How to Get High Quality Backlinks (Fresh Tactics)

Have you tried popular link building tactics like guest posting, HARO, skyscraping, and broken link-building to earn high-quality backlinks?

If your experience is like mine, then you learned it's not easy as popular Youtube videos or articles make it sound. 

Bloggers have learned to ignore these popular methods of link building so you need to stand out in their inbox to actually get a response.

In this guide, I will share with you some new spins on popular link building strategies that you can use to get better response rates for your high-quality backlink outreach.

Key Points

• If you want to do SEO for your website and get relevant organic traffic, building high quality backlinks is something you should be doing.
• Reverse Outreach, guest posting, HARO, skyscraper, and link insertions are some of the most effective strategies for acquiring high-quality backlinks.
• Use tools such as Ahrefs, hunter, and BuzzSumo to find link-building opportunities.

Reverse Outreach Link Building Strategy

Reverse Outreach flips the script on outreach-based link building. Instead of reaching out to bloggers and journalists, you have them come to you.

Specifically, you target keywords that bloggers and journalists search for. And create content that they want to link to.

This tactic's sole objective is to acquire backlinks from reputable websites, regardless of audience size or traffic result. 

Here is a step-by-step process of how reverse Outreach works:

Step 1: Look for keywords and data

The first step is to look for the keywords that journalists want or the data they need to employ for their research or article writing. Getting the right keywords is essential to this strategy.

You can use a variety of keyword research tools, such as Google AdWords Keyword Planner, to find the right keywords.

You can search for those keywords by the following approaches:

• People Also Ask Boxes – These boxes, which often include questions that bloggers or journalists are looking for answers to, are a source of data for you. They appear when you search a subject related to your expertise, and you may broaden it to uncover more questions. If you are unfortunate, try using a different keyword until you discover one that best suits your search objectives.
• Reverse Engineering - Analytical tools can help you find competitor websites that have a lot of backlinks and find the keywords they rank for. Best of all, you can discover the sites that give them links and try to get a link from those websites too.
• Google Search - You should also search the internet for your target keywords and see what questions people are asking related to these keywords. You can use the following search operators to get more specific results: allintitle, allows you to find all websites that have a certain keyword in their title; intitle, allows you to see all websites that have a certain keyword in their title and inurl, allows you to find all websites that have a specific keyword in their URL.
• Target Trending Topics - Utilize trending topics by offering insightful information or facts before they fade and become irrelevant. Additionally, you may use keywords outside of or closely linked to your field to discover trendy topics that will attract backlinks.

Step 2: Create subheadings and subtopics

By supplying subheadings with important subtopics, compile a list of the sorts of facts that a journalist or blogger requires in your article's outline. Essentially, you are creating an article outline that anticipates their needs.

Your aim is not to write the whole article but to outline what it will look like and the type of information it will include.

Step 3: Gather information for the statistics page

Gather all the information you want for your statistics page related to your selected topic from one of the following websites:

• Statista
• Work for Us pages
• S-1 Filings
• Google News

Here's why: These websites allow you to access reliable and updated data that can be used to produce graphs, charts, and tables.

Google also likes this type of content, which can help you rank higher in SERPs.

Step 4: Organize and optimize your statistic page

Organizing and optimizing your stat page is necessary for acquiring backlinks. You can optimize your page by using the following techniques:

• Snippet Bait - By giving brief, to-the-point responses to questions on a subheading you optimized around a journalist keyword, this technique aims to bait visitors by appearing as snippets in search engine results to gain backlinks. Hence, its name.
• Add imagery and graphs - Bloggers and well-known publications may use the picture you gave as a source by adding graphics and charts to your website, which provides you with more credibility and allows bloggers and publications to cite your image as a source. Thus, your page receives more backlinks.
• Include necessary tables - To make data easy to grasp, rank as a featured snippet, and gain more backlinks, use tables to compare positive and negative growth or ranking in relation to the data.
• Provide "Crunchy" Stats - These facts are simple to comprehend at a glance and simple to reference, which generates more backlinks than any other technique. Examples include Business size, company earnings, the amount of persons doing an action (eating keto, meditating, etc.), time invested in X, and % increase over time.

Step 5: Gain additional backlinks through resource page creation

A resource page is a compilation of all the best resources on a certain topic. Creating one and including your statistic page increases the chances of receiving backlinks from high-authority websites.

To create an effective resource page, follow these steps:

• Identify competitor resource pages - To know what a good resource page looks like, find and study the resource pages of your competitors.
• Choose a catchy title - The title of your resource page should be attention-grabbing and relevant to the topic.
• Include an introductory sentence - Introduce your readers to what they can expect to find on your resource page.
• Organize your resources - List your resources in an easily digestible format, such as bullet points.
• Include a call-to-action - Include a call-to-action (CTA) at the end of your resource page, telling readers what to do next. This could be signing up for your newsletter, following you on social media, or visiting your website.

