Link building and guest posting are not new in search engine optimization (SEO). However, since SEO is dynamic, there are ways to improve your current strategy to ensure you get the attention you need from new audiences. This post will discuss how you can increase your digital assets using link building and guest posting. Zero Gravity Marketing is here to help with your natural SEO practices.
Now, let’s get started!
What is Link Building?
Link building is an SEO strategy that involves placing backlinks on other websites that link out to your web content. This strategy will help improve your visibility on a search engine results page (SERP). These backlinks are one-way hyperlinks that direct people to relevant sources of information – improving your site’s authority and credibility.
SEO Link Building Tips
Link building is a collaborative strategy that can help two websites get a wider reach by sharing their audiences. While link building isn’t as straightforward as it seems, there are some tips that can help you improve your link-building strategy. Let’s discuss them below.
Broken Link Building Strategy
This method of link building involves finding and replacing backlinks that take readers to 404 pages. If you are looking for relevant sites to place your backlinks, this is one way to get there without hassle.
You could also find broken backlinks on your competitor’s sites using backlink analysis tools. Offering your site to replace the broken backlink currently displaying will sound like a great deal since it’ll save the admin from the hassle of looking for another website.
Find Authoritative Pages
The authority of the site you are linking also determines the effectiveness of your link-building strategy. This is because the quality of the backlinks depends on the site’s level of authority in your industry. For instance, it’s better to link your posts to powerhouse websites like government pages, organizations, and institutions, since these sites are credible sources of information.
People will trust your information better if well-known sites are backing your claims. On the other hand, it’ll be impossible to present a credible front if the links take readers to a personal blog whose authoritativeness can’t be determined.
Link to a Relevant Site
It’s not enough just to include a backlink to an authoritative site. You also need to provide a backlink that is relevant to the content in your post because the primary function of backlinks is to take the reader to a site containing more information on a particular subject. Therefore, the content you are linking to should provide a broader context for the information in your post. If you provide a link to a website that doesn’t offer any value to the reader, you’ll have a higher bounce-back rate than your competitors, and it’ll affect your site’s performance.
Link Original Data and Research
You can also improve your link-building practices by ensuring you provide links to original data. Thanks to studies, surveys, and research, people are always adding new facts to existing information. So, you’ll need to ensure you take your readers to places where they can find the most recent and relevant information related to your content.
Industry statistics and similar forms of data are among the best texts to link. This is because they demonstrate that your post isn’t based on speculation but measurable information. As a result, your site will get more traffic, and your SEO strategy will succeed.
Choose the Anchor Text Wisely
When you’re incorporating backlinks into your content, you want to ensure the anchor text (text you’re linking) is appropriate and makes sense. It’s one of Google’s ranking factors, but over the years, it’s been abused to a point where your backlinks will seem spammy if you use exact-match anchor texts. As such, you’ll need to find creative ways to anchor a backlink without keyword-rich texts.
What is Guest Posting?
As the name suggests, guest posting is a digital marketing strategy that involves writing a post that will be featured on a website other than yours. It’s among the few ways you can collaborate with other companies to improve your brand visibility and access a larger audience. In addition, it can be a great way to optimize your organic SEO strategy, so we’ve assembled some tips that can improve your guest posting efforts.
SEO Guest Posting Tips
Gear Your Guest Post to a Specific Action
A typical guest post includes a small section at the bottom for a biography where you can place a link to your website. Unfortunately, most people assume that the best place to send new readers is the homepage. However, you should take them to a place where they can find value – for example an offer, giveaway, or interesting information.
Taking new readers to your homepage could feel random unless you provide something they are looking for. If you don’t want a fast bounce-back rate, you should find a way to make your website instantly interesting to the new audience.
Aim for Long-Term Results
Most people assume that guest posting will magically bring traffic to their pages in the first week of releasing the post. However, the real value of guest posting is cumulative rather than instantaneous. That’s why you need to research to ensure you assemble something that’ll stay relevant for years to come.
Looking for guest posting rewards, in the long run, will help you determine the level of credibility you have in your industry. It can also help you create new relationships or form a discussion related to your niche on another site.
Use an Anchor-Text Strategy
As we mentioned earlier, an anchor text is the set of words you use to link to a post. Again, you should use keyword research to your advantage by using phrases that readers probably use in their searches. This will improve your content’s natural SEO, ensuring you can rank well on the SERP. Plus, you’ll have a chance to hyperlink the guest post to your future content, which will help build your online visibility.
Respond to Every Comment
Guest posting gives you access to an untapped audience where you can find new customers for your products or services. As such, you should ensure you respond to every comment that readers make on the post or answer any questions they ask. This is the best way to provide engagement and start building a long-lasting relationship with your prospects.
You can even use the comments as a window into the type of information your audience is seeking. This will help you determine the future direction posts will take and the discussions you’ll hold.
What are the Benefits of Guest Posting?
There are many benefits guest posting will bring to your SEO strategy, and we’ll discuss some of them below.
Improves Website Ranking
The first advantage of guest posting is that it allows you to use natural backlinks in your content. Since this is one factor that determines the ranking of websites on search engines like Google, you can use it to ensure the content ranks highly. In addition, the links will reference your brand as a great place for readers to find valuable information, making you a more credible source.
Better Traffic
Another benefit of guest posting is boosting your referral traffic as you collaborate with other websites. As you interact with a new audience, the new traffic will improve your website’s performance on the search engine. You’ll need to ensure all your guest posts have relevant backlinks for this strategy to work effectively.
Additionally, you’ll get access to a new community that could provide insight into topics you should cover in your posts. As you meet the searchers’ intent by providing information readers are looking for, you’ll create positive experiences that turn visitors into customers. Retention of your audience is crucial to the success of your digital marketing strategy.
Better Brand Visibility
You’ll also get better brand visibility from guest posting. Keep in mind the people who will read the post probably won’t have heard of you before and will be learning about it from a source they consider credible. As such, you’ll need to deliver value to ensure you present your business in the best light.
Remember, the readers will pay attention to your content because they saw it on the site of a company or brand they already trust. So, you’ll need to ensure they find something interesting that’ll make them more curious about your company.
Let ZGM Enhance Your Link Building & Guest Posting Strategies
Link building and guest posting can be invaluable to your SEO strategy. However, implementing these methods into your current practice can be challenging. That’s why we want to help you optimize your guest posts and backlinks to ensure they drive the traffic you need for your business to succeed. Contact us today to get started creating high-quality content that’ll help you thrive online.
