To promote a site on any subject, you will need to do great work with external links. Or rather, with wisely increasing their number. The Ringostat platform team explains how to increase the number of backlinks for free.
When it comes to link building, the first thing that comes to everyone’s mind is buying links. But it’s not the only way to boost the link building strategy. Our team regularly uses other methods, including free ones. In this article, we will analyze different approaches to link building and give useful tips.
Publications in media with the corresponding theme
Buying a link in a large media might be quite expensive, but it is not necessary to pay for a backlink. Instead, you can just write really useful material that the editors will appreciate.
Think about areas where you have valuable expertise to share. For example, as a platform for call tracking, telephony, and end-to-end analytics, we can write articles for marketers, web analysts, and sales reps. A digital agency can share advice on paid advertising, SEO, website creation and promotion, etc.
Taking this into account, you should choose a media that may be interested in your experience and relevant to your products or services. If you're selling hunting gear but trying to get your article posted on a mom-to-mom portal, that backlink will be suspicious to Google.
In fact, it is quite difficult to get into the big media, but all editors love exclusive materials. Perhaps you have a unique experience that you can share? For example, recently, Ringostat articles were published by several Polish portals at once, where our executive director spoke about how the Ukrainian IT business lives and works during the war and how it helps Ukrainians and the army. This is a unique and fresh topic, so many people are interested in it.
All media love useful, practical advice, research and survey results, as well as analytical materials based on clear numbers and facts. But no one wants to publish a pitch for free. Therefore, if you want to mention your products or services, do it as natively as possible.
When writing an article, put a backlink into the first paragraph where you usually describe the author of the article. Or insert a link in the company name.
Or, you can insert a backlink into the body of the article. Let's say it's a word that describes your products and services. But in this case, there is a small chance that the editors will keep such a backlink.
If your article was already published somewhere else, quote your articles as an example when you write a letter to the editor. This will prove your expertise and increase the editor's opinion of your work. Also, in the email, briefly describe:
- what is the article about;
- to whom and how it will be useful;
- what experience do you have in the field for which the article is written — for example, when we write materials with tips for the sales department, we write that since 2013 we have been working with clients from 77 niches.
All these things increase the chances that your article will be published, and the editors will put a backlink to your company in it.
Publications on social networks and blogs
Some resources allow you to publish content on your own. First of all, these are social networks. Unfortunately, from such sites, you can only get a nofollow link. However, these links should not be underestimated: you should include not only dofollow but also nofollow links. This will attract targeted traffic to the site and increase the visibility of the company for branded queries in organic search results.
We advise you to take a closer look at LinkedIn, especially if you work in the B2B field. Although only a nofollow link can be placed on this site, well-organized posts rank well in organic search, so you have a high chance of promoting yourself or your product.
Example of a LinkedIn post with a link to a corporate blog
Dofollow links can be obtained from YouTube, so consider creating videos or adding comments on relevant videos by leaving a link to your site. Also, don't ignore Pinterest and Tumblr, two of the world's top visual content sharing platforms. But to do so, your product has to be presented visually. For example, it might be decoration products, cosmetics, paintings, pet products, etc.
Take a look at blogging platforms where articles can be self-published. For example, Blogger, which is a blogging service from Google, or a large independent service - Medium. But in the second case, the links will be with the rel="nofollow noopener" attribute. On blogging platforms, materials go through basic moderation, so you aren't able to publish pitches with a dozen backlinks. But the article does not have to be coordinated with the editors for a long time. Therefore, this is a great option to get a backlink from a trusted site.
An example of an article with a backlink on the Medium blogging platform
Exchange articles with partner blogs
Many companies, especially large or digital ones, have their own blogs. And this is another opportunity to get a backlink. How to do it:
- make a list of companies with which you have a common niche or target audience, but they are not your competitors;
- check if they have blogs;
- analyze whether they are updated regularly, how relevant their content is;
- view the traffic of selected sites — this can be done using the SimilarWeb service;
- select the most relevant blogs and invite companies to exchange publications — their content marketers will be able to write an article for you, and you for them.
As practice shows, such an offer is almost never refused. Especially if you have a blog that is regularly maintained and collects traffic. You can also agree on what will be the promotion of your article. For example, whether it will be included in the mailing list and social networks of the company.
Q&A Service
There are services in which anyone can ask questions and get answers from other users. This is also a good opportunity to get a backlink, although such a link will most likely have a “nofollow” attribute. But, as we wrote above, such links are also needed. Therefore, take a closer look at Yahoo Answers and especially Quora. The latter will be useful in the digital field, as it is more devoted to professional issues.
