As mentioned in our previous blog post about link building, the quality of links is now prioritized over quantity. And one way link building gets you those high-quality links that you’ll need to rank.
As SEO experts always say, no link-building strategy is better than using the wrong one. You can get penalized for using sketchy black hat link-building techniques. But you can never go wrong with one-way links.
Digital marketers can opt for one way link building services to gain one-way links, which are highly valued by search engines. This makes this method superior to other link-building methods out there today.
And this article will help you navigate your way in earning one-way links without getting penalized by search engines.
In this article
One Way Links
Comparing a one way link building to a one-way street is a good analogy. One-way links are links that you receive without the need to link back to the source of the backlink. And since it’s a product of building links naturally, it’s highly valuable.
A fool-proof method of earning one-way links is by creating high-quality content. Digital marketers always say that content is king, and this is specifically true for earning one-way links. For others to link to your site (without asking for it), your content must be top-notch.
There are other types of inbound links (like reciprocal links) that you can also use for link building. But the most effective approach is to earn one-way links.
Inbound Links
An inbound link is any link that comes from an external source that points back to your website. These links are commonly known as backlinks. An inbound link is composed of two elements:
- URL
- Anchor text
To have a valuable inbound link, these two elements must work hand in hand. The anchor text for your URL must be contextually relevant to the content of the page. This will make the link appear natural for readers and web crawlers.
Reciprocal Link vs. One-Way Link
There was a time when digital marketers go crazy just to gain reciprocal links. Oftentimes, they send email blasts to prospective websites just to gain reciprocal links from them. But those days are over.
Reciprocal links are not as valued as it was once before. It is now perceived by search engines as a way to manipulate search rankings and link popularity. Because of this, digital marketers were forced to find a new way to produce high-quality backlinks.
One-way links are more credible because these backlinks actively endorse your site without the need to reciprocate the link. Plus other sites will only mention your site if it’s relevant for their audience. Therefore, you can also reach out to your target audience.
With one-way links, it doesn’t matter who links to your site. These are confidence votes to your site by providing them with quality resources. As long as they’re not raising any red flags, you can keep the free backlink.
But it’s always a good practice to check which sites are linking to your site. You can always disavow bad links from your site to keep yourself safe from Google penalties.
The Power of One-Way Links
We can all agree that one-way links are highly valuable and powerful links to drive organic traffic to your site. But how powerful are these links?
Let’s say Facebook decided to give a dofollow backlink to your site because you provided content that was useful for them. Since Facebook is currently sitting at the top of Ahrefs ranking (see image below), the amount of link juice you’ll get will be massive.
However, this is far from reality. What’s achievable is earning one-way links from authoritative sites in your niche. The effect won’t be as massive, but it would help increase the authority of your site in your niche.
Key Ideas for One Way Link Building
Industry leaders have no problem earning one-way links. Because of their authority in their niche, bloggers look up to the information they release. However, this is not the same for small, niche-centric websites.
Let’s keep it real: don’t expect high-authority websites to link to you immediately. Start small and climb your way up the ladder instead. Here are some tips to earn high-quality one-way links from your niche:
1. Create Relevant Statistics Based on Research
Creating statistics based on your own research is valuable information for bloggers and content creators in your niche. If you pulled it from your research, it’s unique and no one possesses that information aside from you.
Releasing this to the public through a blog post will attract bloggers that are thirsty for new information. You won’t need to ask them to link to you. They will automatically give you a backlink because you’re the only one with that kind of statistic.
2. Create Infographics for Your Niche
Infographics are useful because they provide tremendous amounts of information summarized in a single image. It’s also a great way to gain one-way links, considering that your infographic presents promising data.
For them to use the infographics you produce, you must:
- Provide substantial data
- Make your infographic readable
- Keep the design to a minimum. Don’t overcrowd your graphic design with filler elements.
- Stray away from stock images and use original images
Here’s an example of an infographic from a LinkDoctor™ blog post about link earning.
The more original your infographic is, the higher the chances that it will be used by other bloggers in your niche.
