Organic backlinks are always the best type of backlinks as they are given away for free by site owners/writers and you don’t have to go through the process of sourcing, raising awareness or buying links.
However, getting backlinks organically isn’t that easy, but it’s possible. One way is to lure the links.
What is link bait? Does link baiting work? How do you create link bait content that would entice people to link and/or share your content?
In this article, we talk all about link baiting and also provide different ways to create link-worthy content.
Link bait is the development of content that aims to naturally attract backlinks. There are different types of content that are considered link bait. These include controversial content, data-driven content, guides (such as ultimate guides and top lists), visual pieces, interactive pieces, and viral content.
The content of the link bait must be of high quality and valuable that journalists, writers, bloggers would find value in the information provided and would be linked to it naturally.
Link bait is aimed not only at getting a backlink, but many links from different sources, more importantly, from authoritative sites that have domain authority, with the aim of ranking in organic search results.
Link bait works because it’s a “free” tactic to get sites to link to your content by providing high-quality, informative, and valuable content.
Setting up your site as a source of valuable content also increases the chances that more and more people will see your site as a valuable resource and also link to different content that you might publish in the future.
However, valuable, high-quality content doesn’t automatically mean you’ll get a lot of backlinks. In fact, an analysis by Moz and BuzzSumo found that 75% of more than 1 million pages have no backlinks!
That’s why creating link bait content is important.
Now that you know the importance of creating link bait content, the question is how do you create content so good that people would naturally want to link to your content? Here are some best practices for creating link bait content.
What do you prefer to read and share, content consisting only of text or content containing images and videos?
Visual content attracts more links than long text content. Nowadays, people have a shorter attention span and seeing visuals instead of long blocks of text is preferred by most people.
Your content doesn’t have to be purely visual, you can combine both text and visuals. The important thing is to make the content easy to read and understand and that’s where the visuals come in.
Complete guides win for a reason – they are “complete”. They wrote everything on the subject, it’s a complete resource that can be read, without going to several sources just to get the whole deal on the subject.
Controversial content should be approached lightly. You might have a lot of people bonding with you, but it could be for the wrong reasons. Some controversial content ends up creating a firestorm and gaining a lot of links, but then causes damage to your reputation.
Create controversial content with data to back things up and defend your beliefs. Not just controversial content for the devil to gain a lot of links. Although you get a lot of links, it could end up causing problems on the road.
Data-driven content gains a lot of links because there is data to back up claims and information. In the world of SEO where a lot of things are guesswork, trial and error, and testing, information that has data to back things up is highly favored. Not only in the world of SEO, but in everything.
The data contained in the content also leads other writers, bloggers, etc. to link to you as a source of content and information when they write their own content. Thus, more backlinks from other sources.
One thing to keep in mind is to make sure your data is accurate and also cites a source for validity.
If this is your own study, make sure that the full details of the study are also provided. Over time, this will strengthen your authority and people will view your site as a trusted resource and, in turn, earn you more backlinks.
People search because they need something and when it comes to information, they prefer useful and actionable information.
For example, articles that include actionable tips, step-by-step guides are required to gain more visitors and links as the necessary information is provided directly, useful information for the reader and that they can apply without going through a ton of content to get what they need and how to do it.
Publishing content on a topic while it is still the hot topic or when it is viral content is a way for you to graft on the news and virality of the content. Talk about the content and provide your ideas, add more related information, draw the attention of those interested to learn more about the topic and you are required to get links to your content.
The best way to know what people are linking to is to study your competitors and look at what content they have that other people link to. Then replicate the content and enhance it. Not only can your content, with the right optimizations, outperform your competitors when it comes to rankings, but people are required to link to your much better content.
Rely on this list on how you can improve your content – make a comprehensive guide, with visuals, and data to back things up!
So you’ve created an awesome comprehensive guide, with practical tips and a step-by-step guide, with visuals and data to back things up. What’s next? Are you just going to let it happen and wait for the links to arrive? A big resounding NO.
There are thousands, if not millions, of published content. Even if your content is amazing, if you don’t promote it, no one will be able to see it and link to it.
Promote your content by sharing it on social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube. If you have a budget, you can increase your posts on Facebook and Twitter, reaching more people.
If you have a mailing list, you can also send an email about your new messages. Press releases are also another way to promote your content.
Reaching other blogs or sites related to you is also a way to promote and get backlinks to your content. Check out our article on creating broken links as a way to get quality backlinks to your content.
Creating high-quality link bait content is a great way to get organic backlinks to your site. With our tips on how to create link bait content, this should be enough to get you started.
Creating high-quality link bait content consistently would help you strengthen your authority vis-à-vis other bloggers, writers, and journalists. This would help you gain their trust and you would be considered a reliable information resource and, in turn, they are required to look at your other content and link to them too.
Check out our other articles on content development, such as our content audit and our article on content gaps to help you find topics to write about that will surely earn you more clicks, traffic, and help you rise in search.
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