5 proven strategies to generate free backlinks

Are you one of those marketers who think that link is one of the most different but essential strategies to boost your SEO? Indeed, backlinks play a vital role in ranking your website higher, but it’s not as difficult as you think. 

Maybe the strategies you have been following till date might not be working for you. But if you follow the right approach, then I am damn sure that you will be able to generate leads and see your site rank up. 

One major problem that people think is that they have spent a lot of money in generating backlinks.

Do you also think the same? If so, then this blog is for you. There are various strategies that you can implement to get high-quality backlinks for free. But before we discuss the same, let’s have a brief about backlinks. 

What is a backlink, and Why do you need it? 

A backlink is getting a link back to your website from another website related to your niche. Indeed, backlinks are still considered the ranking signals and will be for the foreseeable future.

Search engines analyze different aspects like website, architecture, content, backlink profile, etc., to know the value of the site. Here, the backlink profile refers to the list of quality links that send traffic to a specific page.

For example, a website that has a lot of inbound links from different high-quality websites. If a site doesn’t have many quality backlinks or only has links from low-quality sites, then it has a poor backlink profile that needs to be improved as it affects your entire website ranking. 

You can check your backlinks profile or no. of backlinks with its source-destination by various tools like ahrefs, SEMrush, Link explorer.

Now, without any further ado, let’s jump onto the strategies that will help you get backlinks for free. 

5 Strategies to generate backlinks for free

Competitors backlinks

Competitors’ backlinks are the most effective strategy to get quality and niche backlinks which can be generated just by checking on your competitor’s backlinks profile.

It is highly effective because you are spying on the backlinks of your competitors that are ranked in the top searches of Google for the same keywords that you focus on. For sure, they have a solid backlink profile.

You can check your competitors by entering your target keywords like “SEO agency India.”

Since most sites have thousands of backlinks, you can start with your two biggest competitors. You can check their backlinks profile backlink checker tools like ahrefs, SEMrush, Link explorer.

After selecting the website, go check its backlinks. Look for the most relevant, high-quality backlinks that you think you should also have.

Now you have to find a way you can go about getting a link on the target website. Some webmasters are directly pitched, while others might take some digging and/or emailing.

When this entire process is repeated for different sites in your niche to match your backlinks need, and in the end, you will get the best free links from your competitor, this ultimately helps you get high quality traffic.

HARO for link building

If you are in need of getting backlinks from high authority new websites, then HARO is another best way to attract links from high authority publications, which is highly beneficial for rankings.

HARO is a tool that is used by reporters who are looking for expert sources on all manner of topics. It generally connects bloggers and journalists to people that want links like us.

You have to just register as a source on their website helpareporter.com.

Now, you just have to choose a plan according to your needs.

For example-

Check a response by Brian Dean on request by a reporter on the topic “What’s the difference between graphic design and web design?”.

Pitch by Brian Dean-

Source: backlinko

And his response will be considered by Rasmussen.edu.

In the end, getting a backlink from an authority news channel can have a great impact in terms of off-page SEO and will also improve the visibility of your website.

Directories and Citations

In directories and citations, you have to mention your business’s name, address, and phone number online.

Many SEO experts believe that they’re a key ranking signal for local SEO. The main purpose of citations is to help Internet users to discover local businesses, but these are also useful to get free high-quality backlinks for your website.

There are various free high authority directories and citations websites, including-

• Google My Business

• Yelp

• Yell

• Yellowpages

• Manta

• Merchant Circle

• Super Pages

• Yellowbook

Here’s an example of our website listing on Google my business.

These types of backlinks are considered as referring domains. The diverse backlink profile with lots of referring domains often leads to greater trust and credibility from an SEO standpoint.

Have a look at backlinks and referring domains.

Check our link from a renowned directory.

You can list your website with 50 citations and directories; they make a great, free addition to any site’s backlink profile. Be sure not to do it in a super-spammy way, just like people used to do in the past.

Youtube links

Getting a backlink from YouTube is also valuable. My experience shows that linking from Youtube to a website leads to positive effects and excellent results. 

Types of YouTube Backlinks

Nofollow link

No follow links aren’t “followed” by search engines and don’t help in transferring link juice to another website, but no follow links can still be great.

To get a no follow link first, you need to make a video. After posting your video, leave links to your website in its description, and choose a relevant title for your video. 

It is fine to mention few links in the description:

                                        Source: monitorbacklinks

You can do this with your different website’s pages; somehow, it helps to establish trust, relevance, and authority for your site.

 

Do follow

 link

To get a do follow link from YouTube, you have to create a YouTube channel. Through YouTube, you are not only getting a backlink, but it’s also a powerful way to build relationships with new audiences and showcase your product or service in an appealing way.

Now, if you are thinking about where to get those do follow links, then 

Basically, there are two different ways to get a do follow link.

The first way is- 

• In the Description

  . (Click the About tab and mention your target URL with a brief description.)

• In the Custom Links

  . You can add a variety of links as you want here, but remember to put your main URL in the first box to obtain a dofollow link.

From the above two, one will be designated as a dofollow link.

Check an example of Addidas below; the dofollow link is to their main website, and Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram are nofollow links.

The second way to get a do follow backlink is the Associated Website. But you can avail this feature after verifying your YouTube channel. Here you can put your main target URL for a do follow link.

YouTube will not only help you in getting backlinks to your website or to other platforms but also allows you to create video content of your product or service to engage your audience in a new way.

Web 2.0s

Web 2.0 are generally blogging platforms or websites on which you can create a mini-website or a blog. You can choose the name of a website or blog as per your own requirement. 

This can be achieved usually for free, as a subdomain on their site, e.g., abc.blogspot.com, whereas if you want to buy the exact URL without a subdomain, then it will be paid.

These types of platforms will be highly valuable for beginner website designers also. 

Web 2.0s are effective because you are getting a backlink from high domain authority and a trusted website as it is a sub-domain, so the page authority of your website will be zero at the start. But don’t worry, you can increase it by posting quality content on it. 

After creating those Web 2.0 websites, you can link back to your main website through it. But you have to be focused while creating web 2.0 backlinks; over-use of this technique will lead to penalties from Google or other search engines.

There are countless high authority Web 2.0 platforms to choose from such as Blogspot, Weebly, Tumblr, etc. Check more Web 2.0 websites here.

Web 2.0s link building is not the most effective tactic, but you can include it in your link-building strategy as it will allow you to diversify your backlink profiles.

And with this, you are getting a do follow backlink from a website that has high authority and is easy to get.

Make sure that you’re not relying on only Web 2.0s link building; you can mix it with other types of link-building strategies.

The Final Say 

Getting a free backlink is not difficult. I believe the strategies discussed above will allow you to generate high-quality backlinks without breaking your banks. 

So, what are you waiting for? Start building good backlinks in the right possible way so that you can improve your website results and make your marketing more effective. 

Still, if you need any help in generating backlinks for your website, feel free to contact us. 

                                                                                                                          Editor- Divya Verma