3. Create New Tools to Help Your Niche
A tool is an application that can help process data easier. And you can make tools without any coding knowledge. Here are two examples of free online tools for calculations:
These tools from percentagecalculator.net and Cemex are useful for calculating data that can be used for different projects. Digital marketers and website owners make these kinds of tools and share them with their audience for free.
By providing these useful tools, users can share them with their colleagues or their personal blogs for others to use. It’s important to keep your users hooked to the tool you made, so make sure to do these:
- Make a valuable tool that can be useful specifically for your niche.
- Don’t give the full extent of the tool for free. Limit the usage/results for free users to encourage them to subscribe.
- Encourage users to share the tool and link back to your site.
A good example of a tool that gains one-way links is link-building software. Users find these tools helpful for their link-building strategies and they link to them naturally in their articles. By practicing the actions mentioned above, you can also gain valuable one-way links from your users.
4. Create “How to” Guides for Target Audience Problems
If your target audience encounters a problem, and they don’t know how to solve it, providing a how-to guide can help. If your article gives them helpful tips, they might just share it with others. They can also link to your how-to guide on their personal blogs.
By creating content that’s so compelling and irresistible, you will gain backlinks automatically. Content marketers coin this term as linkbaiting. By putting your expertise in your niche into words, you can help other bloggers solve their problems and create valuable links.
Creating how-to guides is also useful in acquiring links from community forums and Q&A sites. Encouraging people to read your how-to guide through these platforms will help gain more traffic and engagement. If they find your guide useful, they might just link back to you.
5. Engage in Community Forums
This might seem like a stretch to gain one-way links, but it’s an effective strategy. Community forums are a good way to attract other professionals in your niche to your content. It’s also a good way to establish your expertise around your community.
Forums function as a Q&A platform for people seeking answers to their questions. By answering questions and providing reliable information, people in the community will see you as a credible source. Thus, they won’t hesitate to link back to your site if they find useful content in it.
6. Guest Blogging
Guest blogging (or guest posting) is a tried and tested strategy to build links. And since the release of the latest Google Update, digital marketers now focus on one way link building through guest blogging.
Guest posts are very flexible when it comes to link building. However, you should remember that the content must be high-quality for host blogs to accept your submission. Here are some tips you can use when submitting guest posts:
- Provide high-quality content that’s informative, well-researched, and useful for the host blog’s readers.
- Use “2023” in your titles and headers because readers love updated content.
- Pique the interest of the readers by providing intriguing content.
- Offer high-quality content in exchange for a link instead of a link exchange opportunity.
- Never forget to link back to your site by using keywords related to your content.
The real challenge in guest blogging is finding the right blogger in your niche to submit guest posts to. You can always opt for blogger outreach services to help you with finding the right bloggers for your niche.
7. Submit NAP Information to Directories
If you still don’t know it yet, submitting your site to web directories is one of the easiest ways to gain one-way links. All you have to do is submit your updated name, address, and phone (NAP) details to niche directories.
You can also submit your NAP to general directories, like DMoz, to gain a valuable one-way link. Make sure you’re placing your site in the right category under these directories. This way, you won’t get penalized by Google or get rejected by human regulators.
FAQS
1. How many types of linking are there?
There are two main categories of linking are,
1. Static Linking
2. Dynamic Linking
2. What are the links called?
A hyperlink is a reference that the user can follow by clicking. A hyperlink points to a specific element within an article or a blog. The text that is linked is called anchor text.
3. How do I build links to my website?
1. Start by asking for backlinks, particularly if you’re a newcomer.
2. Establish strong relationships in order to build good links.
3. Submit your site to reputable directories, guest posting, and developing blogs by which you can increase traffic to your site.
Final Word
There are a lot of strategies involved in building links. Some are effective and some are just way better. And since search engines favor one-way links better than ordinary internal links, you have to understand how one-way links work.
We hope that you find this article helpful to start your link-building journey. Include one way link building in your marketing strategy and see how effective this link-building strategy is.
Related Reads:
- What are Unnatural Links and How to Avoid Them?
- Maximizing Your ROI: How to Buy Backlinks Effectively and Efficiently
- What is Link Reclamation and How Does it Save Rankings?