Top 5 White Hat Link Building Tactics That Improve Your Website Authority
SEO is one of the first things that brands consider when they’re trying to build their online presence. After all, search engines are an information and traffic powerhouse that can generate thousands of visitors to your site.
If you rank on the first page of search engines, then you’re getting a free pass to invite tons of visitors to learn more about your brand. But, here’s the thing: it takes a lot of work.
SEO involves a lot of strategies, techniques, and tasks. One of them is learning how to maximize your opportunities for backlinks.
Backlinks are one of the most vital parts of SEO, as they reflect how reliable your content is. The more backlinks you get, the more comprehensive your content is.
And the best part? With every backlink, you get free promotion and traffic for your brand’s website.
Of course, you’re going to need to invest a large amount of time and effort into these strategies to create great results. But, before anything else, you’ll need to ensure that you’re using the right strategy.
White hat link building is the way to go, and if you’re not using this strategy, then you may be working towards an unsatisfying outcome that won’t meet your expectations.
This blog will discuss all the essential details of white hat link building and the top strategies that you can try to generate more authority for your brand.
What Is White Hat Link Building?
White hat link building involves generating backlinks and traffic to your site while complying with the search engine’s terms and guidelines. White hat link building strategies involve creating high-quality pieces of content and using natural means to promote or boost it to success.
For these strategies to succeed, you will need to build your own network, establish yourself as an authoritative source, and continue to produce relevant content for your site.
White hat link building is no easy job and it takes a lot of work. You may need to step out of your comfort zone, take a deep dive into your niche, and begin reaching out to other content creators to expand your network.
Despite the heavy workload, these strategies can ultimately deliver amazing results when done right. By deploying the right tactics, you will definitely get your effort’s worth in traffic, sales, and brand recognition.
White Hat Link Building vs Black Hat Link Building
Just because you’re using a link building tactic does not mean that your ranking will immediately shoot up to the first page of search engine results. In fact, some tactics may harm your brand instead. The key difference between black hat and white hat link building tactics is that black hat strategies aim to create shortcuts.
- White hat link building: White hat techniques involve organic tactics that are deployed step-by-step. You work naturally and carefully towards the goal, which reduces the likelihood of making mistakes and has a greater chance of better results in general.
- Black hat link building: Black hat tactics often go against search engine guidelines or deploy ineffective techniques that ultimately make your content less authoritative in the long run. One good example of this is keyword stuffing and irrelevant linking.
Remember this: no matter how many keywords and links you insert, your content will not be considered authoritative unless it contains substance.
5 White Hat Link Building Tactics You Need To Try Now
Now that you’ve got a pretty good idea of what white hat link building is and what it looks like, it’s time to try your hand at using it for your business.
We’ve compiled 5 proven and tested white hat link building tactics that can assist you in boosting your sales, traffic, and brand awareness.
1. Create Original and Useful Content
People turn to search engines to get answers to their queries. The best way to answer their questions is by creating a blog on your brand’s website.
By doing this, you are creating an opportunity to answer a user’s question and display your expertise on the topic. Choose topics that are related to your niche or market, so that visitors won’t have to look too far if they’re looking for services like yours.
Creating blogs also allows you to link to other related blogs on your site. Inbound links may not have the same impact as outbound links for search engines, but it still produces more traffic for your site while giving your readers what they need.
As for generating backlinks for your site, it’s a given that you will be able to receive more backlinks if you consistently produce original and reliable content.
This is where the research and large amount of work come in. There are many ways that you can utilize your platform with various types of informative content.
One good example is creating a blog about statistics and trends in your niche. This requires extensive research but, as a result, you will most likely receive a lot of backlinks in turn.
If you’re willing to go the extra mile, then you can conduct a survey or research of your own. This can guarantee that you will have original content that your readers won’t find anywhere else.
Aside from statistics, you can also create tutorials, lists, or other kinds of blog posts related to your niche. Just remember that the more unique and helpful your content is, the higher the chance that other pages will link back to your site.
2. Try Guest Blogging
If you’ve read other articles about white hat link building, then you probably already know about guest posting or guest blogging.
There’s a reason why this is mentioned in every article. It’s because it has been proven to be one of the most effective tactics in white hat link building.
If you’re not familiar with guest blogging, then you will essentially be providing content to be posted on another brand or person’s website. This allows you to appeal to visitors outside your platform and possibly reach a new demographic.
