Best 13 Link Building Strategies: To Grow Your Domain Authority [2023]

In this article, I’m going to show you some creative link building strategies, advanced link building strategies as well as some older strategies that still work like a charm if you do it properly. All these strategies can be incorporated into a comprehensive link building plan.

So if you are ready to launch your link building campaign, boost your off-page SEO and build some seriously high-quality backlinks, then check out these best 13 link building strategies that focus on backlink quality.

Let’s get started:

Strategy #1: Guest Posting

The first link building strategy on our list and definitely one of the most well know and still very effective is guest posting.

Guest posting has been around for ages and it is widely used by link building experts and marketing agencies to get high-quality backlinks.

For example, Leo Widrich the founder of Buffer App has used guest posting to acquire 100,000 customers in the first 9 months.

Or Brian Dean has written over 200 guest posts and now he is ranking for one of the most competitive keywords in the SEO niche.

However, the big problem with guest posting is that Google does not like it. As said by John Mueller, guest posting for links results in unnatural links and he says Google already devalues them.

Therefore, the old ways of doing guest posting don’t work. Google algorithms are trained to identify guest articles as they are pretty obvious.

However, that does not mean guest blogging is over. You only have to be smart about it. And if you want to learn how to properly do guest posting without Google devaluating your backlinks, then you can watch my video here:

Where I explain everything you need to know about guest posting and how to make it effective.

Strategy #2: Resource Link Building

The second and as well as very effective link building strategy is resource link building.

This link building strategy can help you get many high-quality backlinks for your website and resource page link building is one of my all-time favorite link building strategies for many reasons:

Reason #1: Resource link building is one of the easiest link building strategies if you dedicated a lot of your time and resources to content marketing and blogging.

It is because this strategy focuses on finding web pages where they recommend outside resources to learn more about a particular subject. For example, in the SEO niche, this could be this page on Best SEO Blogs to Read from Naven.

As you can see, he created a curated list of the best resources in the SEO niche on the internet. Now, you can see why this strategy can be so effective if you spend a lot of your time and resources on content marketing.

Reason #2: The outreach processes are much easier as in many cases the ones that create resource pages also provide a way to get in touch with them.

If we come back to the “Best SEO Blogs” example, we can find at the bottom of the page that Naven has included his email to reach him out. This makes the blogger outreach process much easier as often you don’t have to find the email address of the right person unlike in the guest posting strategy.

Reason #3: Pitching for resource page link building is much easier than with other link building strategies.

The reason why it is easier is that resource pages are literally made for great resources to be included within, so if you are a great place to learn about a particular subject then pitching your website or blog is much easier.

You just need to let them know about you and let them decide if you are worthy to be featured on their resource page.

And on top of that, you are making their life much easier because every page on your website should be regularly updated, as Google likes that, therefore, providing them with new resources helps them update their web page and improve their ranking.

So, don’t forget to mention this as well, often SEOs forget that, and it can help you to get an extra reason why they should take the time and include your blog.

Strategy #3: HARO Link Building

The third on our list of link building strategies and arguably the easiest on this list is HARO link building.

With HARO (help a reporter out) you can earn super high-quality backlinks with minimum effort. Journalists from niche authority site all the way to the most well know outlets like Inc, Bluehost, CIO Magazine, and even you can find New York Times, WSJ, and others that are using HARO to get in touch with experts.

So, for you to start with HARO link building you simply need to register at HARO and you will receive three times, Monday to Friday journalist queries for you to answer.

Now luckily, because there are a lot of journalists from all kinds of niches, you can select specific industries in the setting to receive queries from journalists seeking experts from your industry.

And once you start receiving your HARO queries, then you need to simply scan the queries and click on the one that is relevant to your industry and you believe you could answer.

Here you will find the questions the journalist wants you to answer and the requirements that you need you to need to fulfill. For example, in this query, the journalist wants only people that run WooCommerce shops with a minimum of $10K in MRR.

Which unfortunately is not me, so I won’t bother to answer as I don’t fit the criteria of the journalist.

As you can see, this is a super easy link building strategy and everybody can do that. However, if you want to increase your chances to get selected and learn how to maximize your potential from HARO link building, then watch my video right here:

Strategy #4: Purchasing Expired Domains

Another very effective link building strategy is to purchase expired domains with high website authority.

Now, this is a more advanced link building strategy and strictly Black Hat SEO strategy if you just purchase a domain and then 301 redirect all the backlinks to your domain as like this you will get penalized, guarantee.

