Cleveland SEO Company Presents: 36 Link Building Strategies

36 Ways to Build Backlinks

Cleveland SEO Service Presents: 36 Insanely Effective Link Building Strategies to Help You Rank Higher and

Profit More

Presented by… Eugene Farber

Founder of ContentStrategyHub.com Find our Cleveland SEO Service at:

http://www.contentstrategyhub.com/cleveland-seo-service We help you increase sales by improving your rankings

SEO for Cleveland, OH(or)

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http://www.contentstrategyhub.com/cleveland-seo-service/

http://www.contentstrategyhub.com/seo/

Why SEO? SEO is search engine optimization Helps you rank higher for specific keywords that potential

buyers are searching for 89% of all purchasing decisions begin on a search engine

(whether the purchase happens online or off) Improving your search engine rankings for targeted

keywords can have a direct impact on your bottom line


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What are backlinks? Backlinks are simply inbound/incoming links to your website

from external sources. The “anchor text” of a backlink is the actual text that is linking

to your website (usually in underlined blue font). Why should you care?


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Impact of Backlinks on SEO Rankings is largely driven by backlinks. This has always been true. And if you understand how

search engines function, this will continue to be true for the foreseeable future.


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Not All Backlinks Are Created Equal Quantity and quality of backlinks matters. You want your backlink structure to look “natural” (variety of

anchor text, do-follow vs no-follow links, etc.). While there are many SEO factors that influence rankings, a

better link profile leads to better rankings…period.


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So how do you build quality backlinks to improve your rankings?

Here are 36 powerful strategies to improve your SEO, search position and sales…


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Directory Submissions Yes, this is “old school” but still effective. There are both paid and free directories, some offer both

options. Paid usually gets you listed faster with more options and

better results. Pick high-quality, high PR, high Domain Authority directories

for best results.


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Start Blogging Create a blog for your website where you can publish new

content. Content is what gets ranked in search engines…give them

something to rank. More content means more opportunity to target different

keywords…you can’t rank for ALL keywords in one piece o content.

Promote your content: syndicate the RSS feed, syndicate your content, share to social networks and groups, submit to blog aggregators


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Guest Blog Rather than publishing content on your own blog and

promote it, publish content to other relevant, high-quality blogs and get your link directly.

This also helps you spread your name, brand and build your authority and expertise.

Links usually come from author box, but it is much more effective to get a contextual link from within the actual content of the article.


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Create a Go-To Resource The safest and best way to get backlinks is to create

something that is worth linking to. Create a go-to resource on a topic in your industry. Lists are very popular and make for great link-bait (think “Top

100 Ways to….”)


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Submit to Resource Roundups Most industries have lists of resources. Submit any useful

content you create to those lists. Many educational and government sites have these, this is a

great way to get a backlink from a .edu or .gov domain…these are very powerful because they are considered more authoritative.


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Blogger and PR Outreach Find bloggers and journalists that have written on topics

similar to the one you are covering. Find as many as you can and reach out them with your angle

on the topic – perhaps one that differs from theirs or one that supports theirs (either can work).

Find the author’s contact information and email them about the content you just published.

Not everyone will link to you, but some will. And these are high-quality, relevant links.


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Interviews Interview leaders in your industry and feature their answers

on your website. People want to hear thought leaders sharing knowledge. Once published, reach out to the interviewee and let them

know the content is live…often times they will share the content with their followers (because who doesn’t like their ego stroked?).

Social signals are becoming more and more important in SEO. There sharing of content on your blog can really add up.


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Crowdsource Content Rather than a one-on-one interview, do a round-up interview

of many experts at once. Again, many will link back to your newly published content

and promote it on social media. This focuses promotion, links and traffic onto one single

page. Here is an example:

http://www.contentstrategyhub.com/content-experts-business-publishing/


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Submit to Curation Services Submit your new content to curation services like Scoop.it This will give you a backlink directly from the site (high

domain authority). This can also potentially get you in front of other users for

directly traffic and more sharing. Tip: Sites like Scoop.it allow you to suggest content to other

people’s boards, giving the opportunity for even more backlinks and traffic.