Look for the questions related to your work. For example, if a user asks how to find a marketing agency, then the digital contractor can leave a link to their website. And if you provide a service, look for questions about the tasks that it can solve. You can leave a link there as well, but don’t forget about creating a useful reply to the question.
Comments on the forums
Crowd marketing is also a type of link building. People often do it in secret, so readers are unaware that you represent a specific brand.
To engage in crowd marketing, it is enough to find relevant forums with topics that are most suitable for your company. Things to check first:
- what is the attendance of the forum;
- if comments and new topics appear there regularly;
- who chats on the forum: real users or bots and users who are only interested in link building.
Before starting the crowd marketing process, read the forums' rules. On some of them, it is generally impossible to leave links, and for this, you first need to earn some reputation. If you break the rules, you may first be temporarily banned, and if you try again, permanently.
Adding to thematic collections
Many portals publish thematic collections. For example, “Top 10 CRM”, “The most famous time trackers”, and “A selection of virtual PBXs for online stores”. Even if they don't mention you, it doesn't matter. Make a list of such publications by googling these queries and substituting a description of your product and, optionally, the name of a competitor. An example of such requests:
- rating;
- selection;
- top;
- review;
- N best…
An example of an article with an overview of various CRMs and backlinks to them
Find the contacts of the editors of the blogs where you discovered such collections. Then send them an email, saying that their article is very useful, but you can add important information to it. Then, write a text about your product or service, putting a backlink on yourself. To "warm up" the editors, you can promise to share this article on your social networks and mailing list.
Search for mentions without links
There are probably a lot of mentions of your company on the web that you don't know about. Let's say someone advised your company on a forum, discussed it with colleagues on social networks, and mentioned it in blog articles. Most likely, in such mentions, there are no links at all, or there are, but not the ones you need. And this is a great option to get another backlink.
How to do it:
- the easiest way is to google the name of your company or type it in social networks and see where the link to you is missing;
- you can also set up automatic tracking of mentions of your company: for example, Mention and Google Alerts.
If we talk about the future, then you can track not only the trigger for the publication of your company name but also the name of your product as a whole. When you receive a notification about such a mention, write to the blog author and offer to put a link to your company into this word. In return, again, you can offer to post the article on social networks or mailing lists.
Posting reviews on the websites of the services you use
All services try to place reviews on their website. And they usually do not miss the opportunity to place a new one. So think about what services or services you use and offer them reviews. For example:
- email services;
- CRM:
- SEO and PPC platforms;
- digital agencies from which you order services;
- integrators;
- aggregator portals;
- website developers, etc.
Write to such companies and offer to leave a review in exchange for a dofollow link to your company. An additional plus is that reviews are often posted not only on the main site but also on promotional landing pages. This will give you more link juice.
Participation in conferences and specialized events
This is not only a plus for your reputation and an opportunity to attract potential customers and partners. By participating in the conference, you have the right to ask for a backlink to your company. As a rule, after the end of the conference, the site is still available for some time, and you’ll continue to get the link juice. It is especially great when it comes to events that take place once a year. In this case, the link to your website remains on the site for a long time until the program of the new conference is developed.
An example of an event website with backlinks to speakers
To recap: what are the ways to get backlinks for free
- Publish in thematic media. In order for an editor to willingly take an article and link it to you, it must be truly expert and useful. Think about what expertise and unique experience you have to write such an article.
- Post to social media and blogging platforms. Yes, not all of them will be able to place “dofollow” links, but diluting the link profile is also useful. Moreover, additional mentions of your company will always be useful.
- Exchange articles with blogs of your partners. Select the sites of companies that have a common target audience with you. And offer them articles on topics that will be useful to their readers.
- Use the Q&A service. Look for questions that are relevant to your topic or related to a problem you can solve. And leave a helpful tip by linking to your site.
- Reply in the forums. It is not necessary to immediately introduce yourself as an employee of your company. Recommend a link to your site as an interested forum member who wants to help.
- Add to thematic collections. Look for articles about the top and popular services in your niche. And ask the portal editor to add a description of your company.
- Look for a mention of your company where there is no link. For example, comments on social networks, mentions in articles, etc. Ask for links to you or leave them under the comments.
- Offer to leave a review on the website of the service you use or the contractor you work with. In this case, you can ask to put a link to your company next to the quote.
- Participate in specialized events. In this case, the representative of the company will be listed on the conference website as a speaker. And in the signature, you can put a link to your company.
