Is guest blogging the only way to gain backlinks?

[toomer_251]

Hi All,

I'm new to backlinking and have done plenty of research but as I'm sure you know - there's alot to read with alot of opinions.

I'm looking for some advice on how to gain good backlinks without guest blogging, as it's not my strongest suit. Any help would be great!

Thanks

Vicky.

[SocialSEO]

It's not the ONLY method, it's definitely the most popular right now...

As far as getting REALLY GOOD backlinks, other options would be the "broken link reporting" method - if you find a broken link on an authority site, especially that should have gone to content similar to something you have on your site, you can reach out to the webmaster and let them know about it (they will be grateful bc broken links are bad for SEO) and of course mention your content and politely suggest that perhaps your link could fill that void and provide their visitors equal or greater value.

You can also do interviews with other webmasters/authorities in your niche - would provide a great way and reason to link to each other. If you approach someone who is an authority in your niche saying you would love to interview them and get their perspective, emphesising how their insights would benefit your readers, that is just the sort of ego bait that could get you a DA 90 backlink lol

There are sevaral other methods I could rattle off as well, but I doubt anyone on here feels like reading a 10k word forum comment lol

[toomer_251]

Hi SocialSEO,
Thanks for taking the time to answer my question.
This has been helpful and I'll definitely be looking in to the broken links method :)

[SocialSEO]

Glad I was able to help :-) Feel free to pick my brain anytime

[nshep]

I just want to point out that one of the best ways to gain backlinks is to create high-quality content that people naturally want to link to. Combine that with solid on-page SEO to increase visibility, a user-friendly website (fast-loading, mobile-optimized) and you have made the first step. If you are already doing that, then engaging in link-building strategies as mentioned above are a great way to acquire additional backlinks.

[brighteryeg]

Guest posting is a good skill to improve but you want to diversify your link-building efforts anyways. Someone mentioned broken-link building but a few other examples could be infographic submissions, niche directories, sponsorships ( ie. sponsor a podcast with the same audience ), Brian Dean's skyscraper technique, there's a lot of options get creative.

[jediviper]

How someone can benefit from the "broken links" method? I wonder if there any real examples of sites that this method worked actually for them.
Why the webmaster of the page, that hosts the broken link, would want to link to you (just because you have informed him about the wrong link)? What stops him from contacting the page (that owns the broken link), with which he is already in cooperation, so that they will fix their broken link.

So at the end of the day, you do a favor at both your competitor and their partner and u have wasted time for getting nothing in returns.

[not2easy]

@ jediviper - There is some misunderstanding about the broken link here - the link that is broken is not on a third site, it is on the site you contact. "That link you have to so and so is broken" is the scenario, not "so and so's link to you is broken". That one might inspire them to contact the other site and be a waste of your time.

The idea is to point out that a third site they have linked to has not bothered to keep their end of that link functional, but you have some similar content that they could consider as a replacement for that broken link. ;)

[lfgoal]

@brighteryeg I thought niche directories and directories in general had fallen out of favor with search engines. How much of a bang for the buck are you indicating for directory submission placement?

[piatkow]

@brighteryeg I thought niche directories and directories in general had fallen out of favor with search engines. How much of a bang for the buck are you indicating for directory submission placement?

The curious thing about niche directories is that they actually get used by real people who want to buy real products or services.

That is what your site should be for rather than getting a nice warm feeling about your Google ranking.

[lfgoal]

My sites have links from universities, law firms, .gov sites, have been cited in court cases, etc. I'm not selling a product. That said, the last time I even looked into directories was 12 or 13 years when the chatter was that directories were beginning to look like simple seo scheming. That's why I asked the question. Let me ask it again for anyone who cares to address it seriously.

Is anyone actually getting anything out of submitting their sites to directories, general directories and niche directories. Context: I remember when there were tons of useless dogcrap directories that served no purpose whatsoever other than to build links to.

Anyone?

[lucy24]

Is anyone actually getting anything out of submitting their sites to directories, general directories and niche directories.

Define “anything”. If it means “real live humans who show up on your site, giving the directory as referer” then yes, I see them every day. If it means something else entirely, you’ll need to clarify.

[tangor]

I get a few as well, though I have never submitted any of my sites to any directory, ever, since 1996. If any of sites got there, I didn't do it.

[lfgoal]

By anything, I mean real humans showing up, but also any noticeable effect in rankings. My feeling about directories from years past is that they were worthless. Most web users had never heard of 99 percent of them, didn't use them, and so why would you expect to see traffic or a ranking boost? Nontheless, I was curious if anyone was seeing about seo benefit from it. My feeling was likely not, because that doesn't even seem logical to me. Back in the early 2000s, a link was a link was a link.

[piatkow]

The value of a directory depends very much on the business sector. I would only consider one worth while if it was limited to a locality or a specialisation. If your underlying "business" falls into those categories (for example restaurant, plumber, youth organisation, church) then you should be in any appropriate directories. If you are just trying to make money from Adsense or affiliate links then they are definitely a waste of time.

[martinibuster]

Guest blogging is considered unnatural links. This is not debatable. It is a fact.

Don't even try to rationalize it by saying, "It's okay if it's done between high quality sites" Because that's a rationalization used for decades to excuse all kinds of link spam.

Manual actions were sent out in February 2020:
[searchenginejournal.com...]

Since then, there hasn't been anything heard of manual actions. So presumably Google is handling these algorithmically.

Google Warning on Guest Posting For Links
[searchenginejournal.com...]

Google Says Some Guest Post Links Are Unnatural
https://www.searchenginejournal.com/unnatural-guest-post-links/371224/