Songdo, South Korea
Getting quality backlinks is a skill. Figuring out how to get quality backlinks for free is even more nuanced because gaining valuable links without investing a penny in link building schemes demands you to put in a serious effort.
Learning how to land reputable backlinks serves as the starting point.
Much of what you see in terms of link building tactics simply does not get the attention of successful bloggers.
You will quickly learn that pitching strangers does not build quality links. Asking for link exchanges does not bring success either.
Would a well-known blogger put their credibility on the line for a stranger to “do them a favor”?
I don’t think so.
I want to share my system for getting high quality backlinks.
Following the steps below scored me backlinks on:
- Neil Patel Dot Com
- Entrepreneur
- Forbes
among other respected sites.
The strategies below are free. But you need to invest time and work to land these coveted links.
Being The Hunted versus being The Hunter works for me and our community. Publishing thorough content and building genuine relationships draws high quality backlinks to you. This effective approach saves you time and energy.
Hunting or chasing successful bloggers with cold pitches wastes much time and work. Why would you ask a stranger to link to your blog with a pitch identical to 10,000 other bloggers? 600 million blogs exist.
A chunk of bloggers who run those 600,000,000 blogs use the same, generic pitches which pros look past. Full-time bloggers see through inauthentic bloggers.
I literally stopped checking email years ago because most turned out to be blind link pitches from bloggers. Imagine the 1000’s of hours these bloggers collectively wasted pitching a stranger who does not even check his email?
This is why you want to build the content and relationships which passively attract opportunities and links to you organically, based on the quality of the content and relationships.
Be The Hunted not The Hunter.
I have only pitched 2 bloggers during my 16 year career; both were experiments.
The quality backlinks pointing to Blogging From Paradise flowed to me completely organically and passively, save those 2 experimental pitches.
Follow these tips to land quality backlinks from respected bloggers.
1: Publish Targeted Long Form Content
Publish 1200 to 1500 word blog posts dripping with practical tips.
Target each post for your perfect reader.
Do this to establish your expertise. Successful bloggers link to niche experts to beef up their blogging credibility.
Play the part of the expert by publishing in-depth, practical content that your readers easily:
- understand
- put into practice
- benefit from
Peep this blog post. Any blogger can understand, use and benefit from each practical step which I lay out.
Bloggers can and will score high quality backlinks by following these common sense tips.
This is the type of content which generates valuable backlinks. Bloggers love linking to usable content which helps their readers immensely.
Practical Tips
- aim for 1200 words or more per post
- list practical tips or steps for readers to seamlessly use
- include headers and bullet point lists for easy reading and scanning
- publish at least one blog post weekly to keep readers abreast of your blogging niche
- link in to valued resources on your blog
- link out to trusted blogs in your niche
2: Comment Genuinely on Top Blogs from Your Niche
Comment genuinely on top blogs from your niche.
Publish detailed comments to be seen, heard and to build strong relationships with influential bloggers.
I popped up on the radar screen of Neil Patel after publishing a few meaty comments on his blog. He took notice and subsequently linked to me and one of my eBooks on blog commenting.
Share your authentic thoughts to snare the attention of successful bloggers. Be real. Comment to share value.
Remember; comments are content. Blog posts generating a high volume of genuine comments may even rocket to the top of Google for years as is the case with this post listing successful bloggers to follow.
Comment persistently. Consider publishing genuine comments at least weekly on high level blogs from your niche.
Build relationships and gain exposure through this undervalued networking strategy.
3: Promote Top Bloggers from Your Niche
Promote top bloggers from your niche via:
- your blog
Share their blog posts freely to build strong relationships with influential bloggers.
After sharing posts from respected travel bloggers for a while I popped up on the radar screen of Forbes and Entrepreneur contributors who pitched me interview requests.
Why?
Travel bloggers who appreciated my generosity promoted Blogging From Paradise posts across Twitter and Facebook. Contributors from Forbes and Entrepreneur kept seeing the name “Ryan Biddulph” pop up on Twitter and Facebook and wished to interview me for their major media publications.
Ask for nothing in return after promoting successful bloggers to earn their trust. Release expectations to prove that you want to build a genuine relationship versus attempting to selfishly manipulate bloggers which never works well.
4: Guest Post on Respected Blogs from Your Niche
Guest blogging on respected blogging tips themed blogs helped me land guest post invites from highly successful bloggers.
Build relationships with bloggers by patiently following steps #2 and #3. Earn greater credibility by patiently following step #1.
Thriving bloggers will ask you to guest blog for them because each trusts you and trusts your content.
