The easiest step to take is to comb through your existing backlink profile. Some tools for doing this efficiently include:
You should keep in mind that it’s wise to prioritize page authority over domain authority. Most link builders will attribute all the links to their homepage, but this is a mistake. Specific pages are where your most valuable traffic is coming from, so aim backlink towards your pages that contain high-quality content.
Using SEMRush, you can target destination links, as long as you aren’t careless with where your backlink directs. Instead, focus on sending backlinks to pages where traffic converts, aka “money pages” like the services and product information parts of your website.
These types of pages will include a call-to-action and convince someone to purchase from you. Only after reading some awesome value-oriented copy of course 😉
In SEMRush, you can identify your page 2 bumps by taking the following actions:
Step #1: Open your keyword overview in the SEMRush dashboard. This should give you an in depth analysis of what pages in your domain are ranking for which primary keywords.
Step #2: Set custom filters for your keyword overview. You can choose to filter your links by different qualities and values. But for this use, you’ll want to set the custom filter to “only show” “positions” “over” “10.” This will show you all the pages ranking equal to or lower than the 10th position. You’ll then want to set a secondary custom filter to “only show” “positions” “under” “15.” Now you’re only looking at pages that are ranked at the top of page 2 of the SERP.
Step #3: Identify the keyword for the pages currently ranked on page 2 of the SERP. Make sure you prioritize any “money” pages that are in the bounce zone to optimize first. These are the pages that generate actual leads and conversions as opposed to just vague wandering traffic, so they are the priority.
Step #4: Comb through your existing blog posts to find a relevant post based on the same keyword as the pages you are trying to boost.
Step #5: Insert a backlink in the blog post you choose that links from the post to the page you are trying to boost. Make sure you use exact match anchor text for the keyword you are optimizing for. This should make for a quick bump in the pages link profile and should bump it up to page 1 of the SERP. Now your page can start generating traction and traffic.
Next up, you can market your expertise to show you are a thought leader in your industry. One way you can do this is to provide quotes and mini pieces of content for backlink exchanges.
To offer your quotes and expertise, you should sign up for the service Help A Reporter Out (HARO).
Throughout the day, you’ll receive email lists containing pitches and the sources journalists are hoping to talk to. You reply, and then hopefully the journalists use your quotes. The best practices for successful HARO pitches are:
When you’re using the HARO service, you must emphasis timeliness. You’ll receive an email at 2:30 am, 9:30 am, and 2:30 pm. Editors can deal with rushed timelines and often use quotes on a first-come first-serve basis. So the sooner you reply to that email, the better your odds of winning a backlinks. Stats show that:
Reporters are always on a deadline. You can be there to help them finish their articles or increase the authority in their articles with your expert quotes.
Instead of writing a brand new guest post every time you want a backlink, you can repurpose old content for new media. For example, you can:
Aside from using content you’ve already produced, you can make social resource hubs that are great for generating social backlinks. You can:
Just be careful with social media, because they can make your links no-follow. Essentially, that means they won’t count towards your search engine ranking.
But they are still valuable channels through which users can find your site.
Targeting .EDU domains is always a stellar idea. The information pages on these websites are a huge opportunity to serve as linked resource hubs. To successfully do this, you can:
Link building is an effective way to boost your brand and your rankings on Google. You can consider each link as a new channel on which you can bring in audiences. The more quality backlinks and channels you can direct to your site, the more qualified traffic should start flowing through those links.
If you have sales qualified traffic, you have sales qualified leads. And now you’re giving your sales department a reason to go read up on how to improve their own systems 😉
Kylie Ora Lobell is a content marketer for Directive Consulting. Our company provides leading B2B brands with content, SEO, and PPC campaigns. For more information, click here.
