Google has set quality standards for various ranking factors that focus on earning backlinks rather than paying for it. The quality guidelines discourage the use of any unfair means for acquiring links in order to manipulate the search engine rankings and availing the undue benefit. Some of the points it narrates are;
- Not to buy or sell links
- Not to create dedicated pages for cross-linking
- Not to extensively promote articles
- Not to require compulsory backlinks in different CMS pages
The online presence and ranking of your webshop greatly depend upon quality backlinks if you wish to attract search engine traffic, specifically from Google. Therefore, it is mandatory for you to comply with its guidelines and earn natural and organic backlinks. Following are some of the tips that can help you skip the spam techniques and find the arena of building true and fair backlinks.
Ask Employees and Clients for Endorsements
Search engines appreciate backlinks that are acquired naturally. However, there are people who are involved in your business but not contributing to your websites’ backlinking bank. These may primarily include your employees and clients.
For example, your employees would be sharing their job experience and learning journey on a blog or social media. You can ask them to mention your website in terms of employers, which is all true and fair. Similarly, you can enlist your product or services on your clients’ websites. Most of the websites proudly highlight their suppliers and service providers on their websites.
For example, blogs often suggest their web hosting, development, and designing service providers. The lawyers, accountants, and real estate agents also get a mention on their clients’ websites.
Directory Listing
Directories are useful, until and unless, if it has an active user base. The argument that business directories are spam is true to some extent. However, there are reliable directories that are helping specific communities with relevant business suggestions.
For example, local directories for wedding planners, photographers, dress designers, and lots of other businesses are quite helping for acquiring quality backlinks. They are natural in the sense that such directory has defined criteria for listing a business.
The restricted business listing ensures the platform is going to be spammed sooner or later. You need to search for niche-specific directories that may bring you relevant traffic as well, and find how your business can be listed over there.
Anchoring your Brand Mentions
Your clients, customers, or suppliers may keep on mentioning your brand in a variety of content. For example, you may refer to the design, feature, or strategy you have in place. It may be a case study for many, but the mentioning website would not have linked your website to it.
Take benefit of it by reaching out to such websites and requesting them to link the text with your website or a specific page URL. Keep a check on mentions with the help of different tools, reminders, and research every month so that quality backlinks are earned in time.
Be in the News
The news agencies and story writers need stories to cover. Usually, it is hard to be in the limelight, as they have to evaluate your story on their defined parameters. The easiest method to grab their attention is to accompany a social issue or cause along with your money making idea.
For example, a business can contribute to the plantation, renewable energy, reducing pollution, solving unemployment issues, or doing something out of the box for the elders, homeless, orphans, and disabled people. Start a charity campaign and journalists will gather to push the message. This may not only help you raise funds for a noble cause but earns quality backlinks too.
Produce Exceptionally Useful Content
Follow the 10X content strategy of writing outstanding content for your blog or website. It narrates the production of content that is ten times better in quality and resourcefulness than any other piece of content on the web.
Writing about everything that your competitor is doing is no longer useful in earning backlinks. There is no need for covering the same topic, title, or issue. Search the question and answer platforms, and find queries relevant to your business or product that is answered the least.
For example, people ask questions on Quora or Yahoo Answers when they fail to find its answer on the web. Additionally, you can join or create Facebook groups related to your business niche, and find what the users are looking for. Once you find the problem, devise an exceptional and comprehensive piece of content that is considered a final solution for it. Spread it across the channels and people of the same industry will link it naturally.
Contribute to or Create List Posts
The online buyers do thorough research before they place orders with their preferred eCommerce website. They search for the top best products or services. They do quick comparisons in terms of quality, quantity, price, location, and authority, etc.
Look for any opportunity if a blog or website vouches out for publishing lists relevant to your business or product line so that you can contribute with a short and precise description with a link to a landing page.
If not, you can curate a list on your own by reaching out to prospective businesses and asking for their suggestions. Publish the list on your blog, give them the due link, and the fellow bloggers will start mentioning your list rather than producing more.
With the same strategy, you can create expert roundup posts. Contact your niche experts and ask their opinion on a specific topic. Jot down them in a post, publish, and let the blogosphere cover you.
Final Words
Getting a link from free directories is easier, but it can cost you severe penalties. Therefore, it is always recommended to pursue creative strategies to win backlinks rather than paying for them. The post discusses some of the reliable and search engine safe techniques. You can try them to improve rankings and page rank without messing up with the Google guidelines.
Muhammad Faheem is managing SEO content writing at FMEextensions, which is committed to developing innovative solutions for its various eCommerce clients. The company has developed varying SEO extensions to help companies acquire quality backlinks and pursue higher rankings. Furthermore, you can find tools and extensions for administration assistance in the eCommerce website that is specifically powered by Magento. The Magento 2 edit order is worth mentioning here as it empowers the store admins to edit and correct orders without nullifying or removing them from the store.
Backlinks stock photo by one photo/Shutterstock
