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How to Get Mentions That Will Impact Your Website

How to Get Mentions That Will Impact Your Website

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High-quality backlinks are like gold dust for any website looking to rank higher on search engine results pages (SERPs). Online businesses need to have a strong presence to survive. A killer digital marketing strategy is required to position your business ahead of the competition.

One of the most effective ways to do this is by securing high-quality backlinks from reputable websites. But it’s common for professionals to ask, “how to get backlinks to my website?”

In this article, we will discuss what makes a good backlink and how businesses can go about getting mentions that will impact their website.

What does a good backlink look like?

Getting backlinks means that you’ll need to create content that will be worth linking back to. Creating quality content for your website or blog takes quite a lot of time. This is why using an AI content generator like GrowthBar to create pieces of content that will be SEO-optimized can be helpful for your backlink strategy.

Backlinks need to come from good sources to help your website’s chances of ranking well. Any website linking back to your website should ideally be two things:

  • Relevant
  • Authoritative

Finding out whether a website is relevant or not is as simple as looking at the range of content available. There’s no use in getting a backlink from a website that only posts about recipes if your website is about selling tires.

Good backlinks come from high-quality websites with helpful information about the same niche or vertical. If a website is already catering to the audience your product or service is for, this will be highly relevant to the business.

Understanding the authority of a website requires a little more investigation. Tools like Similarweb Digital Marketing Intelligence can help you uncover the data about any website. Reports include how many visits a website gets, the number of keywords they rank for, and how many other websites link to them.

Generally, the more authority a website has, the better it will be for your business to get a backlink from them. Finding out which websites are suitable is only the first step in how to get good backlinks. Reaching out requires a compelling offer like a free product or free content.

Most SEO professionals believe that backlinks affect search engine rankings, with 58% of those surveyed believing it has a big impact. Gaining high-quality backlinks can lead to more eyes on your website and increase conversions.

The impact backlinks have on search engine rankings.

How to get mentions and backlinks for your website

Learning how to get quality backlinks can be time-consuming, but it’s definitely worth the effort. It can be outsourced if you don’t have the time to do it yourself. However, the basics behind backlink acquisition are relatively simple.

To start getting website mentions and building backlinks, you need to:

  • Find websites that would be a good fit for your business.
  • Reach out and offer something of value.
  • Follow up politely if you don’t hear back in good time.

The process of getting backlinks is known as link building. The goal is to create a relationship with another website to get a link back to your site.

Here is how to get backlinks for your website in 7 tried and tested ways.

1. Create shareable content

Creating high-quality blog posts, infographics, and other pieces of content that people will want to share is essential for getting backlinks. When you make something great, other websites are more likely to notice and link back to your content.

Take ActiveCampaign as an example of a company with an excellent backlink strategy. ActiveCampaign is considered the top email marketing company globally due to its relentless work on building high authority through quality articles and even better products.

Some tips for creating high-quality content:

  • Make sure your blog posts are well-written and properly researched.
  • Include interesting and original infographics in your posts.
  • Create shareable content that people will want to share on social media.
  • Be sure to include keywords in your content that people are likely to search for.

When you create great content, people will start to take notice. Getting backlinks becomes a lot easier when you have something worth linking to. It helps establish your brand as an authority on the chosen niche or industry.

For example, this article on what porn does to the brain includes various statistics from studies around the web and insightful information that can easily be referenced in content from other sites.

How the length of a blog impacts backlinks.

When authors look for facts and figures to support their blog posts, they can reference the article and include a link back to it. Long-form content drives more backlinks than short-form, allowing for more in-depth research. Let the backlinks come to you naturally by creating referenceable content.

2. Find brand mentions

One of the easiest ways to get backlinks is to find websites that have already mentioned your brand. You can do this by using Google Alerts or a similar service.

Whenever your brand is mentioned online, you’ll receive an email notification linked to the mention. All you need to do is reach out and ask the website owner to add a link back to your site.

This method works well because it’s based on relationships that have already been established. The website owner is familiar with your brand and knows that you’re worth linking to.

All you need to do is give them a gentle reminder, and most of the time, they’ll be happy to comply. Some website owners may decline or not respond to the request; this is something that will just need to be accepted. It’s impossible to force someone to link back if they don’t want to.

Website mentions can happen organically, but you can do a few things to increase the chances of it happening.

  • Make sure your brand name is easy to spell and pronounce.
  • Use social media to actively promote your brand.
  • Encourage customers and fans to leave reviews on popular review sites.

Monitoring brand mentions can be time-consuming, but getting high-quality backlinks with little effort is worth it. If you discover websites mentioning and linking to your brand, there’s an opportunity to get in contact, thank them, and develop a professional relationship

Types of link building tactics you can use.