Reverse Outreach for backlinks is a top strategy that will deliver fruitful outcomes.

It is unquestionably a link-building approach that stands out and enables you to develop a strong structure using a variety of methods that are likely to have a significant influence.

Offer to Update Old Content

Offering bloggers to update their old content for free is one of the most effective and underutilized link-building strategies. The blogger is able to breathe new life into their old blog posts and web pages and you are able to include your backlink within the article.

Neglected content tends to rank lower; therefore, updating older content often is crucial to maintaining position. This simple truth is an easy foot in the door for getting high quality backlinks.

Here is how it is done:

Use Ahrefs' Site Explorer to research your potential customer.

Click on "Top Pages", update the filters to view Traffic decline only, set the page to compare to 6 months ago, and sort by most traffic lost.

Click each article and verify the page's publication date. If it was written years ago, ask the owner if you can update this page for them.

If they say yes, update at least 50% of the content to make it more current and include your link.

Note: The concept behind this is that while these pages are not the best-performing ones on the website, their site owners are much more willing to update the material in the hopes of seeing improved outcomes. Hence, you have a higher chance of getting your link included.

To save time on outreach, build an email template that takes into account the following factors:

• Jump right into your pitch, and in the email signature, include links to your website and social media accounts so they can learn more about you.
• In order to ensure them that you will be following the greatest SEO tactics to aid them in regaining their rankings, include resources and tools to mention. You may get assistance with this from tools like Frase, Surfer SEO, and others. Additionally, if you use a different system to rate blog entries, include stating it.
• By pointing to earlier entries, you may show website owners the type of content you are capable of producing for them. It is one thing to declare that you can improve their content; it is quite another to actually demonstrate your abilities.

You may use the following email template as a guide:

Hello,

Reviewing your blog/website, I noticed that some of your articles are outdated. In today's fast-paced world, it's important to keep your content fresh so you can maintain your website's ranking and stay ahead of the competition.

I would be happy to update your old articles for you. As a professional writer, I have the skills and knowledge to produce high-quality, engaging content that resonates with your audience.

Here are some examples of my work:

link 1

link 2

link 3

If you're interested, I would be happy to update a few of your older articles. In return, I’ll simply include a relevant link to one of my articles within.

Thank you for your time and I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Sincerely,

Your name

email

phone number

…

This is a win-win situation because not only will the website owner get fresh, high-quality content, but you will also get a link back to your site.

There you have it! This is a tried and true method for getting links from high-authority websites. But remember, don't spam or be too salesy in your approach. Be genuine, helpful, and most importantly, add value.

Enhanced Link Building with HARO

Simply put, HARO (Help a Reporter Out) is a platform where reporters and journalists post queries related to their stories, and anyone can reply to them.

What does this mean for you? If you can provide helpful insights or perspectives related to the query, there's a chance your response will be used by the reporter, and you will be given credit for it. In other words, you get a link back to your website!

To get started with HARO link building, create an account and subscribe to relevant queries. Once you're subscribed, you can create a three-way link exchange by doing the following steps:

• Search for two websites in the same niche.
• Think of something a journalist would search for by using the HARO's submit query page.
• If you are affiliated with a site that targets a specific promotion, create an article regarding that promotion and provide the best options or resources available for their target topic. You can find these options by using HARO, that provides you expert quotes, which you will need in your article.
• When someone gives you a quotation, reply that you already have enough quotes for your post, but that you can add more if they link you from their website.

One good thing about this strategy is that if your HARO account is configured correctly, you will not need to put in a lot of effort.

Not every pitch will be successful, but if you pick your replies well, it may be a terrific approach to gaining authoritative connections.

In my own experience, I've been able to get links from popular publications, like Forbes, HuffPost, and Entrepreneur, just by using HARO.

Link Insertions

Simply put, a link insertion is the practice of adding your website's relevant link to the existing content of another website.

By doing this, you're hoping that the backlink from the link insertion will have a positive impact on your backlink profile and boost your Google SERP rankings.

Link insertion can be a very effective way to generate traffic to your site, but it can also be a very risky proposition.

If you're not careful, you could end up getting links from low quality sites which would have a negative impact on your SEO performance.

That's why it's important to understand the ins and outs of link insertion before you start doing it.

There are different outreach strategies for link insertions.

The most common is to find relevant websites and then contact the website owner or webmaster directly.

This can be done by sending automated emails, filling out a contact form, or even leaving a comment on the site itself.

