White Hat Link building is a critical part of SEO. It is the most varied element of SEO, changing dynamically in the last decade. Today is about the user experience. Spam and intrusion have been replaced by relevance and quality.
Link building has seen the same kind of evolution. Black Hat strategies will only hurt you in the current times. Google dominates the trends and algorithms of search engines. It continues to produce ways to maintain the flow of “quality information” to its users.
It has been stated that links intended to manipulate a site classifications are considered part of the schemes of links and will be considered a violation of Google Webmaster Guidelines.
It implies that the following techniques will definitely not work:
- Blog networks
- Comment Spamming
- Paid link
- Excessive guest blogging
- $5 Fiverr Backlinking Services (those in which they guarantee active links).
No room for evil means total freedom for White Hats
White Hat Links is considered excellent for SEO website and with good reason. Google should feel that your blog/website/vlog is relevant and trusted by visitors. In other words, you should have good word of mouth online. White Hat links are genuinely earned links and they do just that.
White Hat Link Building’s primary goal is to improve the user experience and design link building strategies accordingly. Google today is all about user experience.
From now on, here are 5 detailed hacks, in sync with the latest trends.
5 Best White Hat Link Building Techniques for 2023
1). Broken Link Barters
Many marketers and SEO specialists skip it as it can be tedious. However, building broken links is a great way to generate organic traffic through new links.
The general process is simple. First, you find websites in your niche. Then you will find your broken links with the help of some tools. Now scan the content that these broken links are part of and create similar relevant content.
Now comes the tedious part. It communicates with the administrators of those websites and asks them to replace the broken link with the link for the content you just created earlier.
It is a win-win situation as the site fixes your broken links and you get white-hat links in return. Recent case studies have shown that such broken links can go a long way to helping websites.
Take Webology, for example. They experimented with a broken link campaign to see the effects on their brand exposure.
The link analysis pointed to sites that included links to the Yahoo Site Explorer that had been merged with the Google Search Console. Therefore, these were non-existent pages or broken links.
Now Webology created a post explaining what happened to Yahoo Site Explorer and the tools listed that could be used as alternatives. They contacted sites with the broken links found and asked to replace them with their resources.
In a matter of 4 hours, they got 6 new links to high quality domains.
You should use tools like Ahrefs, OpenLinkProfiler, and SEMrush to find these broken links. Some tools offer advanced filters to view page authorities, link addresses, and referring domains. Do not contact websites that do not offer tracking links. You can track traffic and contact websites that have the most readers.
You can analyze the links to see how they were broken and create a game plan.
2). Planned Guest Blogging
Guest blogging is highly efficient when done correctly and disastrous when not planned. You can find many authoritative websites and blogs where you can submit articles as a guest.
It also helps you build a strong network of website owners and bloggers. Good content conveys relevance and increases the chances of recurring posts to high-authority pages.
The process is simple:
- Heal a list of websites that allow guest articles.
- Its content must be relevant and interconnected with the niches of these websites.
- These websites allow you to achieve your SEO goals in terms of metrics like referrer domains, readers, and traffic. Don’t go for mediocre places.
- Contact these sites and submit their content. Sooner or later, the presentations will follow.
You can use a few proven steps to find great websites that allow guest posts in your niche. You can use Google search. For example, if your niche is “obesity,” your search keywords might be:
- Obesity Guest Message
- Obesity contributes
- Submit an article on obesity
- Guest authors on obesity, etc.
Reverse image searches are also a great way to discover authorized guest blogs. I’m sure; You know the best bloggers and influencers in your niche. Find someone and Google them.
Let’s look for Patt Flynn for example:
As bloggers use the same profile picture and bio to standardize their online presence, you get results with articles they wrote on guest posting sites.
These searches take you to the main guest posting sites. You should use tools like Ahrefs to filter your search to domains with authority over 50.
Using digital PR broadcasts is also an excellent strategy. It helps you to get links and get an online reputation for your brand. Sites like HARO (Help a Reporter) will give you plenty of opportunities to find journalists and present their content to them. Many times you can add to requests by genuinely linking your content assets!
There are a few things to keep in mind when writing guest posts, too:
- Don’t be too promotional about your website
The ideal way is to have a short biography of the author and a couple of links in the introduction.
- If your post is accepted and published, share it with your existing social network. This draws traffic to the publishing website and increases its credibility. Increase your chances of approval in the future.
3). Find your Brand Mentions and Convert them into Backlinks
It is a relatively simple strategy that can produce excellent results. It is ideal for medium and high authority websites that generate mentions and are cited from time to time.
You can use simple tools like BrandMentions and even advanced tools like Ahrefs to thoroughly analyze every mention of your website or brand online.
