Having an SEO backlinks strategy has always been an important part of ranking higher in search engines. Until a few years ago, links were considered one of the top three ranking factors for Google search, along with content and RankBrain. For Google, at least, that may not be the case anymore since Gary Illyes, an
Having an SEO backlinks strategy has always been an important part of ranking higher in search engines.
Until a few years ago, links were considered one of the top three ranking factors for Google search, along with content and RankBrain.
For Google, at least, that may not be the case anymore since Gary Illyes, an analyst on Google’s search team, said about links:
“I think they are important, but I think people overestimate the importance of links. I don’t agree it’s in the top three. It hasn’t been for some time.”
We’re not sure we agree.
Although it’s possible to rank a site without links, this tends to be in low-competition niches.
From our experience, we’ve seen links seemingly being the determining factor in websites ranking higher after optimising content and improving a site’s technical SEO.
In competitive niches, all other things being equal, we find that the site with the best quality links is usually the one that ranks higher in SERPs.
But, there is another reason now to create quality backlinks – LLMs and AI search.
Even if Google doesn’t put as much emphasis on links as it used to (debatable), links from authoritative websites, review sites and directories can directly influence your chances of being referenced in AI overviews or LLM prompts.
In one study, nearly three-quarters of SEO pros said links influence the visibility of brands in AI search.
In this blog, we’ll give you the link-building strategies we’ve used to build links to client websites (and our own) to improve rankings on search engine results pages (SERPs) and increase visibility in AI search.
Link building is the process of earning links from other websites that point towards pages on your website.
Links are a factor that determines how trustworthy or authoritative your website is compared to others.
The more links you have, the more authoritative your website is.
Think of it like this.
Your onsite content = you walking around a room telling people how great you are.
Links = other people walking around the room telling people how great they think you are.
Which do you think is the most trustworthy?
Digital PR involves getting your brand in relevant media by contributing to journalists’ stories as a source or pitching them a story directly about your business.
This isn’t the easiest backlink strategy because it takes a lot of work to create stories journalists will be interested in if you’re pitching to them, and it can take time
to find relevant journalists to send stories to in your chosen publications.
It’s also very competitive to get mentions in stories journalists are writing, so you have to be fast and ready to respond with quote-worthy comments if you’re going to be successful.
But it can be the most effective because links from media sites tend to be the best quality, and the ones most often referenced by LLMs.
One way to use digital PR is to pitch your spokespeople to journalists looking for people to provide comments on stories they’re already writing.
There are some free tools you can sign up for, like Help A Reporter Out (HARO) and Help a B2B Writer, which send journalist requests directly to your inbox every day for free.
You need to register your email and choose the categories relevant to what you can provide helpful comments on.
HARO sends daily journalist requests for comments on a range of topics
There are subscription-based journalist database services you can subscribe to, like ResponseSource, Cision or Gorkana.
These provide similar services to HARO – journalist comment requests – but also include a database of journalist contacts that you can pitch your stories to directly.
If you’re going to go down the direct pitch route, there are a few things to consider:
Creating stories isn’t easy, but there are some common types that work well with journalists, particularly stories relating to data, case studies and personal stories.
Here’s an example of a story we got published in the Mirror for one client using a combination of a research report we compiled, coupled with a real-life story to add a bit of colour:
You don’t need a Digital PR agency for this type of link building. You just need a good story to tell and the research to find the right journalist to pitch to.
But, using a professional agency can speed things up because they have experience and the contacts to create stories and pitch them to relevant journalists.
Guest posting is a bit like digital PR, in that you pitch content to be featured on relevant websites like blogs.
It’s not had the best reputation in the world of link-building strategies in the past, mostly because SEOs used this tactic by finding any blog that took guest posts (whether it was relevant or not) and submitted poorly written content purely to get a link.
Search engines are a lot smarter to this tactic now and link relevance has become important.
So if you are going to submit guest posts, be sure you’re submitting content to a website that’s relevant to your industry or niche.
When submitting a guest post, check the editorial guidelines of the site your writing for to ensure you match their style and also to get ideas for topics they’re likely to take content on.
And be aware that if you’re going to use AI to write your guest articles, it will need to be heavily checked and edited by you (I’d say just don’t use AI for writing guest articles).
Here’s another example of how we used guest posts for Bromley Estates Marbella. When the UK left the EU, we submitted an article to EuroWeekly News highlighting how many Britons still wanted to move to Spain and highlighted how it was still possible:
Broken links are links to a website that don’t go to the content they’re meant to.