Link insertion strategy is an all encompassing term that can include popular tactics like broken link building, skyscraper technique, and updating old content. It can also be as simple as offering to pay for a link although the chances of that link being low quality are higher.

Broken Link Building

Broken link building involves finding "broken links" on websites and then reaching out to the webmasters of those sites to offer a replacement link.

This has been a staple for link building outreach for over a decade now and continues to be deployed although not as frequently as before.

The successful rates from broken link outreach are notoriously low because bloggers can’t be bothered to update old links or are tired of link outreach emails.

One way to improve your success rates is targeting recently published articles with broken links.

Try the following to identify broken links opportunities in recent articles with Ahrefs.

Find authoritative websites in your niche with lots of backlinks and see what URLs they link to that no longer exist.

I'll do Neil Patel for an example.

Click on "Broken Links" and you'll see a list of articles that are no longer active.

Another way to approach this is to check a website with Ahrefs to see which articles no longer exist on their blog.

Sticking with the Neil Patel example, go to the Top Pages report in Ahrefs and filter by pages that are 404 and limit the results to Dofollow links only.

Next, click on each relevant 404 article in Ahrefs Site Explorer, go to Backlinks and sort by First Seen.

You've now got a list of fresh articles that are for some reason linking to dead content.

The fact that you are assisting a site owner while also gaining a link pointing to your website or a client's website makes this tactic a potent weapon in your link-building strategies.

Unlinked Brand Mention

An unlinked brand mention is when someone mentions your brand or website without linking to it.

This can happen for a number of reasons. Maybe they were unaware of your website, or maybe they just didn't think to link to it.

In any case, this presents an opportunity for you to reach out and request a link. In case you might be asking yourself, "Why would they link to me if they didn't do it the first time?" consider that your email or contact form submission is a reminder that you exist.

Moreover, people are more likely to help you if you make it easy for them by providing a link to your website or the specific page where they can link to you.

To successfully take advantage of this strategy, keep the following steps in mind:

• Compile a list of unlinked brand mentions of other websites you wish to receive links from and use it to assist them in organizing their brand mentions in exchange for another favor.
• In creating a list of unlinked brand mentions, use this procedure: Visit the Ahrefs Content Explorer page, enter the brand name alone plus excluding the URL., and highlight domains that are not affiliated; you will see a list of websites that mention the one you looked for, but do not provide a link to it.
• After compiling the list and emailing it to your target site, you can request a link exchange.

Linking brand mentions is often considered an excellent strategy to utilize currently available backlink opportunities.

These are pre-made possibilities since they have already mentioned your brand or content; all that is needed is a direct link to your website. The likelihood of success is not assured, but it is worth the try.

Link Building Outreach

Link-building Outreach is a process where you contact other website owners or content creators in an attempt to get links from them.

The first step is to create a piece of content that would be of interest to the people you want to contact. This could be an article, infographic, or even just a list of resources.

Once you have your content, the next step is to find the people who would be interested in it. This can be done with a simple Google search or a tool like BuzzSumo.

Once you have a list of potential contacts, the next step is to reach out to them and let them know about your content. 

You can do this by sending them an email, tweeting them, or even just leaving a comment on one of their blog posts.

The final step is to follow up with them. If they don't respond to your initial contact, you can try again a week or two later.

The primary objectives of this strategy are to:

• Increase brand recognition
• Expand target market
• Boost search engine rankings
• Obtain both organic and referred traffic
• Greater profit

Here is the step-by-step process of link building outreach in acquiring high-quality backlinks:

Step 1: Structuring outreach framework of link building

A link-building outreach framework, known as Value First Outreach (VFO) Approach.

It begins with a single guest post and turns it into additional link opportunities to eventually acquire enough high-quality links from reputable websites in your industry to raise your rankings without worrying about penalties.

Step 2: Create linkable content

When attempting to gain links through Outreach, it is important to ensure that your website is link-worthy and has at least five excellent blog posts that link back to it.

This will help you develop links to your website successfully.

Step 3: Search your prospects and build an outreach list

Using Google Search or data tools like Ahrefs may assist you with your aim of focusing exclusively on high-quality sites within your niche that reject paid guest posts and provide excellent content.

If at all feasible, email the exact person in charge of SEO or guest posting. Your chances of having your link published on a top-notch blog will rise as a result of doing this.

Step 4: Get a single guest post opportunity

One of the best tactics to accomplish this is getting one guest post. But, it is crucial that the blog you are writing for permits you to incorporate a few do-follow links within your article.

You may use this by developing a template for guest posts and customizing each email by writing a strong draft before contacting a website.

Step 5: Find link partners for your guest post

Utilizing the list of blogs you compiled during the first prospecting, get in touch with additional bloggers in your niche and offer to link to them in your upcoming guest post.