In terms of link building, you will be allowed to link and reference any related content on your own website, so you can still generate traffic to your platform while posting on a different site.
There’s a reason why this is mentioned in every article. It’s because it has been proven to be one of the most effective tactics in white hat link building.
Guest blogging is most effective when you reach out to reputable and known blog owners. You also need to make sure that you are reaching out to someone in a similar niche so that you can still reach your target audience.
Keep in mind that before you guest post on someone’s website, you need to take a few steps. Before anything else, ensure that the site you are contacting allows guest blogging.
Once you have confirmed, it’s time to reach out to the owner of the site. When approaching them, take on a friendly and polite approach.
Here are a few things that you need to consider when reaching out to them:
- Don’t get straight to the point right away. Greet them politely, compliment their content, and perhaps point out what you like about their site first.
- Once you bring up the topic, show them what you can bring to the table. Share your ideas, suggestions, and ways you think you can help them improve their site.
- Don’t take rejection personally. Instead, respond politely and continue to build a relationship with them if you can. They may be open to other opportunities in the future.
Once you find someone who wants to work with you, then you can begin writing your article. Make sure that you’re incorporating the references to your site naturally and thoroughly check for any mistakes.
3. Write About Experts
One way you can generate more traffic and backlinks to your website is by mentioning other creators in your content.
It’s truly a huge compliment when someone acknowledges your expertise or uses it as a reference for their own material. With that, most content creators are happy to hear that someone else is referencing their blogs.
This applies to more well-known and reputable content creators within your niche. You can create articles featuring them or their material.
For example:
- You can create a list of the best food bloggers in 2022.
- You can also create an entire blog inspired by a certain creator, mentioning that you got the idea from something that they published before.
Once you have created your material, it’s time to reach out to the experts you wrote about.
Start by sending them an email and telling them that you appreciate their content. You can tweak the concept of this message to fit your intended tone or voice but the main message should convey that you’ve featured them in one of your recent blogs.
Many content creators and experts choose to feature or link to blogs or content that mention them on their page, which is where most of the traffic comes from. If they do not do so, you can politely ask them if they would be willing to link back to you in one of their posts.
Don’t be discouraged if you don’t receive a reply right away. You can always try again after some time and follow up to check if they received your message.
Again, it’s best not to take it personally if they refuse. Continue building a relationship with them while looking for other experts who might be willing to work with you.
4. Comment on Blogs
Readers love hearing from other readers. After reading a good blog post, it’s always more enlightening to see what others have to say about it.
Commenting on blogs can help you build brand awareness and recognition for your site. As you leave comments, people will eventually begin recognizing you.
For this to be effective, you will need to place some indicator of your brand in your username or display name. Avoid using keywords because Google or site moderators tend to find it spammy or suspicious.
- Start by finding a nice blog related to your niche. You are free to share your thoughts about the topic, as it displays your expertise on it.
- Answering questions is also a good way to get people to recognize you more. If you answer questions and help others frequently, then people will get the sense that you truly know what you’re talking about.
- Another benefit to this is that it shows the owner of the site that you appreciate their content. This can help a lot when building a relationship with them and can eventually lead to you guest blogging on each other’s sites.
- You can reference and link to your own content in the comment. Just make sure that it actually adds substance to the message and doesn’t just blatantly advertise your business.
Lastly, always remember to respect other people’s opinions and treat them politely in the comment section.
5. Identify Unlinked Mentions
Make sure you are doing a deep dive into your searches to see if there is anyone that could be referencing your content without linking to it. This may be easier to find if your brand has a unique or creative name.
Some creators will credit you for the information they found but will forget to link to you. Unlinked mentions are a missed opportunity for your brand.
While it is nice that other people are acknowledging and appreciating your blogs, it doesn’t contribute anything to you unless users can directly access your site through an outbound link.
This can easily be resolved. Once you spot an unlinked mention, simply contact the author of the blog and politely ask if they can link to your referenced content.
Conclusion
White hat link building is an organic and efficient way to direct traffic towards your brand and content. While these tactics may take a lot of time and effort to complete, you will most likely end up with a well-deserved and positive outcome if they’re performed correctly.
Begin practicing these tactics and start developing your brand’s online presence and authority today.
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