Best and Worst Link Building Ideas in 2024

Link building is a controversial subject.

For some SEOs, it was never a concern. For others, it’s the answer to everything.

For me, the truth lies somewhere in between because I’ve seen firsthand the impact of both spammy and authoritative links.

For example, when I helped my real estate client land a placement in Housing Wire it got people talking. And it wasn’t just the employees who were talking, but branded search queries increased. The article was syndicated across multiple other platforms and then linked to from dozens of high-authority sites. Finally, we saw a slight bump in newsletter subscribers.

It’s not always easy to see the effect of a single link, though. I’ve built plenty of links throughout my career that seemed to have little or no impact. Not every link you earn is going to be a superstar, but as long as you follow some very simple rules, you can still make sure your business sees the benefit of your link-building program. Before we get into the good stuff, though, let’s cover what I mean by link building.

What is Link Building?

To understand link building you have to understand how Google works.

Google surfaces search results by constantly crawling the web. An automatic program moves from site to site using links to scan and archive pages across the internet.

Therefore links help Google organize the web, and serve as an important ranking factor. Each outbound link acts as a vote of confidence from a site, and if it’s on a website with great authority, it means a credibility boost, which translates to better rankings.

The actual importance of link building has come under fire recently, though. As Gary Ilyes (Google Search Expert) has made the claim that,

“[Google] needs very few links to rank pages… Over the years [Google] made links less important.”

This has led to a divide between SEOs who don’t trust Google and those who do. The recent Algorithm leak, which seems to confirm that high authority links still matter, has made this even more complicated. It’s important to consider both possibilities, but whether you believe either is true doesn’t change the value of links.

Evaluating Link Quality

Understanding the value of a link comes with experience, but it comes down to the link and the website where it’s placed. Many people use metrics like DR or DA, and while those can be helpful I don’t like to strictly consider one metric when making a decision.

Choosing the best sites to acquire backlinks requires considering a number of variables. Ultimately you’re deciding if a website’s audience aligns with your own and whether that audience is engaged enough to warrant a inbound link from a site. A few questions you can ask while examining a site include:

Does this site regularly publish content related to the niche of my business?
Who regularly reads the content on their site?
Is the design and layout of the site thought out?
What is the backlink profile of the site? Have they earned a number of quality links?
Is there a larger number of outbound links compared to inbound links?
Has the site put a lot of thought into their content?

All these questions together determine the value and relevance of a domain. Some other factors you might want to consider include:

How prominent is the keyword on the page? Is it buried beneath 40 other links? Or positioned more towards the top of the page?
Does the link incorporate exact match anchor text or is it more natural?
Is the link labeled as no-follow in the HTML?

All webpages on the internet are made of HTML and links use the <a> tag to label a link. For example an average code for a link looks like this.

<a href=”This the URL”>This is the Anchor Text</a>

You can also add further labels to the a tag, that gives Google more directions. For example:

<a href=”This the URL” rel=”no-follow”>This is the Anchor Text</a>

The no-follow attribute tells Google not to crawl this link any further, and the consequence is that it prevents the link from passing along any link equity. That’s why you typically don’t want to see that attribute added to your backlinks, although, sometimes it simply can’t be helped.

Effective Link-Building Strategies

Alright, so now that we’re on the same page about what a link is, let’s get to the good stuff. Link building is all about investment. You need to position yourself at the forefront of your field and begin cultivating relationships. In my opinion, that’s where most link-building campaigns get it wrong.

I understand the urge to measure yourself based on the number of emails sent, but when it comes down to it link-building is about the emails you DON’T send.

Because the emails you don’t send leave room for time to interact with the people who can provide real value for your business. Not just a link to help boost your organic traffic, but an opportunity to tap into an existing audience of potential new clients.

That’s why I think it’s important to consider link-building as synonymous with relationship-building. Once you take that approach, it becomes a real game changer. Let me illustrate an example.

How to Earn Expert Quotes

One of the goals of an Outreach Specialist is to place quotes from internal experts in industry publications and news outlets. So, it’s a subject I gained plenty of experience in while working for a Medicare brokerage.

One of the first campaigns I launched took a newsjacking approach. The news in this case was that the Medicare rules were changing in a specific state, and our organization wanted to see if we could convince journalists to cover the recent news and quote our internal experts. I initially started the campaign following a spray-and-pray approach, but it didn’t lead anywhere. This was the method I was taught as a link builder in my early career, but it didn’t seem to work as well anymore. So I took another look at the backlink profile and identified news outlets, which seemed familiar with MedicareFAQ because they had linked to us before.

Those became extremely valuable prospects for me, so I reached out on a one-off basis in the midst of the breaking news and asked them for their thoughts. The initial pitch wasn’t much of a pitch and more of an olive branch.

That’s how I earned our internal expert a placement in a well-known industry publication, and from there earned them placement in half a dozen more.

How to Get the Pitch Right

There are a variety of ways to get yourself quoted in online media, but they all start with a pitch. The only difference is how you’re submitting the pitch.