Here are a few reminders to be aware of when requesting links from bloggers:

• Maintaining proper behavior
• Select a highly relevant page
• Focus on recent posts
• Choose blog posts with high page authority
• Target pages with high rankings

Step 6: Send a guest post proposal to the link partners

The ideal time to offer them a guest post is after your first guest post has been published. Your link partners have received a link from you since they will have seen the caliber of your content and have generally had a good experience.

Although it may result in a rise in workload, this can be challenging to handle. However, you can manage it better by hiring assistance for tasks like outreach management, prospecting, and writing and maintaining organization in spreadsheets.

Even the most experienced SEO specialists may find this strategy time-consuming because it relies on personal Outreach and relationship-building tactics like personally contacting website owners, marketers, web admins, bloggers, and social media influencers in an effort to gain backlinks or brand mentions for your website.

When done right, it is greatly successful and effective in acquiring high-quality backlinks and in increasing traffic to your Site.

Digital PR

This is the process of using online channels to promote and grow your brand, increase visibility, and generate leads.

It combines SEO, content marketing, and public relations, focusing on building relationships with influencers and thought leaders in your industry.

Digital PR can be used to achieve a variety of goals for your business, including:

• Generating media coverage and backlinks to improve SEO
• Building relationships with influencers and thought leaders
• Increasing brand awareness and visibility
• Generating leads and sales

There are a variety of digital PR tactics you can use to achieve your goals. Some common tactics include:

• Creating compelling content: This could be anything from infographics and blog posts to ebooks and white papers. The goal is to create interesting and valuable content to get people talking about your brand.
• Reaching out to influencers: Once you've created content, the next step is to reach out to influencers in your industry and ask them to share it with their audience. This can be done through social media, email, or even face-to-face interactions at events.
• Pitching to the media: If you want to generate press coverage for your brand, you'll need to pitch your story to the media. This can be done by sending out press releases or pitching directly to journalists.

This tactic intends to produce something that writers will utilize and link to in their content.

To do this, it is critical to incorporate the appropriate data from tools and create a post that would serve as a valuable resource applicable to numerous sectors.

This strategy's effectiveness comes from its connections to other editors and journalists, where you connect with them through networking to get backlinks from valuable sources of information.

To increase viewership, PR professionals might utilize the same methods to publish blogs on other networks or issue press releases. Thus, it increases traffic and top-grade backlinks.

Skyscraper Technique

The skyscraper technique is a link-building strategy that involves finding content in your industry that's already popular and creating something even better.

The goal is to create the best possible piece of content on a specific topic so that people will naturally want to link to it.

To do this, you first need to find existing content that's doing well. You can do this by searching Google for terms related to your topic and looking at the results.

Look for articles with a high number of social shares and backlinks. Once you've found some popular content, it's time to create something even better.

This means making your content longer, more detailed, and more comprehensive. You should also make sure to add new data and insights that aren't in the original piece.

Once you've created your content, the next step is to reach out to the people who have linked to the original piece and ask them to link to your new one as well.

You can send them an email or reach out to them on social media.

Keep these things in mind before you write content:

Conduct a competitor analysis

By employing analytical tools to help you analyze a competitor in your niche, your objective is to identify prominent websites within your niche and determine which of their pages get the most backlinks.

Pick a potential topic

Look for a topic that interests you that is within your expertise. Next, look at the pages listed on page one to gather more ideas on topic and keyword research.

Gather enough information

Make sure you conduct research that goes beyond traffic and backlinks. Carefully analyze the pages to identify text, images, and other elements you may improve on your website.

Write unique content

Use the viewpoint, structure, graphics, etc., to give the content your own unique twist that is on par or better than your competitors. Consider these elements in writing:

• Length
• Depth
• Visuals
• Design
• Organization
• Comprehensibility
• Updatability

Find interested prospects to link to

The secret is getting in touch with people already linking to relevant information. You will provide them with a superior, all-inclusive choice to connect to.

Quality over quantity

Keep in mind that quality is preferred above quantity in this strategy. Therefore, even though you might only obtain less than 15 links, they might significantly influence your website's overall performance if they come from authoritative, niche websites.

With this strategy, you can create amazing content that stands out on search engine results pages and draws relevant traffic, shares on social media, and comments from readers, especially in acquiring top-quality backlinks.

Conclusion

By now, you should understand the importance of backlinks as well as the different strategies you can use to get them.

Keep in mind that quality is more important than quantity, so focus on getting links from high-quality websites. Also, don't forget to create amazing content that will naturally attract links.

If you need help with any of this, feel free to contact a digital marketing agency specializing in link building.

Have you tried any link building strategies that have worked well for you? Let us know in the comments below!