Future of Link Building – Which Strategies and Backlinks Are Effective

Building backlinks for effective link building – necessary, redundant, or even dangerous? Since years ago, when the first domains received warnings from Google due to questionable links, the topic of backlink building has been controversial. Experts disagree, and laypersons are uncertain. And every year the question arises anew: Which strategies are suitable for building backlinks and which ones still comply with Google's quality guidelines for generating backlinks?

Fig.1 Link exchange programs

The Basics of Backlink Building: What is a Backlink?

To understand what a backlink is and how backlink building works, it is important to clarify the question, "What is a link?" A link or hyperlink is simply a cross-reference in a text that functionally allows a jump to another page or document. These cross-references can also be used within one's own website.

A backlink, then, is understood as a reference from one website to the URL of another website. This can be set for various reasons and in various positions on a page, such as in the footer or from within the content. Both text and images can be linked.

Additionally, there is the option to mask links with "nofollow." This tells search engines not to follow these links. From an SEO perspective, such "nofollow" links have less value than "dofollow" links, but they are a natural part of a backlink profile. Therefore, they should not be neglected when generating backlinks, especially if they are links from high-authority trust sites that are ideally even clicked by visitors and drive referral traffic to the site.

When assessing the quality of a backlink in backlink building, the topic relevance of the linking page and its trust are especially important. The goal is to acquire topic-relevant backlinks, whether as "nofollow" or "dofollow" links, from websites that have high authority according to Google's assessment. However, links from less well-known sites in one's own thematic environment are also important for a balanced link profile.
In addition to links, there is also internal linking, which also plays an important role in search engine optimization, but it is not the topic of this article.

Reminder: What Google’s Webmaster Guidelines Say About Backlink Building

Google's stance is clear: Any purchase or sale of backlinks not labeled as paid links constitutes a violation of the Webmaster Guidelines. Likewise, guest posts in large numbers with optimized anchor texts are not desired, nor are site-wide footer links on other domains.

The long list of unacceptable backlinking techniques leaves little room for link builders; one might even get the impression that active backlink building is not allowed. However, common practice often tells a different story.

The Reality: Buying Backlinks Still Works

Even a quick Google search for "buy backlinks" shows: the business model "money for backlinks" still exists, including some highly dubious offers that experienced SEOs steer clear of. And a backlink analysis in various industries often reveals numerous backlinks that clearly do not adhere to Google's guidelines.

Fig.2 Buying Links in SEO Today

Why do these domains still rank well with partially questionable link profiles? For one, even a continuously developed algorithm doesn’t recognize every dubious link. Moreover, it can often be assumed that domains retain their visibility despite their spam links rather than because of them. Established domains, in particular, generally get away with more than newer domains or smaller domains with less trust.

Additionally, there are many ways to buy backlinks without it being detectable by search engines and users. The era of links bought en masse at package prices is long over, but link buying is certainly not dead.

And just because money changes hands doesn’t mean there’s automatically a violation of Google's guidelines. Even a paid case study in a major industry magazine or an advertorial, for instance, falls under paid links. If these links are masked with "nofollow" as Google wishes and the article is perhaps even marked as advertising, the guidelines are met.

Is this link therefore useless from an SEO perspective? As mentioned above, "nofollow" links are also a natural part of a link profile. Moreover, mentions of the brand or company also help to strengthen a website and increase its trust. This is especially true for locally active businesses, but also for national brands. Those who ultimately want to protect themselves from penalties should regularly check their backlinks using the numerous tools available.

Free Backlinks Through Content Marketing

After the great insecurity surrounding backlink building, content marketing seemed to be the new solution – "link earning" instead of "link building." However, practice shows that while this approach is fundamentally correct and sensible, it is by no means easy to implement. Creating high-quality content alone does not produce links.

There is still an effort required for the strategic promotion of these contents on target audience-relevant platforms. Given the content flood and the many requests for sharing, linking, and promoting that every operator of a visible website receives, the "outreach" strategy is not straightforward. It is essential to stand out positively and provide high quality and added value. And that is easier said than done.

The demands on the content itself are growing. Standing out with one's own content from the competition is becoming more difficult and often requires substantial effort and strategic planning. A promising, albeit labor-intensive, approach is:

What already exists on the topic, and how can one's own content be even better than everything already available online? The claim should be no less, because otherwise content doesn’t qualify for "voluntary" links and attention.