Publish detailed, long form content via guest posts to score highly-coveted backlinks.
Guest blogging is a direct way to land quality backlinks but publishing detailed content and building strong relationships sets the table for guest post invites.
Like all blogging success, landing guest posts on credible blogs requires patience. Building bonds and creating trustworthy content are skills requiring time, practice and a willingness to fall in love with the process.
5: Answer Interview Requests for Respected Blogs from Your Niche
I spent a fair chunk of time answering interview requests from various bloggers before landing in-demand backlinks.
Being interviewed often made me appear to be all over the place in my blogging niche.
Being all over made me pop up on the radar screen of influential bloggers who linked to me.
As someone who’s been interviewed many times during my blogging career I offer this advice: share short, simple tips in brief fashion because 100’s of bloggers will ask you 100’s of identical questions.
After the 100th blogger asks you:
“What’s the #1 tip you can share for new bloggers?”
you offer simple advice then move on to the next blog post, guest post, comment or interview request.
Answer requests from new to established bloggers to be truly helpful. Being genuinely helpful spawns respected blog backlinks from the top blogs in your niche.
6:Â Set Realistic Time Frames
Establish realistic time frames from 100’s to 1000’s of hours spanning months to years of your life to land respected backlinks.
Landing quality backlinks demands you to put in a quality effort. Putting in a quality effort requires you to spend a long time learning, practicing and mastering the skill of getting high-level backlinks.
Think this one thought guys; if getting quality links were quick and easy than every blogger would boast respected backlinks. Since few bloggers score backlinks from respected bloggers you logically know that this process is long and sometimes highly uncomfortable.
Frame this skill realistically. Slow down. Calm down. Be patient.
Quality backlinks take a lot of practice and a long time to get but these treasured links drive passive, quality traffic to your blog around the clock.
Stop asking, “How long will it take me to get quality backlinks?”
Start asking, “How far am I willing to go to get quality backlinks?”
Make that mental shift to think, feel and act like a successful blogger who patiently scores the highest quality backlinks.
Video
Check out this quick video reminder from one of my trips to Thailand to drill the point home.
How to Get Backlinks from Famous Bloggers
Frequently Asked Questions
How Do Beginners Get Backlinks?
New bloggers follow a process partially similar to pro bloggers for landing respected backlinks.
Where Can I Get Backlinks From?
Publish long form blog posts. Target everything to attract like-minded bloggers who respect your content and link to it freely. Do the smart thing. Stop chasing backlinks.
Let quality backlinks flow to you based on the quality, depth and relevance of your blog posts.
Most other page 1 tactics one stumbles upon to answer this question originate from fear, manipulation or bullshit, frankly.
I refrain from teaching you how to use bloggers for your own selfish ends.
Observe Blogs from Your Niche
Patiently analyze top blogs in your niche.
Why do these leaders get the highest quality backlinks?
Observe their blog content. Pay attention to their offsite content.
Spot their style. Scrutinize their tactics.
Do what successful bloggers from your niche do to gain quality backlinks.
Is It Illegal to Buy Backlinks?
Buying backlinks is not illegal in the “you will go to prison or pay a monetary fine if you do it” sense.
But Google penalizes blogs if the algorithm detects paid links as part of its backlink building strategy.
It is not illegal to purchase backlinks but it is:
- stupid
- self-defeating
- highly expensive in terms of quality traffic and blogging income
Think it through.
Who would accept $5 USD or $10 USD to sell backlinks?
Struggling bloggers with no:
- quality traffic
- loyal readers
- blogging income
If your blog link appears on a blog with no quality traffic, loyal readers or blogging income potential then no genuine humans will see it. If no one sees your blog it means you wasted your money.
But that’s not the genuinely expensive part.
When the Google algorithm and humans see your blog link embedded on a shit blog the algo and humans will automatically assume that *your blog is a shit blog* through the power of association.
Do you understand why being cheap is the most expensive mistake you can make as far as buying links?
You invest only $5 to lose the potential to make $1000’s, $10,000 or $100,000 or more. What wealthy, prospering people read low quality or no quality blogs rife with errors? None. When you buy cheap links it tells the few humans who see these links to stay away from your blog.
Not exactly a smart strategy for attracting committed, prospering humans who:
- follow your blog closely
- buy your stuff
- hire you
- build your referral business
Never buy links.
Build high quality backlinks the only way one can: create valuable, detailed, targeted content.
Conclusion
Scoring respected links takes patient work but the freedom you gain through this manna from blogging heaven is well worth the investment.
Follow the simple steps above for a long time to develop each into a habit.
High quality backlinks require a high quality effort.
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