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Blog Commenting Comment on other people’s blog posts. Most blog commenting systems allow you to link back to your

site. These links are not as powerful as contextual links, but can

really add up. Being one of the first to comment (and getting placed near

the top of the page) is more effective. Leave REAL valuable responses to add value (and actually

get some traffic back to your site while you are at it).


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Free Web 2.0 Content Publish relevant, optimized content to free web 2.0 content

properties such as Squidoo Include backlinks to pages you want to rank Use this as part of a “link pyramid” The domain authority of these properties allows you to build

backlinks of lesser quality to the free content and use the web 2.0 property as a “buffer” between the low-quality links and the page you are trying to rank


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Coin a Term You can take an existing concept and give it a new name. This gives you “ownership” of a concept. And those that

discover the concept through you will give you credit (and links).

Examples: Derek Halpern’s “Drafting Technique” Brian Dean’s “Skyscraper Technique” These are essentially the same…and both really amount to just

blogger and PR outreach.


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Broken Link Building Find relevant websites that contain broken links (links that no

longer lead to an active page). Old round-up posts will often have these. Find these pages through Google searches. Run the page through a free tool like “Xenu” or “Screaming

Frog” to find broken links. Create content that will effectively replace the previous

content being linked to (you can find this on Archive.org). Reach out to publisher and let them know of both the broken

link and the suitable replacement you have just created.SEO for Cleveland, OH

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Buy Expired Domains Find expired domains that already have backlinks and authority. Use a variety of different tools to find them.

ExpiredDomains.net PR Powershot Moonsy Expired Domains

Buying quality domains can be cheap and save you tons of time building up your own links because you can tap into existing ones.

Link directly to your existing website through redirection or create your own blog network of multiple sites all pointing to pages you want to rank.


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Press Release Distribution Write a press release optimized for the keyword you want to

rank for. Link to your page from within the press release. Submit the press release to distribution sites

There are both free and paid sites…paid usually get you better results.

The distribution site will give you backlinks, but there is also a chance of getting picked up by other news outlets.

Combine this with blogger/PR outreach to pitch your new press release directly to journalists


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Be a Resource for Journalists Journalists are always looking for an expert to quote for a

story. Become a resource for them by answering inquiries. You an find journalists looking for sources on:

HARO (HelpAReporter.com) Reporter Connection (ReporterConnection.com)


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Leverage Q&A Sites Answer topical questions on sites like Yahoo Answers and

Quora Show your expertise and link back to resources you have

published that will help the person asking the question These sites can also be a great inspiration for content topics Sneaky/Blackhat tip: you can create keyword-optimized

questions from one account, and answer them with another including a backlink to your site, giving a highly relevant link along with the possibility of ranking the Q&A page in the search results for your keyword


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Citation Sites for Local If you have a local business then get it listed on local citation

sites such as Yelp, Yahoo Local and Google+ Local Link back to your website from all these sites Make sure that all information, such as your address, is

identical across all your submissions The high domain authority of these sites also make them a

great “buffer” for low quality links


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Local Library Listings For local businesses…check to see if your library has a

business listing. If so, get in touch with them and get listed. This is a highly-relevant, high-authority, local link. And it

should be fairly easy to get.


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Local Chamber of Commerce Similarly to the local library listing, the local chamber of

commerce can be a great place to get a link


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Purchase Links You can often find great links that you can simply purchase

(often a very cheap and effective method). You can find link sellers on forums such as Digital Point that

offer a wide variety of niches Seek out relevant sites that are already linking to others and

get a link as well. Seek out relevant sites that are not directly-competing and

try to get a link even if they aren’t already linking to someone else (sometimes they will want compensation, but every so often you might get lucky and get a free link)


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Swap Links Rather than purchasing links, find strategic partners with

whom you can exchange links (they link to you, you link to them).

Find websites that are ranking highly for relevant terms that have blog rolls.

Reach out to sites that aren’t already linking to others with an exchange offer and explain the SEO benefits.

Works best with “strategic partners” – websites related to yours but not directly competing.


