How to get backlinks for your startup

How to build a healthy link profile and what to avoid.

As we all know, backlinks are crucial to our online success. What websites are referring back to you and how many relevant sites are referring back to you is key to domination.

Now when you put your backlink cap on, you probably went to Google first to find helpful tips on acquiring backlinks. Chances are you saw some companies offering “paid” backlinks. You might be thinking, well, that was easy. Before you click to buy, take a second and think about why buying backlinks is a terrible idea.

1. They are complete, 100% against Google’s policy. If you are caught, you can be hit with a big-time “manual penalty.” This is nasty stuff and nearly impossible to recover from. You can view the entire article on Google here.
2. You look pathetic: If you buy backlinks, none of those sites will hold any value. You will not receive any traffic, and it will only temporarily give you a boost online. Ask yourself this one simple question before you purchase shady backlinks…”Do I plan to be in business next year.” If you answered yes, you are on track to build a long term online business.

Here is an example of a company that uses shady backlinks as their #1 driver of SEO. I will not give out the name directly, but this strategy prevented them from having an acquisition. They have online power, but their backlinks failed them from the promised land.

BAD BACKLINKS

Cool, they have over 12 thousand backlinks. On the surface, this looks amazing but will raise some questions on how they were obtained. The site has only been around for two years, and to have that many links is nearly impossible if done ethically.

There is a fantastic tool called SEMRush, and you can track the source of backlinks. Most of the backlinks on this website are from spammy and shady fake blogs known as PBN’s or private blog networks. You should stay away from this tactic, and it won’t be long before Google introduces a new update to smush it and the sites following.

You can see how, in the “recent updates” section, they used what’s called an article spinner. It jumbles and mixes your words so that they can reuse the content for more PBN’s. For a reader, that would be unnatural, and Google knows it.

Now the backlink is for Goldendoodle puppies on a site called “Roman Imperial Coins.” You can see why that is bad, I hope. None of the content is relevant, and this was obviously a shady tactic.

So hopefully now you have assured yourself that buying backlinks is not the right path to choose. Let’s go over some ways to acquire excellent backlinks that hold more value.

Outreach:

What we do for our projects is we make a list of 50 relevant websites that we would like to approach for a backlink. Now this will take a little effort, but don’t just send them a cold email asking for a backlink, they will most likely shut you down. Have something of value for one of the websites. You can create infographics, share photos, or even an entire article for them. Once you have something of value that is relevant to their site, send them an email and ask to be referenced.

Do that process once per month and set a goal of 2–10 backlinks per month.

Guest Blogging

Guest blogging rocks. Find websites that allow user-generated content and include a link back to your site. Make sure it’s a website that will allow Do Follow backlinks. You will have to write within their guidelines, and the content must be relevant to their site. Remember, they are giving YOU a backlink, respect their rules.

Here is a list of sites that allow guest blogging with Do Follow backlinks.

ThriveGlobal.com Visit Guidelines

Furzly.com Visit Guidelines

If you have any questions about Backlinks, visit my website or my Linkedin profile to ask me a question.

Happy Hunting!

-John Cantlin