Backlinks are the meat and potatoes of SEO strategy. They signal to Google that other websites find your content important and helpful enough to link within their own articles, blogs, and content. In fact, Google actually says that backlinks are one of their top three ranking factors.
Today I want to show you how to get your first 100 backlinks!
You’ll not only drastically increase your site’s authority – you’ll prime it to rank for tons of keywords!
Building 100 links is simply a matter of some hard work, the right strategies, and knowing how to implement those strategies. Lucky for you, I’m going to show you exactly how to do that.
And I’m not talking about low-quality backlinks from spammy websites. I’m talking about high-quality backlinks from high domain authority websites within your industry.
The kind of backlinks that directly benefit your SEO ranking.
But before I show you the ten tricks I use to generate backlinks, let’s briefly discuss the kind of backlinks you don’t want.
Which Links You Should Avoid
Not all backlinks are created equal. Some backlinks benefit your website’s SEO tremendously and others will have little effect.
It can be hard to get that kind of boost, especially for small bloggers or businesses. But if you want to improve your SEO, you need to make sure you earn high-quality backlinks to your site as much as possible.
To understand why some backlinks are better than others, you first have to understand why backlinks are so influential in the first place.
Searching for opportunities as much as possible can be difficult, but worth it. There are many different ways you can get backlinks. Just make sure that you put the most effort into the right type of methods.
For example, commenting on Youtube videos in your niche may get you some extra views on your channel. But, it won’t get you a backlink. So, it would be best to focus on the methods you know will get you more high authority backlinks.
Google’s number one goal (and every search engine’s number one goal for that matter) is to deliver results that answer the searcher’s query. They don’t want users to type in “shoes for sale” and see a ton of tennis rackets in their google search.
But they don’t just want their results to be relevant; they also want them to be high-quality search terms.
In other words, when you type in “shoes for sale,” they are going to show you the most trusted place that consumers shop.
But how do search engines decide which websites are trustworthy?
Enter the backlink.
The backlinks you receive from other websites that you are not the site owner of, essentially tells Google, “Hey, look. This website thinks this other site is a trustworthy source.” This helps with rankings, especially if the other site has a high domain authority.
If you want to see what kind of websites are currently linking to your own, you can use Google’s Search Console or Ahrefs. Preforming a case study can improve your rankings as well. That way you know exactly where you need to improve.
You can also check out our free backlink checker tool to see which websites are linking to yours.
Any links with seriously low domain authority, a high spam rating, or irrelevant anchor text won’t help as much with ranking in the SERPs. You want your links to be natural, relevant, and have high authority.
You can use tools like Moz, Ahrefs, and SEMRush to look at the quality of the backlinks going to your site.
Now, let’s turn to the ten tricks you can use to do that. If those aren’t something you’re interested in, you can try some extra strategies to get you to your back-linking goal.
11 Helpful Tips for Backlink Building
If you are still struggling with getting a good amount of backlinks to your website, don’t worry! These methods are the most common and well-used strategies that can definitely boost your backlinks and organic traffic.
Here are the top helpful ways to get backlinks:
- Build out brand signals with social profiles
- Guest blog
- Create and share an infographic
- Scour LinkedIn for contributors to massive publications
- Write testimonials
If those aren’t your cup of tea, here are some other methods that might work with your strategy:
- Broken Link Building
- Promotions
- Donations
- Interviews
- Update Old Content
By using all of these methods, you can definitely reach your goal of getting backlinks to your website. Some of these methods are easy, some are more difficult. However, getting there is totally possible.
1. Build Out Brand Signals With Social Profiles
One of the most forgotten link-building strategies is brand signals. Getting links from social media profiles can set a great link foundation for any site!
And the best part is that you don’t have to convince anyone to give you these backlinks. You just set them up yourself.
Using your social media accounts for brand building is one of the least promoted and one of the most overlooked link-building methods. It’s also one of the best methods because you can make it yourself.
Publishing the best social media content is the hard part, but well worth it once you establish yourself as an authority in your niche.
What are social signals?
Basically, they are the backlinks on social media websites and online directories (such as Facebook, Twitter, etc) or other content marketing that lead back to your website.
Furthermore, if you are active on those social media sites and produce content regularly on your website, that will tell Google you’re active, which is also a win for your SEO strategy.
Plus, the more social signals you get (i.e., shares of your content) the better your rankings.
The bad part about leveraging social signals is that it can take a long time to manually set up all of those accounts on different platforms and make sure they are aligned.
Although it can be hard, you could definitely benefit from some of these easy SEO wins by posting great content on your site. Then link back to it on your social media channels, and promote it as much as you can.