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Forum Signature Links Join forums that are relevant to your industry. Establish yourself by joining discussions and adding value. Most forums allow you to add signature links once you have

reached a certain level (a minimum number of comments for example).

Create an SEO-optimized signature link Gives you an SEO benefit plus gives you the potential of driving

traffic directly to your website.


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Give Testimonials If there is a software, tool or resource that you use and love,

provide a testimonial. Testimonials provide social proof so most sellers love to

receive them. Many will provide a link back to your website along with your

name when citing your review.


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Submit to Website Evaluation Submit your URL to website evaluation/analysis sites. Don’t necessarily take the analysis seriously, many of these

sites aren’t very accurate Most of these sites will create an analysis page for the URL

you have submitted – giving you link from what is usually a fairly high domain authority site.


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Create Infographics Infographics tell a story visually. Infographics are HOT. High quality sites are much more likely to re-publish an

infographic than just copy and paste your content. They will also link back to you as the originator of the

infographic. Increase the likelihood of the infographic being spread by

submitting it to infographic directories/marketplaces such as visua.ly.


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Provide Images Provide original images that people are likely going to want

to use. For example, bring a camera to an industry event or

convention and snap lots of pictures. Publish the images afterwards and give people the right to

use the images in exchange for a backlink. Combine this with outreach – there will be many “summaries”

that will get published after large events…help the publisher out by providing images.


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Donate to Charity Charities provide a great linking opportunity (along with a

great way to build your brand name). Many will link to you as a donator. If they don’t do it by default, you can always ask. It doesn’t have to be a large donation, just $10 can get you a

link from a very high-quality website.


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Video Descriptions Include links in video descriptions on platforms such as

YouTube Because YouTube has an extremely high domain authority

(coupled with the fact that it is owned by Google), it is fairly easy to rank YouTube videos

A description link for a video optimized for specific keywords is both extremely high quality when the video is ranking well and extremely relevant


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Wiki Backlinks There are countless wikis that you can leverage for backlinks Submit optimized articles with backlinks You can find submission services for extremely cheap on

Fiverr


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Contest Sponsorships Contest sponsors are usually listed…and this can get you a

backlink A well organized contest by a reputable organizer can help

you get a high-quality backlink along with a lot of brand awareness

This also helps you leverage someone else’s audience-building efforts


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Easy .edu Links .edu backlinks are extremely powerful due to the inherent

authority of the domain extension You can get yourself some help (paid or free) by offering an

internship position to college students Submit the position to university job boards along with a link

to the your site You will likely link to the internship/job description page, so

link out to other pages from that page to get the most bang for your buck


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Leverage Student Blogs Another great way to get an .edu link is to take advantage of

student blogs Many universities offer space for students to have their own

blog on the university site (or sub-directory). Find a student with a blog and pay them to include a post

with a contextual backlink to your site This shouldn’t cost very much…students need their beer

money


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Speak Speaking is not only a great way to build authority and gain

brand exposure, but it’s also a great way to get backlinks Speakers get listed on event sites. And the listing should

include your link along with your other information Great way to get industry-relevant links (and drive some

direct traffic as well) Also a great way to get .edu or .gov links if you can get the

gig


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Wikipedia Create an in-depth industry resource Edit existing Wikipedia listings and cite your resource If you or your company already have some notoriety then

create a listing about yourself Don’t write your own…have someone else do it for you.

This will ensure you pass the “bias” test for posting.


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Copy & Paste Protection The demand for content is increasing daily There are many sites that will do little more than steal your

content through copy & paste Use a tool like Tynt (tynt.com) to protect your content from

copy & paste theft People can still copy & paste…but the copied content will

include a link to the original source Likewise, always include links to other pages within your

content. This is good for internal link structure as well as copy & paste protection.


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Hire Us! Search engine optimization can be very technical and

involves both on-page and off-page elements. Building backlinks is just one aspect, albeit a very important

one (though even just this one element is very technical). If you want effective search engine optimization to increase

your rankings and increase your sales, contact us today by going to our site:

Cleveland SEO: http://www.contentstrategyhub.com/cleveland-seo-service


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