However, there are two ways how you can go about it and still stay in the white-hat SEO game.

Technique #1: Start your website with an expired domain instead of a new one.

This technique gives you an SEO advantage as you are not starting from scratch in terms of a number of backlinks, as once you start ranking this website, the backlinks will kick in and you would better rank compared to using a new domain.

You can also easily recreate those pages with backlinks by checking the old version on web.archive.org and updating it.

Technique #2: Do Broken Link Building

This is a way safer way to deal with expired domains and cheaper as well, as you just need to find expired domains within your niche, check out the content with backlinks, then recreate it on your own website, and after that reach out to people that still link to the expired domain and let them know about their broken link and your replacement.

Just like you would do with broken link building.

Strategy #5: Skyscraper Technique

The next on our list of link building strategies is the skyscraper technique by Brian Dean.

The Skyscraper Technique is the way how you should approach creating content on your website regardless you are doing it for link building or for publishing high-quality content.

Basically, this technique is all about creating better, more comprehensive, and in every way more superior content than your competitors by analyzing SERPs for your targeted keyword.

For example, if you are targeting the keyword “how to clean computer screen” then you will want to analyze the current ranking competitors in the SERPs using Google or keyword research tool.

And by going through the ranking competitors, you will see what topics each of them covered in their articles and you will want to address those topics as well in your article and even consider adding one or two extra topics to play it safe.

On top of that, you will want to provide more information as well. However, this doesn’t mean having more words in your article, but more value that ultimately helps your readers.

Then you will want to analyze other aspects such as the graphics they are using. For example, if they are using stock photos, then you will want to use custom images.

Or getting experts to give you some input or quote to your article, creating videos to help them understand it better, or anything you can think of to make your article better.

Remember skyscraper technique is all about BETTER! And this especially applies if you are a small business or not so well know a person as you will need to work extra hard to get any attention for your article.

With that being said, once you have created your more superior content, then you will want to run blogger outreach to three types of people/bloggers:

1. Those that are linking to your competitors: These are the hotcakes that are already having relevant content from where they are linking to your competitors which means you can get super relevant and high-quality backlinks. However, it is not always easy to persuade them to swap the link with yours even if you have better quality content. Usually, the more famous you are the more likely they will comply
2. Those that you have mentioned within your skyscraper content: These are perfect people that might be willing to repay the favor or at least share your content which can give an extra boost in traffic and even get you some backlinks.
3. Those that have your targeted keyword within their content but don’t target it: This is trickier than it sounds, but can be a great way to boost your reach and generate extra backlinks.

Now, there is more to skyscraper techniques such as selecting the right keyword, doing proper blogger outreach, and more. So, I recommend you check out Brian Dean’s guide. Hope he updates it soon.

Strategy #6: Podcast Interview Link Building

Another link building strategy I want to mention that I really love is podcast interview link building.

From a marketing perspective, this is one of the best link building strategies you can get your fingers on, as you only have to find relevant interviews like podcasts and get your expert on it.

I love this strategy because finding relevant podcasts interviews is not so difficult and I don’t have to do anything after that as the company subject matter expert will prepare for the interview, do the interview and get my nice juicy backlink.

This is arguably one of the best link building strategies for small businesses as you can get quite a few high-quality backlinks at scale with a small team. However, the subject matter experts do not always like that.

Unless you are in the marketing niche, then you need to get yourself there and do the interview as well.

So, to find podcast interviews you can use Google search and type something like “[your industry or niche] podcasts”, for example, “SEO podcasts”.

Or you can keyword research tools like SE Ranking, enter your niche or industry keyword, select your target location and click on analyze.

Then, go to the “Keyword Suggestions” report and select the SERP Features filter only for Podcast.

And this will give you all the keywords that display podcasts in the SERPs. From here you can just filter down to relevant podcasts.

And once you have your list of podcasts, then you just need to get in touch with them that you or your subject matter expert would like to be a host on one of their podcast episode.

And just like this, you can earn high-quality backlinks with podcasts interviews.

Strategy #7: Social Proof Link Building

The next and effective link building strategy is social proof link building.

This is grey-ish, more towards a black-ish hat SEO strategy and I wouldn’t consider it a white hat SEO strategy for link building, let me explain why:

Here, you are basically trading a backlink for a very nice review or testimonial.

Now, according to the Google link schemes, exchanging backlinks for money, posts, goods, services, etc. is strictly against Google quality guidelines. However, they did not say anything about exchanging reviews…

Alright kidding, still if Google catches you, they will penalize you and I do not recommend this strategy.

