Doesn’t that sound too good to be true? Put a link magnet on the website, attract backlinks and then automatically move up in the search engine rankings? As an SEO agency, we can hardly imagine anything better. But it’s not that simple. Nevertheless: It works.
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Importance Of Backlinks For Search Engine Ranking
Search engine optimization used to be easy. Some on-page optimization. A few backlinks. And it worked. But even the matter of on-page optimization has become much more complex. Not to mention off-page.
One thing is clear: Nothing works in search engine ranking without backlinks. If you want your website to rank high, you have to strive for a good number of good backlinks. Google’s ancient logic that websites have to be good if others link to them has lost nothing of its essential meaning.
For years you could collect backlinks from whoever and wherever. Google liked it. Backlinks are the basis for Google’s Pagerank assessment, which has long been decisive for search engine rankings. The Penguin update in 2012 changed that fundamentally. Google noticed that the quality of the pages displayed had suffered due to the artificial backlink collection. The search engine tried to distinguish between good and bad backlinks from now on.
For the website operator or the SEO agency, this leads to many questions :
Which links are good? Or useless? Or even toxic? Should we buy links (the answer is no)? Is it even worth registering in directories and posting news in press portals? What are our competitors doing? And how do we get valuable, sustainable backlinks (the crucial question)?
Which Websites Have High Authority?
The answer gives us the following list: The Moz Top 500 Websites.
Unsurprisingly, Google, Youtube, and Apple are in the first place. Some high-ranking websites allow you to post content yourself and thus provide links, such as Youtube, Blogger, and WordPress. In addition to various pages from the Google Empire, social media portals, Wikipedia, universities, the UN, and pages for creating your websites, editorial websites stand out as another type.
At positions 39 and 40 are BBC and CNN. The New York Times follows at 45. This type of website is very tempting for website operators: Content is created here that makes it possible to set links to other websites. And that content stays online forever with extremely high authority that can carry over to your website.
How Do You Get A Link On An Editorial Page?
The supposedly easiest way is to send out a press release. That may work for DAX corporations and startup unicorns. For everyone else, the likelihood that you’ll get the attention of a journalist with a press release, whether sent directly or through a distribution service, is minimal.
So how can you do it?
It would help if you had a fascinating article that the journalist 1. has never seen before and 2. is right in his field of interest. You should send this directly to him in a short, concise, and friendly cover letter. If things go well, you have him.
Journalists rely on constantly finding content for new exciting articles. If you find something interesting, take it and quote it. With a link. bingo. Or as Oliver Kahn once said: “There it is.”
How Do Link Magnets Work For Search Engine Ranking?
The fascinating thing is that links lead to further links. Every journalist likes to have a good story first. But if not as the first, then at least as soon as possible afterward. That’s why journalists like to see what the competitors are publishing. And if there’s something good in it, why not write about it too?
And now your link magnet comes into play again. Ideally, if Magazine A used your infographic, then Magazine B will use it too, even though you never communicated with that magazine. The same applies to your study. Or an extraordinary photo, an animation, or whatever.
Social media can act as an additional avalanche for your link magnet. Influencers can not only publish paid posts, either. They are also dependent on exciting news. The possibility of further dissemination, also to other journalists, is thus pushed.
Links in renowned media attract other links magnetically. Your link magnet works.
And as soon as the links are published, your website’s authority increases and your keywords automatically move up in the search engine rankings.
What Can A Link Magnet Be?
Link magnets work best when they’re new and vibrant. What may be new is that you have developed an innovation. Or have described or visualized a connection uniquely for the first time. A new study. An expert interview with someone who is otherwise rare. A new infographic. There are endless possibilities. Be creative!
What Is The Best Way To Boost Search Engine Rankings?
Analysis content
Analyze possible content in the context of your company. The content should suit you. Get together as a team. Think: what’s new? What’s exciting? Which topics get emotions running high in your industry?
Analysis target group
Your target group for your link magnets is editorial offices and journalists. Please investigate. Who has already written about this topic? In what context? Twitter and Google news are good sources. Collect the addresses.
Creating the content
Content creation can mean writing text, creating graphics, conducting a survey, or interviewing an expert. Whatever it is, do it carefully. Make sure you don’t make any mistakes. And it’s best to pack a WOW effect into it.
Pitch to journalists
Write a message to the journalists found. This can be a direct email or a direct message on Twitter or another social portal. Get straight to the point. Concise. And friendly.
Ask questions without being annoying
After a few days, feel free to ask again. It may well be that your valuable message has been lost in everyday life.
Observing the results
And then it’s time to wait and see. Observe. And as soon as something is published, share it diligently to do something for the wider distribution yourself.
Summary
Backlinks are essential for search engine ranking, especially from high authority sites. Link magnets are an excellent and sustainable way to get links from editorial websites. Your contributions with novelty value and emotionality are suitable for this. We wish you every success!
Also Read: Digital Marketing: Scenarios And Forecasts For 2022