What Link Building Methods & Techniques Work in 2024?

Link Building

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Link building is one of the hardest parts of the off-site search engine optimization process but also one of the most important. Not only is it very time-consuming, but using the wrong link-building techniques may do more harm than good.

The popularity and authority of a website are mostly given by backlinks, and this is why backlinks are one of the most important factors that influence your website rankings in search engine results pages. In many cases, having valuable backlinks from other websites that are an authority in your niche, can help you outrank competitors having better content than you have. That’s why doing link building is a must if you want to have a successful online business.

There are many ways you can find backlinks opportunities, but finding them is not enough. You still need to have good content that someone would link to. Once you have that content, contact other webmasters in your industry with a deal that will aim for the benefit of both parties. Also, make sure to send personalized emails to your prospects, to increase the chance of them being read. Otherwise, your email may be considered SPAM and end up deleted.

Link building is not only about creating links. You need to put together a plan to follow. You need to create relationships with bloggers, vloggers, influencers, news site editors, internet marketers, etc.

Below, you can find multiple free and paid methods of obtaining backlinks and find out if they still work this year.

In addition to these techniques, you should also check the link building tools and backlink analysis and monitoring tools from the SEMPlaza IM Tools Directory.

  • Organic Link Building Techniques: Backlinks Requests, Mentions, Images, Shareable Content.
  • Content Distribution: Articles Sharing, Slides Presentations, Video Sharing, Infographics.
  • Scholarships: Colleges & Universities Links (.edu and .org), Scholarship Directories
  • Donations: Donation Links
  • Sponsorships: Events Sponsorship Links
  • Lists Backlinks: Links from Lists
  • Guest Posting: Guest Post Articles.
  • Social Bookmarking Sites: Social Bookmarks.
  • Press Releases: Press Release Articles.
  • Influencers: Bloggers & Vloggers.
  • Round-ups: Round-up Posts.
  • Testimonials: Testimonials/Reviews
  • Competitors’ Backlinks: Competitors Link Profile.
  • Skyscraper Method: Skyscraper Links.
  • Question/Answer Sites: Q/A Links.
  • Profile Links: Profile/Accounts Links.
  • Directories: Web Directories / Local Directories.
  • Forum and Blog Posts Comments: Forums & Blogs Links.
  • Social Networks: Social Links.
  • Broken Links Replacement: Broken Links.
  • Recover Dead Backlinks: Dead Links.
  • Blog Networks: PBN, W2BBN
  • Link Exchange: Exchanged links.
  • Widget Links: Widgets & Seals
  • Buying Links: Purchased Backlinks.
  • Backlinks Profile Cleanup: Clean-up & Monitoring Backlink Profile.

Ask friends, relatives, colleagues, partners, clients that have a blog or a site to link to you. Try to obtain in-content links instead of links in the sidebar or inside the footer of their website.

Backlinks should come from relevant websites, otherwise, they would not have too much of an impact and may even be harmful. Also, you need to target websites with high domain authority (for example .edu and .org domains have higher authority and trust than other TDLs).

Outreach email template for Backlinks Requests (sample message):

SUBJECT LINE: Hey [Name], Love Your Site [Site URL]

“Hey [Name],

I read several articles from your website and I like them all. I really loved this one: [URL].

I’m very interested in [topic] and that’s why I also wrote about it here [URL]. I have provided some additional information which I could not see inside your article, and I think your readers would like to see it in there.

However, would you consider adding a link to my site for additional information on the topic? Or, you could update your article with the missing information and link to my article as a  source for the information. This would be a benefit for everyone, me, you and your readers.

All the best,

[SIGNATURE]”

Q: How does this link-building method help?
A: The backlinks will help with both ranking (if do-follow) and traffic increase.

One great idea to obtain backlinks is to turn your mentions into backlinks. To make this happen, do research to find out what websites are mentioning your products/services.

Here are some ideas on how to find them:

  • Do a Google Search like “brand name” –link:yoursite.com –site:yoursite.com
  • Use a tool like Mention to find mentions of your company name;
  • Search Google News for your brand name.

Once you have some prospects contact website owners and kindly ask them to use a link to your website.