If you want to do it without all the hassle and pay a little money, you can use HOTH Lock My Brand. This service can boost your backlink profile on your social media accounts.
However you do it, social signals are too simple and powerful to ignore. Creating great content can make a huge difference in your link building strategy and push you toward your goal of 100 links this month.
2. Guest Blog
One of the most talked-about strategies for generating backlinks to your website and increasing your rankings is guest blogging and brand mentions.
It’s an effective method for your link-building strategy. Guest blogging has gained traction as one of the most useful link-building techniques. Statistics suggest that 60% of bloggers write around 1-5 guest posts a month. Guest posts are very important in the long run.
Guest blogging or guest posting can be a lot of work, but the good news is that these links are usually high-value backlinks with link building opportunities. They aren’t low-quality because you focus on publications that have a high domain authority. Check your domain authority or your competitor’s using our domain authority checker.
Speaking of competitors, every website and service has them. It’s important to check them out when you begin creating your content. You don’t want to copy your competitors. You want to make better content than your competitors.
You can often find prospects by researching some of your competitor’s backlinks and taking a look at who links to them but not your website. By using this information, you can analyze why you’re not being mentioned and make changes as needed.
The more websites you can get these nice in-content links on, the more you’ll increase your rankings!
Some guest bloggers try to generate backlinks by pitching a post idea, getting it accepted, and then awkwardly including a link within the content.
The problem with this is that those awkward links are sometimes a blaring signal that you’re just writing the article for a backlink — which most publications won’t appreciate. Many editors will actually take the link out or reject your article altogether if they see this happening.
In order to avoid that demise, start by writing a great piece of content on your own website. Something awesome that’s worth actually linking to.
Consider resource type posts like:
- 10 tools to generate leads automatically.
- 5 ways to build an online following.
- The ultimate guide to building out your marketing strategy.
And for the sake of your own rankings, the higher the word count on your article, the better. To help you keep an eye on what content does better than the other, you can free use tools such as Google Analytics. WIth this tool and others like Google alerts, you can measure metrics and other statistics.
Before you pitch topics or articles to a publication, you’ll want to check for a few things.
First, make sure that they have a domain authority that’s at least DA20, and the higher the better.
You can do that by going here and typing in the URL of the website.
This is what will show up.
Second, you’ll also want to make sure that the links on the website you’re targeting are dofollow links instead of nofollow links, which will give you the most value.
To do so, you can simply download NoDoFollow for Firefox or Chrome for free. There are other backlink services such as HARO that you can use.
The extension will color code links that are no-follow. Simply go to the website you’re looking at and see which color shows up.
Once you’ve written a link-worthy piece of content on your own website and you have a topic idea to pitch to an editor, it’s time send the email.
You can use this as a template of a great email pitch for blogger outreach:
If you don’t want to send it immediately, you can use Boomerang to schedule emails for later delivery and measure how effective the email you wrote is.
Then, write the article, include your link, and you’ve won yourself another high-quality backlink.
We wrote a whole article about how to get white hat outreach links here!
Unlinked Brand Mentions
Unlinked brand mentions which are basically just a website mention of your website without a link. This common issue is actually a fairly easy fix. Because, your website has already been mentioned you are way more likely to get a link by emailing the site owner and asking for a backlink.
3. Create and Share an Infographic
Many bloggers and content creators love to share images on their resource pages or social media. This can positively impact ranking factors for your website.
This is because images are one of the most effective types of content. Since they are visual and don’t take long to absorb, they are also highly engaging. Sharing high-quality content on forums and other social platforms is a fantastic way to build high authority in Google.
If you aren’t sure what type of content produces the most backlinks, then consider using factual data to improve your credibility. Infographics are considered highly valuable in SEO content. Since they are engaging, readers love to share them which means that content distributors love to use them.
And the pinnacle of all content images is the infographic. If you don’t have great content like infographics that is worth linking back to, then you are way less likely to get more backlinks. Creating great content is the heart of bringing a new and returning audience to your website.
The best infographics include data on a certain topic or simple and applicable ways to solve a problem. Simple but informative is definitely the way to go.
Consider titles like “10 ways to keep your lawn green” or “Data that proves the power of Facebook Ads.” Studies suggest that 36% of SEO experts think the title of a post is the most important element. Ppicking the right heading is vital for improved traffic.
You can even use a tool like Buzzsumo or our own Headline Generator Tool to get title inspiration ideas.
If you have original data to put in your infographic, then no need to worry about external links. Otherwise, you can just borrow stats from other websites and cite your sources at the bottom of the infographic.
