From increasing chances of getting cited in publications to nurturing connections with existing clients, here are 15 answers to the question, “When thinking about a link-building strategy in 2023, what is working or what is not working?”
DEEPER DIVE: Forecasting 2023 PR and marketing trends
- Using Platforms Like Terkel and Haro
- Focusing on Local SEO
- Creating Helpful Industry Reports
- Finding Micro-Influencers With Highly Engaged Audiences
- Generating Linkable Assets
- Accelerating Your SEO Rankings With Quality Links
- Avoiding Irrelevant Website Links While Identifying Your Audience
- Including Link Reclamation in Your Toolbox
- Relying on Low-Quality, Spammy Links Does Not Work
- Practicing Internal Link Building
- Putting Together High-Quality Content
- Buying PBNs for Link Building is Ineffective
- Providing Quality and Relevant Backlinks
- Building Relationships With Journalists and Site Owners
- Trying Relationship-Based Link-Building
Using Platforms Like Terkel and Haro
Terkel and HARO allow us to find relevant news topics for our clients that we can use as opportunities instead of just searching for journalists or bloggers interested in our client stories.
It allows us to respond to queries quickly and efficiently, which increases our chances of getting cited by journalists and bloggers in publications with high DA. Using a scattergun approach to link building doesn’t work. Getting links is hard, so we make sure it is worth the effort.
Marco Genaro Palma, SEO Manager, PRLab
Focusing on Local SEO
From what I’ve seen, local SEO is a vital part of link-building strategies for businesses that target local audiences. Local SEO entails improving your website and content to rank for local keywords and attract backlinks from local businesses and organizations.
You must produce local content that is pertinent to your target demographic and locality if you want to focus on local SEO for backlinks. Making guides, reviewing local companies, and writing about local events are all examples of this.
Attending community events, providing financial support to nonprofits in your area, and working together on joint initiatives are all great ways to network with nearby businesses and organizations. By establishing these connections, you can increase your website’s local search rankings and visibility by gaining high-quality backlinks.
Max Whiteside, SEO and Content Lead, Breaking Muscle
Creating Helpful Industry Reports
A great link-building strategy that still works really well is creating cool industry reports and distributing press releases/articles about it to media, blogs, and companies in your industry. If there’s something that your company has unique knowledge of or unique data they can source that others don’t have access to, but readers may find interesting—that’s your link goldmine.
Aleksandra Jovicic, Freelance SEO Specialist, Aleksandra Beka.com
Finding Micro-Influencers With Highly Engaged Audiences
In 2023, influencer marketing remains a powerful link-building strategy. However, avoid partnering with high-profile celebrities or macro-influencers. Instead, companies should build relationships with micro-influencers with smaller but highly engaged audiences.
Micro-influencers (followings ranging from 1,000 to 100,000) have a more niche audience and highly engaged followers, making them more likely to convert into customers. Partnering with them can be a cost-effective way to build high-quality backlinks to your website, as these influencers are more likely to link back to your site in their content.
Businesses should identify and build a relationship with micro-influencers in their niche. This can involve reaching out via social media, attending events, or even offering to collaborate on content. Creating valuable and engaging content that resonates with their audience is essential when working with micro-influencers.
Shane McEvoy, MD, Flycast Media
Generating Linkable Assets
Linkable assets are pieces of content that should attract backlinks. You can use anything from infographics and interactive tools to research reports as linkable items. You may attract backlinks by producing content that is valuable to your target audience and discussing relevant themes.
It is possible to gain valuable insights into your field by developing interactive tools, data visualizations, and research papers. When you have something that other sites might find useful, you can advertise it and ask for a backlink. You may increase the authority and exposure of your website by using this strategy to generate high-quality backlinks.
Matt Magnante, Director of Content and SEO, Fitness Volt
Accelerating Your SEO Rankings With Quality Links
Guest blogging involves having an expert or influencer write for your website on a specific topic, which can help boost your visibility on Google and attract more readers. This link-building strategy also has the advantage of introducing new topics and perspectives to your blog.
One thing that needs to be fixed is relying solely on low-quality links from directories and article submission sites. Search engines are getting increasingly more sophisticated in detecting quality signals regarding backlinks, so these links won’t have much weight anymore in terms of a ranking factor by 2023.
Instead, focus on building relationships with high-authority websites and try to gain links from them naturally through helpful content or collaborations. This will show Google that other experts vouch for your website’s credibility.
Jamie Irwin, Marketing Executive, Service Club Delivery
Avoiding Irrelevant Website Links While Identifying Your Audience
If your links come from irrelevant websites, that is one aspect of your link-building plan that will not work on your strategy in 2023. Relevance is crucial for any link-building strategy, just like it is for content.
Authority and link significance are both crucial factors; these are both important link-related ranking criteria. Google is intelligent enough to lower the worth of a link if it believes it to be irrelevant.
