Many content creators and webmasters today rely on backlinks to get new readers for their content, so it is not out of place to consider link-building if you want to increase viewership for your website.
However, it is important to note that link-building should not be the goal by itself, and there is an ethical way to attract links to your website without spamming the internet.
That said, in this post, I’ll highlight a few common ways that you can start getting links to relevant valuable content on your website and grow your readership.
But before that, let’s understand what a banklink is and how they could affect your website.
What Are Backlinks?
A backlink is simply a hyperlink from a webpage to another webpage. This could be a hyperlink from one page on a website to another page on the same website or to a page on another website.
Backlinks are not just random mentions of other webpages from a website, they could act as references, which adds value to the referring webpage.
So, while backlinks could provide some referral traffic to the referral webpage, they also add to the content value and context of the referring page by providing sources of information and substantiating claims.
On the side of the referral webpage, there are some backlink benefits, especially if the referring website is a reputable one. Some of these benefits include:
- Increase in referral traffic
- Boost in site credibility
- Support long-term content visibility
- Builds brand awareness and thought leadership
- Could translate to gains in Search engine traffic
Here are some ways you can start getting high-quality backlinks and grow your website.
Create Link-Worthy Content
By far, the best way to get backlinks for your website is by creating link-worthy content.
Instead of focusing on how or where to get backlinks to your website, you could actually just write useful content that is worth linking to.
People link to useful, relevant content that could add to the value and credibility of their content.
So, why should they link to your website out of the thousands of other webpages in your niche?
The answer is high-value, relevant content.
You could create high-value content by:
- Publishing relevant content that people actually want to read
- Providing original insights and data
- Creating useful templates & guides
- Creating sharable visuals & infographics
- Creating helpful resources for others in your niche
Make your Website Accessible
Website publishers can only link back to a website that is accessible. This means, if you want to get backlinks to your website, then your website shouldn’t be behind a paywall or a login page, and should have a reliable uptime.
I’ve had many instances where I bookmarked a webpage to link back to it later but the website happened to be having so much downtime that I couldn’t link back to it.
Other times, I’ve encountered great content that is hidden behind a login page, which made it difficult to link back to specific pages.
Now, let me say this. The last thing you want is to frustrate someone who wants to link back to your website. Most people would move on and decide to link to other available websites instead.
Other times, an unavailable website could lead to link removals and loss in referral traffic from pages linking to the unavailable website.
Nobody wants to link to a webpage that is not reliably available and risk having a page with a broken link on their website.
So, make your website consistently available and you would have removed a major barrier stopping people from linking back to you.
Ethical Guest Posting
While I prefer natural backlinking which involves other people finding and linking to your content, it is still acceptable to manually initiate the backlinking process via guest posting requests.
This involves writing for other websites in your niche in order to expose your content or brand to their audience.
For example, by publishing high-quality relevant content on a bigger site with a larger audience, you could attract some of that audience and traffic to your website, if they enjoy your content.
This is different from spamming other websites like forums, social media and comment sections with your website links in the hope that someone clicks your links and lands on your website.
Instead, it is better to find reputable websites in your niche that allows guest posting, and then pitch a unique relevant topic to them.
A few of them might be interested and you get a chance to create and deliver high-quality content that their audience might enjoy in exchange for a link back to your website, social media handles, or even a mention.
Broken Link Building
Broken link building is one of the most helpful ways to get backlinks to your websites.
With an Ahrefs study claiming that over half of links on the internet are broken, there’s ample opportunities to reach out and propose backlinks to alternative contents.
This is as simple as finding broken external links on reputable websites in your niche and contacting the webmaster to suggest relevant content on your website as a replacement.
Most webmasters will find it helpful that you took the time to identify a broken link on their website and will highly consider linking to your recommended content — that is, if it is worth linking to.
Collaborate With Other Creators
I’m of the opinion that content creation shouldn’t be done in isolation. You can collaborate with others to share ideas and resources to create robust content that is useful.