3. Go social

Social media platforms like Twitter and LinkedIn are great places to connect with other businesses in your industry. These connections can lead to backlinks if you play your cards right.

Including social linking in your social media strategy can also boost the organic traffic being sent to your website, which sends a positive signal to Google about the quality of the content on the website.

Some tips for how to get good backlinks using social media:

  • Be active on social media platforms and engage with other users.
  • Share interesting and relevant articles from other websites.
  • Write blog posts and include links back to them in your social media updates.
  • Add value to the conversation by chiming in on hot topics in your industry.

When you’re active on social media, it’s easier for people to find you and connect with you. People will start to see you as an authority figure if you constantly share exciting content and engage in conversations.

This is how you can get backlinks from social media platforms. People will naturally want to link to your website if they respect and admire what you’re doing.

4. Seek out guest posts

Guest posting is one of those rare opportunities where everyone wins. The website you guest post to gets free valuable content for its audience, and you get a high-quality backlink to your website.

When done correctly, guest posting can be a great way to get high-quality backlinks. But it’s important not to abuse the system by spamming websites with low-quality content just for a link. This will only damage your reputation and could get you blocked from certain websites.

Many websites have guest posting built into their content marketing strategy. They’re ready to accept new content and typically have the details published on their website. The quickest way to find websites that are accepting guest posts is by doing the following Google search:

“your niche” + “write for us”

Experiment with variations, as some websites might list their opportunities under “guest post” or “submission.”

If they’re interested, pitch them ideas for articles you think would be a good fit for their site. Write the article and include one or two links back to your website. These guest posts should be high quality and provide value to the reader if you want them to result in a backlink.

Equally, it’s good to accept guest posts on your own blog. Don’t accept just anyone, but reputable sources can increase your search rankings. uSERP’s Jeremy Moser pitched a guest post to BigCommerce, which not only ranked first for “local marketing” but gained the company 241 backlinks. All for a piece of content that cost them nothing.

Why should brands accept high quality guest blogs.

5. Free products

There’s nothing like free products to attract people’s interest. Websites are keen to recommend useful free products to their audience because it helps them look good.

If you have a product you think would be useful for a website’s target audience, reach out and offer it to them for free. This is an excellent way to get your product in front of a new audience and get a high-quality backlink at the same time.

To increase the chances of having your free product featured, make sure it’s high quality and relevant to the website’s niche. It should also be something that their audience will find genuinely useful.

6. Offer your time

Time is a valuable resource for how to get backlinks to your site. Collaborate with popular figures in your industry by partaking in interviews, webinars, or podcasts. These opportunities will allow you to simultaneously share your story while promoting your website.

Start by looking at podcasts you are already familiar with and reach out with a pitch for an interview. Many podcasts are built on the quality of interviews they conduct. They will be more than happy to have you on as a guest if you have something interesting to say.

Teaming up with another product to host webinars is another excellent way to get backlinks while also providing value. These webinars give you access to another brand’s audience and allow you to share your knowledge on a topic and build your authority.

How link building impacts brand authority.

7. Blogger outreach

Blogger outreach can be done for a variety of reasons: partnerships, influencer campaigns, and general marketing. In the case of link building, it can be very impactful as a tactic. This involves finding people who write about topics related to your business and getting in touch with them to ultimately ask for a backlink.

The easiest way to find popular bloggers is by doing a Google search for:

“your niche” + “top blogs”

Once you have a list of potential targets, reach out and introduce yourself. There may be an opportunity to contribute to a post or collaborate on something together. If you want to access their audience, it’s important to come to the table with a suitable offer.

Offer guest posts, free trials, mention your free products, or a like-for-like trade. Bloggers may be happy to link back to your website with no expectations, but it’s good to have something to offer just in case.

Bonus tip: don’t forget the anchor text

This one is easy to forget, but it can make a big difference. When outreaching, guest posting, or doing any of the link-building methods above, always consider anchor text.

Where possible, make sure the anchor text is relevant to your website. For example, if you are a plumber, you would want the anchor text to say something like “professional plumbing services”, rather than “more information”.

Conclusion

Now that you know what to look for when it comes to high-quality backlinks, it’s time to start putting these tips into practice. The more high-quality backlinks you have, the better your website will perform in search results.

Remember to focus on quality over quantity and always offer value if you want to get the most out of your backlinks. With a little effort, you’ll be on your way to building a strong backlink profile in no time and raising the brand authority for your website.

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author-photo

by Jeremy Moser

Chief Marketing Officer, Wordable

Jeremy co-founded uSERP, a digital PR and SEO agency, and also buys and builds SaaS companies like Wordable.io. He writes for Entrepreneur and Search Engine Journal.

This post is subject to Similarweb legal notices and disclaimers.

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