For example, there are services like connectively which provide a platform for journalists to issue questions. Then there are more manual methods, which require you to reach out to journalists directly with story ideas and resources.

Earning quotes not only helps to promote your business and earn a link, but it’s validates why people should trust your business. So, mainly it helps to think about your pitch from the journalist’s perspective.

Is the story idea newsworthy?
Does the story elicit some kind of emotion?
Does the story have a unique or novel angle?
Are you providing concrete examples?

Every pitch should be tailored to the outlet and the journalist.

How to Conduct Successful Digital PR Campaigns

The other method of earning link placements is Digital PR. This is the process of campaigning to promote a message online through news outlets.

You’ll start by typically putting together a list of journalists who influence your ideal audience. Then you’re going to reach out and pitch a story or some data that you have.

Digital PR can take many different forms, but in most cases, you’ll need something on your website worth linking to. Many times journalists will link to your homepage, which is great, but it also helps to encourage links across your site.

If they find the pitch compelling and it applies to their beat, they’ll use the information you’ve provided and source you or your organization in the story.

Digital PR is powerful, when done right, so it helps to follow these best practices.

Craft Compelling Content

Quality Over Quantity: Focus on creating high-quality, engaging, and relevant content that provides value.
Storytelling: Use storytelling techniques to make your content more relatable and shareable.

Build Strong Media Relationships

Media List: Compile a list of relevant journalists, bloggers, and influencers who cover your industry.
Personalized Outreach: Tailor your pitches to the interests and beats of the journalists you’re contacting. Personalization increases the likelihood of your story being picked up.

Pitch Op-Eds or Contributor Posts

Pitching op-eds and contributor posts effectively involves understanding both the publication and its audience. Start by researching the outlet’s editorial guidelines and recent content to ensure your topic is relevant and aligns with their style.

Develop good ideas by staying informed about current trends, leveraging your unique expertise, and identifying gaps in existing discussions. Craft a compelling pitch by clearly stating your thesis, its significance, and why you’re the right person to write it.

Personalize your pitch for each editor, demonstrating familiarity with their work and the publication’s tone. Follow up politely if you don’t receive a response, and be prepared to revise your piece based on editorial feedback.

Find Unlinked Mentions

Acquiring unlinked mentions involves identifying instances where your brand, product, or service is mentioned online without a corresponding link back to your website.

To find these unlinked mentions, use tools like Google Alerts, which notify you of new mentions of your chosen keywords. Additionally, tools like Ahrefs and Mention can help you track mentions across various platforms and websites.

Once you identify an unlinked mention, reach out to the site owner or author with a polite request to add a hyperlink. Highlight the benefits of linking, such as providing their readers with direct access to valuable resources, and ensure your approach is courteous and respectful to increase the likelihood of a positive response.

Buying Links

Paid link insertion or sponsored placements still hold some value despite Google’s guidelines. Options worth considering include paid listings, such as Forbes Councils or Entrepreneur contributor opportunities, and sponsoring or getting featured in authoritative industry publications.

However, buying links blindly from low-quality sites, private blog networks, or sketchy directories is ineffective and can potentially result in a Google penalty.

How to Ensure Content is Linkable

The importance of quality content can not be stressed enough. It’s the lynchpin of any link-building campaign, and if you plan on building links the right way, you can’t skip this step. In general, when I’m reviewing content I ask myself the following questions.

Comprehensiveness – leave no stone unturned with deep, extensive coverage
Use of research, data, quotes from primary sources
Combining information from various expert sources into one definitive guide
Visual appeal and formatting for easy consumption and scanning

Google has it’s own guidelines when evaluating content, and they’re definitely worth taking a look at. https://developers.google.com/search/docs/fundamentals/creating-helpful-content

Outdated Tactics

To avoid issues with your website, certain link building strategies are now obsolete or will produce negligible results:

Resource link building – there are limited numbers of quality resource pages that will add links without strict vetting.
Broken link building – pursuing these opportunities is tedious with low payoff.
Low-cost guest posting on blogs without topical relevance or authority.

Looking back at the early days of my failed link building attempts, I cringe at some of the tactics I tried. At best, those were wasted efforts. At worst, I may have risked a penalty by acquiring links from shady sources.

Cleaning up a backlink profile is a long and arduous process. It’s better to simply start off on the right foot with a white hat link building approach focused on quality over quantity.

Link Building in 2024

Nowadays links have decreased somewhat in ranking influence, websites can rank without an extensive link building efforts – but only for non-competitive terms.

Instead of trying to take a shortcut, I recommend focusing on quality as you develop your link building strategy. Remember that quality matters above all else. Building relationships and producing exceptional, citation-worthy content will be more effective than any black hat tactics or link-buying schemes. Google grows more sophisticated each year at identifying the true value and credibility drivers behind backlinks.

Creating linkable assets and developing connections with influencers and trusted publications takes consistent focused effort. But in the long run, it will yield compounding returns in the form of increased brand authority, industry credibility, audience growth, and revenue gains. Take an honest look at your current link profile and get started building links the right way in 2024.