Your site needs a strong backlink profile for successful promotion in search engines. One effective way to achieve this is by leveraging professional link building services that can help you strategise and execute an effective backlink acquisition plan.
Collecting quality backlinks is primarily achieved by using interesting and exciting linkable content—a golden rule often overlooked by many Internet project owners.
High-quality content significantly increases the chances of obtaining backlinks.
But what types of content work best?
Let’s dive in and consider the top 8 formats that really work.
Infographics
According to HubSpot, infographics are shared and linked to 3x more than any other type of content on social media, which can translate to more backlinks. They indeed catch the eye more effectively than heavy text. You can break down complex data or concepts into understandable visuals using them.
Infographics are great for:
- summarising surveys or research findings;
- showing the history or evolution of a topic or product;
- explaining steps in a process or how something works;
- comparison and contrasting different items, ideas, or scenarios;
- displaying location-based data or differences in trends across different areas;
- compelling lists or any form of rankings.
Don’t think that any hastily created visualisation will work. Effective infographics involve good design, precise data presentation, and strategic distribution. Be sure to follow these principles.
And here, you have short instructions on how to make persuasive, engaging infographics.
- Think about your goals.
- Understand who your audience is.
- Gather accurate and relevant data.
- Select an appropriate type of infographics (statistical, informational, timeline, etc.).
- Create a compelling narrative.
- Use a clean, uncluttered design with balanced graphics and text.
- Include a clear call to action if your goal is to drive traffic or activity. Invite your readers to visit a website, for example.
- Optimise infographics with relevant keywords, alt text, and a descriptive title for search engines.
Creating a good infographic is about more than just design. It’s about telling a story or presenting information in an easily digestible and visually engaging way. Use the right tools that are convenient for you. You should create great-looking infographics that effectively communicate your message to your target audience.
How-To Guides and Tutorials
You know that detailed tutorials and guides tend to attract backlinks as they are often used as reference material by other content creators. For the reason of their informative and practical nature, they work in a very effective way.
You can use How-To guides and tutorials for achieving multiple goals.
- Providing valuable information.
- Solving common problems.
- Establishing authority.
- Enhancing SEO.
- Encouraging social shares.
Let’s look at a few examples:
- You can write a tech tutorial, “How to Set Up a Home Wi-Fi Network,” for your tech blogs or consumer electronics sites.
- Food blog readers like cooking articles, for instance, “Step-by-Step Guide to Baking the Perfect Sourdough Bread”.
- If you have a marketing blog, publish the digital marketing tutorial “Complete Guide to SEO for Small Businesses”.
In fact, creating detailed guides requires a lot of effort and time that you may not have. It is clear that you are busy. You have a lot on your plate related to your online project development. But who said you have to write the articles by yourself? Entrust this matter to professionals. There are many online copywriting services where you can order any type of content with a quality guarantee.
Original Research
Articles based on original research are more likely to acquire backlinks than standard posts. Such content can generate backlinks from news sites, educational institutions, and industry blogs.
How can original research help you in getting backlinks?
- Presenting information or data that are not available elsewhere.
- Positioning you as a leader in your niche.
- Encouraging citations in academic and professional works.
- Generating interest and shares.
- Supporting PR and media outreach.
Your research should be well-conducted and credible. Explain your findings in an understandable format. You can use visuals like charts and graphs for this purpose. Share your research across your networks through social media, email newsletters, and distribution of press releases.
Case Studies
Case studies demonstrate tangible results or transformations, making them compelling proof of effectiveness that others in the industry may want to reference. They offer an in-depth look at processes or outcomes. You can create case studies on any topic that works best for your website. Let’s consider a few examples.
- Business. A detailed account of how a small business successfully implemented a new marketing strategy.
- Healthcare. An analysis of how a new medical procedure or treatment improved patient outcomes in a healthcare setting.
- Technology. A story about how a company integrated a new technology (like AI or big data) and its impact on their operations.
- Environmental. A study that showcases how a company or community successfully implemented an eco-friendly initiative, reducing their ecological footprint.
- Educational. An exploration of how a new teaching method or program improved student learning outcomes in a school or district.
By highlighting successful implementations, case studies build credibility and trust, encouraging other sites to cite your work as a reliable source. Create engaging, informative, and well-distributed material. It can significantly increase your chances of earning quality backlinks.