They may appear in recommendations, reviews, and testimonials. Most of the time, they are not tied to your home domain.
You can use social listening tools to find such websites and contact them with a plan to fit that mention with a hyperlink for good reason. It works for 99% of mentions as there is no damage to the source site interconnect.
4). Follow the Trends: Go local!
In the simplest words, if someone shares something about you or your brand online, you will get a backlink. These actions happen every second. Why?
It’s because people online are talking about your niche and in some ways, your content is relevant to the topic of the conversation, alone or in a group. Therefore, your content gets involved and events happen like creating a backlink.
Now, people don’t talk about things that are history. They talk about what’s hot, what’s happening in their neighborhoods, what’s happening in their countries…
People talk about what’s happening. People talk about trends!
Therefore, if your content is not up to date, building white hat links will be difficult. So, use tools like Google Trends and Buzz Sumo to research trending topics in your niche and create content plans accordingly.
Broken links are also subject to trends. Most broken links come from pages that have trend niches . However, they have broken links since the linked page is out of date.
You should also continue to review your previous posts and update outdated ones. It is useful since new content generates more traffic. Also, there may be irrelevant content due to people not linking to these posts. After updates, greater relevance will lead to greater chances of white hat backlinks.
Local resources must be used critically for the construction of organic links.
46% of all Google searches are local. Business listings, therefore, can be highly productive backlinks for your website and your niche.
Include your business in local directories such as:
- Bing
- TripAdvisor
- Lonely planet
These directories help local users and tourists find the relevant places and information they are looking for in the area. It may appear in your search results as direct results or recommendations.
These techniques emphasize Link Building’s evolution from being a massive spam operation to a holistic process for brand exposure, credibility and recognition.
5). Create High-Quality Content that People Automatically want to Link
The most critical element of a great white hat backlinking strategy is stellar content. If an SEO specialist pays no attention to quality content, stay away from their address.
Relevant content and regular content will do wonders for your website, unlike any other organic or paid link building strategy.
Basics that You Must Keep in Mind:
- The content must be free of spelling and grammatical errors. If you’re not using Gramarly yet, get it now!
- The content must be based on values. It must provide unique value to readers and viewers. It must promote commitment and promote events such as actions, increasing healthy links.
- The content must be very attractive. It must include data that people can share. That’s why lists, case studies, and comparisons drive more traffic than standard posts.
Create rich media content. It should have elements that drive user action and improve retention. This way, they can re-link when they post something in their niche.
- Using embedded tables, comparisons, and videos increase the health of your content.
- Maintain a varied portfolio of content. Include blogs and mix them with videos, podcasts, interviews, and infographics. You can create numerous permutations and combinations.
Create Posts that have Higher Chances to Drive Shares:
For example, this Smart Insights post has over 100 statistics that can help digital marketers identify vital metrics. They will share it with content teams, SEO teams, and others. You will create a link cycle to this post.
Influencers in digital marketing and related sectors will also make use of this post to create articles and videos and are required to mention a link to it somewhere.
Google crawlers acknowledge such efforts and increase their SERPs. It leads to a high authority which means more white-hat links.
Keyword Research should sync with Audience Research:
Marketing specialists often do not give due weight to audience research, put too much on keyword research, produce volumes of content, and get no results. That will not work now.
Public research refines its scope of the content. Sort subsets of your target audience according to relevant filters, such as demographics, consumption, or whatever corresponds to your niche.
You can identify the type of information they are consuming. Now, you can use this data to create content that hits the spot. This will increase engagement and actions will lead to more links.
Content is king, regardless of how critical any element of SEO and digital marketing is perceived. Therefore, the ability to deliver engaging posts will keep your white hat bonding possibilities evergreen and growing.
SEO is dynamic. As algorithms are continually updated, some strategies that are powerful today may become obsolete tomorrow. Therefore, you should be aware of SEO trends.
When it comes to link building, marketers agree that it hit the economic peak in 2017 when it comes to algorithm changes. Therefore, the strategies in the meantime can be stably implemented. However, 35.65% of marketers confirm that link building is the most challenging part of their strategies.
Changes in Google’s opinion require your constant attention. You have to be on the move every second. It gains even more critical importance in the corporate markets since a fall in Google’s 2 ranges can mean losses of millions of dollars.
Therefore, the correct link building strategies are vital. Avoid black hat strategies and work in sync with Google updates. Use tools like Ahrefs, Buzz Sumo, and SEMrush to keep an eye on your competition. [Like me?] Don’t buy too many links. Remember, what matters is quality over quantity.
Develop strategies that take user experience into account and focus on building links that generate meaningful engagement for your users.