Outreach email template for Mentions (sample message):

SUBJECT LINE: Hey [Name], Thanks for mentioning [Your brand/website]

“Hey [Name],

Thank you for mentioning my brand [brand/your website name] on your website: [URL].

I’m happy to see you find it useful and you share it with your audience.

Would you consider adding a link to my website so your visitors can get additional information if they want to? You can use this link: [URL].

We put a lot of time and work into creating this resource, but you know how it is with search engines. No matter how great your content is, if there are no recommendations (links to it) coming from others it will never rank as it deserves in search engines results pages.

Thanks again and I really appreciate that you mentioned my brand!

Best regards,

[SIGNATURE]”

Q: How does this link building technique help?
A: Since it’s a natural link building method, the backlinks will help with both SEO ranking (if do-follow) and traffic increase.

Turn your images into backlinks by finding other websites using your images with Google Image Search. See who is using them without crediting you, violating image copyright laws, and ask them to link back to you.

Outreach email template for Images (sample message):

SUBJECT LINE: Hey [Name], I noticed you are using our [image/infographic] here [URL]

“Hey [Name],

I noticed you used one of my [images/infographics] on your site, here: [URL].

I’m glad you like it and you found it useful.

However, would you consider crediting it to me by adding a link to my site? Here is the page where this [image/infographic] can be found: [URL].

It would be really nice of you if you could add the link mentioned above as a sign of appreciation for the time we spent creating this resource.

Best regards,

[SIGNATURE]”

Q: How does this link-building method help?
A: The backlinks will help with both ranking (if do-follow) and traffic increase.

Shareable Content

Create interesting content that other webmasters would mention on their site and link to it. Here are some examples of types of content with a higher linking ratio:

  • Extensive research on a topic with information that could not be found in other places;
  • Research reports and case studies;
  • Create an interesting list, there is a big chance that people will share it or mention it in their content.

Make sure your content is of high quality. Proofread it and correct any grammar mistakes or mistypes with Grammarly Tool.

Q: How does this method help your SEO?
A: The backlinks will help with both ranking (if do-follow) and traffic increase.

Content Distribution

Another easy way to obtain backlinks is to distribute different types of content with links pointing back to your website

Articles Sharing

Distribute articles containing your backlinks to article directories. Try to find directories on the same niche as yours and post only quality articles of 2500+ words.

Q: Is the article sharing link building method still helpful?
A: The backlinks may only help with a traffic increase if the article directories are very popular.

Slide Presentations

Create interesting slide presentations on different subjects from your niche and then distribute them to document sharing sites.

Q: Is this link building technique still helping?
A: The backlinks coming from slide presentations may only increase your traffic and branding. For SEO ranking they are no longer effective.

Video Sharing

Create interesting videos and then distribute them to video sites, social networks. If you don’t have any video editing skills you can just use your phone to record a short interesting movie, use software that records your desktop while doing something, or just use a video creation service to create a video ad.

Q: Are links from video sharing sites worth doing?
A: Yes, the backlinks may increase both your traffic and branding.

Infographics

Create interesting infographics (there are several infographics tools that you can use – even free ones) and then distribute them to infographic directories and social networks.

Q: Is the infographic link building method effective?
A: The backlinks coming from infographics may increase your traffic but they will also improve your brand recognition. If good enough your infographics might be shared by others on their sites or on social media, so make sure to display your logo and URL on the image.

Scholarships

Setup a scholarship and obtain backlinks from colleges, university websites (.edu, .org), and scholarship directories.

These kinds of links are usually coming from high authority .edu and .org domains belonging to different colleges and universities and they are very easy to obtain. These institutions have all the interest to share your scholarship program with their students and most of them have a section on their website created for this. Because they are institutions, they are highly trusted by search engines, and linking to you it’s a sign that you can be trusted as well.

This link building technique works like this:

  • Setup a scholarship program and make sure you have a page on your website dedicated to this where applicants can participate in your program. The terms and conditions of the program should be very clear so participants know exactly what are the prizes, what they need to do, what conditions should they meet to be eligible, any legal requirements, the deadline, etc.
  • Find colleges and universities websites displaying external scholarships using Google:
    • Use searches like:
      • Inurl: .edu “scholarships”
      • Inurl: .edu “financial aid”
    • Use a backlinks tool to discover all the websites linking to other existing scholarship programs.
  • Contact the colleges/universities and kindly ask them to publish your scholarship program on their website.

