The link building strategies that work today have one thing in common: they give another website a genuine reason to link to you. Links still help pages rank, especially in competitive markets, but Google has become very good at ignoring or penalizing links that were bought or manufactured. Here are the strategies that still earn valuable links, and the ones to stay away from.
What makes a link worth earning
Before choosing a strategy, know what you’re aiming for. A valuable link usually comes from:
- A real website with its own audience, not a site built only to sell links.
- A site relevant to your industry, location or customers.
- A page where the link sits naturally within useful content.
- An editorial decision: someone chose to link because it helps their readers.
One link like that is worth more than dozens of low-quality ones.
1. Create link-worthy assets
The most reliable link building strategy is to publish something people want to reference: original research, survey data, free tools, templates, calculators or genuinely definitive guides. Journalists and bloggers need sources, and a useful asset can keep earning links for years.
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2. Digital PR
Digital PR means creating stories or expert commentary that publications want to cover. It works best with a clear angle: new data, a surprising finding or a timely expert view. Offer your team as expert sources on topics you know well, and respond quickly to journalists’ requests for comment.
3. Unlinked brand mentions
Sites may already mention your business, products or people without linking. Find those mentions with a brand monitoring tool or a search for your name, and politely ask the author to add a link. Because they already know you, the success rate is often high.
4. Resource pages and broken link building
Many industries have resource pages listing useful tools and guides. If your content genuinely fits, suggest it. A related approach is broken link building: find links on relevant pages that point to content that no longer exists, and offer your equivalent as a replacement. You solve a problem for the site owner while earning a link.
5. Partners, suppliers and associations
Businesses you already work with are natural link sources: suppliers, clients, technology partners, industry associations and local organizations. Case studies, partner directories and member listings are common places for these links.
6. Expert contributions
Writing a genuinely useful article for a respected publication in your field can earn a relevant link and put your expertise in front of a new audience. The key is quality and relevance. Mass-produced guest posts on sites that accept anything are a link scheme, not a strategy.
7. Strengthen your internal links
Earned links often point to your guides and research rather than your service pages. Link from those popular pages to the pages that bring in revenue, so the authority you earn reaches the pages that need to rank.
Link building tactics to avoid
Google’s spam policies treat links intended to manipulate rankings as link spam. Avoid:
- Buying links, or paying for “sponsored” posts without marking them as sponsored.
- Private blog networks: sites built only to link to other sites.
- Large-scale link exchanges and reciprocal linking schemes.
- Low-quality directories, comment spam and forum signature links.
- Automated outreach that sends generic pitches to thousands of sites.
These can produce quick links, but they risk a penalty and rarely keep their value.
How to measure link building
Track the number of referring domains, the relevance and quality of each linking site, and, most importantly, the rankings and traffic of the pages you’re trying to strengthen. Links are a means to an end: more visibility for the pages that bring in business.
If you’d like help earning links the right way, see our link building services. Strong links work best on top of strong content, so our SEO content services are often the place to start.
Link building strategies for small businesses
If you don’t have a PR budget or a large content team, these approaches usually work well:
- Ask suppliers, manufacturers and partners whether they list stockists, installers or partners on their sites.
- Join local and industry associations that list their members.
- Sponsor local events, clubs or charities that link to their sponsors.
- Offer expert quotes to local news sites and trade publications.
- Publish one genuinely useful resource for your industry, such as a guide, checklist or pricing breakdown, and tell the people who would find it useful.
- Turn customer success stories into case studies your clients are happy to share.
Start with the relationships you already have. They are the easiest links to earn and often the most relevant.
How many links to aim for each month
There’s no right number. A handful of relevant links each month from real websites will do more than a large batch from sites nobody visits. Steady link growth, connected to useful content, looks natural and builds authority over time.
FAQs
How many backlinks do I need to rank?
There’s no fixed number. Look at the links behind the pages that outrank you for your target keywords and aim to close that gap with links of similar or better quality.
Are nofollow links worthless?
No. Google treats nofollow as a hint rather than a strict rule, and nofollow links from popular sites can still bring traffic, visibility and brand awareness.
How long does link building take to work?
New links usually take from a few weeks to a few months to show their full effect, as search engines recrawl the linking pages and re-evaluate yours.