Identifying your target audience is a crucial step in developing a link strategy in 2023. Based on their traits, actions, and preferences, keep tabs on the interests of your target audience, the type of material they are interested in, and how they can find you.
Daniel Foley Carter, Founder, Daniel Foley SEO
Including Link Reclamation in Your Toolbox
While it may not be as popular as some other link-building strategies, reclaiming lost links has helped our SEO. There are two ways to go about it. If you find a website that had previously linked to your site, but the backlink is now gone, reach out. It never hurts to ask to see if you can reclaim that coverage.
Another tactic you can employ is to find organic mentions that don’t include a link. Reach out to those journalists and see if they’ll link back to your site. Don’t be afraid to ask for proper credit. Link reclamation is a great tool to have in your link-building toolbox.
Andrew Meyer, CEO, Arbor
Relying on Low-Quality, Spammy Links Does Not Work
In 2023, one thing that is not working well in terms of link-building strategies is relying on low-quality, spammy links to boost search engine rankings. In the past, some marketers used techniques such as buying links, taking part in link farms, and using automated link-building tools to create large volumes of links quickly.
However, search engines have become increasingly sophisticated in identifying and penalizing websites that use these types of tactics to manipulate search engine rankings. In recent years, search engines have focused on quality over quantity for link building.
Instead, a successful link-building strategy in 2023 should focus on acquiring high-quality, relevant links from authoritative sources. You can do this through techniques such as creating high-quality content, reaching out to industry influencers and bloggers, and engaging in social media marketing.
Harsh Verma, SEO Head, Codedesign
Practicing Internal Link Building
When talking about link-building, marketers mostly prioritize external link-building strategies. However, internal link-building is one of the most effective ways to show the search engines which content needs to be pushed to the top.
One way of increasing internal links is to use a silo structure for your content. This ensures that the branched-out contents always point to the key topic. It helps to push your content higher in the SERP without using shady tactics.
Byron Redhead, Director and Co-founder, First Page
Putting Together High-Quality Content
Content has always been king, and that continues today. It’s so important to put together high-quality content that is unique, personable, and detailed enough to teach a reader something new. Short, bland pieces just won’t get meaningful results in your efforts to build links (not to mention win over a reader or convert on a lead).
By introducing AI-generated content, writers have an even bigger opportunity to write engaging content that has personality, is unique, and reads like an excellent piece of content. This is how you can move things forward in your link-building strategies in 2023.
Joe Davies, Co-founder, FATJOE
Buying PBNs for Link Building is Ineffective
One thing that isn’t working in 2023 for a link-building strategy is buying PBNs (Private Blog Networks). Search engines have become more sophisticated in detecting PBNs and are penalizing websites that use them.
Instead, a winning link-building strategy should focus on building high-quality backlinks from authoritative websites through guest blogging, broken link building, and other outreach tactics. Tools like Ahrefs and SEMrush can help identify opportunities for backlink building and track the success of the strategy.
Ben Lau, Founder, Featured SEO Company
Providing Quality and Relevant Backlinks
Focusing on creating quality and relevant backlinks rather than quantity is one element of the link-building approach that is currently effective in 2021. Google’s algorithm has advanced, and it can now detect link spam and poor-quality links.
It’s critical to focus emphasis on producing good content for your target audience because this will inevitably draw backlinks from trustworthy sources. Using guest blogging to generate backlinks on relevant and authoritative websites is an additional powerful strategy.
Using antiquated strategies like buying links or private blog networks is one thing that does not work. These actions could lead to penalties or even the de-indexing of your website because they violate Google’s policies. My recommendation is to keep abreast of the most recent link-building developments and focus on establishing lasting connections with trustworthy websites in your sector.
Jeff Romero, Founder, Jeff Romero SEO Consulting
Building Relationships With Journalists and Site Owners
Link building as a process has changed little since it became an SEO tactic. It’s broken down into outreach, buying, or earning links from websites. The days of high-volume, spammy links as a tactic are thankfully gone; however, many so-called “gray hat” methods, such as guest posting, still work very well.
In order to earn links from high-authority and reputable sites, which also have the potential of driving traffic to your website and socials, building relationships with people who work with or own those sites can be a key differentiator.
If you can consistently contribute quality content and answers to niche topics, eventually journalists and websites will start coming to you for answers. This alone might set you apart from the competition in link building.
The general premise here is to be valuable, produce linkable assets, and be available. Links from these prospects can come from podcasts and interviews, so don’t be afraid to go the extra mile.
Ben Poulton, SEO Consultant and Founder, Intellar
Trying Relationship-Based Link-Building
Often, companies spend thousands on backlink acquisition services, overlooking the potential of leveraging existing relationships with partners, vendors, and customers.
By nurturing these connections and collaborating on content or promotions, you can gain valuable backlinks organically, strengthening your SEO efforts without breaking the bank. Share your advice to help others craft a winning strategy.
Max Desiak, Co-founder and Marketing Strategist, Spreadsheet Daddy