Listicles and Resource Compilations
BuzzSumo’s analysis of over one million articles indicated that list posts receive more backlinks than other types of content, mainly when they include numbers in the title.
Listicles are easy for readers to scan and digest, increasing their appeal and shareability. Due to their engaging and often entertaining nature, they are frequently shared on social media and other platforms, which can lead to organic backlinks. Both listicles and compilations can be tailored to specific niches or interests, making them relevant and valuable to websites focusing on those areas.
Imagine you have a website to promote your software development services. You can create and post “Ultimate List of Free Courses Online for Web Developers”. Such a compilation is a valuable resource that can attract backlinks from educational sites, tech blogs, and forums for web developers.
Expert Interviews
Let’s consider the situation. You are interested in digital marketing, or you work in this field. You are constantly looking for new, valuable information. Would you be interested in reading a conversation with an experienced expert with hundreds of successful cases in his portfolio and sharing his secrets? Of course, such material would be beneficial for your professional development.
So, you can provide such value to your website visitors. Invite a marketing guru, record an interview, and distribute the content in text format. It would attract backlinks from marketing blogs, business schools, and entrepreneurs’ forums.
Problem-Solving Content
Problem-solving content is highly effective when it comes to obtaining backlinks. You have probably used this type of article for yourself at least once.
“How to Fix Common Plumbing Issues at Home”, “Beginner’s Guide to Investing in the Stock Market”, “Solving Common Tech Issues with Your Smartphone” – these types of articles will always be popular because people are constantly faced with various problems that need solutions.
Best practices for creating linkable problem-solving articles:
- Research and identify common problems faced by your target audience. Forums and social media can help.
- Ensure your content offers clear, practical, and actionable advice or solutions.
- Make your content easy to understand, avoiding overly technical jargon unless your target audience prefers it.
- Use infographics or videos to illustrate your points and make content more engaging.
- Share your content across social media, email newsletters, and relevant online communities to increase its reach.
Problem-solving content often remains relevant over time, continually attracting backlinks long after it’s published. When you provide practical solutions, your website is seen as an authoritative and trustworthy source in your niche, encouraging other sites to cite your content.
Interactive Content
Quizzes, polls, or interactive infographics can lead to higher engagement rates, resulting a better backlink profile.
What kinds of interactive content can you create?
- Interactive quiz. “What Type of Entrepreneur Are You?”
- Online calculators. A mortgage calculator on a real estate site.
- Interactive map. For example, the map demonstrates the impact of climate change globally.
- Polls and surveys. An online poll about the most popular marketing strategies.
- Choose-your-own-adventure stories. A marketing site creates an interactive story for users to learn about marketing strategies.
Due to its engaging nature, interactive content has a higher potential to go viral. Viral content naturally attracts a lot of backlinks from various sources. It often offers a personalised experience (like results from a quiz), which can be highly shareable.
Final Thoughts
You can use different types of linkable content or hire professional link building services and track their performance or focus on just one. The peculiarity of the above formats is that they are suitable for any niche and any business.
No matter what you choose, remember that quality, linkable content must meet specific requirements:
- Relevance and audience targeting. Try hard to understand your audience. It is crucial for creating content that resonates with it.
- Uniqueness. It could be original research, a new perspective on a topic, or an innovative way of presenting information.
- Comprehensive information. Detailed guides, extensive lists, and thorough analyses are the perfect image of content that provides substantial value to readers.
- Accuracy and credibility. Backing up your content with data, references, and sources enhances its trustworthiness, making others more likely to cite and link to it.
- Engaging and well-written. Headings, subheadings, bullet points, and short paragraphs can improve readability.
- Visually appealing. Incorporate visual elements like images, charts, and videos to make the content more attractive.
- SEO optimisation. Utilise relevant keywords naturally, optimise meta descriptions, and use alt text for images.
- Actionable insights. Provide actionable tips or solutions.
- Regular updates. Keep the content updated, especially if it includes data, trends, or current topics.
- Promotion. Actively promote your content.
Creating content with these elements in mind will make it valuable to your audience and appealing as a resource for other websites, thereby increasing its potential for collecting quality backlinks. relevance, and engagement are key to making your content link-worthy.
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Article by Pankaj Shah: DCP Ilford Web Design