Whatever you do, create an infographic with a focus on applicable tips or reliable data. Using SEO tools such as this can improve your content creation marketing.
If you want to create an infographic on your own, you can use Canva to do so for free.
But if you don’t trust your own design skills, then go somewhere like FreeUp to hire someone to create it for you.
Now, here’s where the real backlink generation magic comes in.
Collect a list of blogs within your niché that have good domain authority and would be able to provide you with a quality backlink.
To find email addresses, you can use Clearbit, which you can install for free on your Gmail or Outlook account.
Then, once your infographic is created, email everyone who might be interested, asking them to share it with their own audiences.
Just say something similar to what Brian Dean does:
Then, if they do want to be notified, follow up and ask them if they’d like to share the content with their own audience. That can boost your authority on Google’s algorithm.
And voilá! When people agree to share the infographic, you’ll receive a backlink to your own website.
Of course, the more people you email, the more responses you’ll receive and the more backlinks you’ll generate as a result of this outreach.
I recommended sending at least 500 cold emails asking for a share of the infographic. That’s because not everyone who you send a cold email will respond. And not every response will be positive.
Pitches are a big part of guest blogs, cold-emailing, and any other backlinking method. Make sure that your pitches are on point, so you can get the most out of your time.
You can use GMass to do so. It allows you to personalize and bulk-send up to 10,000 individual emails. Sending out emails can be time consuming. So, using tools to simplify that can really help you out with your growing small business.
If you are looking to improve your outreach process, I recommend reading Jason Quey’s guide “A Simple Influencer Outreach Plan Every Serious Marketer Needs to Know.”
4. Scour LinkedIn for Contributors to Massive Publications
Another great way to build backlinks to your website — particularly from massive publications — is to go looking for the people who regularly write for the websites you’d like to be mentioned on.
And LinkedIn is one of the best places to search for these people. Other social media is great, however, LinkedIn is used for business. So, when contacting these website owners, it would be best to keep it respectful and professional.
Since LinkedIn users are trying to sport impressing titles as is, a contributor isn’t going to miss the opportunity to add that to their bio.
Which is good for the sake of your link-building strategy.
Simply go to LinkedIn and search for the term “contributor.”
You’ll get a whole list of people who write for different publications.
But that list might not be narrow enough for your purposes. You might be looking for contributors to certain publications.
If that’s the case, then just narrow your search down by typing “contributor” and then adding the publication you want a backlink from. Keeping your searches specific is a great idea to target your contributor type.
Then, message a few of the contributors through outreach emails or direct messaging and tell them about yourself, starting to build a relationship with them.
For example…
If you angle your message in a friendly manner like the above example, then contributors will be more likely to reach out to you for help.
They often need experts who they can quote or reference, and if you’re their friend, they’ll think of your first.
5. Write testimonials
The last trick is dead simple, free, and one of the best ways to get backlinks without spending too much from your budget.
While some of the others might take you a little bit of time to implement, this one will be super quick and effective.
Reviews on your website are great for SEO and Google ranking. Reviews are fantastic for your business, but leaving reviews for other businesses can almost always win you a backlink.
Reviews are important for your website and other websites. Not only can they give a like-minded website a boost, but they can make an impact on your services as well.
All you have to do is make a list of business partners, customers, or other trustworthy websites that allow you to write a testimonial and include a link to your website within that testimonial. Google reviews and referral links are a great place to start. Especially if your business is a new site.
Then, write testimonials for these places and include a link to your homepage on your website.
Yep. It really is that simple. Testimonials are a fantastic way to get continuous traffic to your website through backlinks.
Each testimonial will win you a backlink, which is a small amount to write for such a big payoff.
6. Broken Link Building
The broken link method is a great concept. Because you are doing the website and the webmaster a big favor by reporting broken links. The first step is to find relevant websites that matches your niche. Then search for your niche and check for broken links.
This can be time consuming but super worth it in the long run. This consists of researching and cold-emailing the webmaster or site owner and hoping for a response.
The broken link building approach involves contacting a website owner to report broken links. Then, you suggest other websites to replace that broken link.
That’s when you strategically mention your own website. By reporting broken links and suggesting new ones, the chances of a backlink to your site are fairly good. It’s definitely worth a shot to try this tried and true method.
Broken link building is a great tactic for SEO methods. However, it can be one of the more challenging parts of backlink building. The hard part is actually finding these broken links. Many bloggers and websites are aware of how important it is to keep your content updated with the best links.
Many websites with high authority may not actually have any broken links because of how professional their website is. So, use this method with some knowledge that it may be a difficult method, but well worth it if you can find any broken links on a like-minded website.
