Why Link Building Drives Website Traffic: 7 Top Tactics to Improve Your Backlink Profile

If backlinks are the top ranking factor on Google, then why do so many B2B marketing leaders resist building links back to their websites?

Well, for one thing, it can be tedious, complex, and time consuming. 

For another, finding the right outside SEO expert can be expensive if you’re not careful. By one common measure going around, 20 backlinks could set you back $20K!¹

And lastly, doing it wrong can actually destroy your rankings altogether.

But, let’s not get discouraged yet!

In this piece, we’ll explain why link building drives website traffic and then offer a few strategies experts use to rank better.

First, let’s take a half step back.

Think about the main task a search engine like Google performs for you.

Its primary purpose is to serve up a list of the most relevant links based on a specific query you’ve keyed in.

One criteria Google uses to “decide” which links are the most relevant is whether actual human beings find the content useful. In the eyes of Google, credible links ascribe value. So, the number of sites that link to your content factors into these “decisions.”

“In modern SEO, links build up the page’s authority and improve its SEO value.”² –Neil Patel

So, how can you encourage website content developers to post backlinks to your website?

Offer high quality content that people find valuable.

No one wants to reference or recommend ideas that aren’t useful. Work to deliver as much value as you can on each of the web pages you want to draw more readers to.

Invest some resources into link building.

Take a blog post like this, for instance. Though we have many years’ experience in B2B marketing and content development, providing evidence from independent sources helps support the ideas we’re putting forward.  

So, to enhance your credibility, include stats and quotes from other experts. It’s also good etiquette to cite your sources with URL links back to their content.

This alone does not guarantee increased traffic, of course. You also need folks to post backlinks to your pages.

Improve your backlink profile.

If you had the time, you could proactively reach out to all the websites you’ve linked to and ask if they’d consider a reciprocal link. But more often, it’s a matter of doing enough of the right things until other websites start linking back to your content.

So, it does take time. But, here’s what link building can do for your website:

• Increase search engine rankings, which leads to more organic traffic
• Deliver new visitors more likely to be interested in the value proposition you offer, and
• Boost your ability to engage and potentially convert visitors into customers

SEMrush asked 850 SEO and digital specialists to list tactics they use and believe in most. Keep in mind, many of these ideas may require a link building tool, but you can weigh the cost of that investment later. Here’s a summary.³

7 Top Tactics to Improve Your Backlink Profile:

1. Land invitations to guest post.

Guest posting is probably the most effective way to generate credible backlinks. Contributing a blog post or other short piece to another site should earn you the chance to add a backlink from either the text or your “About the author” sign-off area.

2. Replicate a competitor’s backlinks.

This is fairly straightforward, but you’ll need a tool, like LinkMiner to assist you. The idea is to find the backlinks your competitors use. Once you’ve found pages with the strongest, most relevant links, you’ll want to contact the owners of the websites and ask them to add a link to your content instead.⁴

3. Get your content posted on another site as a resource.

Some websites provide lists of resources for specific topics. If you can contribute snippets of content that help summarize complex ideas, it can serve their visitors well while also linking back to your digital property.

To find relevant sites to apply this strategy to try a few searches like these:
• Keyword + “links”
• Keyword + “useful links”
• Keyword + “helpful links”
• Keyword + “resources”
• Keyword + “useful resources”
• Keyword + “helpful resources

4. Make sure you’re listed on local business directories.

This tactic is more useful for consumer businesses that need to draw local prospects to a physical location. However, B2B brands stand to gain from this technique as well.

Here’s a list of directories you can try:
• Apple Maps
• Google My Business
• Trip Advisor
• Yelp
• Yellow Pages

5. Report broken backlinks.

This tactic also does require a tool, but it can be pretty effective. The idea is to locate links to content you cover that no longer work for whatever reason. Once you have a list of broken links, you can contact the relevant website owners and offer them your link as a replacement.

6. Add URLs to posts.

For this tactic, you include a URL from your website into a comment you make on another website. You need to apply this technique carefully and perhaps sparingly – but if the article you’re commenting on is highly relevant to the content you’re citing a URL link for, it can work.

7. Encourage links through social media.

Actively utilizing profiles on social media can help improve your branded Search Engine Results Page (SERP). For B2B companies, Twitter and Linkedin should be especially good platforms to apply this technique.

Summary & Takeaways

In this short article we explained why link building drives website traffic – then listed seven popular tactics you can use to rank better. Remember:

• Backlinks (aka: inbound links) are the top ranking factor on Google.
• More backlinks and better SERP ranking should drive far more organic traffic to your website.
• Offer high quality content that people find valuable.
• Consider investing in a link building tool.
• Dedicating some resources toward improving your backlink profile can be well worth your time.

Sources include:
1. “The Economics of Link Building,” Alexandra Tachalova, Moz, December 2019
2. “9 Link Building Resources That’ll Increase Your Search Rankings,” Neil Patel, 2019
3. “Big Survey: 14 Link Building Strategies Professionals Choose in 2019,” Marina Siradegyan, SEMrush, October 2019
4. “How to find and replicate your competitors’ backlinks [quick guide],” Vlado Pavlik, Mangools, July 2019

Other sources include:
“Link Building Guide for 2020 & Beyond,” On Blast Blog, January 2020
“20 SEO Link Building Methods for 2020,” Christoph C. Cemper, Link Research Tools, November 2019
“The most effective link-building strategies to drive traffic in 2020,” Melanie Moore, Impact, December 2019