Outreach email template for Scholarship backlinks (sample message):

SUBJECT LINE: [Scholarship Program Name] available to your students.

“Hello [Name],

We are very excited to tell you that we started a Scholarship Program and we would love to make the scholarship available to your students as well.

Eligibility Requirements

In order to participate in our Scholarship Program, applicants must meet the following criteria:

[Scholarship Participation Criteria]

We would be honored if you could let your students know of this opportunity and possibly include us on your scholarship resource page here: [Scholarship List URL]

If you have any questions please let us know.

[SIGNATURE]”

Q: Does the Scholarship link building method still works?
A: Most of these backlinks will come from trusted high-authority domains and they will be do-follow. They will help with both ranking and traffic increase.

Scholarship Directories

Your scholarship program can also be shared on scholarship directory sites. All you have to do is to submit your scholarship to these directories.

Q: Does the Scholarship Directory links help?
A: As long as they are dofollow, they will help with your ranking. If the backlinks are no-follow they will only help you with traffic. Many students search through these directories looking for financial aid for their studies.

Donations

Donate small amounts to different businesses or for different causes where the donors are being listed on the website. Make sure your link will be added and it will be do-follow before making any donation.

Q: Are links obtained through donations going to help with SEO?
A: Yes, the backlinks may increase both your traffic and rankings if they are do-follow. After Google introduced the “sponsored” attribute for links, many of these types of links will start to be marked with it by webmasters and they will not count as much as they used to be.

Sponsorships

Sponsor different events or causes where the sponsors are listed on the organizer’s website. Make sure the list with the sponsors will stay online and it will not be removed shortly after the event ends.

Q: Are links from sponsorships going to improve rankings?
A: As long as the backlinks are not using the “sponsored” or the “no-follow” attributes, the websites are related to your industry and they have high domain authority, they can increase your rankings. Make sure there are not too many links displayed on those pages and the websites have a low spam score.

Guest Posting

Create interesting content with your link inside it and post it on other websites that accept content from contributors.

Aim to get relevant, contextual links from your guest posts on these publications. The bio link is good, but the in-content link is better.

Avoid links with over-optimized anchor text (exact match anchor text) in articles or press releases already distributed on other sites.

Focus your guest posting on websites with a similar topic to make sure the links will be considered as coming from relevant websites.

Make sure the websites on which you are adding your posts have high authority. The higher the trust and the authority of a domain will be the more valuable the link to you will be.

Making your articles of high quality, detailed, and comprehensive will increase the chances of them being accepted and posted.

The whole process of this link-building method is quite simple:

  • Find opportunities by searching Google for stuff like “topic” in title:”guest posting”. You can replace “guest posting” with similar words: submit guest post, write for us, write for me, contribute to site, become a contributor, add article, add content, add your article, add your content, guest blog writer, guest blogger wanted, guest writer, submit article, submit content, submit post, submit your article, submit your content, etc.
  • Present to the site owner your ideas so he can see there is no article on that specific subject already on his website and have him see the potential of such an article and how useful it can be for his readers.
  • Write a comprehensive and well-researched article, and don’t forget to include a backlink leading to your own website.
  • Once the article is published on that site you will have a new backlink.

Outreach email template for Guest Posting (sample message):

SUBJECT LINE: Writing for [Site Name]

“Hey [Name],

While I was reading through your website I noticed that you have a lot of articles about [topic].

I was thinking that I could contribute with some additional content for your readers, maybe in the form of a guest post. I have a lot of knowledge in [niche], and I could write about:

[A few article ideas]

Please let me know if you would be interested in publishing one of the articles mentioned above. There is no payment involved, I’ll write the article for free. The only request is to allow me to add a link inside the article leading to my website. Everything will be of high quality,  unique and I will also promote it on my social media accounts to send some additional traffic to it.

Thanks,

[SIGNATURE]”

Q: Does the guest posting link-building method still works?
A: The backlinks will help with both ranking (if do-follow) and traffic increase. Preferably, it would be to obtain backlinks from inside the content and not from the author’s bio section. Make sure the post is not labeled as “sponsored”, “paid”, “etc.” and the site does not advertise the acceptance of guest posts.