So why would owners exchange a backlink for a review or testimonial? Well, frankly good reviews = more money for a business.

According to Retail TouchPoints, 66% of potential buyers agree that they will most likely be convinced to purchase a product because of its positive reviews.

With that being said, let me tell you how it works:

Step #1: You want to find a product or service where you could provide positive feedback. The best is to start with those products you are already using. This is a more genuine way of doing this.

Or another way is to find products or services related to your niche. For example in the SEO niche, it could be keyword research tools.

Step #2: Is to reach your prospects and offer them to become a testimonial or write a review for a dofollow backlink. Also, you can provide review posts on your blog or video on your YouTube channel. This can improve the odds of getting accepted.

As I said, this is not the most genuine link building strategy and I do not recommend this!

Strategy #8: Links exchange

The next link building strategy on our list is exchanging link that passes PageRank.

Now, this is definitely against Google’s quality guidelines. However, what Google says is about excessive link exchanges. So, I am not sure if once in a while is okay or not. I let you make the judgment.

But, as you can see, this strategy works on a very simple principle. You simply ask if the other domain is okay to exchange backlinks with you. This is called reciprocal link exchange.

Or, sometimes other domains are not okay with reciprocal link exchange as it can raise a red flag to Google spam detector, and they will offer a link from another domain in exchange you will link to their original domain. This is called non-reciprocal link exchange or 3-way exchange.

As I said, this is the safer way of doing this strategy, however, not everybody has access to at least two domains.

Strategy #9: Unlinked Mentions

Another great link building strategy is to claim unlinked mentions of you or your brand.

Now, for sure you can see a problem. Most of us and that is including me, don’t get mentions very often just like well know people or well-established brands.

For example, if you are Neil Patel or Brian Dean, then this strategy can be a gold mine and you can find a lot of high-quality backlinks hanging around.

However, if you are somebody like me, not so known, then this strategy is not such a hit as I don’t get many mentions. But it doesn’t mean I should not prepare myself for unlinked mentions once they come.

So, to find unlinked mentions there are basically two ways to do that.

Technique #1:  Manually searching on Google. Basically, you pop in one of your branded, brand representative, products, or services keywords into Google search.

For example, in my case this could be something like this:

• b2bdigitalmarketers
• com
• Eduard Dziak

So once you have your list, then you can use this Google search operator to find your mentions except for social media and your own website.

intext:b2bdigitalmarketers -b2bdigitalmarketers.com -linkedin.com -twitter.com -youtube.com -pinterest.com -facebook.com

And now you only have to manually go through the websites. For example, I right away found this, which I did not expect, but made me happy because according to SE Ranking this is a website with a Domain Trust of 46.

However, this technique can take a lot of your time, so let’s have a look at the second technique.

Technique #2: Using link building tools to search for unlinked mentions.

This is definitely the easy way to monitor unlinked brand mentions as it will save you a huge amount of your time and you will get a more accurate view of your mentions and the people or sites that mentioned your brand.

Now, there are a lot of tools to use for monitoring brand mentions, but I found BrandMentions.com the best. So, let me show you how it works:

When you register, you will click on “Start Your First Project.

Here you will enter your brand keywords that you want to monitor. Just like I showed you with the first technique.

And what’s cool about this tool is, when you go to “Advanced Setup” you can also monitor your images like your logo, or any custom images you have made, or certain countries, and more. So, once you are done you can start your project.

And once your project is completed, the tool will start searching the internet for your brand mentions and inform you. As I said, there are not many for me, yet…

Definitely using tools like BrandMentions.com to track unlinked brand mentions for link building is one of the easiest and best ways to earn high-quality backlinks with minimum effort.

Strategy #10: Competitor Backlink Analysis

Another very powerful way of getting a lot of high-quality backlinks is to run competitor backlink analysis.

Competitor backlink analysis helps you to assess the situation of how well your competitors are performing, where do they getting backlinks from, and what you need to do to compete with them.

It gives the information of the competitor’s overall backlink profile as well as on the page level to know how many backlinks you will need to build to rank in the top positions.

And it is one of the best ways to start a link building campaign as it gives you the idea of what your competitors are doing and then reverse engineer it for your website.

Strategy #11: Social Fortress Link Building

Another link building strategy that is crucial for your link building success is to build a social fortress.

Building a social fortress means registering your website on social media to get a link from them.

For example, I have registered on LinkedIn,

And on YouTube to claim my backlink from these domains.

