Have so-called “link building experts” burned you in the past?
Did their methods, results, and communication around backlink services seem “off”?
The sad reality is that too many link building efforts are morally questionable or just plain ineffective.
The good news is there are other ways to dramatically improve your backlink profile without doing what most people do.
It’s time to take the approach of “earning” links instead of “building” them.
By pivoting to this link building strategy, you’ll be able to drive sustainable, lasting organic growth.
On May 11, I moderated a webinar with Amanda Milligan, Head of Marketing at Stacker Studio.
She showed us a proven method of creating newsworthy content that delivers results.
Here is a summary of the webinar.
To access the entire presentation, complete the form.
What’s The Difference Between Building Links & Earning Links?
You can boost your organic growth by shifting your mindset from building links to earning links.
But what’s the difference between the two?
Link Building:
- Focuses only on the result and not how you get there.
- Translates to less value being provided to your audience.
- Typically leads to SEO results that don’t last.
Link Earning:
- Focuses on creating content that’s valuable enough to deserve links.
- Creates a solid foundation of content that brings in links on its own.
- Usually earns better links plus trust and affinity from your audience.
The Main Difference Between Building Links & Earning Links
If you build a link, your best-case scenario is you boost one of your pages.
If you earn the link, you have a piece of content that provides value forever.
With this approach, you will have more than a high authority link to the page.
You can also visibly showcase important brand connections on your site because your content was featured on a particular site that values what you created.
[See real comparisons of link building vs. link earning] Instantly access the webinar →
How To Earn Links
You can begin earning links in one simple step: Create newsworthy topics that are interesting to publishers and their readers.
Taking a newsworthy approach to your content and link earning strategy means that you get:
- High-quality news pickups.
- Brand authority.
- Top-tier follow links.
What Kind Of Content Is Newsworthy?
Content that is newsworthy is tangential, data-focused, and contextualized.
1. Tangential Content
- Not specifically about internal business communication.
- Still interesting to the publisher’s target audience.
- Appeals to a more general readership.
[Questions to ask yourself when putting out tangential content] Instantly access the webinar →
Image created by Stacker Studio, May 2022The sweet spot is the overlap between what your brand is generally trying to do and newsworthy elements like tangential content.
2. Data-Focused Content
- Tells an original, novel story.
- Generally unveils new trends.
- Often adds context to a greater story.
- Can often be broken down demographically.
- Adds immediate credibility.
[Discover the best data sources for your next piece of content] Instantly access the webinar →
3. Contextualized Content
- Looks at things historically.
- Compares two things to get a more full picture, rather than looking at something very narrowly.
- Contains other pieces of data and additional exciting insights that can add more information to a story.
- Provides a way for brands to participate if they can’t play a role in breaking news.
The Snowball Impact Of Earning Links
Here is the order of what you or your clients can expect from earning links, instead of just building them:
- Link results.
- Domain Rating (DR) results.
- Organic page growth.
- Traffic results.
[Discover what each stage means for your growth] Instantly access the webinar →
How Link Earning Fits Into The SEO Puzzle
For your SEO strategy to work the best, be sure to use the three-pronged SEO approach of:
- Technical SEO.
- On-site content.
- Link earning.
Image created by Stacker Studio, May 2022Link earning is a critical 1/3 of a successful SEO strategy.
Your content must be valuable and discoverable to earn that ranking.
Once you earn those links to your well-deserving content and a technically optimized site, your organic traffic will start to flow.
[Slides] How To Improve Your Organic Growth: Stop Building Links & Start Earning Them
Here’s the presentation:
Join Us For Our Next Webinar!
AI-Organized SERPs & Overviews: How To Win Visibility In The New Landscape Of SEO
Join us for a session focused on AI Overviews and AI-organized SERPs, where we’ll be breaking down the newest developments. We’ll show you the biggest takeaways from STAT’s latest research, and demystify this evolving topic with practical advice that you can implement right away.
Image Credits
Featured Image: Paulo Bobita/Search Engine Journal