Here are a few hundred free guest posting sites with high DR & DA that you can use to submit your guest posts.

Get your website listed in the “list” type of articles on different blogs.

Because lists are usually linked and shared more than other types of articles, bloggers write many posts consisting of a list of “something” (products, services, websites, etc.).

Getting these types of links is not too complicated and this method has a high success rate. Bloggers are willing to update their content and make it longer because these two actions will improve their SEO.

The process is quite simple:

  • Search on Google for things like “best [keyword]”, “most popular [keyword]”, “top [keyword]”
  • Contact the site owner mentioning their post and suggest adding your product/service/website/etc. to their list.

Q: Does this link building method help SEO?

A: The backlinks gained through this method will help with both ranking (if do-follow) and traffic. People look for this kind of list and once they find them they visit most of the listed sites.

Social Bookmarking Sites

Bookmark your website pages on popular social bookmarking websites to gain backlinks and high traffic to your site.

Q: Are links from bookmarking sites still working?
A: Not for SEO ranking, but they can send you an incredible amount of traffic.

Press Releases

Share some newsworthy content about our products, brand, or company on press release sites. This is mainly done for branding purposes but it can help increase the backlinks profile as well.

The process of this link building method is like this:

  • Write a landing page for your press release.
  • Write your press release with a backlink to your landing page.
  • Craft an email pitch for your press release, attaching the full text to your email.
  • Wait for people to cover your release.

Outreach email template for Press Release (sample message):

SUBJECT LINE: Hey [Name], There’s a new press release on “[Topic]”

“Hey [Name],

I’m writing to you because the company I work for, [company name], recently announced that [the news].

Here is the press release that I talk about:

[your press release]

If you have questions and you consider covering this news on [name of press release site], please let me know.

Best regards,

[SIGNATURE]”

Q: Are links from press release sites good for SEO?
A: The backlinks coming from Press Release websites are not as effective as they used to be. If you are still using this link building strategy make sure the links will be do-follow and the websites have high authority. These can also be an incredible traffic source for your website.

Influencers

Influencers are used by many webmasters to get backlinks. Because of the reputation they have, Google will give a lot of value to the backlink. Also, at the same time, you will get a lot of traffic, and brand awareness if the influencer is very popular (with thousands/millions of followers). If people are following him that means they like and trust his thinking and opinions, and they will also have trust in your service or product if they tell them to. You should do everything you can to land a high-quality backlink from their blog/vlog or social media channel to your business.

With influencers is good to create relationships. Once they will see their followers love your products/services and it’s rewarding for them at the same time, they will keep promoting. You can even get better deals.

Process of getting backlinks from influencers:

  • Discover the top influencers in your industry by searching “topic + influencers”, “topic + bloggers”, “topic + vloggers”, etc.
  • Once you find some contact them and invite them to collaborate.
  • Offer influencers something in return that you think would cover their marketing effort.
  • Influencers will post something about your brand/service/product on their website or on their social media channels and you will get your backlink.

Outreach email template for Influencers (sample message):

SUBJECT LINE: Collaboration with [Your Site Name]

“Hey [Name]!

I found you on [Social Media/Google/other].

I’m contacting you because I think our [service/product/offer] would be interesting for [blog/vlog name] readers. Our target audience is similar to your audience and for this reason, I would love us to collaborate.

I can give you [commissions/discounts//free products or services] in exchange to promote our [service/product/offer].

Let me know your thoughts.

Best regards,

[SIGNATURE]”

Q: How can backlinks from influencers help your website?
A: Backlinks from influencers can have a big impact on your SEO and rankings and at the same time they can lead huge traffic to your site.

Round-up Posts

Get backlinks from roundup posts. (A roundup is a type of blog post that features contributions by multiple experts on the topic. Typically the host blogger will provide a compelling question or a topic for discussion and reach out to various people to share their insights.)

Round-ups are very popular and the process of creating one is not very difficult:

  • Find sites that do round-up posts by searching “topic + round-up” (eg. “healthcare + round up”, “trading + round up”, “insurance + round up”, etc.)
  • Contact the editor with a link you’d like to include, asking for it to be included in their next round-up.

Outreach email template for Round-ups (sample message):

SUBJECT LINE: Interested in participating in your next Round-up.

