Few bloggers actually enjoy building backlinks but unfortunately, if you want to actually rank for anything, they are very much a necessity. Those looking to build backlinks faster do have a number of options open to them but unfortunately, most are not exactly recommended.
When you start automating, outsourcing and/or spamming, you are more likely to incur Google's wrath than its love. One clever way to take some of the tedium out of building backlinks is to simply get your readers to build them for you.( i.e. to publish link bait content.)
Link bait content is simply a fancy way of describing content that people feel compelled to link to. Should you be considering taking the time to produce such content, here are seven reasons why you might be onto something.
Less Work
As I mentioned earlier, few bloggers actually enjoy building backlinks. Many do, however, enjoy creating high quality posts. And when you attempt to acquire backlinks via link bait content, that’s all that you need to do. You don’t need to spend hours blog commenting or forum posting. You simply create killer content and invite others to do the work for you.
Completely Free
Usually getting other people to build backlinks for you requires a financial investment. Link bait content on the other hand, requires nothing but your own time and effort. It’s also worth noting that linkbait content has been known to lead to contextual backlinks on high PR sites. When you consider how much such backlinks generally cost, it should become clear just how much money you are saving.
All Natural
Google loves the kind of backlinks that arise out of link bait content. The reason is simple, they are natural, high quality backlinks that are not the result of manipulation. They are backlinks created by real people for no other reason than that they genuinely liked your blog. As Google gets better and better at spotting artificially created backlinks, this is obviously going to become more and more important.
Long Term Rewards
Unlike most backlink building techniques, link bait content, when done correctly, is capable of resulting in new backlinks being built for months, or even years, to come. As more and more people discover the content that you publish, more and more backlinks are going to be created. And as you are likely aware, there’s nothing that Google likes more than slow and steady backlink creation.
High Traffic
When somebody links to one of your posts, they are not doing so to help you. They are doing so because they genuinely like your post. Because of this, you can expect a backlink that is both in a prominent location and accompanied by an attractive description. Unlike many link building techniques, link bait content is therefore capable of attracting significant amounts of direct traffic.
Adding Real Value
When you publish link bait content on your blog, you are not just acquiring backlinks. You are adding genuine value. You are publishing posts that will genuinely help and/or entertain your readers. You are publishing posts that will increase your popularity as a blogger. Unlike blog commenting or forum posting, you are getting far more than just backlinks for your time and effort.
More Ethical
Finally, there is the small matter of ethics. For those who despise black hat SEO techniques, you can’t get any more white hat than link bait content. When you publish such content, you are not manipulating the search engines. You are not doing your best to artificially increase your SERP. You are simply publishing high quality content and being rightfully rewarded for your efforts.
Attached Images:
- License: Creative Commons image source
- License: Creative Commons image source
on
I completely agree that great content is the best link builder there is 🙂 Of course, even great content won’t get links until people know about it so you have to do some promotional work to be sure people read your bait in the first place. I wish it was as easy as ‘write great content and they will come’ lol!
Personally, I try to give vlaue in every blog post I write, even without trying to create link bait as such.
on
Good article, John. By the way, the hyperlink in your signature contains a spelling mistake, so you may want to fix that if you’d like it to be more useful to you. 😉
on
@Alex… It’s not a typo! John is from the UK and that’s how they spell “optimization.” 😀