When it comes to white hat link building strategies, the most important thing to know is that these strategies are aligned with Google guidelines and focus on acquiring backlinks the right way. White hat link building not only boosts your website ranking but also helps you create and publish content that other websites would want to link to. Additionally, white hat link-building helps with building beneficial relationships with other industry experts, such as bloggers, journalists, and influencers.
White Hat Link Building Strategies – Why They Matter
If you are new to link-building, you might be thinking about the best white hat link building strategies and what these are. There is actually a fine line between white hat link building and black hat link building, and you need to get white hat link building right so that you don’t face a harsh Google algorithmic penalty.
So, if you want to protect your website, build links that actually boost your rankings and generate that sweet traffic that you want to see.
What is White Hat Link Building?
When it comes to the important question of what white hat link building is, the answer is that it is any type of link building that conforms with Google’s webmaster guidelines. The thing is that Google really cares about its users, and any backlinks you build should benefit them. On that note, you are actually trying to build links that are ethical instead of trying to game or manipulate the system.
A quick way to answer this yourself is to ask yourself if you are building links and if you would feel comfortable telling how you build links to an employee of Google or your competitors. If the answer is no, then you are probably doing something wrong.
What is White Hat Link Building According to Google?
If you check Google’s guidelines, you will see that, for the most part, they have left it open to interpretations. Google specifically states that if you are buying links or building links with automated software, then what you are essentially doing is black hat link building. You are going against Google’s guidelines.
Google is an advocate of organic link building methods that stick to ethical practices and follow Google guidelines. The focus is on building high quality and relevant links naturally.
Benefits of White Hat Link Building Strategies
Before we proceed to the best white hat link-building strategies, let us check out the essential benefits of white hat link-building.
Boost Website Authority
With white hat link-building, you can get high-authority backlinks from other websites organically, which in turn can help you boost your website authority. Subsequently, your website will emerge in SERPs as a trustworthy source of information.
Increase Organic Traffic
The more traffic is on your website, the more value you will have in the eyes of Google. White hat link-building strategies can help increase organic traffic, too.
Boost Online Ratings
Creating informative, linkable, and unique content is at the core of white hat link-building. This aspect perfectly indicates how high-quality content will help you align with Google SEO guidelines, which in turn can help with improving your online ratings.
Black Hat vs. White Hat Links
To understand black hat vs white hat link building, you should know that if Google is okay with the links, then it is white hat. On the other hand, if Google objects to it, it is black hat link building. White hat link-building ensures that you have used natural, legitimate, and valid link-building techniques to rank your website in Google and other search engines. White hat link building indicates that you have followed Google’s guidelines for link building.
Now, on the other hand, black-hat link-building actually refers to link-building practices that manipulate loopholes within search engine algorithms with the intention of beating the system instead of providing value to internet users.
White Hat Link Building Strategies – Best Techniques
Here are the best techniques for white hat link-building:
Create Linkable Content
One of the best white hat link building strategies is to create linkable assets that others would want to link to. You might want to start with creating content that is useful to others, such as the following:
- How-to guides
- Infographics
- Case studies
- Research reports
Creating valuable, informative, and high-quality content is one of the top white hat techniques, as you will be gaining links through high-quality content. This way, you will be earning backlinks rather than buying.
For instance, if you are an SEO agency, you might want to publish high-quality blogs in the form of detailed guides. Include infographics and downloadable resources in your guide. By doing so, you will not only emerge as an authority within your niche but also publish content that others would like to mention and link to.
Analyze Your Competitors
Another effective white hat link-building strategy is to analyze your competitors and leverage their existing backlinks as a way to find new link-building opportunities for your own website. Now, you might be wondering how targeting your competitor’s backlinks can be categorized as white hat link building. The underlying reason is that you won’t be relying on spammy tactics to get links. Also, you won’t be buying links.
Instead, your focus is on finding new link-building opportunities by targeting your competitor’s backlinks.
Here is how to analyze your competitors and target their backlinks:
Step #1: Use The Right Tools
You will want to analyze your competitors by using the right tools, such as Ahrefs tools, to assess and identify your competitor’s backlinks.
Step #2: Analyze The Links
Leveraging the right tools, you will be looking for high-quality and relevant backlinks on your competitor’s sites. Focus on the backlinks that are the most relevant to your industry.
Step #3: Create Unique and Better Content
Of course, you cannot copy your competitors in everything, and since your goal is to stand out in the industry, your next step is to create content that is better than your competitors. Assess the content that they have linked to and create better content that others would like to link to.