7. Promotions
Another great tip is promotion. Whether it be free or paid. If you are already cold-emailing for guest posts on like-minded websites, then you might as well try and reach out for a shout-out on social media or a popular blog post.
Studies suggest that 69% of marketers think that buying links can improve a site’s search rankings, so if you are considering buying promotion then statistically that may actually help aid your backlink strategies.
Promoting and business relationships can go hand in hand. It’s important to keep in contact with the websites that backlink to you.
Just reaching out once and not building a connection with a like-minded website isn’t enough. It would be best if you reached out regularly. That will help build continuous backlinks to your websites.
Email outreach is a great approach when trying to get promoted. One of the best techniques to do this is to get a hold of other bloggers or sites running roundups regularly. You can always use Google and search for terms such as “keyword + roundup.”
8. Donations
Donations might be a good place to get a quick shoutout to your business or website. This can be done by donating to a non-profit website. By becoming a contributor to a special cause that is associated with your niche.
Not many charities offer backlinks for donations, even though they should. If you do find one that you want your business to support, then it may win you a backlink. It also makes your business look supportive of great causes.
Once you find a website that takes donations in exchange for backlinks, you shouldn’t donate without doing your research. It’s important not to blindly give money without making sure you know exactly what you will get from that money and where your money is going.
As a donor, it’s a great social strategy to be seen as a responsible business by taking part in charities. It’s also a great thing to know that Google gives non-profits more authority because of its positive nature.
9. Conduct Interviews
Online interviews such as being a part of a podcast can really boost your online presence and create backlinks for your niche. Once you become well known in your niche, you will get a ton of different interview invitations. But when you first get started, you may have to make the first move.
Podcasting and being a part of online interviews is a great concept. However, there are some things to consider when being a part of interviews.
If you do begin to do online interviews such as podcasts, then it’s important to make sure that your appearances are indeed linked back to your website. If they aren’t, then you should contact the webmaster and ask for a backlink.
Make sure you research the podcasts that you are involved in. It would also be best to be aware of the questions and subjects you will be discussing. It’s a great opportunity to be a part of a larger audience where you can promote your website, but it’s also good to know what to expect out of it.
If you are just starting, you may want to accept any interview invitation you are invited to. However, high-quality interviews from high-authority websites are better for your SEO and online presence.
It would be best if you research the charity’s authority, prices, niche, and legitimacy. Prices are an important thing to consider, depending on your budget and what you want you should double-check to make sure that your donation is worth what you get in return.
10. Update Old Content
Another great idea to get backlinks is to update old content. Old content may already have featured backlinks which is great! If you want to get more backlinks to your website, look at the content you currently created. Build up and update relevant information and make it better than what you already have.
Rewriting and refreshing old blog posts can boost organic traffic 113%. So, updating your website is important in getting new backlinks and new visitors to your site. Keeping your website optimization up to date with WordPress plugins and other SEO strategies can also improve your chances of backlinks.
If you’re all out of fresh ideas, you can update your old content and give your website an improved look and feel, including long-tail keywords. 50% of Google searches are four words or longer.
Not using long-tail keywords can cause you to miss out on conversion opportunities. If you are trying to update your content, inserting long-tail keywords is a great place to start.
By using SEO strategies, you may be able to bring more backlinks to you by creating more traffic. If you can create good content, you will pick up a few backlinks along the way.
Create longer articles, studies suggest that 77.2% more backlinks are made compared to shorter articles. So, while you are considering updating your content, longer articles between 3,000 and 10,000 words are more relevant than short content.
11. Use the Link Building Tool from Semrush
Semrush has a great tool to help you get backlinks.
It lists many ‘prospect websites’ that it believes offer great opportunities for backlinks and guest postings.
Rather than spending hours doing backlink research, Semrush compiles thousands of domains from your niche that you can use for backlinks.
Also, using Semrush’s email outreach tool, you can handle email outreach right from your inbox. You can also keep track of all your outreach emails (and save templates), so doing outreach for backlinks is effortless
Semrush truly shines here, as no other competitor offers similar features. The link-building tool is why most people choose Semrush over Ahrefs, Majestic, or Moz.
Try it for free by clicking here.
Summing Up Backlinks
Building 100 backlinks to your website over the next month is far from impossible. In fact, if you really put your mind to it, you could generate even more than that by using the methods above.
The reality is that building backlinks — like everything else worth doing — takes some hard work, some time, and the correct implementation of effective strategies.
Do these things, and you’ll be off to 100 or more backlinks within the next 30 days.
If you don’t have the time to build these links yourself, we can help!
