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  • 11: 6 Free SEO Backlink Strategies (w/ Step-by-step breakdowns)

11: 6 Free SEO Backlink Strategies (w/ Step-by-step breakdowns)

Proven through 10+ years of SEO experience.

Author

Connor Gillivan
October 22, 2023

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What’s up Savvy friends?

Do you want more & better backlinks?

Who doesn’t?!

The problem: There’s a lot of misinformation out there about the best way to secure relevant & authoritative backlinks for SEO.

In 10 yrs, I've built 1,000s of backlinks using the 6 processes I’m sharing today.

It takes time, patience, and persistence, but it’s possible.

Here’s what to aim for:

Up and to the right!

Let’s dive into it…

Strategy #1: Build a partner network

Partner with 100+ companies in your niche. Swap content, backlinks, and promotions on a quarterly basis.

The Process:

  1. Open a new Google Sheet.

  2. Make a list of the top 100 ideal partners in your space.

  3. Research and find contact info for each.

  4. Reach out proposing a partnership.

  5. Continue until you’ve landed a handful of partners.

Strategy #2: Write guest articles

Find high authority and relevant websites in your niche and write high value articles for them. Get a dofollow backlink.

The Process: 

  1. Build off the Dream Partner list that you created in Strategy #1.

  2. Most of them will have Blogs.

  3. Reach out as you make the partnership and propose writing a guest article for their blog.

  4. Promise that it will be high quality and great for their readers.

  5. Land SEO keyword targeted articles, write, and deliver.

Strategy #3: Run an affiliate program

Offer your customers and followers the ability to promote you. Provide them content to link back to from their site.

The Process:

  1. Offer to pay others if they refer you business that lands.

  2. Help them make it easy to promote you with free resources.

  3. Make lead magnets — case studies, eBooks, white papers, tools, etc.

  4. Share it with anyone that’s interested and ask them to link out to it.

Strategy #4: Interview on podcasts

Get interviewed on niche podcasts. Builds awareness, gets backlinks, and creates new relationships.

The Process:

  1. Open a new Google Sheet.

  2. Make a list of the top 100 podcasts in your niche.

  3. Find contact info for the hosts.

  4. Reach out with a pitch about you, what you can talk about, and why they should consider having you on the show.

  5. Land the podcasts, prep for them, and nail the interview.

  6. Gain backlinks through their Shownotes pages.

Strategy #5: Answer q's on HARO & Featured (formerly Terkel)

Use HARO & Terkel to answer q's from journalists & bloggers. Gain backlinks as they select your content.

The Process:

  1. Sign up for HARO and Featured. (free versions available)

  2. Make a reminder to check them for new queries that relate to your areas of expertise.

  3. Submit answers to HARO and Featured weekly/monthly.

  4. Track how many become legitimate backlinks to your business.

  5. Scale up if you see it working.

Strategy #6: Create high-value guides

Pick a topic your niche customer would want to learn about. Create and promote the guide. Backlinks will come.

The Process:

  1. Go above and beyond for your ideal customer.

  2. Create an “Ultimate Guide on «X Topic»” and make it a download.

  3. Share it on social media, to your partners, in your newsletter, etc.

  4. Ask people to link to it from their site if they find it valuable.

In Summary

Building backlinks (just like SEO content creation) requires PROCESSES.

I don’t recommend running these for 1 month then forgetting about them.

The real power comes when you practice, perfect, and set up a process.

Run it for months and you’ll reap the benefits of backlink building.

Action Steps

Advice: Choose 1 backlink building technique that I’ve mentioned and practice it for your business for 1-3 months.

  • Really understand the intricacies of it and perfect the process.

  • Make it a repeatable process you (or someone else) can repeat for months.

  • Track your results and double down where it works the most.

Don’t add a second strategy until you’ve perfected the first!

If you found this helpful, let me know! I love your feedback 🙂 

Cheers,

Connor

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