Step #4: Reach Out to Bloggers
The last step is to reach out to the bloggers and website owners. Be polite and professional while writing personalized emails to each of them. Offer your informative and updated content as a valuable resource to link to.
HARO – Help A Reporter Out
HARO link-building is one of the elite white hat link building strategies out there. All you need to do is to create an account on the HARO website. Proceed to select the categories that you are an expert in. Keep in mind that journalists always work on tight deadlines, which is why you must respond quickly. However, while responding to their questions, you must maintain quality and provide relevant answers.
Once you start to understand how HARO works for your website, you will realize that HARO is a great way to generate links on high-quality websites. So, focus on responding to queries from high-quality sites with high DR.
Personalization is key when it comes to HARO link-building. Make sure to address the journalist by their name and briefly describe your role and your experience. Keep the answer sweet and short – however – include value in your response so that your answer is quotable.
Publish Guest Posts
Guest posting is a crucial component when it comes to creating linkable assets, too. As a matter of fact, guest posting is a reliable way to earn high-quality backlinks while establishing your brand authority. Guest posting is one of the core strategies in white hat SEO as it involves you creating valuable content for other websites in your niche, and you acquire a high-quality backlink in return. This aspect also perfectly answers the question of how to do white hat SEO.
If you look at it, you see that guest posting is a pretty straightforward strategy that improves your website traffic and SEO.
Here are the essential steps that you can take to do guest posting:
Step #1: Find Relevant Websites
You start by looking for high-quality websites that are relevant to your niche. Create a list of these sites.
Step #2: Create Valuable Content
Once you have the list of sites, next on your list is to create valuable content that aligns with the website’s guidelines and offers them value.
Step #3: Know How to Pitch
When it comes to reaching out to bloggers and website editors, make sure to pitch effectively so that they will be interested in linking with you.
Digital PR
Digital PR, also known as PR link-building, is another great white hat link building strategy and essentially a great way to generate high-quality backlinks to your site. Digital PR is quite similar to HARO, where you create valuable content and then pitch the content to writers and journalists who are looking for relevant information.
Believe us when we tell you that digital PR is incredibly rewarding, and if you do things right, you can acquire hundreds of high-quality links from top publications within a short period of time. The underlying reason for this is when one blogger or journalist notices that specific content is performing well on another site, they will often publish their own version for their respective audience.
Subsequently, you will see your story getting more and more links as more and more people will get interested in the story.
Broken Link-Building
Broken link building is part of white hat SEO and helps you get high-quality backlinks to your website. Essentially, this white hat link building strategy involves finding dead links to other relevant websites. Once you have a list of dead or broken links, you generate high-quality content and reach out to those website owners while offering them the opportunity to fix their broken links in exchange for their links.
All you need to do is follow the steps below to get high-quality backlinks through broken link-building.
Step #1: Find Broken Links
The first step, of course, is to find broken link-building opportunities. You will want to use the Ahrefs tool to find broken links within your niche. Using the tool, you will type in the domain and select the “broken links” report.
Step #2: Create and Offer Content
Once you have the list of broken links, the next step is to create valuable content and offer your content after contacting the website owner. Understand the art of pitching your content by writing a personalized email in which you offer your content as a perfect replacement for the broken link. As always, make sure that your content is not only relevant but also high-quality.
Final Thoughts
As you might have realized by now, white hat link building strategies are tough, but they are absolutely worth the effort in the long run. White hat link-building strategies and white hat SEO are incredibly valuable. If you don’t have the time, you can always rely on a reputable link-building agency, such as Globex Outreach, to help you with link-building and help your website rank higher in search engine results. Rest assured, white hat link building is the safest technique to build links that are aligned with Google guidelines.
FAQs
What is White Hat SEO?
White hat SEO essentially follows the guidelines and terms of services for SEO established by Google and other search engines. By integrating white hat SEO, you can avoid getting penalized by Google.
How to Create Quality Content?
When it comes to creating quality content, you want to understand your target audience first. Make your content valuable, informative, and unique. This way, other websites will want to link to your content, and you can earn high-quality backlinks.
What is Black Hat SEO?
Black hat essentially refers to illegal and malicious activities. In the context of SEO, black hat SEO means that you are going against Google guidelines and intentionally trying to manipulate algorithms to boost your website’s rankings.
What is Grey Hat SEO?
Grey hat SEO is a combination of white hat and black hat SEO strategies, such as creating valuable content that is followed by buying backlinks. Grey hat SEO strategies can be harmful to your website, which is why you should avoid them at all costs.