Our Tip: Build Sustainable Backlinks

Years ago, links were often built from websites or blogs positioned such that they could be read and valued by search engines, but hardly noticed by human visitors. The current approach should be different: Where can one's own content (mentioning the company or brand and a backlink) be placed so it is seen by a relevant target group and thus has a chance of actually being clicked and perhaps even generating conversions?

In link building, the traffic these links generate is almost as important as the value the link brings to search engine optimization.
The fact is that placing links gets a little harder every year and cannot be automated. The path to success often leads through building personal relationships with other companies and influencers, or multipliers.

It’s important to stand out from the mass of requests through personal appeal and, ideally, a partnership from which both sides benefit, going far beyond mere link placement. Brands that have already gained a certain level of trust and recognition sometimes find it easier to obtain backlinks.

What measures are therefore still suitable for building backlinks? The following list shows a selection of various possibilities, including many options for generating free backlinks (not counting the workload):

• Classic (Online) Press Work: Primarily for brand building, with the side effect of allowing backlinks to be placed

• Resource Lists: Articles that collect links on a specific topic offer significant potential to add another link to a high-quality resource. Examples include white papers, studies, how-to blog posts, or video tutorials.

• Partnerships: Which companies are connected with one's own products and services? Suppliers, users, other collaborations?

• Relevant Communities and Portals: Most industries have specialist portals that often offer various opportunities to get involved: directories of all companies, specialist articles, interviews, product news, trade show reports, etc.

• Case Studies: Companies that are pioneers in a particular aspect of their industry, that have gathered market data or other relevant data or experiences, are often of interest to trade magazines or business journals.

• Testimonials: Customer testimonials for products, services, software, etc., are sometimes "rewarded" with a link. Where is one's own company successfully using third-party products or benefiting from services?

• Interviews: Interviews with other experts on your own site (which in turn may set backlinks on theirs), but above all positioning an expert from your own company as an interview partner in a relevant magazine can generate topic-relevant backlinks.

• Expert Rounds: Magazines sometimes publish articles where various experts are interviewed on a specific topic. It pays off to establish contact in advance to be considered for similar opportunities in the future.

• Broken Links: Backlink tools, as well as Google Search Console, help in finding links that point to sites no longer available. It can be worthwhile to regularly check your backlinks. With broken links, the approach is to contact and request a link correction, as the site owner also benefits from functional links.

• Turning Mentions Into Links: Which blog posts or news articles report on the company? Where might it be promising to request a link, possibly to a subpage relevant to the report, that also offers added value to readers?

Generating Mentions and Local Backlinks

Not only for companies with retail locations and local services does it make sense to consider local sources as a supplement to backlink building or link building. The possibilities for creating links with local relevance are diverse:

• Local Networking: Local business groups, associations, or other business associations help establish contacts and often provide a backlink in the company's profile on the website.

• Universities: Whether through offering jobs or internships at the company, special offers for students, or company tours that students ideally report on, engaging with local university students can pay off.

• Events: If you can't or don't want to host your own local event, you have the opportunity to sponsor an event or be listed as a speaker and thus get a backlink. This also aids in backlink building.

• Local Business Relationships with Other Companies Onsite: Building personal contacts can not only lead to new strategic partnerships but also increase the circle of multipliers and build backlinks. The basis should always be how both sides can benefit from the business relationship.

• Local Directories: Besides the industry-specific directories, relevant local directories, which collect all companies in a region, city, or district and usually set backlinks, should not be neglected.

• Local Blogs and Other Media: Blogs, local newspapers, local journals, and other regional or local media are happy to report on local companies that engage, have a special success story, or are otherwise in the news.

• Sponsoring Local Sports Teams : Not only a meaningful commitment, such as promoting young talent or supporting a small local club, but also an opportunity to be mentioned and linked on the website as a sponsor, as well as achieving mentions in the local press through competitions.

The important thing is: With all the suggested approaches, it's not always about building backlinks. Mentions can also improve local visibility.

As a conclusion around the topic of backlink building, it can be stated that backlinks are still an important part of the algorithm and therefore should not be ignored. However, the era of automated link buying has long passed; instead, creative individual strategies are needed, the active building of personal relationships, and a focus on genuine added value that stands out clearly from already existing content.

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