We all know that backlinks play an essential role as a factor for search engines. Don’t forget that Google today considers links as one of the top three ranking factors.

But marketing is transforming in front of our eyes and link building might seem like an old practice, a strategy stuck in the past. Most third-party solutions come in handy for understanding the role of backlinks and offer layers of additional information such as traffic value, keyword rankings, and many others.

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Read on to find out how to leverage software for link-building and how to improve your strategy with the help of specialized tools.

Using software? Here’s how to make the most of it

Since Google isn’t open about how its algorithms work, SEO experts tend to rely on third-party tools determine the quality of links. These solutions allow identifying the best websites from which we should be earning links. They also show us how Google evaluates the quality of links that already point to our site. 

There are many tools one can choose from, and some of the most popular ones include search metrics, and SEMrush, Majestic, Moz Pro, and Ahrefs.

SEO experts use Moz’s Domain Authority (DA) tools to qualify potential link partners. These tools offer a range of on-site and off-site SEO data that helps to evaluate the trust of the domain on a 1-100 scale. Remember that DA shows only how well the domain does in comparison to others.

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Some websites that have a high DA actually don’t have considerable organic search traffic once you take a closer look at them. Even website with a high DA might turn out to be of low quality and if you pick this site to share your content, it’s not likely to pass much authority for your website. And some of the third-party tools will label it as authoritative.

That’s where the main problem with link-building lies today. If we follow the DA and other metrics, will the link bring the value we seek? These metrics are important and serve as a good indication of how the site compares to others – but it’s not a good idea to follow them blindly when identifying potential link partners.

It’s best to use multiple solutions to develop more accurate assumptions about link authority. A single software just won’t give you the full picture.

What makes a link high-quality?

A high-quality link is a link that comes from a high-quality site. Naturally, quality is in itself a subjective metric, but there are some things websites considered of high quality have in common:

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Sharing your content on a website with consistent readership and potential for thought leadership in your sector is a great idea. That way you’ll not only acquire extra traffic flow to your site but also get more exposure on the web.

And that’s why it’s worth to look away from third-party metrics and assess websites in detail. Even if a site has a very high DA, it won’t bring you benefits if it’s irrelevant to your niche or offers little value to your industry.

How to build high-quality link strategies

Here are some strategies to help you in getting links from high-authority websites:

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  • Create quality content on your site – that way you’ll start your link-building campaign organically. Getting guest post opportunities can be expensive and require a lot of work – creating your content is much more comfortable. Share attractive content such as evergreen manuals and guides, case studies, infographics, white papers, interviews with influencers, and industry trends. Your website blog can become a powerful starting point for your link-building campaign.
  • Delve into influencer marketing – if you’d like to attract more users to your content, you can bet on influencer marketing to do that job. Don’t forget that influencers have audiences that are loyal and often quite large. Having an influencer help you in direct promotion of your content is an excellent strategy to increase brand exposure and drive traffic to your website – and these are important factors that Google takes into account. Plus, you’ll be getting a backlink from the influencer.
  • Guest posting – this classic strategy offers so much value for link building. By sharing a guest post on a high authority website, you’ll not only get a valuable link but also boost your status as a thought leader in your niche.

Perhaps you have some other excellent link building strategies up your sleeve?

Share your thoughts in comments to start a conversation about best practices in link building for SEO.