The Backlinking Strategy that Pacts a Punch [Infographic]
I was looking for my next Infographic idea and was thinking we have covered some blogging tips, website performance, content and SEO. What is missing? Backlinking. Now I am not an expert in this field. Coincidentally I remembered my favorite post of all time: The Backlinking Strategy that Works – 2014 and Beyond by Brian Dean. Now this is an epic post that is 6,000 + words in length; that’s about the size of a book with 100 + pages. I have read this post at least a dozen times and at times, I skim through and look at specific parts. What if there was a neat way to summarize this epic post without distorting the message? That’s how the idea of creating an Infographic of this post was born. I created this Infographic for myself as much as for others. Do buckle up and enjoy the thrill ride. I can tell you first hand the strategies in this Infographic work.
You can download this Infographic and use it in your site as long as you give credit to the source with a link to this post.
What Works in Building Backlinks in 2015 and Beyond:
- SEO is All About Links – Google’s search engine rankings are mostly based on backlinks.
- Focus on Getting Links From Authority Sites – The links from quality sites is what counts the most. 1 link from an authority site is better than 100 links from low authority or new sites. Tip: Focus on quality over quantity.
- Ensure your Anchor Text is Natural and Diverse – Anchor text targeting keywords will be penalised so be natural with your anchor text and vary them. Tip: Brand and URL anchor text should be part of your anchor text strategy.
- Focus on Building Links From Relevant Sites – “Relevance is the new PR” – Brian Dean. Link building is not about grabbing links from any authority site. Links have to come from relevant sites; in the same niche or similar topic.
- Target Editorial Links – Editorial links are not from article directories, blog commenting or from web directories; they are links based on merit of your content by other sites and bloggers. Here is an example:
We have covered what needs to be done to get quality backlinks, now let’s look at how to do it.
Word of caution: Some serious work required moving forward.
3 Steps to Building Backlinks
- Search for a Proven Topic
- Create a WOW Content Around that Topic
- Go Get Your Links
STEP #1: Search for a Proven Topic
We are not merely trying to create great content or quality content but we are aiming for “WOW”. That’s right, say that again – “WOW”.
Tip: Marketing is key to get noticed with your “WOW” content.
SOURCE #1: BUZZSUMO
Go to Buzzsumo and type in your content idea or keyword. Your objective is to find something that has plenty of social media shares, we are talking about 1,000 + shares. The higher the better as it validates the topic is proven to create a buzz. Ensure ‘Past Year’ on the filter by menu is selected.
Tip: “When you find a piece of mediocre content that’s crushed it, it means you can easily create something even better.” – Brian Dean
SOURCE #2: REDDIT
Another source for finding a proven topic is Reddit. Search for a topic then select a sub Reddit that best describes your topic. Sort by “Top” to find the most popular topics. Don’t forget to select ‘all time’ from the list as you don’t want to be searching only from the past day or even week.
SOURCE #3: QUORA
You need to create a free account to use Quora. I won’t bore you with details here as it’s pretty much the same deal.
SOURCE #4: FORUMS
Go to Google and type in “your keyword” + “forum”; go to a few forums and find topics that have a high level of interest and interaction.
SOURCE #5: GOOGLE’S FIRST PAGE
Google is always a good resource pretty much for anything online, so start throwing your keyword at Google and analyse the top 10 results for ideas and inspiration.
STEP #2: Create a WOW Content
TECHNIQUE #1: Length is Key
The best way to illustrate this point is by showing you an example. Look at the social media shares by the length of the content of a successful blogging site.
Look closely, the longer posts clearly have more shares, that’s the 3,000 + word count articles. These articles tend to be more in-depth and detailed.
Tip: The longer the better
TECHNIQUE #2: Be Creative with Content Design
Just by writing a 3,000 + word article and hoping that it will grab attention is not a good strategy, rather be creative with layout, images, design elements etc. You can use callouts or blockquote and anything else that will make your content stand out.
Tip: If you have some cash to splash this is where you can get a good bank for buck.
TECHNIQUE #3: Go as Deep as You Can on The Topic
This compliments Technique #1 above. Make it long, make it useful and make it detailed. Don’t just touch on topics rather dig deep and demolish them.
STEP #3: Go Get Your Links
STRATEGY #1: Link Building Using Resource Page
Find authority websites on your topic and ask them to link to your WOW content from their resources page. You can search in Google to find resource pages for your topic:
- “keyword” + inurl:resources
- “keyword” + inurl:links
STRATEGY #2: Broken Link Building
This is going a step further from the previous strategy. If you ask for a link straight up, it may go unanswered. Why not look for broken links in the resources page and report it and ask for a link? See now you are helping then asking. Get a tool like ‘Check My Links’ extension for chrome and start plugging away! This is an easy and intuitive tool to use but this strategy can be time consuming.
STRATEGY #3: Link Building by Reverse Engineering
Find authoritative sites in your niche and look where they have got their links from. You can use any link analysis tool for this like Buzzsumo or Market Samurai (My weapon of choice – no upsell here!). Investigate where the links are coming from for a selected site. If it is from a resource page then you know what to do. If it is from a guest post then you can also attempt this.
STRATEGY #4: Link Building with Infographics
This is my favourite, if you are up for it go get them. My 50 Blogging Tips from the Experts – Infographic has been a small modest hit for me. I have seen Infographics where it’s all about stats and that is not good. You have to give something educational not merely numbers; by all means provide the stats to strengthen your case.
Tip: Make sure your Infographic is graphical and does not have too much text.
Design is a very important element of the Infographic, if your topic is good and the design is mediocre, then you are not going to crush it rather your expectations will be crushed. I have documented my learnings while creating Infographics and you can learn from my lessons. Don’t forget to offer to write an intro for your Infographic; this makes it easier and less time consuming for a fellow website owner or blogger to publish your Infographic.
Conclusion
I did not want to create a replacement to Brian’s original post and I merely wanted to summarise my favourite article. If you want to learn from the master and not the student, then go to Brian’s site backlinko.com and look at the jewels he presents. I am sure you will find something that you fancy. Do wear the jewel and go to a party and let everyone take note of you, your jewel and your content! Good luck and happy backlinking!
