Last week, I hosted another social meeting session where I and others were discussing the link building strategies. People had honoured me with their questions and answers about link building methods and misconceptions.
One of those told me that he has learned about some emails from different senders, where senders were asking for a link back in return to a social share. He found that strategy quite exciting and asked me about it.
Other people are reading: Keyword Cannibalization: How to Identify & Eliminate to Boost Your SEO
At first, my thought was that this is something discoverable, but soon I discovered that many people are still living in with many link building misconceptions.
This thought has raised some questions;
- How many people waste their money and time chasing links with link building misconceptions.
- How many backlink misconceptions are in the minds of bloggers, SEOs and webmasters?
Most Common Link Building misconceptions are here:
Misconceptions No.1: Create content and forget about links; your content will attract them:
There is no doubt that link-worthy quality content attracts links.
But have you ever asked yourself! " Why the majority of the content has zero links? "
This is not just the case for newbie's, but even the established and most popular sites have content with zero links.
I have sorted the result according to the number of links and discovered that there is content available on the site with five or less referring domains.
This tells me that if you do not invest time on building links, then you will not be able to earn backlinks for your blog posts.
Tip: If you are creating backlinks with the help of guest blogging, then also include your published guest post links in new posts. This will improve the quality and ranking signals for you.
The above example of Neilpatel.com also shows the not only small sites or newbie bloggers, but even the top ranking sites and influencers struggle to earn backlinks.
Misconception No. 2: No matter how just get links
Many of blogger and even my clients don't find any difference between buying links and receiving links.
They think that a link is just a link no matter how you get it.
Remember: Link building is a slippery road to walk.
Natural links prove to be the best link building strategy. They become valuable when the site that had given you backlinks grow its authority and organic traffic.
For example: If you had earned a link from the site when DA was 39, will give you more authority when the site crosses DA50+.
If you buy links from the sites, then you should understand that the site is selling links to many other clients also. They are also not investing in increasing the quality of content where your links are published.
Secondly, the price that you have to pay to buy link can match the price of links you have earned. SO there is no sense in mass purchase links.
Misconception Number 3: Digital PR Campaigns are the best way to earn links:
I always meet people who want to build links and already spending much to build links from high-quality PR sites.
If you are also living in the trap of PR link building, then you should ask yourself, "what are the limitations of your digital PR campaign."
You should know that:
- PR sites can only help you build links from media outlets. They will completely ignore engaging websites and blogs.
- With PR content, you will either build a link to the homepage or your PR content page. But in reality, you need to earn links for your already existing articles.
Misconception Number 4: Guest Blogging is the Best Way to build links:
Have you ever saw me doing guest blogging?
I rarely do guest blogging. In most cases, I do it for friends or for those who invite me to do it.
If guest blogging is your only way to build links, then you are walking on the wrong path.
You cannot build tons of links with the help of guest blogging.
You cannot write hundreds of articles every month.
Sooner or later, you will be fed up with guest writing and start thinking to outsource this job here; you have to face more challenges.
But, the main this is that how many guest posts people will follow for a long time?
The guest post also includes the reputational risks for your brand.
Most common problems with the guest posting:
The big issue with the guest post is that you cannot scale them enough to earn links. You have to invest more to write quality content.
Also, it takes a lot of time to outreach to the best blog and builds relationships with the publisher.
But, it doesn't mean that you should not do guest blogging.
Do guest blogging, but in the right way.
Misconception No 5: Secure links by getting links for right and relevant blogs:
Have you ever found this tip online, "Build links by pitching to the relevant sites."
If you Google it, you will find that every single post is talking about this strategy.
But, here is the ugly truth!
According to the study done by Brain Dean, the response rate of such email is only 8%.
Also, not all the replies are positive. That means the actual rate of conversion is quite low.
According to me, this strategy does not worth your time anymore.
Because if you follow this strategy, then to build a considerable number of links, you have to send thousands of emails every month. This will turn your email into a spammy one.
This is the reason why I believe in networking with the people and sites which are relevant to your blog or website.
People who know your brand will reply quickly to your emails as compared to those who have never heard about you.
Also, make sure that the content of the site is relevant to your website.
Final Words:
Link building requires skills, patience and hard work.
It would help if you will stay consistent and get rid of outdated practices to build links efficiently.
Still, you will keep finding outdated strategies online that can raise misconceptions.
You have to identify them and stay away from them.
Keep your eyes open and educate yourself about how to earn links positively.
If you still have any question, do share via comments.
If you find this article interesting, don't forget to share it with your friends and family.
Why?
Because, Sharing is Caring!
Don't forget to like us FB and join the eAskme newsletter to stay tuned with us.
Handpicked SEO guides for you;