So, instead of just churning out content for your website, collaborate with others to create other forms of content such as:
- Granting interviews on niche issues
- Participating in podcasts
- Co-creating blog posts
- Creating and distributing free content resources on other platforms such as images, templates, and toolkits
These types of collaborations bring effortless backlinks, as you’re probably providing immense value for free on other people’s platforms, and thus will be deserving of a mention.
Leverage Internal Linking
Internal linking between pages of the same website is one of the most underused linking methods, as many website owners focus on getting backlinks from pages of external websites, and often overlook linking between pages of their website as a powerful SEO tactic.
However, it is important to note that website owners can get complementary benefits from internal linking, which raises the whole value of their website.
The benefits of internal linking includes:
- Improving site structure and navigation
- Increasing visibility for older content
- Providing better context for website content
- Helping search engines understand the website
With internal linking, you can give visibility to useful pages and content, which increases their chances of getting an external link.
Leverage Social Sharing
Still on the idea of giving visibility to the pages of your website, you can increase the chances of someone linking to your webpage by showing it to more people.
Sharing your website content on social media and online communities gives you that exposure and leverage to attract backlinks.
Some platforms where you can share your website content include:
- Facebook Pages
- Facebook Focus Groups
- Reddit Communities
- Niche Forums
- X (Twitter) Hashtags
- LinkedIn Groups
- Quora Spaces
Focus on Building Relationships
A very important but often neglected part of building backlinks is building relationships.
Getting backlinks these days is dependent on trust, unlike in the early internet days where people just link to sites they find interesting.
According to Vocal Media, modern SEO practices now rely heavily on the trio of trust, authority, and relevance, for gaining backlinks.
So, by focusing on building relationships first, you get people in your niche to trust you, and that increases your chances of getting a mention or even a collaboration.
To build relationships with other creators, you can engage with their content, call their attention to issues with their website, share their work, make helpful comments in their posts, and just continue to build goodwill.
Avoid Risky Backlink Tactics
I’ve always maintained that getting backlinks for your website shouldn’t be the goal by itself.
Instead, you want to create visibility for your website and give people the chance to share and link back to your content.
So, employing risky backlink tactics should be avoided, as they can have adverse effects on your website growth and reputation.
Many of these risky backlink tactics employ underhand strategies and expose your website to the wrong audience.
To keep your website safe, you should:
- Avoid paying for backlinks
- Avoid automating link building
- Avoid link farms
- Avoid fake guest posting and private backlink networks
- Avoid spamming comment sections with your links
- Avoid mass directory or forum submissions
Final Thoughts
Backlink building is not a one-day task that gives immediate results. Rather, it is a long-term process that requires consistent value creation in areas like publishing high-quality content, building industry relationships, and collaborating with others.
You want people to link back to your website because they find your content relevant and worth referencing, not just linking back for the sake of it.
If you stay consistent with creating value with your website, then backlinks will come naturally without the need to spam the web.
FAQs on Getting Backlinks for your Website
What’s the difference between a “dofollow” and a “nofollow” backlink?
A dofollow backlink passes link equity, which is more like vouching for the website you are linking to. On the other hand, nofollow link doesn’t pass link equity, which is like referencing a website without vouching for it.
What’s the easiest way to get my first backlinks?
The easiest way to get your first backlinks is to target link building activities that you control, such as creating high-value content, sharing on social media, and ensuring your website is always accessible.
What is guest posting, and how do I do it effectively?
Guest posting is publishing content on other people’s websites in exchange for visibility. This way, you could convert some of their audience to follow you, get a link back to your website, or get a mention.
How can I get backlinks without creating new content?
You can get backlinks without creating new content via broken link building, resharing posts on social media, or repurposing your content into new different content formats.
How can I find out who is already linking to my website?
You can find out which websites are linking to you using SEO tools such as Google Search Console, Semrush, Moz, and Ahrefs.
How to find websites with broken links
The fastest way to find websites with broken links is to use online broken link checker tools such as deadlinkchecker and Ahrefs. They automate the broken link checking process, and you can analyze hundreds of websites at once.
