Chapter 7: Untapped Backlink Sources
You might be surprised to know that there are dozens of quality, effective backlink sources which for some strange reason remain completely untapped. Some of these sources you might have thought of and perhaps you’re actually using one or two of them, but the fact is you will learn to explore more options with this list.
1. Charity
Most people get that warm fuzzy feeling when they donate to charity but if that little feeling isn’t enough for you, then perhaps you should try getting a backlink from there. You’ll be shocked at the number of dead broke site owners who will happily offer to post your link on their site in exchange for a few bucks.
For as little as $10 you can get linked to a charitable foundation with great link profile, and getting some of these sites would only require you to use a couple of common search strings like “donate to us” or “sponsors”.
2. Purchase expired domains
It’s one of the many tricks few people are aware of but you can use it to grow a network of links. If you’re currently buying new domains every time you launch a brand new website then you are missing out on a lot of opportunity here; and also you’re making your life more complicated than it has to be.
How about this, every time you launch a new site, head over to GoDaddy and see what aged domain you can get from there. I understand that your first instinct is to get a domain that fits perfectly into your niche; but it’s not the most important thing.
Provided the domain has authority, you will find yourself surpassing your competitors in links because they have to create new ones from scratch.
3. Establish a blog network
Quality blogs are among the most effective SEO tools you can use. The best thing about establishing a bog network is the fact that you are in complete control and decide on the amount of links you’re going to post. The fact that you’ll be putting out links at will gives you great control over your visibility.
So what do you need to start popping off blogs? In order for this to work, you will need to purchase a number of expired domains and have a little extra cash for content creation.
But try to minimize your network footprint by keeping an eye on these areas:
- Whois information
- Content management systems
- Hosting plans
- Designs and themes
- Permalink structures
These factors are important because failure to differentiate them from the search engines could mean the entire de-indexing of your blog network.
4. Testimonials
All companies love customer testimonials. It doesn’t matter if they are big or small, whatever type of product or service they offer, they will appreciate new testimonials- especially if they are positive. If there’s a product you use and genuinely like, then consider sending the company a testimonial and see them add a link to your site.
This is a grossly underused trick and it could get you a large number of quality backlinks. It’s perfectly fine if you purchase a product just for the sake of posting testimonials.
5. Dominate directories
No matter what you may have heard, directories are still around and they are not going anywhere, at least not this year. Two years ago Google de-indexed several hundred free directories. Now, if those directory links didn’t work, why in the world would they de-index them? The truth is, they wouldn’t.
If you pay close attention, you will realize that posting links in the right directories will have a great resource. Also, most of these directories look old and outdated to some people so you can actually get great PR domains for close to nothing.
6. Help a reporter out! (HARO)
This is one of the best ways to get yourself killer backlinks from great news authority sites. This is how it works;
The trick is to keep active. Don’t get lazy on the site, and you will see great results.
7. .Edu links
In case you live under a rock and have no idea, .edu links are some of the most powerful. The challenge is to get a legitimate .edu institution to link to the average Joe. It’s not impossible, it’s just challenging. If your website looks decent enough and it hasn’t been monetized to death then chances are you can get a couple of links simply by asking nicely.
This can be done on the resource pages covered by most universities where they link out to other websites with helpful information to the students and faculty. When you contact the sites, keep in mind that only around 5% of them will post your link, but remember that those few links could make a huge difference for you.
8. How to grab expired domains
As an SEO(er) you need to learn how to grab domains when they expire. Think of a situation where you buy a domain from ten years ago; what you’re doing is basically going back in time, hiring an expert to promote a website and then paying them something in the range of $100 for the decade of solid work they’ve put into promoting the site.
Aside from auction sites, there is another method you can use to acquire these domains, but it’ll take up more of your time. What you’re looking for are pages with a considerable list of links going to other sites, but that haven’t been updated for some time. You can get these at GoDaddy for as little as $10 and the best part is the process won’t involve any auctions.
So basically you need to find pages with many links but finding them isn’t simple at all. You could search for them by date, where you set the timeframe around several years. This will ensure you get pages that have gone a long time without being updated.
When you find one of these pages, you can use a tool like Domain Hunter Plus, which can be accessed from Chrome extensions. This little program will let you know of any broken links on that particular page and whether or not the domains are up for registration.
9. Guest posting on Twitter
Guest posting can be one of the trickiest businesses to engage in because most sites have strict list of guidelines which you must adhere to. Because of this, it can take you a long time to utilize this option. Another more effective way to guest-post would be through Twitter.
The reasoning here is, the websites that tweet their posts regularly must also be posting regularly, so they could probably use your services.
10. Software submissions
This is a somewhat old schools tactic for getting links but it still works like magic. Why, you ask? That’s because these sites tend to have high backlink profiles. Websites such as CNET.com and other authority software sites are perfect and the good news is you don’t have to create your own open source OS to get your link and software posted on their directory.
Anyone can do this but it takes time so if you’d prefer to hire someone on Fiverr then that would be fine too.
Additional backlink sources
- Google+: your profile on Google+ does in fact allow contextual follow links. If you establish significant interaction within the platform and utilize direct linking, you can end up with a fairly powerful link base.
- Blogger reviews: if you sell something of value; this includes software, information, etc., you can create backlinks with that. Contact bloggers that might be interested in what you’re selling, and once they post the links, you will end up with a mixed bag of all sorts of websites, at which point you can filter out any authority websites and news sites. Now contact the quality websites and sell them on the quality of whatever you have to offer, and if a few of them link you, then it’s a win.