I get it. You want to build traffic for your blog or website and you’re looking for the quickest possible way to do so, however, that’s often the wrong mindset to have when it comes to Search Engine Optimization (SEO). If you’re truly looking to build sustainable traffic for your blog then you’ll want to know how to build backlinks the right way.
The best way to build backlinks to your blog or website is to focus on consistently creating high-quality content and promoting it using evergreen social media platforms, such as YouTube or Pinterest. Many bloggers and digital marketers will often advise on going all out on guest-posting and other backlink building methods, however, this can often end up tarnishing your site’s reputation with Google in the long run.
The reason being is that Google’s whole business is based on providing THE best possible answer to its user’s questions, so naturally it’s going to give priority to the content that is 1) the most relevant, and 2) the most helpful. No amount of time spent on the “latest SEO strategy” is going to get around that fact.
When you create the best content within a certain niche, you will naturally build-up backlinks to your blog from friends, clients, followers and even competitors. This is especially true when your blog contains well-researched and credible statistics that other bloggers can refer to in their own blog articles.
Obviously, I’m not going to end this article with “write better stuff” and nothing else, so I will also share some additional things you can be doing to grow your blog traffic, without detriment to the level of trust that Google may (or may not) have for your site.
Social Media for SEO
Social media marketing can play a huge part when it comes to Search Engine Optimization and website traffic in general, not least because you can realistically grow your social media following up to thousands, if not millions, of followers and funnel them towards your blog. Of course though, simply adding a few links on your Facebook posts isn’t going to cut the mustard.
Much like with your blog content, your social media posts, stories and ads need to be of high quality and value to your end-user. In order to succeed on social media, you need to give the user incentive to not only follow you, but also to invest in you (financially) too.
To do this you have to provide a wealth of selfless value to your followers whether it by providing endless entertainment, actionable solutions or a vicarious lifestyle. I myself focus on providing the answers to my ideal client’s problems through informative posts, thus establishing myself as a trustworthy expert – hopefully.
Evergreen backlinks
Earlier I mentioned ‘Evergreen’ social media platforms such as YouTube and Pinterest, these are platforms that promote the very best content based on your search query – regardless of how old that content may be. You can start to see the comparison between these platforms and Google (SEO).
Evergreen social media platforms can be very useful when it comes to SEO, as your content can be found all year round and still be ranking at the top of related search results years later, all without the hassle of having to update, share or repost said content.
I mean imagine the potential of having 25-100+ YouTube videos, all with backlinks to your blog, that are still ranking at the top of search results years later? With that amount of traffic and no additional time or effort being spent on your part, it’s powerful stuff.
Other social media platforms
Whilst we’re here I may as well mention how Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin differ to the aforementioned evergreen platforms. The main difference here is that although these ‘other’ platforms have a search bar, it does not work to provide you with an answer to your specific search queries. Instead, these platforms focus more on the social connection between their users.
Of course, you can use the search bar to find certain hashtags or topics but if you searched for “How to fish?” on Instagram, it wouldn’t return any content that you would deem as a solution to your problem. On Facebook, the closest thing that you would get is a group or page with a similar name to your query, which isn’t nearly as helpful as YouTube or Pinterest would be under the same circumstances.
That’s not to say that you shouldn’t be using these platforms at all though, as it’s all about preference and who your main demographic is. With the right focus, quality and consistency you can build up a devoted following regardless of which platform you’re creating content for, a following which can eventually be converted into website visitors and hopefully – paying customers.
Unlike the evergreen social media platforms though, you will have to be posting more regularly on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin as posts tend to disappear from people’s feeds after a day or two, so you need to be on the ball when it comes to creating fresh content.
Guest Posting
Wait, I thought you said that guest posting was a bad idea? Well, I did and I didn’t. Make no mistake about it that guest posting can be a credible way of creating backlinks from a respectable site, especially if it’s from a site that’s very popular in your niche. For instance, it would be beneficial for me, given that I’m in the marketing niche, to guest post on sites like HubSpot, Ahrefs and NeilPatel.com.
The thing is though that guest posting shouldn’t be a priority, instead it should be something that comes naturally when the situation arises, such as when you get an actual invite to feature on their blog or podcast, or when you physically meet one of the big players like Neil Patel and the idea of a collaboration arises in conversation.
Guest posting like this is much more genuine, seamless and is more likely to maintain a high level of quality for your backlinks, thus telling Google that your blog is to be respected and as such should be ranking higher in relevant search query results.
Creating guests posts sparingly, as opposed to actively seeking guest posting opportunities, will help to save you valuable time which could have otherwise been better spent creating content for your own blog or social media campaign. I’ll say it again, consistently creating quality content is the key to growth.
Email Marketing
If you’ve been in the industry long enough you’ll be aware of the old adage that ‘the money is in the email list’, and that statement still holds true to this day. If you haven’t done so already, you should be creating a process to get your readers onto your email list, as soon as possible.
A great reason why you should be building your email list is that it’s a great (and easy) way to notify your subscribers of a new blog post that’s just been published. All you have to do is create a new email campaign for your email list with a link to your latest post, hit send and boom – more traffic to your blog!
Better yet, you can automate the emails that you send to new subscribers, and can even welcome them with an email containing backlinks to all of your best blog posts! This is especially helpful if your followers should be following a particular sequence of blog posts, such as 1) how to start a blog, 2) how to write a blog post and 3) how to promote your blog.
Conclusion
Don’t make backlink building your priority, as your time is often better spent creating high-quality content for yourself. Google’s algorithm is always changing with their intentions being to prioritise quality first and foremost, so don’t be the idiot who loses all of their blog traffic because they were preoccupied with building backlinks.
Have any questions or feedback about this post? Let me know in the comments below!
