If you’ve been trying to increase your site’s backlinks in the hope of improving your search engine ranking, you might be struggling to find new opportunities. Some SEO firms will try and convince you that you need to spend some money to get the ranking you desire – but that’s not always the case. In fact, there are some great ranking strategies and free sources of backlinks that could do the trick for you and your site. We’re going to look at a few of them.
While some backlinking services can be worthwhile, shop around. Cheap backlinking services like many of those found on sites such as Fiverr can actually do more harm than good to your site. Many of these use spammy techniques that could see your site penalized or even blacklisted from Google. We’re going to look at 10 free, organic backlinking strategies that you can do by yourself.
1. Testimonials
One great way to get on high-ranking authority sites is to write a testimonial for them or their product. Big companies love to share what people are saying about them (if it’s positive), and many of them will provide a backlink to your site on their testimonials page. Some might even include your link in other promotional material like emails – “Here’s what our newest client said about us!”.
When writing a great testimonial, your review should not only be positive – but should also provide practical information that addresses some of the concerns of potential customers.
2. Be patient
You might want to boost your ranking as quickly as possible – but rushing into things could be a big mistake. Be patient.
Sites that suddenly get 10,000 backlinks overnight look suspicious. While you might like the sound of those jobs on Fiverr that offer you thousands of backlinks for just $5 – they could destroy your sites ranking and see it de-listed from Google.
Try and follow a natural, organic backlinking strategy that builds quality backlinks over a period of weeks and months. Search engines want to see real sites that grow naturally and have a legitimate backlink profile.
3. Try and reclaim some links
If you’ve been doing business for a while, you might find there are some “unclaimed” links out there just waiting to be reclaimed. Do a search for your site or business name to find people who have talked about you without linking the text to your site. Send them a polite email thanking them for liking/talking about you – but asking if they can anchor what they wrote or add a link.
4. Submit your site to some .edu resources
You’re probably already aware of how great .edu sites are for backlinking (they pass on tons of link-juice). But did you know that getting a link on them might be easier than you think? Many educational sites will have resource pages that offer links to people providing relevant help in certain areas.
This method is only going to work if you really do offer something students or other educational institutions might need, but give it a go. Search for something like [site:.edu “keyword” + “resources”] and then send them an email showing you’ve got something they might be interested in.
5. Use website feedback sites
There are a number of website review/feedback sites that allow you to submit your site and have others comment and rate it. The great thing about these sites is that they provide free backlinks to your site as one of the foundations of their business model. You don’t have to jump through any hoops to get links on sites like this – simply submit your site. You might even get some residual traffic from reviewers and other users or such sites.
6. Submit your site to blog aggregators
Blog aggregators list blogs in different industries – and they obviously link out to all their listings. Again, getting a link on a blog aggregator is quick, simple and easy. Simply submit your site to as many of them as you can find. This might not be a particularly sophisticated backlinking method – but you’d be making a big mistake if you ignore the free link juice.
7. Syndicate your content
When you write a great post for your own blog, don’t just leave it there and wait – syndicate it! There are a number of syndication networks that’ll take good quality content that’s already been published and help you spread the word. Of course, all of these syndication sites provide a link to where the post was originally published.
8. Fill out your social media profiles
Make sure all your social media profiles have links to the site you’re trying to backlink for. If you don’t want to mix business with your personal life, set up new accounts for your business profiles. Don’t just use the social media sites that you’re comfortable with – put a link on ALL of them. Google+ actually provides free dofollow links to business sites, so make the most of it.
9. Have plenty of internal links
Most people think they’ve got to spend most of their backlinking efforts getting good quality external links. While this is important – don’t ignore internal links, These days, most search engine algorithms look for a high number of good quality, relevant internal links.
The best thing about internal links is they’re so easy to get. Make sure your blog posts and other pages link out to more of your content. Have footers on your site with more internal links. Use every opportunity you can find to link to other parts of your site.
10. Donate to charity
Many charity donation sites will provide links next to your public donation notification. While this one isn’t exactly free, you’ll be going something good in return for a link.
Hopefully, some of these backlinking techniques might be new to you. You don’t need to spend big to get great backlinks – just put the time and effort into growing your link profile naturally.
About the author
Peter Ellington enjoys writing about blogging and other SEO related issues. He also writes for a personal tuition site based in Singapore, https//smiletutor.sg/blog.
