Link Building Services That Actually Work

I’m not going to lie: the SEO industry has its share of bad eggs. Even as Google cracked down on unhelpful practices like keyword stuffing and spammy links over the past decade, they still see widespread use. You’d think that everyone would start following the new guidelines lest they risk earning the Big G’s fury – and you’d be right.

In a past blog post about earning quality backlinks without guest posting, I discussed the reasons guest posting is somewhat underutilised. One of these is that achieving great results takes too long, and sadly some resort to methods that produce quicker results but are downright illegal in Google’s eyes.

That just won’t do. A website may get away with it for a while, but the algorithm will catch up sooner or later. And when it does, the consequences will be severe, if not irremediable, not just for the site but for the small business (or any size company) that runs it.

As a link building company that values ethics and transparency, risking our client’s business prospects in the digital space isn’t our cup of tea. Even if they take months to bear fruit, the best link building service shouldn’t be any other way than the following:

1. Managed Link Building

   

   Source: Adobe Stock

   It’s human nature to try spending as little or no money whenever possible. In this case, you may attempt building your content’s backlink profile on your own. With some basic link building tools (which are free to use) and a bit of expertise, it shouldn’t be too hard.

   Managed link building respects that, but also posits: “How can we make it even better?”

   Considering their extensive experience, managed link building professionals may know a dozen more opportunities to boost your website rankings for each one you know. A link building agency also has the advantage of premium analytics tools, which are expensive but contain far more capabilities than their free counterparts.

   This is worth considering for businesses that can’t afford to hire marketing specialists in-house, namely startups. They need every advantage they can take to maximise their odds of reaching the top of search results, even if they have to pay for it.

2. Guest Posting

   Contrary to what you might have read or heard, guest posting is far from being dead (as of this writing, at least). What Matt Cutts was referring to in his debate-triggering post back in 2014 was the practice of earning high quality links through guest blogging. Google doesn’t even penalise guest posts; instead prevents embedded links from passing PageRank.

   Despite such a method now out of the question, the industry managed to find guest posts a new purpose. Provided they’re well-written and their links are properly attributed (e.g., nofollow, sponsored, UGC), guest posts can improve a brand’s standing in its industry or niche, which has its own way of boosting online presence.

   Guest posting remains the most popular white hat link building strategy. In a recent survey of over 700 link building professionals by AuthorityHacker, roughly 65% say they still perform it.

   

   Source: AuthorityHacker

   That isn’t surprising, considering that it’s a simple way of generating authority and organic traffic. When coupled with effective outreach services, the content can benefit from citations from high-authority websites. They don’t have to be well-known ones, as some niche sites also carry high domain authority.

3. Connectively (formerly HARO)

   If you do want your high quality content to appear on well-known or relevant sites, such as the New York Times or Mashable, it requires reaching out to a journalist. There are two ways to do this; the first is to sign up for Connectively.

   

   Source: Connectively

   Formerly known as Help a Reporter Out (HARO), Connectively is the modernised version of the popular media outreach system used by some of the biggest media outlets. It bridges industry experts with journalists and other content creators, benefiting both. Experts get an opportunity to get their name out there, while journalists get the material they need.

   Connectively, along with alternatives like Terkel and Dot Star Media, is helpful in fulfilling Google’s four-fold content quality benchmark, known as E-E-A-T. Journalists are obligated to get their material from authoritative sources, and getting them to use your content for their pieces essentially makes you one.

   That said, it isn’t as simple as submitting high-quality links to the content they need and calling it a day. A typical reporter receives hundreds of pitches and always works on a tight timeline, which means they often work with the first pitch they get. As such, consistent and personalised responses are highly encouraged.

4. Press Release

   The second method of journalist outreach is through a press release. I’ve talked about the role this kind of content plays in SEO in a previous blog post. While they don’t directly help with white hat SEO link building tactics, as search engines don’t crawl on links in press releases, digital PR contributes to the business’s image the same way as using Connectively does.

   That doesn’t mean you can’t use page SEO best practices here. Press releases can still appear on search engine results if they contain relevant search terms and phrases identified by keyword research. Leads will eventually follow to your site, one way or the other.

5. Niche Edits

   Niche edits or link placements position links on existing content. It’s a good alternative to creating fresh content, as it only requires replacing a broken link or enclosing the link in a paragraph without looking out of place in the content.

   To do this, you need to write an email to the site owner, pointing out that the target content has a broken link and telling them that your content can be a good substitute. Broken links lead to 404 errors, which impact user experience, especially if they’re crucial in context. If they agree, you should see their content linking to yours.

   When you enlist an SEO specialist or digital marketing professional who performs niche edits (most third-party digital marketing or SEO agencies do this), they usually take care of the manual outreach and editing. They can’t guarantee that the site owner will respond, let alone agree, but the alternative would be private blog networks or buying links directly, which go against Google’s guidelines.