And of course, you can register on more social media like:

• Instagram
• Twitter
• Facebook
• Google profiles
• And other social platforms

To get more backlinks from these domains and easy social shares as you can share your content on these platforms.

However, why is it so important to do that as these backlinks are often nofollow and without any link juice?

Let me give you an example of an average Joe who started his flower business.

Average Joe opened a little flower shop and because he is from today’s generation, he understands he needs a website. So, he created a website with his business name, put his products there, and included addresses for people to visit his shop. However, average Joe does not understand SEO, but he knows that all his friends and almost everybody are hanging on social media, so he registers on social media where he puts his business name, his shop address, and some pictures of his products to make it legit.

Now, he started sharing all his content on social media with his friends and strangers and slowly started increasing his website traffic and foot traffic as well.

Now, why this story is important?

As you can see, this is a natural way most businesses start online, they create websites, register on social media, and start getting some traction from them.

And this works for Google as a trust signal, and it helps them to evaluate the business if it is legitimate because at the beginning Google has very little information to decide if your a real business or a scam so they put your website in a sandbox.

A Sandbox according to Matt Diggity is a way of Google putting a ranking leash on new websites because they don’t trust new sites yet and they need to trust you first before they start ranking you and giving you traffic.

So, for you to start building trust you need links from social media profiles to imitate the actions of a normal business as it creates an online presence.

I recommend you do this before launching any link building campaign.

Strategy #12: Link Roundups

The next on our list of link building strategies is the link roundups link building strategy.

Link roundups strategy is about searching for roundup posts.

For example, Flash Point Marketing has created a roundup post of 30 SEO experts to share their tips on getting featured snippets.

Where each of the featured experts here got a backlink.

Or another example could be weekly roundups by LeadG2 and their weekly roundup posts.

And each of these articles is a roundup post that contacts backlinks to recommended articles to read on a given topic.

So arguably getting links from link roundups is one of the easiest link building strategies because people creating those curated lists of content are always looking for fresh content ideas.

And by reaching out and asking to be included in their roundup posts, you’re making the creation process much easier for them.

So, let me show you how it works:

Step #1: Find your prospects.

There are two ways how to go about it.

Technique #1: Use Google Search Operators

For this, you can use Google Search operators like:

• “Keyword” + “link roundup”
• “Keyword” + “weekly roundup”
• “Keyword” + best posts of the week
• “Keyword” + best blogs of the week
• “Keyword” + “weekly link”
• “Keyword” + inurl:roundup
• “Keyword” + intitle:roundup

In my SEO niche, this could be “seo” + “weekly roundup”.

And just like this, I get plenty of great domains that publish roundup posts in the SEO niche.

Technique #2: Analyse where your competitors have been featured in roundup posts.

To do that you can use one of your favorite SEO tools, in my case this is SE Ranking and one of my competitors is Backlinko.com

So, to find in which roundup posts Backlinko was featured I pop the domain into SE Ranking Backlink Checker and go to “Backlinks” report.

Then I can export the results into a spreadsheet or set a URL filter to show me any URLs with the word “roundup”.

And this gives me all the web pages with the word “roundup” in their URL and I only need to scan the results.

Please mind that this is not a perfect technique as many roundup posts do not have the “roundup” word in the URL.

Therefore, it’s better to export the results into the spreadsheet as you have more options to run your filters.

Step #2: Get in touch with your prospects.

To do that you need to find your prospect’s email addresses using tools like Hunter.io and it will give you a bunch of names for the domain.

And once you have the right person to contact, you just need to write a sweet email that you would like to participate in the next roundup and go from there!

Strategy #13: Industry Study and Research

The last and super effective but also super expensive link building strategy is to create industry study and research.

Creating industry studies and research can be by far your best way to generate a lot of high-quality backlinks for your website.

For example, a study by Wordstream on the conversion rate benchmark has generated over 2,700 backlinks from over 1,400 domains.

Or study by Backlinko on Google Search Results has generated over 14,400 backlinks from 5,500 domains, that’s insane!

With that, they can be very expensive to pull out or time costly, but the reward can be far greater than with any other link building strategy.

Last Words

So, these are some of the link building strategies that you should try in 2024, and let me know how they work out for you. Additionally, part of this process involves tracking backlinks to understand their source and impact.

Also, let me know on my YouTube Channel what link building strategies were the most effective for you so far!

As for me, for the next year, I am planning to focus on unlinked mentions (hopefully there will be more than now) and also planning to do some skyscraper techniques and podcasts interviews if time allows.