I am also new to the world of link building and based on my research I have found some of the tried and tested stratgeies to improve a website’s ranking using site building, as mentioned below -
1. Co-authoring
Requesting to co-author content with other websites is a great way to increase backlinks.
This is a great win-win situation, where you’re building the links you need to increase your SEO and the admin of the site you’re writing for will have a well-written piece of content for their readers, with very little being exchanged to obtain it.
And, not only will you have the benefit of increased links to boost your SEO with other search engines, but it also helps in extending your reach to other audiences by putting your content and links in front of more eyeballs.
2. Checking competitor’s backlinks
Checking a competitor’s backlinks can turn out to be fruitful as you’ll find at least a few links that you aren’t targeting. If they were able to acquire these backlinks, there’s a good chance you’ll be able to compete with them for keyword dominance.
For doing this analysis, there are tools that are specifically made, where you can create a report to discover common backlinks, as well as learn more about the sources and techniques being used by your competitors to get those links. For ex – Ahrefs, SEMrush, Moz etc.
3. Help a reporter out (HARO)
This is something that I read about in another article. The HARO platform gives journalists a powerful database of sources to draw from. There are opportunities daily for sources to contribute and obtain media coverage.
Through the platform, you can work as a source to pitch story ideas to journalists and, in turn, get backlinks. The backlinks obtained through HARO are generally authoritative leaders in the industry.
It just requires to register yourself on the website to being receiving source requests.
4. Start a blog
Blogging is a great technique to use in your link building. If you don’t already have a blog included on your website, get started right away.
When you write about relevant information, you can be rewarded with backlinks for providing authoritative content.
You may also choose to write blogs about the latest trending topics in your field. If these are new topics, there won’t be much information available, so you can take advantage of the fact that you’ll be one of the few resources providing this information.
5. Treat your testimonials like backlinks
When you’re able to work in conjunction with others, you can create a win-win situation, where both of you contribute to your mutual benefit.
When you’re able to provide feedback and testimonials for other businesses, you’ll be able to create a backlink and possible traffic through that testimonial, as well as foster a sense of trust with your customers.
Backlinks through testimonials generally have a better response and approval rate than other types of links, because they’re coming from an honest review of a product or service that someone is interested in hearing about.
6. Choosing all time popular keywords and topics
If you’re trying to decide on which topics you’re going to write about, it’s a good idea to not just write about trending hot topics, but also include a good amount of evergreen topics and keywords.
These are the topics that will always generate interest and that people are always searching for information about, regardless of what the latest trends are.
Generating consistent traffic over a long period of time is one of the best ways to get ranked higher in Google.
When trying to create content from your evergreen topic, remember that it’s got to be both valuable to the reader and interesting.
7. Master the skyscraper technique
Coined by Brian Dean of Backlinko, this technique involves creating unbelievable content centering around one specific issue that people are facing in your field, then presenting viable solutions to that problem through the content you offer.
When you offer solutions that work and that people can actually accomplish, helping them solve the problem they’re facing, you can create a great deal of authority in the industry.
You can become the go-to source for this solution, generating a lot of backlinks based on the authoritative dominance you’ve demonstrated.
Bonus tip: Check Wikipedia’s dead links
Wikipedia is viewed as a highly trusted site by Google.
For this reason, using them as a source for link building is a great idea, and can be highly effective.
But, if you take a closer look, you may find that there are a number of dead or broken links within the pages of Wikipedia.
A free tool, such as Wikigrabber, will crawl through the pages you identify, helping to pick out the dead links so you can fix them. You can also use tools like this to search for keywords and add a citation on Wikipedia for the relevant pages.
(P.S. I am still working on experimenting and finding what methods work best. Will update with the results in a few weeks.)