting Technique” are other popular terms. Creating a new phrase can be easy with the “Mush Approach.” Building off an existing illustration can be helpful – like the Skyscraper Technique.

4.4 Tutorials

Learning new things is a popular pastime, and “how-to” is one of the most common online phrases. If you have expertise in a particular area, you can create content that teaches others and earns you many links. At RankMath, we have a lot of “how-to” style posts on our blog, mainly about technical topics. Our readers prefer step-by-step posts that make it easy to handle SEO-related issues independently. We want to spend less time teaching you how to put together a tutorial, so we have created a video that covers the best SEO tips to help you structure your tutorials better.

4.5 Interview Influencers (Roundups)

Roundup posts were once famous for marketers and still are a valuable link-building strategy. You can be interviewed or conduct the roundup. To increase your chances of being interviewed:

1. Build your brand online and stay in touch with roundup conductors. If you are working on the roundup, follow these steps: choose a question, ask influencers for their opinion, compile the answers, and promote the post.
2. Start with people you know and expand your search to social media and industry platforms.
3. Keep a record of everyone you ask and follow up.
4. Turn the input into great content and promote it continuously.

5 Create a Community or Contribute to One

Forums and communities are great for in-depth discussions. They also attract numerous links. Instead of trying to score links from someone else’s forum, create your community and attract links naturally. Here is how:

1. Find appropriate software or platform to create your community. Slack is a great option.

2. Create and promote the community.

After setting up your community, the hard part is growing it. Invite people to the forum, participate in each discussion, and start with those you know in your industry. Consider hosting Ask-Me-Anythings (AMAs) to get new people into the community.

You can join relevant forums and communities in your niche and start contributing regularly. Add value to the community before adding links and only where they make sense.

Use the following search queries to find relevant forums: 

– Keyword + inurl: forum

– Keyword + “powered by vBulletin”

– Keyword + inurl: discussions

6 Email Outreach & Building Relationships

Email outreach is crucial to successful business, especially SEO content marketing. Although social media and LinkedIn engagement are valuable, email is the most professional channel to build long-lasting relationships. 

The first step in link-building is finding people or companies likely to link to you. Reach out with a strong relational anchor, like featuring or reviewing their product. 

To find the contact’s email address:

1. Use tools like Hunter or Voila Norbert.
2. Craft a unique and personalized message instead of using a template.
3. Show genuine interest in their content.

This approach builds relationships and leads to successful collaborations.

7 Contribute Your Content & Expertise To Other Websites

Consider contributing to multi-authored publications to get quality links back to your site. Follow these steps: identify popular magazines in your niche, review them, engage with them, and ask to contribute. Guest posting is also an option; you can find websites that accept them by using search queries. However, remember that guest posting for links can harm your SEO. Instead, focus on creating quality content and avoid publishing the same post on multiple resources.

8. Use Keyword Alerts To Track Mentions (with a twist)

One way to generate links is to monitor mentions of your brand and convert them into links. However, an intelligent variation of this strategy is to do the same for your competitors’ mentions.

The concept is straightforward. Someone discussing your direct competitor might also be interested in discussing your brand (except for support problems or negative feedback). By keeping an eye on your competitors’ brand mentions, you can contact people willing to link to your website.

To start:

1. Sign up for Google Alerts or a similar service and enter relevant keywords to monitor.
2. When you encounter a mention, contact the website owner and start a conversation to establish a relationship.
3. When the time is right, ask for a link.

9 Get Unbiased Reviews

Bloggers love free stuff. If you are selling a product, give it away to bloggers for a review on their site. This builds links to your site and gets honest feedback. Here is how: search-relevant keywords, list bloggers with your ideal audience, offer your product free of charge and wait for a review. Do not ask for one outright. The referral traffic should be helpful even if you get a no-follow link. Avoid asking for links; instead, focus on offering value. This tactic may get you a few no-follow links, but it is still worth pursuing.

10 Get Links From Copycats

Did you know that 82% of content sharing on the web happens through copying and pasting? While most of your users might copy content to share, some malicious people might paste your content on their sites to steal traffic from you. However, could you turn the tables on them and get links from them instead? Well, you can with this clever trick.

All you need to do is add a simple code to your website, adding a link saying “Read more at Your website” to your content. Anyone who copies your content will also add a link to your website. It is a win-win situation!

If you are not comfortable editing your theme’s file, do not worry. We have got you covered with our easy-to-follow tutorial that will guide you through the process. Just remember to replace “Your website” with the actual name of your website.

11. Keep Content Updated — Always

Keeping your content updated is an efficient way to get links and keep them coming over time. Surprisingly, much content becomes stale daily, even though it has links pointing toward it. When your content becomes outdated, it stops attracting new links. Therefore, it is essential to keep your content up to date to attract the most links. 

Brian Dean of Backlinko is an expert in continuously attracting links by keeping his content current. He ensures that his content is always top-notch and link-worthy, guaranteeing that it continues to attract links. You can apply the same tactics to your website and keep your content current. Following our complete content optimization guide, you can also perfectly optimize your content for search engines and reap the benefits of quality links.

Conclusion

Link building has been and will remain the basis of SEO and traffic for the foreseeable future. While link building keeps becoming more challenging by the day, the principles behind link building remain the same.

By keeping your creativity high and following the easy link-building steps we mentioned, you can naturally earn links for your website.