Anyone who is seriously into SEO might tell you how much they despise building backlinks. However, backlinks are necessary if you want to rank on Google. Unfortunately, many people choose to skip this vital step due to the time and work that goes into it. Others, on the other hand, will simply pay for backlinks, but because this is against Google’s policy- this step should be avoided at all costs! So, how do you build strong backlinks without paying for them?
How to Build Backlinks
As already stated, building strong backlinks takes a lot of hard work and effort. But if you are willing to take some time to dedicate to just building backlinks- getting those much-needed links will not be as hard as some people might think. I must stress this again though, DO NOT BUY BACKLINKS! This is a sure way to get your site banned by Google, and no one wants that.
Backlink Tools
The first step to building strong backlinks is to find a backlinks tool to help simplify your efforts. A quick Google search will help you narrow down the best tools that are available. For example, SEMrush is one of the largest backlinks checkers which has the world’s largest backlink index. With that said, keep in mind that some tools are free- while others may come at a cost.
Once you have found the perfect tool for you, the next step will be to start digging up some information on the competition. This can easily be done by entering your competitor’s URL. Once this step is complete, it will show all the people that are linking to your competitor(s). Next, within that same search- find the pages that are the most popular. This narrowed down search will show all the links that people are pointing too other than just the home page.
Depending on your backlinks checker, an in-depth report can also be run. This valuable tool may be used to check for the backlink count for an entire domain or even a specific URL. The goal here is to find the right articles that your competition is going after and look at the backlink count for that URL. With that said, finding the “right” articles may prove to be a challenge, but no worries. Most of the backlink’s tools will also have “top pages” in the report screen. By clicking this- it will show all the top pages that your competition is writing on. You will also be able to find all the people that are linking to articles that are the most common to your own.
Write Amazing Content
Now that you have completed the task of finding similar articles in your industry that your competitor has written- make a better version of that article. If their article is 2,000 words, make your version 5,000 words. The goal here is to not stuff in keywords and try to lengthen your article for the sake of it. The goal is to go in-depth and to create amazing content that blows away the competition.
For example, if you are writing an article on RV’s, go into detail. Write about the tools that will be essential to any RVer. Explain why the 4-way wrench is the best tool to have. Talk about the importance of checking the undercarriage of an RV for all the bolts. Explain why you need a complete wrench set to cover all those bolts in the event of an emergency. Write in detail about why checking the date on the tires is important and where that four-digit number can be found.
Explain why finding the proper PSI for the tires is important and why knowing the distance between the tires is as equally as important. Go even further in explaining why it is important to know the measurements of an RV and why the sticker next to the door of the RV is not the “true” length measurement of the rig.
Lastly, write some great, detailed content on the tanks and why knowing them like the back of your hand is important. Go into detail about the gray and black tanks and how much they can hold.
In other words, you want your content to be so thorough that when someone reads it, they are going to get better insight and information on RV’s than they would get from your competition. Adding images, graphics, videos, and Gif’s is another way to outdo and outshine the competition. Getting backlinks is vital to your SEO, and writing amazing content is a very important step in this process.
Email for Backlinks
Email for backlinks? I can already see the confusion on your face, so let me explain. The next step in this process is to email as many people as possible that is linking to your competition. Explain in detail why your article is better than theirs. Custom emails, however, are the real key to getting more backlinks.
So, for example, if someone links to your competitors’ article on RVs- email them and breakdown why just because they are linking to that specific article doesn’t mean that their article will get indexed. Explain to them that your article is better optimized and more thorough in content and that by linking to yours instead will help them get noticed quicker by search engines.
The process of emailing and custom emailing takes more time but is more effective to reach the end goal of obtaining more backlinks quicker. Furthermore, it works.
Conclusion
To rank on Google, you must have backlinks, and to build backlinks will take time and effort. However, if you are willing to put in the effort- you will undoubtedly outpace the competition. Building great backlinks, the right way is a long-term approach that will allow you to rank higher and redirect your competitor’s traffic to you! Simply put, the more good backlinks a page has, the more traffic it will typically receive. And the good part is that you can do all this without paying for any backlinks whatsoever.
