Backlinks are about quality just as much as there are about quantity. Having a single backlink from an authoritative website is better than thousands of links from mediocre websites.
At the same time, you can determine the quality of a backlink based on its location. The site where your link is featured, which part of the page people can find it, and the page’s context about your line contribute to the strength of your backlink.
So, where can you build backlinks that will help increase your search rankings and organic traffic?
This post answer this question by listing down the locations of the best backlinks for your website and how you can secure them.
#1 – In-Content
The majority of links that produce the best results on your SEO are those found within the page’s content. Also referred to as contextual links, they are integral to the flow of the content. If you remove the link from the page, the content is somewhat incomplete.
You can find contextual links in a blog post or article. Aside from passing link juice to the site, readers can also click on them to visit the page. This way, the link is helping improve your search engine rankings and increase referral traffic at the same time!
You can get backlinks of this type through the following methods:
- Guest posting – Send a guest post pitch to a website with topics you can write about. Once approved, write the guest article and include a link to your site in the content body or author bio section, whichever is allowed by the site owner. Guest blogging is time-consuming since you have to send follow-up emails to site owners about your pitch. In this case, you may want to consider getting good backlink pages to help you shore your guest posting campaign.
- Broken link building -Identify broken links on a site you want a backlink. Then recover the content of the broken page using Archive.org, also known as Wayback Machine. Rewrite and update the restored content to make it more valuable to readers. Next, email the site owner informing them that they have a broken link on their site, and they can replace it with your content that covers the same topic but only better.
- Skyscraper technique – Create a much-improved version of content your competitor published with many links. Next, email site owners asking them to replace your competitor content with a link to your site instead. This is similar to the broken link building method, except you don’t have a broken link on their site to use as an incentive. In this case, you must rely on the strength of your content to earn quality backlinks.
#2 – Resource Pages
Resource pages contain outbound and internal links about a specific topic covered by the website. Their primary purpose is to compile links to share with the site’s audience.
External links found in these pages are similar to in-content links because they are still located within the page’s content. However, they may not offer as much value as links on guest posts.
Unless people search for links talking about a particular subject, resource pages are inherently not very useful.
Nonetheless, a backlink from resource pages of authoritative websites can still help increase your site’s rankings on search results.
The broken link method is the best way to secure links from these pages. Since the pages are filled with links, expect a few of them to no longer work, primarily if the page was published years ago.
The simplest way to do this is by searching “niche resource page” on Google search (replace “niche” with your site’s niche).
Once you find a resource page, click the Broken Link Checker Chrome extension icon on your browser. It will search for dead links on the page by highlighting them in red. From here, recover the broken page from Archive.org and recreate it on your site so you can replace the link with yours.
#3 – Online Directories
Online directories were the rage decades ago. Nowadays, the links from these sites have diminished up to the point that most links from online directories can be detrimental to your site’s SEO growth.
However, there are still links from these sites that can help your site rank higher on search engines. It’s all about context and relevance.
For local businesses, a link from business listing sites like Yelp, BBB, and similar is contextual and authoritative enough for Google to consider raising your keyword rankings. At the same time, positive customer reviews allow your audience to trust your brand more, which could lead to a referral click to your site.
Unlike the previous places where you can get high-quality backlinks, you have to sign up for an account to include your link in your profile. Some will require you to pay, while others will need more information from you to verify your business.
Regardless, signing up on online directories related to the kind of site or business you have should help shore up your site’s link profile.
#4 – Blog Comments and Discussion Boards
Like online directories, links on blog comments and discussion boards have fallen out of favor through the years due to the spam generated from this practice.
However, the strength of the backlink from these sources depends on multiple factors such as relevance, traffic, and placement.
For example, getting a backlink from a blog’s comment section that receives tons of traffic is much more valuable than one without organic traffic.
Also, some blog comments don’t allow links on the actual comment but only on the commenter’s name.
With discussion boards, you have to consider where you can place a link to your site. The easiest to place your link is in your account’s profile section. However, nobody visits the user profile section compared to other pages of the forum board.
This is why you should strive to include your link in the discussion thread or at least on your signature so more people can see and click on them.
Getting links from blog comments and discussion boards can be difficult since the best ones are heavily moderated. Chances are, your links might be stripped out from the post, especially if they feel forced in your comment or if the link goes against the forum guidelines.
Conclusion
When developing a link building strategy for your own website, consider where you’ll be getting a backlink in the site. It’s not always SEO metrics that matter when finding new link building opportunities. How the links are presented and where they appear are just as important.
So, if you wish to build links that will help increase your site’s organic rankings and traffic, go with links found in relevant content published on other sites. If this is the case, go with Linkplicity and our guest post packages!