“Hey [Name],

I found your blog on [Google/Social Media/other]. I was very impressed by the round-up on [round-up topic].

I’m reaching you out to see if you would like to include me in your next round-up?

I have a lot of knowledge on [topics] and I like to share it with others, as you can see on my website [your website URL]. If you see something interesting feel free to use it.

Best regards,

[SIGNATURE]”

Q: Is the round-up link building method works?
A: Yes, round-up can get you valuable backlinks and increase your rankings. They can also bring you traffic and increase your popularity.

Testimonials

The Testimonials link-building technique is a strategy used to acquire backlinks for your website by providing positive testimonials or reviews to other websites in your industry or niche. This technique involves reaching out to websites, products, or services you’ve used and have a positive opinion about, and offering to write a testimonial or review for them in exchange for a backlink to your own website.

Here’s how the process typically works:

  • Identify Relevant Websites: First, you need to identify websites or businesses that are related to your niche or industry. These can be suppliers, partners, service providers, or companies whose products or services you’ve used.
  • Use Their Products or Services: It’s important that you have genuinely used the products or services of the target website. This ensures that your testimonial is authentic and provides value to the website you’re reaching out to.
  • Write a Genuine Testimonial: Write a well-crafted testimonial or review that highlights the positive aspects of the product or service you’ve used. Be specific about how it helped you or improved your business.
  • Contact the Website Owner: Reach out to the website owner or administrator through their contact information or contact form. Express your appreciation for their product or service and let them know you’ve written a testimonial that you’d like to share with them.
  • Propose the Backlink: In your message, politely suggest that you’d be happy for them to use your testimonial on their website and ask if they could provide a backlink to your website in return. Mention how the link would be relevant and valuable to their audience.
  • Follow Up: If you don’t receive a response within a reasonable timeframe, consider sending a follow-up message. Be persistent but respectful in your follow-ups.
  • Monitor and Confirm: Once the website owner agrees to your proposal, monitor their website to ensure that they have indeed published your testimonial along with the backlink to your site. You can use tools like Google Alerts or website crawlers to help with this.

It’s important to note that not all websites may agree to provide a backlink in exchange for a testimonial. Some may prefer to keep testimonials without external links. However, by offering genuine and valuable testimonials, you increase your chances of success.

Here are a few tips for a successful “Testimonials” link-building campaign:

  • Be sincere and honest in your testimonials.
  • Customize each outreach message to the specific website or business you’re targeting.
  • Focus on websites that have high domain authority and are relevant to your niche.
  • Keep track of your outreach efforts and responses to measure the success of your campaign.

Q: Is the testimonials link-building technique effective?
A: Yes! Not only it is effective but it’s also easy to get this type of backlinks. But, remember that quality and relevance are key in link-building, and the “Testimonials” technique should be used as part of a broader strategy alongside other ethical and white-hat SEO practices.

Research competitors, analyze their backlinks, and try to get them as well. You can spy on your competitor’s backlinks with the help of tools like Ahrefs, Majestic SEO, Open Site Explorer, SEMRush, Cognitive SEO, Raven Tools, SEO Spyglass, and Backlink Watch.

Q: Could competitors’ backlinks increase your rankings?
A: Yes, many of the backlinks your competitors have could increase your SEO rankings. If they helped your competitors, they surely can help you too.

Skyscraper Method

Find a piece of content that has a high number of backlinks and create significantly better content on that topic on your own site. Once you have your content live, start contacting the owners of the websites linking to the original piece of content and kindly ask them to link to your content instead. If your content is a lot better and provides a lot more information on the topic, you have a high chance to get backlinks.

Contacting website owners one at a time can be very time-consuming. You can automate the email sending process by using a tool, but make sure to keep the emails as personalized as possible. While building your list make sure you have at least their name, so you can later use it inside the email template as a variable. Emails starting with words like “Hello Sir” or “Dear Webmaster” always get deleted before being read.

Outreach email template for Skyscraper (sample message):

SUBJECT LINE: Additional resources for your visitors.
“Hey [Name],

While I was reading this article [Article with the link] on your website I noticed you link to other websites for additional resources and information.

