Links Building Strategy - Globex Outreach

Link building works exactly like word-of-mouth works. So, the more backlinks you have, the more credible you are and the higher you rank. However, a lot of marketers and SEO experts turn to black hat link building strategies to get quicker results. In order to rank higher and get more traffic, you need to stick to penalty free links building strategies.

In other words, the real challenge is not to build links. Instead, the real challenge is to follow penalty free links building strategies instead of falling for short but illegal shortcuts.

But where can you find out about the best white hat link building tactics?

Well, don’t even worry about it.

We have got it covered.

Our team has rounded up 27 penalty free links building strategies that are guaranteed to deliver outstanding results.

Let’s dive in:

Table of Contents

The Best Penalty Free Links Building Strategies

Remember that as long as you stick to the following tried-and-true penalty free links building strategies, you’ll be well on your way to developing a profitable website that both search engines like Google and your users will love:

Fix 404 Errors

Starting off our list of penalty free links building strategies with 404 error fixing. 404 errors are a result of a user or a robot attempting to access a non-existent page. This is usually caused by a page either being moved to another URL or removed without any suitable redirection.

Source: Life Wire

You can easily export a sample of up to one thousand 404 errors from Google Search Console. Or you can use tools like the Screaming Frog to identify (and fix) broken internal links within your website.

Fixing 404 errors is not difficult when it comes to working on internal links. However, it can cause a slight headache if you are dealing with broken links located on other websites. You can easily add 301 redirects to redirect the value from the old URL to the new URL. And you won’t get penalized!

Source: Ahrefs

Leave Testimonials

Link building by giving testimonials is a win-win tactic. Many service providers let their audience leave testimonials on their websites. They get a testimonial, and you get a backlink.

Source: Referral Rock

It not only builds trust but also acts as a great opportunity to get quality backlinks. Moreover, it also serves as a source of potential traffic. Testimonials have a higher approval rate than emails.

Reclaim Your Unlinked Mentions

Reclaiming unlinked brand mentions is one of the easiest penalty free links building strategies.

All you have to do is track the news for mentions. You can do it for free by using Google Alerts. Besides, you can also pay for it by using tools like Mention, BuzzSumo, and Ahrefs Content Explorer if you want in-depth insights.

Source: Zapier

If you notice that an author has not provided you with a link despite mentioning your blog or company, send a quick note and request a proper link attribution. The author gets to improve their user experience, and you get a mention.

Source: Ahrefs

It is the best of both worlds!

The best part about this link building hack is that you can recycle it to reclaim unlinked mentions, including research reports, employee names, and events you organize.

Get Your Site Enlisted in Trustworthy Directories

Yes, you have read that right! While the internet has its fair share of sub-standard directories that add zero value, there are quite a few hidden gems.

A good directory can not only provide your potential customers with useful information, but it can also give you a chance to post a link to your site.

Source: Elegant Themes

Try to aim for niche directories connected with value-addition websites for a specific industry. Once you get your company listed in such a directory, you will notice how easy it will become to get indexed in the major search engines.

Get Mentioned in “Best X” Lists

People often turn to comparison articles and listicles to find information that can help them make a wise purchasing decision. Here are a few examples of ‘best’ list articles:

Source: Search Logistics

Determine the popularity of list articles in your industry by using a keyword research tool and searching monthly search volume.

You can reinforce your brand, enhance your brand persona and get more traffic by getting featured in these articles. As more people will try out your product, you will earn high-quality backlinks.

Guest Blogging Is Your Best Friend

Guest blogging is, without a doubt, one of the best penalty free links building strategies. The only caveat is that you can get penalized if you overdo it.

But you know what they say; excess of everything is bad.

As long as you’re not doing guest blogging way too frequently with the sole purpose of link-building, it can act as an excellent approach to get traffic and raise awareness.

Source: Higher Visibility

If you run your own blog, it will be easier for you to approach webmasters running blogs in your niche for guest blogging opportunities. You can also start on Twitter. Furthermore, guest blogging will help you gain credibility. Before you know it, people will be reaching out to you for guest blogging opportunities.

