Navigating the world of SEO as a beginner can be confusing, overwhelming, and frustrating. There are so many different tools and strategies out there to choose from that it all starts to look and sound the same. Thankfully, we are here to break it all down for you by going over the top 10 link building tools out there in addition to strategies for successful link building.
Why Is SEO Important for Businesses?
If you don’t know much about SEO more generally or link building specifically, you may be wondering why these concepts are worth investing in. And we totally get it! As a new or small business, you likely have limited time and resources that need to be spent wisely. However, let us assure you that one of the best places to invest those resources is in SEO through link building.
SEO helps your brand gain organic traffic that feels more natural than your typical paid advertisements on social media platforms. That being said, it’s important to remember that organic doesn’t necessarily mean “free.” Furthermore, SEO is more of a long-term game rather than a short-term game that will achieve immediate results. That being said, it’s definitely a valuable tool for any business looking to gain visibility and engagement online.
More specifically, link building is a vital component of a successful SEO strategy. This concept goes beyond simply linking resources to random blog posts. Instead, your approach should be much more strategic. That being said, we realize that you’re likely not an expert in this arena which is why we are going to share our expertise to help you grow and learn along the way.
Top 10 Link Building Strategies and Tools for Successful SEO
Figuring out the world of SEO on your own can seem impossible — which is why we’re here to help. The first thing that you need to know about successful SEO is that link building is key? But what is link building and how can you do it for your business? For starters, link building helps drive organic web traffic to your site and pages. Essentially, you want other sites and pages on the web to use your links so that the search engine algorithm takes notice and ranks you higher as a result.
Link building is a long-term strategy that won’t get you to the top of the search results page overnight. This process will involve time and effort in order to establish link-worthy content that is naturally used throughout the internet. However, over time this strategy can earn you that top spot and help drive organic traffic.
Here are some strategies that you can use to start your link building journey to ranking number one on Google:
- Blogging: When it comes to link building for SEO, there’s nothing more valuable than your blog. Studies show that businesses that blog generate an average of 97% more inbound links, 55% more site visitors, and 434% more indexed pages. That being said, you shouldn’t just blog randomly and aimlessly as this approach won’t be very effective. Instead, you need to be strategic about your blogging, including writing guest posts that will then be published on reputable, outside platforms.
- Social media: Increasing your activity level on social media — or initiating it — can work wonders for your link building strategy. This is because the more followers and engagement you have on social media, the more likely people will be to share your content, which in turn, boosts your link profile and visibility on the net.
- Embrace resource links: It’s not enough to simply utilize resource links these days when you’re creating content. Instead, you need to prioritize trusted and reputable resources that will then boost your trustworthiness and reputation! Take advantage of resource pages from big-name authority sites like Forbes, Entrepreneur, Inc., and others for the best results.
- Organize your content effectively: Perhaps the best way to go about this is through the pillar approach. This approach involves writing “pillar” articles that provide your audience with valuable tips and information about a given topic. In terms of content, quantity isn’t necessarily better than quality anymore — and this is especially true when it comes to the pillar approach. Instead of creating dozens of seemingly random and short articles with no real purpose or value, focus your resources on creating a few high-quality pillar pages.
- Do your research: Link building can be a difficult process if you’re not sure what the industry standard is. The good news is that you can discover this information through a simple search. Find out who your competitors are, what they’re writing about, and where they’re linking to. From there, you can incorporate their successes into your own link building strategy.
Moving on from strategies, here are the top 10 best link building tools that are definitely worth looking into if you’re trying to make the most out of your SEO efforts:
- Ahrefs — A backlink index tool that’s largely regarded as the best in the SEO business. This tool can provide you with a ton of valuable insights into link building and SEO more generally starting at $99 a month.
- Linkody — A backlink tracker tool that embraces reverse engineering to see which pages are getting the most links. You can then use that information to your advantage for the reasonable price of $14 a month.
- BuzzStream — An outreach tool that organizes and manages your email outreach to websites and other contacts. This tool can help the entire team remain on the same page and starts at $24 a month.
- GroupHigh — Another outreach tool — but with a special focus on bloggers. It claims to be the “world’s largest blog search engine” with a built-in outreach program that costs about $179 a month.
- JustReachOut — A public relations tool that helps you find and pitch reporters and journalists to help you build your links. The cost of being able to reach out to these professionals via email or Twitter starts at $99 a month.
- Moz Link Explorer — A link analysis tool that competes with Ahrefs with the added bonus of an on-page grader and valuable metrics. Although it’s not as large as Ahrefs, it could be worth the investment of $100 a month.
- NinjaOutreach — An outreach tool that features a database filled with millions of influencers. This database also includes valuable information related to SEO metrics for around $69 a month.
- Link Prospector — A link prospecting tool that allows you to quickly and easily find resource pages based on pre-made search strings. All you need to do is enter your keywords and this tool does the rest for as low as $47 a month.
- BuzzSumo — A content marketing tool that helps you find influencers in your industry that have recently shared your competitor’s content. Helping you find influencer partners through this tool will cost you at least $79 a month.
- Majestic SEO — A backlink analysis tool that has handy features including number of backlinks, referring domains, and anchor text analysis. It claims that it is the “planet’s largest link index database” for just $50 a month.
Final Thoughts
As you can see, link building tools are well worth investing in if you’re serious about SEO. Combining these tools with the right SEO strategies and expertise from professionals like Greg Gillman can help you crush the SEO game and rank number one in no time!
Sources:
This Is What Makes SEO Important For Every Business | Entrepreneur
Organic Traffic and Why it is Important | LinkedIn
The 6 Basic Components Of A Strong SEO Strategy For Online Retailers | Forbes
