We’re going to take a good look at how to get backlinks.
To begin with, we’ll take a look at whether you should buy backlinks. Or if you should actually build them yourself.
Later on, we will also cover a few methods that’ll teach you how to get backlinks from high-authority sites. Some of these methods you might already be familiar with, but others, such as method #3, might be new to you.
By the way, these backlink methods don’t really cost any money. And so if you’re interested in how to get backlinks for free, you should definitely check these methods out.
I’ve personally had a lot of success with these methods. And in some of the examples, I’ll go over actual case study results that highlight what I’ve been able to achieve for my clients and myself.
So, that includes actual link placements and even traffic improvements that occurred as a result of landing these links.
Method #1 –HARO Backlinks
The first method we’re going to focus on here is called “HARO link building.”
HARO stands for “help a reporter out,” and this is the name of a website that journalists use to find sources for their articles.
If you sign up for this website, you’ll receive “source requests” from journalists.
If you respond to these requests, the journalist might then use you as a source. And subsequently link to your website, in their article.
Using this link building method, I’ve managed to secure links on websites such as forbes.com
In fact, HARO link building was one of the things that allowed us to take this specific client from zero to around 145,000 visitors per month, in just six months!
If you’d like to learn more about how we did this, check out this page on my site SaaS SEO Case Study: ZERO to 110,000 with Link Building
Here’s another link I managed to secure for myself, using this method, on a website called cloudways.com.
This is a really high-authority site, and if I type their domain into the Ahrefs authority checker, you can see that they have a DR of 89. So getting a link from this site is definitely a good thing!
Success with this method generally comes down to being a really good source for the journalist.
For instance, when a journalist posts a source request on HARO, they will often ask a very specific question. If you’re interested, here’s an example of a source request:
When you see a source request that is relevant to you, you need to make sure you answer the question thoroughly, and before the deadline. You need to address every query within the actual question, and you might even want to add some additional context.
You also need to make sure you meet the requirements. As the journalist might not use you as a source if you don’t.
If you’d like to learn more about how you can get results with this method, check out this video.
In it, I go into more detail on how you can get results with HARO link-building.
Anyhow, if you’re gonna try this method out, you might also want to experiment with other platforms like Sourcebottle.
This is just another website that journalists can use to find sources, and so if you sign up for both HARO and Sourcebottle. You will have access to more source requests.
Method #2 – Create Skyscraper Content
The second method we’re going to look at is known as the Skyscraper content method.
I’ve had a ton of success with this method. And this approach actually helped one of our clients go from 850,000 to 1 million monthly visits in just two months!
This method is basically made up of the following steps –
#1. You pick a keyword you are interested in targeting
#2. You study the top-ranking content for this keyword
#3. You find out who is linking to this content
#4. You create something better than these existing forms of content
#5. You approach the people linking to your competitors and ask them to link to your content
If you need a simpler way of thinking about this, just consider that all you’re really doing here is reverse engineering your competitor’s backlinks.
Now, this method might sound like a lot of work. But in many ways, it’s this high amount of work that makes this method so effective.
After all, a lot of other people aren’t willing to go through all this effort. So this method isn’t really saturated or overdone.
Note that aside from the quality of your content, a lot of your success with this method comes down to how you go about cold emailing website owners. If you have a long-drawn-out email, website owners might not respond.
To get around this issue, I use the template shown here:
This template is nice and short. So if you just use this template, you should be able to get some great results with this method.
Now, of course, if you don’t like this template, or you think you have a better one. Let me know in the comments — I’d love to exchange notes with you!
Anyhow, it’s important to remember that some website owners might not respond the first time around. A lot of the time, this isn’t down to anything personal, as they just might’ve missed your email.
Because of this, you need to make sure you follow up around two to three times with everyone.
Another thing that’s worth noting here, is that you might be able to combine one of the main driving concepts behind the skyscraper method — which is essentially creating the best content on a given topic — with some of the other techniques we’re going to cover later on.
For instance, you can use the mentality behind the skyscraper content to get some great results with method #3 and method #4.
Method #3 – Resource Page Links
All over the internet, there are high-authority sites that have web pages known as ‘resource pages.’
These pages are essentially just a collection of important links that are relevant to the niche in question.
For instance, here’s a resource page dedicated to horses:
And here’s another one dedicated to people in the “marine industry.”
The idea with resource page link building is that you create a resource. A resource that is worthy of securing a link on one of these pages.
Of course, if you want to secure a link on a resource page, you first have to find one.
Fortunately, finding resource pages isn’t that hard. As you can just type your keyword into Google, alongside the word “resources” or “helpful links.”
Now, there are a couple of things you can do here to increase your odds of landing a link with this method.
For instance, one thing you might want to do is look for ‘broken links.’
Broken links are essentially old links that don’t actually go to a website/webpage that is still “live.”
Even if the link does go to a live website, the link might go to the wrong page, or the page might’ve been taken down.
If you find a link like this on a resource page, it is a big opportunity for you. That’s because you can just create a resource, based on the broken link.
You can then contact the website owner, and let them know about the broken link, while also letting them know about your resource.
In many cases, the website owner will be happy to use your resource, just so that they can quickly fix the broken link issue on their site.
You might also want to study the backlink profile of your competitors. If they have any ‘resource page’ links, you should identify the websites that are actually providing them with these links.
The fact that these sites are publishing resource page links for your competitors, means that they will likely publish a resource page link for you, as long as you provide them with a good enough resource.
Method #4 – Guest Blogging
Guest blogging is another method you can use to get backlinks.
The idea with guest blogging is that you simply approach websites in your niche, and ask them if you can write for them.
A lot of the time, you will need to pitch them a few ideas, and they will then just pick one of the ideas and ask you to write the post.
If the post is approved, you will then most likely end up with a link in the author’s bio section.
If you want to find guest posting opportunities, you can use Google to help you. All you need to do is type in a keyword related to your niche, alongside the phrase “write for us.”
Of course, “write for us” is just one of the phrases you could use alongside your keyword.
If you want to be really thorough, you might want to try other phrases as well, such as:
- “Guest post”
- “Contributing writer”
- “Submit a post”
- “contribute to our site”
Once you start finding guest posting opportunities, you might want to stick them in a spreadsheet, like this one:
Then, once you have this list, you can systematically work through all the opportunities and track your progress with each site.
Keep in mind that most of the websites that offer guest posting opportunities tend to get lots of guest post requests. Because of this, you really need to make sure you stand out when submitting a pitch.
One way you can do this is by simply providing them with an excellent guest post idea.
If you don’t know what to write about, think about what might be a hot topic in your industry at that moment in time.
If the website in question hasn’t covered this topic, they might be happy to have someone else write content on this topic for them.
However, you might also want to provide them with a rough outline that covers what you will talk about in this potential guest post.
If you do that, the person on the other end will have a rough sense of how your guest post will turn out, and so if your outline is good, they will likely have more confidence in you.
Conclusion
Hopefully, you should now have a decent sense of how you can get some backlinks to your site.
The methods we touched upon here are really just a handful of the ones that can work, but there are many more methods to choose from.
If you’d like to learn about some of these other methods, check out this other video I have on backlink methods
Either way, remember you can use these methods on your own, or you can hire someone else to help you with this kind of thing.
If you like the idea of hiring someone for this, consider reaching out to us at juliangoldie.com. We’ve produced a ton of results for our clients using the actual methods mentioned here, and there’s a good chance we can help you too.
- Thanks for watching, and if you have any thoughts/suggestions or questions
