Free link building methods in 2018: What is the best one?

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SEO on the page is often not enough to bring your content to the top of search engines. You can write your content with the utmost care, verifying the use of keywords, tags, titles and meta descriptions, but this is not always enough.

A great way to help your positioning is building backlinks for free, avoiding penalties and illegal techniques.

Backlink definition

Link building consists of getting inbound links, also called backlinks, from other sites, thus improving your SEO. If one site links to another, it is implicitly saying that it is a good resource, just as a friend recommends a good restaurant.

This activity is one of the most used techniques in optimizing a website. If done well, it can create good results.

In 2012 Google, using the Penguin algorithm, penalized all those sites that had obtained incoming links in an unnatural way through spam, thereby creating fear and mistrust in this SEO strategy. For this reason, in this article you will find the best way to get free backlinks and learn how to implement a proper optimization strategy.

Why is link building important in 2018?

Google’s PageRank also measures the quality of a web page by the number of links pointing to it. Although it cannot know the exact functioning of the algorithm, it is certain that links continue to play a decisive role. In addition to the content, which must be of quality, the difference in ranking is often the number and quality of links pointing to the page.

The ability to build a network of high-value links pointing to the site you intend to promote represents added value for the site that you want to position on Google.

Can a website rank without backlinks?

SEO is a very complex and fascinating subject, and every technique is important. The link building techniques in 2018 are factors to consider to help your positioning. However, this is not the only way to optimize your SEO.

These are three points from which to start:

  • Add internal links to your site in your content.
  • Use structured data, also known as pattern markup.
  • Properly use XML sitemaps to help search engines index.

However, link building methods+ are among the most effective techniques to implement in your strategy.

Search engine rules (3 main facts)

There are hundreds of factors that influence search engine positioning. Let’s see the 3 main factors to take into consideration:

  • Link popularity

This indicates the popularity of the website and its pages within the network, based on the quantity, quality and thematicity of incoming links.

  • Meta tags in the header

The structuring of the header tag requires the correct indication of tags in order of importance: the H1 tag for the title, the h2 tag for the title of a paragraph and the h3 tag for the subtitle.

  • Speed and Publication

Search engines reward a site that continuously publishes updates. In the age of the smartphone, the speed at which the site loads is becoming a major factor in positioning. Also keep in mind that an older domain obviously has more positioning advantages than a newly created domain.

What should you avoid in link building?

To avoid being penalized by search engines, avoid these 5 examples of backlinks:

  • Links from irrelevant sources, with other topics or languages.
  • Links from communities or forums that are often a source of spam.
  • Links from sites of dubious quality.
  • Linking your own sites to each other.
  • Purchased links; this is a common practice but strongly discouraged.

If you want to improve your ranking, try to increase backlinks for free in the correct way.

How to get free backlinks to your website in 2018

If you are thinking about creating a backlinks strategy, ask yourself how to get high-quality backlinks for free. As we have seen before, this type of optimization is important but it must be of quality. Otherwise, it’s better to not do anything.

Look for authoritative sites and ask for a link – presented in a simple way via email – talking about your project. You can use tools like Ahrefs, Majestic or Open Site Explorer.com to find quality sites.

Look for broken links in sites that offer target content, then contact the owners and notify them of the problem. Propose your content as the destination of the broken link. An excellent tool to start with is Broken Link Checker.

The easiest technique is to propose a guest post. This consists of writing content for a site. In addition to earning a backlink, it positions you as an authority to readers of the site that hosts you.

The guest post is one of the best free link-building methods because you give real value to the link and to your work. Writing relevant and quality content is not easy, and doing it for another site requires more effort. However, this will be rewarded by both the link and the reputation for credibility that you will gain.

Link building tips

In terms of how to start or how to find quality links, there are no methods that are easier than others. It takes patience and a lot of research. You have to study the competitors and their links, and from there start putting your strategy into practice.

The biggest advice is to use more methods so you have more chances of finding great backlinks.

In marketing, there is a term known as USP (Unique Selling Proposition), which creates unique content and will attract more chances to get links. Contact other bloggers who deal with a topic similar to yours, but who are not your direct competitors. Network with them.

Aim to build a relationship based on content and not only links, so as to make everything more natural and to avoid penalties.

Avoid buying backlinks. Many do, and it’s not absolutely wrong. However, Google is becoming more meticulous in discovering artificial links, and the risk of penalizing your site is real.

Conclusion

In this article we have seen the importance of changing your SEO strategy and ways that link building can be of great help in positioning your site on search engines.

In 2018 it remains a tactic of absolute value if you do it correctly. Do not be in a hurry or spend money on “easy” revenue, which does not exist.

The biggest advice is to experiment with various methods to find the one that brings you the most results.

However, link building is not easy, so always ask yourself if you are doing it the right way. Try to improve your strategy as much as possible to avoid doing the wrong things.

Link building is an art. Like all types of SEO, it takes passion and a lot of study, both of the correct and lawful practices and of practices to avoid.

This strategy can give you results that you wouldn’t even imagine. However, remember that if done incorrectly, it will do more harm than good to your business.