One of the quickest ways to improve your link-building is to create content that passively generates organic backlinks. This is the so-called linkable asset, but creating it is not as simple as you think.
Most guides tell you to create quality content, and while quality content has many merits (longer visit duration, higher click-through rate, etc.), it doesn’t necessarily earn you as many links.
Focusing on the quality of your writing to boost linkability would be like flailing about with a fly swatter to kill a fly. Eventually, you might kill one, but there are more efficient ways to do this.
The answer to this question is embarrassingly simple – to earn more links, you need to create linkable assets. You need to learn how to create blog posts, stats, and videos that other people will feel the need to link to.
Here are five simple tips that will help you out on this quest.
1. Detailed how-to guides
The first thing you need to do is imagine content from the perspective of a content creator. Just imagine that you’re writing an elaborate article where you have to glance over or reference a lot of actions that should already be known to your audience.
At the same time, you could write about a topic and gloss over something important because you can’t afford to delve deeper into it. In this scenario, a linkable asset can be a great opportunity.
For instance, let’s say that you’re writing an article on the topic of SEO. If you’re writing a basic how-to, you might take a few moments to go into the peculiarities of keyword research; taking this digression can be very dangerous. Why? You risk writing 1,500 words for this subheading alone, while you originally intended your entire article to fit this word count.
In this scenario, your best bet would be to find an asset on the topic of mastering keyword research and organically link to it (like we did here).
It gets even better.
You see, a lot of people make the mistake of thinking too big. They just focus on the headline and assume that if their topic is not in the title of the blog post, it won’t be linked (often enough). This is a common fallacy. Instead of looking just at the title, think of each individual subheading.
For instance, a link to a page on keyword research can be used in articles about SEO, digital marketing in general, sentiment analysis, user research, etc. In other words, every time any of these topics is covered, there’s an opportunity for you to earn a link.
2. Write a stat page
One thing marketers often do to legitimize their content is invoke authority. This is not a link-building or content-marketing strategy – it’s a persuasion strategy.
Making a statement is one thing, but using.
So, if you’re interested in the easiest possible answer to the question “What is a linkable asset?” the quickest, laziest answer is – the statistics page.
For instance, when writing about social media, you can quickly reference that there are currently 4.8 billion social media users worldwide.
Now, there’s also one tiny potential hazard. We’re talking about the fact that you’re not really presenting original data. You’re doing your research and usually bundling up the stats presented by a number of other stat pages or original sources.
So, in this scenario, some content creators would just follow the thread to the original source and post it instead of your state page. Still, a lot of people just won’t bother and will find your page to be the linkable content to their liking.
Even if they do, you get more traffic, longer visit duration (while they look for the original sources), etc. In other words, you always get out of this scenario as a winner. You either get your link or you get a more passive boost to your SEO rank.
One more thing: even when outdated, stat pages are still useful for comparison.
Of course, stat pages are not the only thing that will fit this niche/purpose. Academic papers, whitepapers, and e-books are even better. The problem is that they’re incredibly hard to produce. You need top talent on the task, ideally someone whose name already carries some weight in the industry. You also need to conduct some actual research (which is a costly affair) and have your own researchers on the topic quite persistently.
3. Write something people will reference
People use major industry events as a reference point. You can use this knowledge to create more content assets. When done right, these will yield dividends for far longer than you would originally assume.
For instance, they may talk about the technical SEO and mention last year’s algorithm updates. This is a perfect opportunity for an organic link that goes far beyond the reach of what you currently have in mind.
Another interesting idea would be to do news coverage. Many people create derivatives of news or reference other things that took place. For instance, imagine a crime occurring and causing a massive nationwide news mania. People will write countless stories on the topic and produce a new piece for every new development.
They won’t, however, go into detail and explain it all from the start. Instead, they may give you a 2-3 sentence recap and link toward a content piece that covers it in depth. This gives you an opportunity to make truly linkable content.
Historical reference is also important, and it’s why a lot of these posts remain evergreen, far beyond what you originally expected.
A lot of people believe that news is a short-term thing and that, while it does have some traction, it will quickly go out of fashion and be rendered useless. Well, this is often the case… often, not always.
If you cover a Google Algorithm update, chances are that you’ll reference some previous updates, as well. This is what we’ve mentioned when discussing stats pages. Historical reference and comparison are some of the favorite things for content creators across the globe.
4. Create sources with first-person research
One of the most obvious ways to create linkable assets is to actually make sources with first-person research. Previously, when discussing stat pages, we’ve mentioned the difficulty of writing elaborate whitepapers; however, there are a few ways to make this a bit simpler.
First, you can do your own market research. Every company does it, but most don’t disclose their research. They fear that they’ll provide their competitors with valuable resources and dislike the idea of sharing something that they worked hard for for free.
The truth is that this information is not as confidential as you think, and some of these findings (regardless of whether they’re interviews or surveys) can be more useful as content assets.
Surveys, interviews, and even basic research can be presented as primary sources.
The next thing you need to take into consideration is personal experience. Sometimes sharing your personal experience or that of your customers can prove to be quite useful. Just remember, in order to be a source, your data doesn’t have to be game-breaking or deeply unique. All that you’re looking for is something that your target audience (in this scenario other content creators) will find interesting.
The last thing that could give your content great relevance (as a source) is the authority behind it. So, you need to focus on building up your personal brand. This is a slow process, but, once you get going, you’ll get the amazing ability to make linkable content by just adding your bio to the end.
5. Eliminate negative factors
Lastly, you need to think about factors that make your content non-linkable.
First, you need to take a look at the title. While this is not a rule, people often prefer to have a content title that will (roughly) fit the anchor text. If that’s not the case, they might just look further rather than give you a second chance.
Here’s the uncomfortable truth: even content creators don’t always research the links they insert into their content. They should…, but we know they don’t. Most of them just skim through the content, and some just go by the headline.
Second, you need to avoid locking your content behind a paywall, mandating registration, or requiring that users turn off their adblock. Anything that restricts access to your content can reduce your linkability. Sure, all of these things are important for your site’s revenue, but if your main objective is to build linkable assets, you need to be aware that they’re also hurting you on this end.
Picking a topic that is “too general” can also be a bad idea. Namely, you want people who write on these broad topics to pick your link for their content. It will be difficult to do so if your content literally mirrors their own content. Why would they link to a post that states all that they state, only better? Why would they link it to content that does what they’re trying to do, only worse?
Creating linkable assets requires you to think as an anonymous content creator
In order to create a linkable asset, you need to understand the psychology of content creators. The idea that you know this by default because you’re a content creator isn’t always accurate. Namely, you’re just one person, and the fact that you do or don’t do something could be characteristic to your entire field… or you could be an exception. As always, learning more and not being lazy when it comes to research will help you solve this dilemma.
