7 White Hat Link-Building Strategies That Will Boost Your Content Marketing
Millions of pieces of content are produced every single day. It goes without saying that there is no shortage of high-quality, well-researched content. So how do you ensure that your website content has the authority to rank high and drive organic traffic? The answer is white hat link building.
White hat link building is a safe, ethical way to improve search engine optimization (SEO) and increase your website traffic and authority over time. It protects your ranking and ensures that your content efforts do not go to waste.
In this article, we’ll explain how to incorporate white hat link building into your content marketing. We’ll also share practical tips for getting started and show how building backlinks can generate high payoff and greater online visibility for your brand.
What Is White Hat Link Building?
White hat link building is an SEO technique you can use to boost your website’s authority and organic search engine rankings naturally.
Building white hat backlinks is a long-term approach to SEO that requires skilled content writers to create original content, followed by outreach to build awareness and encourage inbound links from external web pages.
White hat strategies build your backlink profile through methods that abide by Google search guidelines. Content creation, directory submissions, social media promotion, and guest blogging are methods commonly used by white hat link builders.
On the other hand, black hat SEO, or black hat link building, is a tactic that attempts to beat search algorithms by using low-quality links. These backlinks are typically placed on sites that don’t necessarily add value to the user or connect to the content directly.
Black hat link building is often criticized for being spammy and detracting from the user experience. This practice violates Google’s webmaster guidelines, which can damage your site’s authority and hurt your rankings in the long term.
Although they require more time and effort, white hat link-building tactics are the way to go if you want to win Google’s favor.
By building your SEO ethically, you’ll likely see search engines reward you in terms of rankings. This is because white hat link building enhances the quality of the Web as a whole by serving users trustworthy content from quality websites.
Who Can Benefit From White Hat Link Building?
The short answer: anyone and everyone!
If you’re like most entrepreneurs or digital marketing professionals, you’re always on the lookout for ways to get your business’s name out there.
Building brand recognition and establishing authority in your niche is critical, particularly if you’re a startup or new business,
You can create the best content in the world, but if industry leaders and search engines don’t recognize it as trustworthy, you could be missing out on a valuable brand-building opportunity.
By aligning yourself with reputable and authoritative pages, you both improve your website’s ranking and gain valuable exposure to potential customers and clients.
Benefits of Using White Hat Link-Building Techniques for Your Business
If you want your content to drive tangible results and long-term success for your business, white hat link building can help you get there. Here are the benefits your business can reap from generating links through white hat SEO.
Improves Rankings and Traffic
White hat link building is one of the key ranking factors for search engines in 2023.
The more high-quality links that point back to your website, the stronger the signal you send to these search engines that your site is trustworthy and authoritative, and the more likely you’ll outrank your competitors.
Strengthens Credibility
The best quality links typically come from high-authority sites in your industry or niche.
White hat link building helps you capitalize on these sources’ high domain authority since search engines like Google typically view them as trustworthy.
In addition to bolstering your search ranking, you’re more likely to win the trust of others in your industry.
Remember: People buy from people they trust. Securing a hyperlink from a highly trusted industry source can put you in higher esteem among colleagues and potential customers.
Boosts Conversions and Sales
A nice perk of backlinking is that it can drive more conversions and sales for your business.
Backlinks increase the odds of potential customers landing on your website. Whether website visitors are learning about you for the first time or returning to your site, a backlink is the first step to building relationships with those people.
Ultimately, more website visitors means more chances for users to enter your sales process, whether by signing up for your email list, making a purchase, or filling out a contact form.
Increases Exposure to Your Target Audience
When you create high-quality, relevant links that boost your SEO, you also increase your discoverability by reaching a wider audience.
For startups and growing businesses focused on building brand awareness, this presents a strong case for adding SEO link building into your content strategy.
Additionally, white hat link building helps to strengthen connections between your website and other businesses, resulting in greater visibility and potential customers for all parties. It’s a win-win!
7 Ways to Reap the Benefits of Link Building Without Risking Your Website’s Ranking
There are several ways to successfully generate white hat backlinks for your business.
The method you choose will ultimately come down to how much time, energy, and budget you want to invest in securing quality links.
Most likely, you’ll use some combination of the following seven tactics.
1. Focus on Creating High-Quality Content for Your Niche
One of the simplest ways to build white hat backlinks is by creating relevant content that people are naturally drawn to.
By producing high-quality, engaging content, you can build an effective white hat link building strategy that will boost your SEO efforts and drive referral traffic for years to come.