We put a lot of time and work into creating a very informative piece of content on this subject and I think it would be very useful for your readers to see it. Would you consider adding a link to it so your visitors can get additional information if they want to? Here is the link: [URL of your piece of content].

Best regards,

[SIGNATURE]”

Q: Is the Skyscraper technique good for SEO?
A: Yes, the Skyscraper method is a natural link building method and many SEO experts are using it. In fact, it’s one of the most powerful link building strategies and combined with quality content can get you easily in the top of SERP.

Question/Answer Sites

Create backlinks from Q/A sites using links in your answers. Don’t spam! Make use of links only where is appropriate to do so and make sure they are related to the question.

The best opportunity to place links in your answer is when it’s asked for in the question. For example, questions like “Can someone recommend me a good [product/service] for [something]?“ are easy to answer, without risking being considered a spammer.

If you can’t find the questions you are looking for you can ask for your friends’ help. 😉 Just don’t get caught.

Q: Are Q/A sites still effective for building backlinks?
A: Since all the links coming from Q/A sites are no-follow, they do not help you with rankings but they can bring you a lot of targeted traffic.

Adding links to your public profiles on social networks, Q/A sites, forums, or other types of accounts where adding your website is allowed.

Be active by logging in and posting content regularly, otherwise, Google will consider that the accounts are created solely for the purpose of linking to your website.

Q: Are profile links helping my SEO?
A: Not for SEO rankings, but there are some small benefits like the increase in popularity and branding.

Web & Local Directories

Submitting your website to directories still has some minor SEO benefits but needs to be relevant and trustworthy directories that actually bring you traffic. Generally, local directories work better but need to be relevant for your industry. Submitting your site to low-quality web directories that are not relevant for your niche or do not provide any real value to users will have a negative effect on your website’s ranking. The backlinks, unfortunately, do not have any real value for some search engines (eg. Google) because they are too easy to get and some of them are even paid, so they do not help you directly with your rankings. The only indirect benefit is the traffic you can get, which can be well targeted (that depends very much on your niche and the relevancy of the directory). Well-targeted traffic can increase the time spent on site by your visitors and in some cases even the bounce rate.

Finding directories to submit your site is not very hard:

  • Search Google for stuff like: “topic” intitle:”directory”. You can replace “directory” with other words, like: submit URL, submit website, add your URL, add link, etc.

Q: Should you submit your website to web and local directories?
A: This can be done for increasing your web presence and a small increase in traffic. Backlinks coming from directories do not help your rankings in SERP, because they are easy to get backlinks and Google knows are built by the webmaster and they cannot be considered as a “recommendation”.

Forum and Blog Posts Comments

Participate in active discussions on forums or blogs that are relevant to your business and make sure your comment provides contextual value to the discussion. Sharing a relevant link would not do any harm, but you need to make sure that you don’t overdo this and do not use commercial keywords in your link anchor texts.

Avoid unhelpful forum or blog comments with optimized links in the post or signature.

Q: Is commenting on forums and blogs still a good SEO strategy?
A: No. Search engines know these links are built by webmasters and do not take them into consideration. A high number of such backlinks may end up being considered SPAM. Avoid optimizing those links for your targetted keywords. Also, Google introduced the “UGC” attribute for links and many of the comments will be labeled as UGC (user–generated content).

Social Networks

Start building or expanding a social community around your website to increase the popularity and number of backlinks coming from social media. The more you grow your social media community the more shares you will have on your posts.

Promote your social media channels every time you have the chance. You can do it on your website, inside the emails and newsletters you are sending, on different accounts profiles, mention them inside your videos, etc. Some people are even putting them on their business cards.

Q: Do links from social networks help your SEO?
A: These links will not have a direct impact on SEO ranking, but they can send you an incredible amount of traffic and your social presence will increase social signals, which search engines are using for establishing the popularity of a business. If your brand is new, social networks is the place to start making yourself known.

Discover websites linking to a broken link (other websites). Reach out to the website to inform the owner and suggest replacing it with your link.

These are the steps to achieve this:

  • Find a site you’d like to get a backlink from.
  • Use a tool like Broken Link Checker to find external links pointing to 404 errors or broken pages. Additionally, you can install Check My Links extension for Google Chrome. The extension will mark broken links in any page as red.
  • Create a resource to replace the broken link with.
  • Let the site owner know about the broken link, and mention how you have the perfect resource to replace it with.

