Link building is a cornerstone of modern SEO, but it's also notoriously challenging. So to ensure our client got the best possible results, we developed a content-driven link building strategy that ultimately increased Incfile's backlink count by nearly 1,000%.
Aiming for Shareable Content
You've likely already heard that "content is king," and we're here to tell you it's still true.
With that in mind, we began Incfile's backlink overhaul by working with our content team to create linkable, shareable content. That meant crafting content around popular topics the target audience — entrepreneurs — was truly interested in learning more about.
We also made a point to incorporate industry experts into Incfile's blog posts regularly. This lent authority and credibility to the blog and also increased those experts' likelihood of sharing the blog on their own sites and social media pages.
Building Authentic Relationships
No man is an island, and no site is either. So to cultivate natural, Google-approved backlinks, we set out to establish genuine relationships with industry professionals and potential customers alike.
One component of this approach entailed getting in touch with editors via both HARO (a platform that connects journalists with subject matter experts) and traditional PR tactics. By doing so, we created a pool of people we could reach out to, collaborate with, and share new content with.
We also made sure to get involved with the entrepreneur community. We accomplished that by creating community-focused content on Incfile's website and blog and utilizing forums such as Quora, Reddit, SlideShare, and Visually. While links from such forums don't carry as much weight in the search results as other links, participating in these communities helps drive brand awareness, organic links, and more traffic to our client's site.
Next, we created high-quality content for other sites, always analyzing the topics that most interest their readers. Once another site's editor approved our pitch, we maintained the same high content standard we have for our own blog.
Finally, we created a grant program for our client that enable us to help aspiring entrepreneurs. Then, we worked to get the word about it out to as many potential small business owners as possible.
Securing Genuine Links
Over the course of a few years, Incfile's backlink portfolio saw dramatic growth.
In 2018 and 2019, they had:
- 488 referring domains
- 2,733 total backlinks
But by 2022, we'd helped them achieve:
- 4,715 referring domains
- 30,000 total backlinks
In terms of referring domains, that's an increase of over 866%. And for total backlinks, the increase was more than 997%.
As of 2022, we also see an average of 80 high-authority backlinks to high-priority pages each month. And remember the grant program we mentioned earlier? From that effort alone, Incfile gained 400 backlinks in just six months.
Those results demonstrate one truth: Link building is difficult because it requires time, effort, and an unwavering commitment to quality. But if you put those things into your link building strategy, the results you get from it can be remarkable.