Pro-tip: By including internal links to other website pages within your content, you can reduce bounce rates and better train Google’s algorithm on what your content is all about.
You can also cultivate relationships with leaders in your industry by linking to their content, increasing your odds of receiving a backlink in return. Everyone wins!
2. Seek Out Opportunities to Contribute Content (Guest Posts and Guest Blogging)
Creating content for other websites, also known as guest posting or guest blogging, is an excellent way to build white hat backlinks.
You can secure guest blogging spots by contacting websites or industry bloggers and pitching a topic to write for them. Private blog networks that exist so you can network with other business owners and identify opportunities to contribute.
If your pitch is successful, you can publish your blog post on their website, which drives clicks, traffic, and brand awareness back to your own site. You can do this by including backlinks in the body of the article or in the author bio section.
The main benefit of guest blogging is that not only will you earn a backlink or two, but you’ll also boost brand awareness for your company or personal brand by getting in front of new readers.
Check out our list of free link-building tools you can use to find valuable, high-authority domains to target in your guest post campaigns.
3. Conduct Targeted Cold Outreach
Outreach link building is the process of creating backlinks by reaching out to other website owners and requesting that they include a link to your content.
While outreach link building is an ethical way to obtain links, it’s becoming more and more difficult due to the increasingly high number of requests people are receiving.
That means if you want to secure quality backlinks from the top websites in your niche, your request needs to be compelling and promise to deliver great content that adds value to their readers.
A tool like Ahrefs can help narrow your outreach by focusing on a specific topic or niche that you want to appeal to. This makes your outreach more targeted and avoids the risk of black hat link building on sites with low relevance.
4. Create Linkable Assets and Infographics
One of the best ways to encourage others to link to your content is by creating shareable assets that communicate important information in attractive and cohesive ways.
For example, you’ve probably seen numerous blog posts incorporating infographics, case studies, or lists to support their position and bolster their authority.
By creating these assets yourself and incorporating them on your website, you increase your chances for authentic, quality backlinks to your site.
You can even incorporate them into your outreach strategy by contacting reputable sites in your niche to request that they utilize them in their blog or social media posts.
5. Leverage Social Media
Social media is a great way to generate backlinks and increase your brand’s visibility. More social shares = more eyes on your business.
Platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter that allow you to link to your content directly within your social posts are your best bet for generating backlinks and driving traffic to your website.
Pro-tip: Visual assets like infographics or carousel posts highlight key points and increase your post’s shareability.
You can also incorporate links into Instagram Stories using their Link Sticker feature or work with influencers to reach new audiences with your content.
6. Increase Your Brand Visibility Through Networking
There’s a common saying that “your network is your net worth.” This statement holds true when it comes to link building.
Look for opportunities to get involved in industry discussions and professional networking groups where you can position yourself as a thought leader in the field.
You don’t have to look very far these days, thanks in part to social media. There are tons of online networking groups on platforms like Facebook and LinkedIn where you can share links to your content directly.
The more eyes on your content and thought leadership pieces, the more likely you’ll attract high-quality backlinks and organic traffic from reputable sources.
7. Try Out a White Hat Link-Building Service
Let’s be honest: obtaining white hat backlinks on your own is time-consuming.
Thankfully, there are lots of options nowadays for services and companies that will create content and build white hat links on your behalf.
Hiring someone to conduct outreach for you requires money, but it can give you back that investment tenfold in time and energy that you’ll save from doing it yourself.
Here are some of the services that search-focused content marketing companies offer:
- Researching topics or keywords that your business can realistically rank for
- Pairing you with content writers who know your industry or niche
- Editing and publishing content
- Researching sites that can link to the content
- Identifying opportunities for broken link building (replacing dead links on other sites with a link to your site)
- Performing backlink outreach or securing guest blogging spots on your behalf
- And so much more!
If you’re on the hunt for a budget-friendly alternative to white hat link building, a great start is checking out our article on how to increase your domain authority.
Get Started With White Hat Link Building and Watch Your Business Grow
The best way to boost your brand’s online visibility is to craft quality content and utilize the best white hat methods to help that content rank higher in search engine results.
Business owners and entrepreneurs can drive traffic for months and even years by working with a partner that utilizes trusted white hat link-building methods.
Y Combinator startups, growing companies, and Fortune 500 brands trust Growth Machine to attract customers organically by creating highly valuable content for your niche and securing quality backlinks from reputable sources.
Contact us today to learn more about how white hat link building can help your business grow. We’re always happy to chat about how we can help grow your online presence.