It could be that the linked page has been removed without a redirect and now goes to a 404 error page.
These can be a great source for links if you have content already on your website that’s relevant to what the link references.
It’s also great for the linking website, because it’s not a good user experience to click a link and be sent to a page that doesn’t exist.
You can use SEO tools like Ahrefs and Semrush to find broken links.
One way to do this is to check what websites are linking to your competitors that aren’t already linking to you, and then look for broken links on your website that you can claim.
Similar to your journalist outreach, make it clear in your email why the website should link to your website and why you’re a relevant source for their readers.
Lost links are what the name suggests.
These are links that used to point to your website, but no longer do.
There could be a number of reasons why this happens.
The article with your link has been removed. The website may have changed its editorial policy to no longer include links.
Or, it might just be a mistake.
Again, reclaiming lost links can be a quick win for your backlink strategy because you’ve already had the link once and likely still have the content (unless you’ve lost the link because you removed the content – in which case you’ll need to try and recreate the content or ask for the link to be redirected to the new URL)
You can find lost links in tools like SEMrush and Ahrefs, or you can check for free in Google Search Console.
Just go to the links dashboard (left-hand side) in your account:
And then compare external links to a previous period:
Just create a list of lost links, and contact the website owners to reinstate your link to new content.
Unclaimed links could be links that mention your brand or reference your content (like a research report) but don’t provide a link to your website.
You can find unclaimed links by doing a brand name search in Google/Bing news to see if anything comes up.
If it does and your brand is mentioned but there’s no link, contact the editor, writer or site owner and ask for a link to be included.
These can be difficult to get, so be clear in your email what you’re asking for.
Link inserts work by finding existing articles on a topic that matches your niche or area of expertise, and requesting a link to your website be inserted.
This can be less effective than other backlink strategies because there’s no incentive for the website to add a link (unless you provide additional information, or pay for the link).
This is one of the best ways of getting links for research or data-based stories.
If you do original research (like the research we did for Bromley Estates), you can use this to get links in articles referencing similar data that is now outdated.
You’d simply need to find articles that fit your research topic and offer the information in exchange for a link.
Again, this can be difficult in terms of time to find relevant articles and do your outreach, but it can be effective for websites looking to update articles (or that will create a new article with your research)
These types of links are particularly important for Local SEO and LLMs/AI when referencing local businesses.
This involves getting your business listed in relevant business directories (whether national, local or trade directories).
When building these types of links, it’s important to ensure that your business information is consistent across every link you build, as consistent NAP information is important for your local SEO rankings.
The easiest way to manage consistency is to keep a central record of all your business directories, and then if your information changes (like if you move offices) you know what links need to be updated.
Again, these types of links can be best for local SEO.
Look for partner organisations that you can get a link from (even in exchange for a link), any events or partnerships you can build for sponsorships (which include a link) or getting a link from a local organisation like your local chamber of commerce.
We’ve done this ourselves in the past to good effect in our local SEO strategy:
Link building has a tainted reputation among some SEOs because of how the practice was done historically.
It used to be that links would be built on any website willing to give you one.
The result was websites with links from other websites that had nothing to do with their niche.
For example, you’d have estate agent websites with links from gaming websites.
Google’s move towards Expertise, Experience, Authority, Trustworthiness changed the emphasis on link building from quantity to quality.
It also made relevance a crucial factor in link building. This essentially means that any links must be from websites relevant to your website.
This could be a sportswear website getting links from sports, lifestyle and fashion websites.
So, when looking for link opportunities, ensure there is some relevance in the links you’re trying to build.
At Paramount Digital, our Digital PR experts have got clients’ links from local, regional and national media as well as trade publications and blogs.
Whether you’re building links for the first time or need to improve your link profile, we have the team who can help.
Get in touch for a free strategy session and let’s see how we can help you create quality backlinks and improve your visibility in SERPs and LLMs/ AI search.
Speak to a member of our team and start your project today!
Our experts will be more than happy to help you!
Speak to us today!1. Let’s Talk
Book a 30 minute consultation call with one of our team so we can understand your goals for digital marketing and what services you need within your budget.
2. Let’s get strategic
Once we know where you want to get to, we’ll put a plan in place to get you there. You’ll get a clear outline explaining all the costs and what results you can expect.
3. Let’s start growing your business
Once we’re all pointing in the right direction our expert team will get to work delivering what we’ve promised and getting you the best ROI possible.
