Everything You Should Know About Link Bait for Your Business Website
Google search returns more than 10 million results in less than 30 seconds. What would make it choose your page to position it in the top results? High-quality backlinks are one of the essential criteria to determine whether your website is trustworthy. There are many ways to generate backlinks for a page and boost its visibility as a result. One of the options that doesn’t get much attention is the link bait.
Table of Contents
Creating content that ranks is a no-brainer for many marketers and website owners. Yet despite the numerous guides on link building, many still need help earning links from their content. And only 5% of websites have links from other sources. Link baiting can transform your content into a link juice attractor that people can’t resist. So how do you utilize it? This article will answer that question and explore some helpful link-baiting techniques.
Link Baiting Explained
If you are already familiar with the many benefits of blogging for marketing, then think of link baiting as the next natural step in using content to improve your domain authority (DA). It is a strategy that cleverly leverages content, much like a fisherman uses bait. Link bait is a piece of link-worthy content that is so well crafted that many other people want to be associated with it. Imagine that great post that other blogs, news sites, and publications keep referencing. It could be anything from an infographic to a controversial article on some trending issue.
The goal is generally to catch attention or provide valuable hands-on experience. Sometimes, a post like this can earn hundreds or even thousands of links from different domains. This results in a jump in organic traffic to your website thanks to the wider audience reach. The truth is that not all content meets this standard. The more valuable your publications are, the more likely you are to get others linking to them.
Can It Be Harmful?
There is a right and wrong way to do link baiting in SEO. This is not news to anyone with any search engine optimization experience. One important thing to keep in mind is Google guidelines that define what is and isn’t acceptable. So whatever you do, ensure that your link baits don’t violate any policies. Creating a link bait solely for generating traffic and attracting links can backfire if it appears manipulative.
The truth is that when it comes to any link-building method, there is always a risk of something leading to unintended results. 65% of marketers did not vote it the most challenging aspect of SEO for nothing. So what should you do? The focus should be on something other than attracting links but on ensuring that the content is of high value. You want it to be relevant and unique. Your topics have to resonate with your audience to be successful. Crack this, and you are halfway through to becoming the next hot thing in the content world.
Examples of Bait Links that Bring Results
There are several excellent examples of bait links done right that we can learn from. One is the Trillion Dollar Club study by Comparisun, which got over 3000 backlinks from more than 846 domains. It shows how to use simple citable data and maybe some controversy to create a buzz and get people talking. It’s been years, and we are still linking to it.
In the same vein, there are a few instances where link baiting done wrong highlights some mistakes we can also learn to avoid in the future. Take the ZoomSpring and Caster link bait experiment that failed to get targeted bites. While several things could use some adjustments, the one that stood out the most was the topic of the content itself.
Visuals, interactive assets, and content are only compelling as link baits if the audience finds them relevant. If not, they’d scroll past it since it doesn’t arouse their interest or curiosity. Still, we can take a couple of things from this example, especially being open to trying new things.
Effective Link Baiting Techniques
Link building has too many variables, making some consider if it is worth buying backlinks as a better alternative. But even that requires you to know the difference between black-hat and white-hat backlinks practices which can take a while. So, here are a few effective link-baiting techniques you can use immediately as part of your content strategy.
- Strategic linkable assets. Think of visual elements that depict data or other relevant citable information. E.g., case studies, infographics, stats, and even maps. Many blogs and news sites like to quote data to support their claims. You can use these to earn links from other domains and blogs that will cite you as a source in their articles.
- Controversial well-researched content. Think of the many things or urban myths people accept as facts. If you take the time to do good research and challenge those beliefs with a fact-based approach, you will probably stir up some noise.
- Interactive content. Quizzes, polls, and games are just a few examples that people can engage with and share their results with others on their SM channels. You can get more out of them if you know how to combine them with banging email outreach strategies to generate more backlink opportunities.
- Contests/freebies. This can make creative link baits if properly utilized. Package it up creatively, and you can generate even more backlinks from Freebies also work the same way, especially if it is valid and valuable to people. This explains why people love to share links to free alternative versions of paid software and apps.
- Reviews and Comparisons. New products are launched each year, and consumers want to know if getting the next upgraded thing is worth it. Where do they turn to for answers? The internet. Websites with product reviews, including online stores, can see up to a 25% increase in organic SEO traffic. You can key into this to create unique product reviews and comparisons that are digestible and shareable. Infuse humor to ramp up the appeal factor.
Conclusion
SEO trends are constantly changing, yet link baiting is one of those techniques that pays well if you learn how to do it the right way. Whether it is visuals, content, or competitions, link bait is an asset that can increase your domain authority and search rankings. Find a way to make your content about bringing value to your target audience rather than just a link magnet. Doing this will make your post a viral sensation in no time.
Frank Hamilton is a blogger and translator from Manchester. He is a professional writing expert in such topics as blogging, digital marketing and SEO. He also loves traveling and speaks Spanish, French, German and English.