Launch a Giveaway or Scholarship Contest

Backlinks from .edu and .gov websites can skyrocket your trustworthiness and credibility. However, they can be super hard to acquire.

Source: Mangools

You can start by launching a scholarship program for students in your city or country and writing blog posts about it. Students keep an eye on university blogs, so you can get a lot of high-trust links from a scholarship campaign. It is a very smart link building tactic if you can afford it.

Revamp Your Old Content

If you have not checked on your old blog posts in a long time, check how many backlinks they have. If there is a certain blog post that has many publications referencing it, congratulations, you have found yourself a real gem

Source: Neil Patel

You can revamp it to create a more updated blog post with more relevant information. You can make a better, more recent piece with additional pertinent info. Then you can reach out to bloggers who’ve linked to your old content to update them about the updated version.

This tactic delivers results in a matter of days in the form of social media shares, backlinks, mentions, etc. In addition to that, you might end up collaborating with other bloggers on other projects to grow your brand and traffic.

Use Case Studies and Research Reports

If you have been in your industry for a long time, people will appreciate your opinion. However, in order to drive the point home, you will have to show statistics and facts. Comparisons, reviews, research papers, and case studies are the most shareable content, which is why they are included in the safest penalty free links building strategies.

Source: Debbie Chew

Try to make sure that you are the first one to talk about trending topics. Fresh content is super important, especially if your industry goes through changes frequently. Plus, ensure that your research has test results, supporting facts, charts, and infographics, and always link your sources.

Leave Comments on Blogs

Link-building by leaving comments under blogs used to be one of the most common penalty free links building strategies before spammers took over. However, you can still achieve your goals with this method if you do it naturally.

Source: Social Media Examiner

Before you leave a comment under a blog, ask yourself if you would like the comment on your own blog. If the answer is not in the affirmative, do not do it. But if you would love the comment on your own blog, you are good to do.

Take Inspiration From Others

There is nothing wrong with learning from other people’s mistakes so you do not make the same blunders.

There can be various reasons why someone’s blog does not have any traffic and backlinks. They might have chosen the wrong topic, or their topic can be super cool, but their content is substandard.

Reverse Engineering by Spice Works

Read as many articles as you want to get good content, but make sure that you learn from their mistakes and do not repeat them.

Share Documents to Build Links

Sharing your blogs or articles on document-sharing services might increase the number of people who see them. While many document-sharing platforms use nofollow backlinks, you can still use their traffic to boost your traffic and content

Source: Issuu

Plus, this is not restricted to just blog posts. You can promote all sorts of content, including restaurant menus, whitepapers, case studies, e-books, research papers, and PDFs.

All you need to make sure is that your document is optimized properly. It should have a keyword-optimized title and meta-description, a relevant filename, and a transcript to go along with it. Most importantly, make sure your branding is prominent.

Keep Monitoring Your Backlink Profile and Disavowing Links

If you wish to stay ahead of your competition, you have to stay updated with SEO trends to futureproof your website. Remember to monitor your backlinks regularly.

Zutrix

Source: Zutrix

This is not a walk in the park; however, it is not like climbing a mountain either. You can use link building tools to get notified whenever new backlinks appear. Using these updates, you can respond in time in case of unwanted backlinks. If a certain backlink poses the danger of a penalty, disavow that link immediately.

Source: SEO Power Suite

This is one of the most effective penalty free links building strategies to avoid SEO damage.

Write and Publish Ultimate Guides

An Ultimate Guide is supposed to be the most comprehensive resource on a certain topic. Such guides cover enough dimensions of a topic that users don’t feel the need to go anywhere else. Let’s look at a few examples of ultimate guides:

Why are ultimate guides included in penalty free links building strategies? They enable bloggers to refer to a concept they mention.

Source: Issuu

So, if, for example, you write on Search Engine Optimization, you can link to an ultimate guide on the benefits of SEO instead of wasting your time explaining the benefits in depth. Instead, you can work on tips and tactics.

