Whenever a new rule is introduced, a lot of people try to get around it. They look for exploits, loopholes, and cheats, but sooner or later, the system adapts, and they realize the futility of their effort.
Whenever a new rule is introduced, a lot of people try to get around it. They look for exploits, loopholes, and cheats, but sooner or later, the system adapts, and they realize the futility of their effort.
This is a story as old as time, and it’s about link building vs. link earning.
You see, conventionally, link building was about earning links no matter the cost. This meant that everything went as long as you got your link in the end. However, earning links is something else entirely. It’s a way of producing something of value and playing the game the way search engines always intended you to play it.
It’s about creating insightful content that other people will find link-worthy. Every post needs internal and external links; there’s no need for these external links won’t be yours. If you create posts that count as valuable resources, you could passively earn a lot of backlinks.
This way, there are no fears of algorithm changes – you keep what you earn. Still, how does this work? How do you earn more links? More importantly, how do you make it systemic and turn it into a proper strategy? Here are five examples you should definitely hear about.
Create complete resources
The first thing you need to do is abandon the idea of just inserting a link. What you’re looking for is a way to create content that’s link-worthy.
So, what kind of links are content creators using to give their content credibility?
Most of the time, they’re using:
- stat pages
- strategies
- guides
- case studies
Most importantly, they prefer complete resources. This is one of the reasons why larger content formats are getting more and more love online. The key thing to earning links lies in persuading other content creators and bloggers that, once they get there, there’s no need for them to look further. They don’t have to go deeper and deeper down the rabbit hole. They don’t have to click an internal link after an internal link. All they have to do is keep scrolling and reading, and eventually, they’ll find all they need on this topic.
Now, a lot of people get misled by the idea that people aren’t reading as much as they used to. Sure, average people are more likely to skim than to read (they might even skip skimming altogether and just read headlines) but people you’re trying to earn links from are not average readers.
The problem is that this means you have to spend more time on the research, more time on content creation, and even come up with a topic that’s elaborate enough. If you pick something that’s too narrow and go into too many digressions just to get more words, your numbers will go down. You’ll get more fluff, and your link authority will be less coherent.
Get more traffic
This may sound a bit contradictory to what we mentioned in the previous paragraph, but these content creators and bloggers aren’t just reading. If they’re serious about their job, they’re carefully analyzing all the links they’re using.
They want you to have a decent domain authority and a decent traffic, not just have a well-written content. These metrics matter for their own SEO, so they can’t afford to ignore it.
So, you need to do all you can to get decent content traffic.
This, too, sounds like a contradiction, but link earning is a delicate art.
After all, if you already have the traffic, you wouldn’t care about earning any more links, right? That’s it? In fact, this piece of advice may sound a bit like if you asked someone how to become a better runner and they told you that you have to win a gold medal at the Olympics as a first step.
Well, not exactly!
You see, you can use methods that will give you a temporary traffic boost in order to get the ball rolling. It’s like a new star hiring paparazzi to follow them around so that the other journalists and fans start paying attention, as well.
You want to invest in something like PPC or influencer marketing to get a quick traffic boost. This traffic boost will increase your rank and help you earn more backlinks. This way, you gain organic traffic, which is more permanent (PPC traffic will go down once you stop paying, and influencer endorsement won’t last as long, either).
In other words, link earning is like investing a lot of capital in order to create a passive stream of revenue. Each link you earn will pay back dividends, but earning them is not easy and (usually) not free either.
Build a network
The next thing you need to do is build a network. Like in any other business, you’re not working with links or numbers; you’re working with people.
Just think about this – when trying to make people engage with your content, you’re not doing anything new. You’re not applying some miraculous content trick invented in 2024. You’re doing the same thing that every author for the past 6,000 years has tried to do – make their words worth reading.
When trying to persuade people to click on the link, you’re not trying to hypnotize them. What you’re doing is applying some basic psychological principles.
Overall, when you try to earn links, you’re actually working different angles to make people want to link to you.
Well, most of the time, it’s not just about the content; it’s about people, as well.
So, how do you start? First, you get to know the people behind these blogs. Commenting on their social media posts, sharing their content, commenting positively, and even reviewing their content in a positive light will work.
What you’re doing is basic networking. You’re trying to earn a favor that you hope they’ll return.
Sometimes, you can even approach them with a proposition because link exchanges are more efficient than you think. You ask them to share and link to some of your content and promise to do the same with them. Sure, this may not be as effective in the long run, especially since the algorithm keeps track of this correlation, but in the short term, it’s an amazing strategy for earning links.
Create original content
This part is the hardest of them all. After all, how does one create original content in 2024? It sounds impossible, but it isn’t.
Just think about literature and art in general for a second. Is there really a topic that hasn’t been covered? Of course not. People have been writing about love, lust, revenge, death, and honor for over six millennia. However, there are new and fresh stories every single day. In other words, you need more creativity, and there are no more excuses.
This is also one of the main reasons why AI will never fully take over. It can just replicate what’s already in its database. Sure, its database is so deep that, at times, it will feel like it’s all-new, but the algorithm will be able to tell the difference.
If this sounds too complex, you can always take the lazy route and cover breaking news. This is more time-sensitive and short-breathed, but earned links are all the same. You see, people will link to your news, and the faster you produce them, the less competition you’ll have.
The challenge lies in not allowing the quality to go down. At the same time, your job is easier because you’re allowed to keep it a bit shorter. About 600 words are more than enough (sometimes even as low as 400). So, no need to write a 4,000 whitepaper to make it worth people’s while to link to your news article.
Rank well
How do you think people are finding the content to link to? The answer is simple: they Google it. This means that we get back to the beginning — the posts you want to use for link earning need to rank well in order to be discovered.
They look up a keyword, and if they don’t find your link in one of the top 4-5, they’re not going to bother looking for it. They’ll link to one of the top results instead.
For this to work, you need to create more than just content; you need great SEO content in order to earn more links.
This means that you need to take a slightly different approach. First, you need a competent SEO writer. Fortunately, in 2024, you can also use AI generative tools to help you optimize your content for SEO. We’re talking about a bit of formatting (making sure all the sentences, paragraphs, and sections are of appropriate length), keyword distribution, and making sure that it all makes sense linguistically.
You need to start from the bottom, which means optimizing your content first and then using these resources as tools in the greater SEO game.
Link earning requires a completely different approach to link building
At the end of the day, this is as much of a content marketing matter as it is a link-building one. In order to earn links, you need to start by understanding how people choose links to use.
First, you need your links to perform well, which means high traffic and domain authority. They also need to be easy to discover, which means high SEO. Lastly, they need to be well-written and original. This kind of resource always excels at link earning.