Outreach email template for Broken Links (sample message):

SUBJECT LINE: Found a broken link on [Site Name]

“Hey [Name],

While I was reading this article [Article with a broken link] on your website I spotted a link that is broken. [describe where the link is].

I have a resource on this subject on my website, which I think your readers will like. Please read it for yourself [your URL]. You can fix the broken link quick, by making it go to my article.

Best regards,

[SIGNATURE]”

Q: Is broken links replacement a good link building strategy?
A: Yes. Some of these links can be do-follow and influence your rankings. It’s also a safe link building method.

Sometimes webmasters misspell your link or link to a page no longer available on your site. Contact them to correct the links.

Outreach email template for Dead Links (sample message):

SUBJECT LINE: Found a broken link on [Site Name]

“Hey [Name],

Thank you for mentioning my brand [brand/your website name] on your website: [URL].

I noticed you are also linking to my website. Unfortunately, [that resource has moved here (provide new URL) / the URL you have used is misspelled] and you need to update the link on your page.

Thanks again and I really appreciate that you mentioned my brand!

Best regards,

[SIGNATURE]”

Q: Is recovering dead backlinks a good link building method?
A: Yes. These are the easiest links to get because the intention of the webmaster is to link to you already. You just need to help him do it properly. Some of those links can help you with rankings if they are do-follow.

Blog Networks (to be avoided)

PBN (Private Blog Networks)

Private blog networks are a group of websites participating in link schemes for the purpose of manipulating search engine rankings. Usually, these websites link to each other or they all link to one main website to pass page rank and get it on top of SERP rankings.

Participating in link schemes is against Google guidelines and once you get caught your website is penalized.

Q: Can links coming from PBNs increase your rankings?
A: No. This linking method is risky and can get your website penalized.

Web 2.0 Blogs are websites hosted on subdomains (usually for free) of high DA websites like WordPress, Tumblr, Blogger, Weebly, or similar websites which allow users to create their own blog.

Web 2.0 Blog Backlink Networks are a multitude of Web 2.0 blogs that are created for manipulating search engine rankings by participating in link schemes.

Q: Can W2BBN links improve your website rankings?
A: No. This linking technique is very risky and may lead to a website penalty.

Doing too many link exchanges will negatively impact your website’s rankings in SERP because search engines will consider that you are doing it to try to manipulate your ranking and not for the user benefit. Doing just a few, relevant and useful for your users will not do any harm.

Avoid having “partner pages” which will be high OBL because of all the outgoing links. Also, search engines can tell very easily that those pages are built for the purpose of link exchange.

Q: Is link exchange still working?
A: No. It’s risky and can get your website penalized. If you consider doing it for the traffic make sure both you and your partner will use no-follow so Google can tell it’s not done for the purpose of influencing search engines rankings.

Some website owners are providing to other webmasters different types of widgets (or seals) to be placed on their sites with a link back to their sites inside the code.

This type of behavior is no longer accepted by Google and it recommends for people still doing this to put a no-follow attribute on the links inside the widget code to avoid a penalty.

Q: Are links in widgets still a good method to get backlinks?
A: No. Webmasters providing widgets are required to put no-follow on the link to avoid passing page rank, otherwise, their website ends up penalized.

Low-quality paid links are extremely risky. Avoid purchasing links from sites that openly state (on their site or elsewhere) that they sell links or label your link as “sponsored”.

We do not recommend this method for obtaining backlinks as it’s infringing Google’s guidelines.

Q: Should you buy links?
A: Yes and No. This is a very risky link building method because buying links is against Google guidelines and if they catch you they will penalize your website. If you are doing it for the traffic make sure it’s a no-follow link.

Since most of the backlinks are created organically you have no control over who is placing a link on his website leading to your website. Some of these links may be coming from spammy websites and can get you in trouble.

In rare cases (unfortunately is possible) your competitors may try to sabotage you by purchasing a bunch of bad links with exact anchor texts containing the keywords you both compete for, only to get your website penalized.

It is important to monitor your backlinks by regularly checking them and getting rid of the low-quality ones using Disavow tool (instruction here) which is available inside Google Search Console.

Posted on: April 20, 2019