The website that gets all of its backlinks purely due to merit is a rare beast. They get natural publicity somehow, and they are also link-worthy. Your local dentist or plumber is unlikely to get any links naturally. So, for the most part, link-building is down to you, and it is the most fundamental aspect of getting a ranking.
Earned Links
Outreach is the terminology used for literally asking another website to link to yours. Common tricks include:
- Dead links – find a dead link on a website, and be a hero for letting them know, and humbly suggest they they replace it with a link to your better or equivalent or more up-to-date content.
- Straight-forward request – if your site is truly of value to their website visitors, simply suggest they could link to it.
- Followers – if you have a fanbase (social or mailing list or real world) you can ask them for a link, if they happen to have a web presence. It helps if you give them something to share (like a meme or infographic or factual info) and provide it with an embedded link, ready for them to paste
- Sponsorships – consider sponsoring a local club or organization – they will often link to sponsors on their website
- Guest posts – offer to provide an article for their blog, as long as it can contain a link to your website
Listings
Primarily for local SEO, there are numerous directories that help you get some SEO juice. If they are not full of spammy listings, then they could be good. Make sure that there is more to the directory than simply paying for a link.
Paid Links
These are against Google’s rules, but Google does understand that for many businesses, it is the only links they will get. And without links to base rankings on, Google isn’t very good. So, there is a bit of leeway.
Being against the rules, be careful. The general rule of thumb is that you get what you pay for, and low-cost options are very risky/untrustworthy. Google is good at recognising poor quality links.
I am testing out a few services, and will update here. But some guidelines are worth adhering to:
Be as natural as possible. Imagine how your site might become known and linked to naturally, and try to mimic that pattern. Google’s machine learning looks for patterns.
Slow and steady. Build momentum, which is the opposite of a service that provides exactly 20 links each and every month.
Link text matters. Natural links typically use words like “see here”. Not keywords. So make sure that all the link texts are not keywords and the same, because that looks orchestrated. If your site name (and ideally domain name) has keywords in it, that is excellent and natural for link text.
Vary post sizes. Usually links are part of a post that gets written for you. And usually it is of a set length, whatever the general consensus of ideal is lately. For some that is 500 words. Every article being 500 words is suspicious. Mix it up. Have 580 + 654 words instead.
Paid Services
FatJoe.com offers more than most, for example Infographic Outreach service, from £35.