Chapter 4: Top 5 Basic Backlink Tactics for New Websites
After we have gone through all the possible link-building strategies and their tactics, we will now analyze each tactic individually. Since the list of tactics is never-ending, we will tell you the most important ones in this chapter.
Let’s start by exploring the most useful Basic Link Tactics.
These can be used by new websites or beginners who are looking to improve their ranking and get their foot into Google algorithms. However, it is essential to explore the characteristics of Basic links first.
So, without any further ado, let’s go.
1. Google My Business
Have you ever noticed how Google shows up a list of businesses every time we search for something? That list is extracted with the help of Google My Business, and it is the most used online directory by people on the internet.
When any business signs up on Google My Business, it allows them to put in links for the ease of their audience. This is how businesses can generate backlinks and have an edge over their competitors.
Let’s take a look at the list of all the businesses that show up when I write ‘Best Beef Burgers.’ The three results that you can see on your screens are the best-reviewed chains.
If you tap on any of the given businesses, it will pop up a screen with all the details, like:
Now, if you tap on ‘Website’ from the top right bar, it will take you to the official website of Big G’s Burger.
If you want to learn how you can make a business profile, click here.
Impact: Getting on Google My Business is necessary for every brand. It helps get traffic and drive more engagement, leads, or even sales.
Ease: Creating a business profile is the only challenge in this tactic, which we feel is quite easy. Once you sign up with your link, you are all set to have great traffic, leads, and potential sales.
How to Do?
All you have to do is make your Google business profile and it will provide you with an opportunity to place a link and Voila! You are all set.
2. Social Media Posts
Social media is your business’s best friend. Be it a brand image, leads, or conversion.
This tactic refers to posting the link of your website/webpage on your social media platforms.
Impact: In 2016, Cognitive SEO conducted research on 23 million social signals coming from various platforms (Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, etc), and they found out that social signals have a solid connection with Google Ranking. In fact, the top 4 results on the Google search page have a higher activity on Facebook.
In Google’s keynote discussion of 2017, Garry Illyes said:
Out of all the basic link strategies, social media is the easiest one.
Ease: Every business is bound to have a social media presence, whether it is a huge enterprise or a small-scale business. One can post links from the website to their social media platform and get backlinks without any hassle. Hence, this basic link-building tactic is the easiest of all.
How to Do?
- Choose the webpage you want to share with the audience on your social media platform.
- Then, create a relevant post. Remember, different platforms appreciate different kinds of posts. For example, the audience on Instagram would like to see pictures and videos. On LinkedIn, people use text-only posts more.
- Now, attach the link in the caption. We highly recommend you use two tools to make your link more powerful.
- Campaign URL Builder that would help you to analyze your traffic
- Bitly, that would help you to shorten your link
- Post the link and enjoy the traffic.
3. Forum Link Building
It refers to creating the links by answering the questions on different platforms. For example, take Quora or Reddit, all you have to do is find questions relevant to your niche, write an apt answer, and subtly leave a link to your site where people can know more about you or your business.
Moreover, these forums are more like online communities where people engage on millions of topics and contribute to them.
Impact: Forums have a very strong Domain Authority. Hence, the backlinks you get from these websites are considered much more impactful than the ones you get from other websites. Moreover, Forum link building helps you create a lasting brand identity and assists you with developing new connections, contributing to a community, and participating in engaging conversations.
Ease: Forum link building is an easy process. All you have to do is sign up on any platform like Quora or Reddit and then find topics or questions relevant to your niche. Once you have a list of questions, start writing great answers and subtly drop a link at the end. Let’s dig a little deeper to explore more.
How To Do?
- The prerequisite to building links on the platform is to create a profile. Now you can either create a profile as an individual or as a business.
- Search and join communities, spaces, and groups of your niche and observe what people are talking about.
- Then, search for questions related to your niche on Google, one of the many search results that will take you to your desired platform. For example:
- Once you have found out the query on the particular platform, go to that page and write a valuable answer.
- Make sure your answer provides an interesting perspective for your readers. Then, subtly drop in the link to your website where they can learn more about your services/expertise.
4. Directories
Remember the book with yellow pages we had back in time, where we could find the list of all the businesses and their contact information? The online directories are just the digitized version of those Yellow Pages.
The business directory typically features the contact information of the business.
These directories allow businesses to list themselves online. It helps people find them easily. Also, these directories are usually free or at least have some trial period so businesses can try them out and see their growth.
Impact: It is one of the oldest tactics used by marketers to gain backlinks and is still recommended by many experts because of the edge it provides. Firstly, it’s a cost-effective way to display your business on a directory that already generates a good amount of traffic.
Secondly, the directory helps visitors reach the right site that would help with their problems. For your business, this means increased traffic, leads, and sales.
Lastly, it contributes to the efforts required in building a reputable brand presence.
Ease: It might get a little overwhelming to find the right directory when you are starting off, but once you know the directories that would work for your business, you just need to start listing.
How to Do?
- Find a directory suitable for your niche. To start, check out the following directories:
Local Directories:
- Loopt.com
- Localeze.com
- Biglocal.com
- Openlist.com
- Outside.in
- BOTW.org/top/Regional/United_States
- Superpages.com
Blog Directories:
- DoFollowBlogs.com
- PlaceBlogger.com
- Bloglines.com
- Blogsearch.Google.com
- Technorati.com
- Blogged.com
- BlogCatalog.com
- Blogmarks.net
- MyBlogLog.com
- Zimbio.com
Review and Rating Directories:
- Yelp.com
- Rateitall.com
- InsiderPages.com
- Submit a request to file your site under the right section and wait for approval.
- Once the directory approves your request, you will gain a backlink.
5. Submit Resources To Online Platforms
Another basic link-building tactic is where submission websites allow content creators to submit their craft. Other people can use their content by either paying or for free. Usually, you can place your backlinks on your profile page on these sites.
Impact: These sites usually have a lot of traffic since everybody wants good creatives to use, and hence, submitting your creatives here could help you with traffic, leads, and improved ranking.
Ease: This basic link-building tactic is a little more complicated than others because here, you need to find out the online platforms that are just right for your business. Also, you need to remember that every platform has its own rules which you can not violate. Once you know the platforms you can use to share your resources, it will become a lot easier for you.
Types of Resource Submitting Sites
1. Article Submission Site
Article Submission Sites include all the sites where you can post your articles. A few of those sites are:
- Sites.google.com
- Github.com
- Isnare.com
- Storify.com
- Goarticles.com
- Medium.com
2. Image Submission Sites
Image submission sites include all the sites where you can submit your creative images for people to use.
A few of those image submission sites are:
- Pixabay.com
- Wikimedia.com
- shutterstock.com
3. Video Submission Sites
Similar to Image submission sites, video submission sites also allow you to submit your creative videos to their site that people can use. Some of the video submission sites include:
- Vimeo.com
- Dailymotion.com
How To Do?
You can either provide a link to your website on your profile while creating an account or in the description of the resource you are providing.
In the next chapter, you will learn the top Request Link Tactics to build a link building strategy.