Use HARO

If you’re looking for valuable penalty free links building strategies, you need to turn to HARO. If used properly, it can get you valuable links for your website to build your domain authority.

Source: B2B Digital Marketers

HARO sends its users three emails every day. These emails have requests from journalists. A wide majority of those journalists write for high authority sites. If you can answer their questions with unique information and they decide to use it in their content, you will get a link for credit in their article

Source: B2B Digital Marketers

All you have to do is visit their website and select the “I’m a Source” option. After you have signed up, make sure that you check your email regularly.

Infographics Will Do Wonders for Your Link Building Attempts

If you have some interesting stats from previous industry surveys you have conducted, you can use them to make infographics. Get rid of boring textual blog posts. Replace them with visually-captivating infographics to visually represent data. Remember to embed a link to your blog post containing the infographics so you get backlinks when others use your infographics.

Source: Siege Media

Before you design your infographics, try finding out what your audience likes. Google Analytics is a good place to start if you are looking for your most-liked content.

If you have written guides explaining a procedure, use the content to create flowcharts or infographics. Any data-heavy blog post you write is an excellent candidate for becoming an infographic.

Stick to the Skyscraper Technique

There are some penalty free links building strategies that not many people know of. This makes them exclusive to a particular group and delivers extraordinary results. The Skyscraper Technique is one of them.

How does it work?

Source: Biq Cloud

It is fairly simple. If you come across something teeming with backlinks, create something even better and then convince the webmaster to replace the inferior content with yours and link back to you.

Source: Snov.io

Some people pay others to give them links, but that is considered “black hat,” so avoid indulging in that. Focus on white hat SEO strategies which, in part, involve the skyscraper technique.

Use Images and Videos to Get Links

Infographics are great, yes. We already have established that. However, making extraordinary infographics is not everyone’s cup of tea. So, if you are a beginner, it is better to stick to the easier and simpler penalty free links building strategies.

Instead of making infographics, try out some of the following options:

Free photo galleries (without copyright) for others to use
One-page templates
Graphs and charts (made from Excel) with original data
Diagrams

Source: Authority Hacker

You can create free downloadable libraries of images featuring non-cliches but real people and objects. Moreover, if you do not want to work on images, you can just go to Pexels and Unsplash to get free images.

Go On Podcasts to Give Interviews

Podcast interviews not only increase brand visibility but they also provide valuable backlinks. You may find podcasts by searching for them on Spotify, YouTube, Apple, or other podcast apps and websites via Google.

Source: Ahrefs

Once you successfully find a niche-relevant podcast that you think you’d be a fit for, send them a pitch to get featured, and things will fall into place once you land a spot for an interview.

Leverage the Influence of Influencers

This is one of the more underrated penalty free links building strategies. Influencer marketing is an important marketing method; however, it is rarely discussed as a link building strategy.

But how do influencers fit in this link building picture?

Source: Link Building HQ

You can earn backlinks via various influencer-generated content such as blog posts, product reviews, YouTube videos, and social media posts. For instance, if you sell a particular product, you can get influencers to review and promote it through word-of-mouth marketing.

Influencer marketing is a great way to get backlinks and build customer trust. A win-win strategy by a long shot.

The best part about using influencers to get links is that it can double your links because the influencers are sure to share their content on other websites. Furthermore, if their audience loves the content, they might as well share it with their friends.

Do Not Overlook the Broken Link Building Method

This strategy involves contacting a website with a broken outbound link and suggesting that it should be replaced with a working link to one of your pages. Obviously, your page must be a better resource on the topic than the one they had previously linked to, so replacing the broken link with yours makes sense.

The reason why fixing broken links works so well is because it is of immense value to webmasters. Besides, it helps them improve their user experience and fix an error on their website at the same time.

It can be a little challenging to find broken links. However, once you find some, make sure that your content is ready to be published. And then, you can work on your blogger outreach. Remember to keep your pitches short and sweet.

Join Conversations in Community Forums

This is one of the most misunderstood penalty free links building strategies, as many people believe it is dishonest.

Source: Fresh Works

However, if done correctly, it is one of the legitimate penalty free links building strategies that can drive a lot of relevant audience to your site.

But what’s the correct way to go on about this?

The idea is to join forums and participate in discussions with the intention of helping others rather than bombarding them with links. Join discussions and answer queries in your field to grow your following.

Source: Smart Blogger

For instance, you can help individuals on Quora by providing helpful answers in your niche. However, posting multiple links will be considered spamming (black hat), and you may be kicked out of the forum.

Monitor Your Competitor’s Backlinks

The best way to find ways to build backlinks is by monitoring your competitors. If you can convince the websites that link to your competitors to link to yours instead, you will be able to outrank them in Google.

Source: Digital Third Cost

You will be able to get one step ahead of your rivals if you replicate their finest backlinks, and you might become the leading expert in your niche. You can obtain a list of all your rivals’ backlinks as well as a report on all their new links by using a link building tool.

Use Link Roundups to Build Backlinks

Link roundups are one of the easiest and smartest penalty free links building strategies to build super high-quality backlinks.

How does this tactic work?

SERP

Every field has bloggers who perform monthly roundups of the best information released on the internet. If you have already written an excellent piece of content, all you need to do is discover websites that host such roundups and then contact the blogger to link to your blog post. If they enjoy your content, you might get a link and also get a mention in their next roundup.

If you email an author and tell them you have a fascinating post and ask for a link, you most likely won’t get a positive response. However, if you find an author who runs a roundup, your chances are much better because they are always looking for new resources to include in their posts.

Publish Your Content on Syndication Websites

It is a common misconception that all websites require unique content, but this is not always the case. Many websites will gladly republish your articles as long as you include a link to the original post.

This works for all parties that are involved!

Syndication websites don’t need fresh content regularly, so they get free content. You, on the other hand, get access to a more diverse audience and get backlinks to your website.

Izooto

Source: Izooto

All you have to do is look for a syndication website and send your content. Moreover, some syndication websites ask writers to tweak their content to adhere to their guidelines.

However, even then, this is one of the penalty free links building strategies that don’t need a lot of effort. Besides, you can get started right now and submit your content.

Develop Meaningful Relationships

Meaningful relationships are essential for effective link building. There are several opportunities to make new acquaintances. Begin with niche-related communities such as social groups, blogs, and forums.

Make the first move and begin contributing with intriguing and relevant content that provides context to each debate.

By actively engaging in these online forums related to your niche, you will not only acquire some nice backlinks, but you will also have access to the most recent industry news and be able to interact with some intriguing people who share your interests.

Build Links by Doing a Reverse Image Search

Images, infographics, charts, flowcharts, and graphs are some of the most common assets that people can take from your website without giving you your due credit.

Google

However, before you panic about it, think how good of a link building opportunity this can be for you. Similar to how link reclamation works, you can reach out to websites and ask them to give you a backlink for your images.

People will unwittingly take your images since it is easy to get lost in the ocean of media. This is where Google’s reverse image search comes in. You can leverage it to uncover unattributed media.

Also, bear in mind that if there are several hundred websites that haven’t linked to you, your goal isn’t to go after each and every one of them. Instead, approach the websites with the highest DA (Domain Authority) and highest ranking in SERPs because they will be of the most use to you.

Wrapping It Up

Link building is not always a walk in the park; however, it can be rewarding.

After all, backlinks are critical to the success of any SEO plan. It’s how search engines determine how credible your website is. Your website has to be reputable and trustworthy in order to be rewarded with high traffic and high rankings.

There are numerous penalty free links building strategies you can try. Hence, go through the list we have curated above and determine which technique will generate the most backlinks for you.

If you’d like to know more about how penalty free links building strategies work, you can reach out to us. Globex Outreach can help you earn more backlinks, increase your traffic, acquire more leads, and generate greater revenue. Feel free to check out our custom link building plans.